For this week’s Readers’ Rides, Jordan wrote an enthusiastic entry on his Surly Troll, a veritable all-rounder. Let’s check it out!

Hey John + everyone involved or just reading The Radavist! I’m a long time reader/enjoyer of this site, and probably my favourite content is the Readers’ Rides. I never get tired of seeing the build ideas, the parts combos, the wild things people do with bikes. It scratches a particular itch and is always a great source of inspo as well as a great way to learn about what component options, gear, etc., exists out there! Thanks for all your work!

I’ve attached some pics of my 2014 Surly Troll. I’m not a photography guy, so you just get phone pics, (sorry not sorry). There are two sets of pics: one of this bike in commuter mode with 26” wheels + fenders, and one in adventure mode with 650b(east) wheels and no fenders.

It’s weird to think a bike that I bought new (the first bike I ever bought new for myself!), is now a piece of history, as Surly discontinued the Troll in 2020 I believe (RIP). I bought it because I wanted a sturdy commuter, but also something I could tour on, but also maybe take off-road into the gravel/singletrack world, but also with the ability to try a bunch of different set-ups. As with a bunch of their bikes back then (and certainly before), I feel like Surly was ahead of the curve. I wanted a “forever” bike, and the Troll was the answer. The variety of things possible to run on this frame kinda blew my budding-bike-nerd mind. Geared? Yup. Internally geared? Yup. Single-speed? Uh huh. Disc brakes? Sure. Rim brakes? Most def. 26” wheels? Yessir. 650b? affirmative. Drop bars? Mmhmm. Flat or moustache bars? Oh you betcha. It’s hella versatile, but well-thought out enough in terms of geo, tire clearance and cargo mounts to utilize the options suggested by that versatility pretty well, IMO.

At the time I bought it I was working at a community bike shop, and had access to a bunch of low-cost parts with which to plug-and-play. The Troll felt like the perfect bike for trying a bunch of things before honing in on exactly what I wanted it to be. The first version of this bike was much more budget and more classic: fun riser bars, 3×9 drivetrain for commuting, rim brakes, 26” wheels with 1.75” slick tires. Time passed and after single-speeding it for a hot second, I discovered the new-fangled joys of disc brakes, 1x drivetrains and big plushy tires.

I got the old DT hubs by stripping a totaled MTB that came into my shop, and laced them to some DT Swiss rims that were donated to my shop as NOS by a different commercial shop because they weren’t selling (painted over the red on the DT logos cuz we can’t have that on this bike). I built up the wheels myself, threw on some GravelKings and added the silver VO fenders to complete the package. I run this bike with the 26” wheelset + VO fenders during the wetter months here on Vancouver Island. It’s my rainy weather commuter, my rigid mountain bike, and workhorse/‘luxe shopping cart.

In the summer months/camping season I throw on the 650b wheelset for more cush and wider gear range. It’s a more “adventure” oriented wheelset, to add bike-packing trips on chunkier single-track and more “spirited” (hahaha buzzwords) gravel rides to this bike’s credentials. I immediately notice a difference in how fast the bike rolls and how it handles with the larger wheel size. It’s super fun!

Like many other mechanics out there, this bike got more blinged out as I hung around and more and more nice parts came my way. I’m definitely not above waiting and compiling parts over time, or using parts that are nice//functional/I got for free way-below-retail pricing.The King hubset came from a bike that was (you guessed it) donated to the shop I worked at and the frame/most of the rest of the bike was mangled. I needed some worthy rims for the hubs, so I splurged on some custom-ano’d Velocity Cliffhangers. Like the hubset, other parts on the bike have similar origin stories, from the matching King headset to the older Saint brakes, to the XTR cranks: all parts bin, all-re-used from somewhere.

The pedals were the newest edition, bought brand-spankin’ new after a recent trip to Japan and a visit to the Hatagaya Blue Lug location in Tokyo. They just fit with the rest of the colour- scheme so well!

I like to think that I’m in a crowd with many other bike mechanics//bike nerds/industry veterans who have been around long enough to know what we like and to leave the rest to the rest. We stay in the shadows, riding our 8, 10, 15+ year old bikes. I think that’s what all my bikes, including this one, embody. No overriding desire (see what I did there?) to keep up with the latest tech or standards, or even aesthetics. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I believe there are some things that just work well, for a long-ass time, without much need to change, even as bike tech keeps getting pushed further and further. It makes me very happy to see many of the manufacturers featured on this site and others making products that cater to “alt-cyclists” with luddite-leaning tendencies.

Oh yeah, the paint: this was my second attempt at trash-level frame-painting before I knew anything about painting bikes. I used nothing but sandpaper, primer and a rattle can. It used to have more of a fade in some spots. And now it just…. doesn’t. We live and learn right! Right?!

Newbie-paint aside, I love this bike because it was the first one I owned that set me on a path in cycling that just kept evolving: from road touring on it back in the mid-2010’s when I ran it as a 3×9 flat bar rig, to bike-camping on 26” fat tires, to doing some pretty rugged adventure riding as far away as the Sierra Mixe mountains in Mexico in 2022. I love how comfy and capable it is when it’s loaded. It’s seen its share of hard use, but it’s never failed me, whether it’s been scratched, crashed, stuffed into bus luggage compartments, or falling off the back of a truck (hitching a ride on that trip in Mexico, a long story). It just keeps tickin’. It’s taken me to a lot of cool places in the decade we’ve been together, and I look forward to many more years of Trollin’ with it.

On this bike (and a few others) I really discovered that one can have just as much fun on something 10 years old, as with something drenched in all the new tech, standards, and “upgrades”. I use my Troll as a mountain bike every once in a while. No suspension, no dropper, it’s not even tubeless! And it’s great! But anyway I digress, especially since Jason and Morgan’s article on the site a little while ago put it much more elegantly than me.

That’s all I guess. Like I said, I love seeing other Readers’ Rides and hearing them talk about all the thoughts behind the build, what they do with it, and the reasons they love their bike. This is mine. It’s gone through many iterations and will probably go through at least one or two more, but I’m really digging where it’s at right now. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for lookin’, and keep doin’ the cool shit!

-Jordan

Build Spec:

• Frame/fork: 2014 Surly Troll, “Aubergine” colourway
• Headset: Chris King Threadless, Silver
• Top cap: Blue Lug
• Hubs (26”): DT Swiss Onyx
• Rims (26”): DT Swiss M480
• Tires (26”): Panaracer Gravelking 26×2.1
• Fenders (26”): Velo Orange 26” Smooth
• Hubs (650b): Chris King QR disc, Silver
• Rims: (650b): Velocity Cliffhanger, custom purple ano
• Tires: (650b): Teravail Sparwood 27.5×2.1, durable casing
• Rotors: Avid, 160mm
• Skewers: Trans-X Anti-lock purple ano
• Bars: Velo Orange Granola Bars, Silver
• Stem: Ritchey Classic, Silver
• Brake levers/calipers: Shimano Saint BR-M800
• Shifter: Shimano XT 9 sp
• Crankset: Shimano XTR FC-M985
• Chainring: Blackspire Snaggletooth 34T, 88BCD
• Pedals: Blue Lug
• Derailleur: Shimano Deore RD-M591
• Chain: it varies
• Cassette: it varies
• Seatpost: Some random BBB post
• Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Gel Flo, Ti rails
• Rear rack: something pulled from the recycling
• Front rack: Blackburn Bootlegger
• Front basket: Wald 137
• Basket Bag: Swift Industries Sugarloaf

We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!