Surly Disc Trucker

I've long been an admirer of Surly's Long Haul Trucker, so I was well pleased to have a chance to play with the disc equipped version. The downside is that I've got to give it back.

The Trucker is one of those understated 'do-anything' bikes. It's happy hauling rider and luggage on anything from a commute to a round the world tour. The version we tested was the slightly more unusual 26" wheel version, which does make the frame look a little gappy, even in a medium 54cm size. I'll come to that later.

Surly's marketing and branding may be a little too cutesy and hip for some, but the bikes have a good rep for being practical and unfussy. The Trucker amply demonstrates this, with a non-nonsense steel frame in humble 4130.

It's tough, rides well and of course can be repaired by pretty much anyone with a welder. Build quality is excellent with nice tidy welds and the paint job is also very good, with little or no flaking. The graphics are less tough, being decals that have been applied on top of the paint, and the head badge is just glued on. It's not the end of the world but a half scraped off decal does look a bit scruffy.

The frame has all the braze-ons you'd ever need, three sets of bottle mounts, low-rider mounts on the fork and sensibly placed rear mounts that don't foul the discs. There is also a pump peg on the head tube, but you'll need a monster pump to make use of it. Spoke carriers on the seat stay, fully loaded with a pair of spares, are a nice touch.

That gappy frame isn't just a design quirk. Surly proudly trumpet their FFF – Fatties Fit Fine – technology, which basically means you can stick honking great tyres onto your bike with no problem. Riding on relatively skinny 1.5' rubber and with no mudguards it's no wonder the frame looks a little spacious.

The observant might notice the drilled brake bridge and fork crown and ponder the possibility of sticking in a pair of 700c wheels and converting to drop brakes. We checked with Surly (via the very helpful Patrick at distributors Ison) and these drillings are for mudguards only.

They also told us that the frames are definitely specific to wheelsize (it might seem obvious, but we like to check these things) and dropping in the wrong wheels would result in woe, turmoil and the end of days. Well, it would if things like a crossbar wedged up your bum crack and dodgy handling are your idea of Ragnarok. According to Surly 'Surly has not tested this, and it is not endorsed,' and that sounds pretty damn terrifying to me.

The Trucker has a well chosen spec. There are no attention grabbing components, but equally no money has been scrimped on important bits like brakes in order to provide flashy but less-than-vital parts, unlike the Raleigh Sojourn I tested a few months ago, which trumpeted a Brooks saddle and bar-tape but at the expense of obvious cost savings elsewhere.

I'd go as far as to say that the spec on the Trucker feels like that of a bike that has been built up from a bare frame. If I have a criticism it's that you don't get extras like a rack and mudguards. Surly say it's because they want to leave that choice to their customers, but I think that's a bit of a cop-out. A decent rack and 'guards supplied as standard would add value without adding greatly to the cost and they aren't bits that people get terribly precious about.

The highlight of the spec, for me anyway, was the Shimano bar end shifters. This was my first experience of bar ends and although the awkward cable-loops look ugly the levers were a delight to use. The left hand shifter is friction only, so the front mech can be trimmed to suit any gear combination, while the right hand one is indexed and changes gear with a lovely tactile clunk. It's much, much more pleasing to use than a regular STI, although I'd be concerned about how vulnerable the levers are to falls, parking incidents and the occasional nudge from an errant knee.

The rest of the 9spd drive-train is well chosen and practical. Shimano Deore LX for the rear mech, Sora for the front (does anyone ever need a more expensive front mech?) and a handsome 48/36/26 chainset from Andel set on a practical and easily replaced square taper BB.

Gearing is designed with the tourist in mind and although the bike is surprisingly rapid, faster riders will find they run out of gears quite quickly on downhill stretches.

The smaller wheels lower the gearing even further and with an 11-32 cassette you get a tiny bottom gear of just over 20 inches, ideal for fully loaded touring and winching up some of the 25%'ers round Devon.

Surly pointed out that the frame is also Rohloff compatible, using Surly's own OEM 2 plate, which acts as a chain tensioner. Nice to know if you're building up the uber-tourer.

Another high point is the tyres. Our test bike came with Continental Comfort Contact tyres rather than the Michelin tyres that Surly list. The Contis are a wire beaded budget tyre, but they roll extremely well and feel both fast and comfortable. The Kona Ute I tested a few years ago had similar tyres and they also impressed me.

Braking is taken care of by Avid's BB7 mechanical discs. I've ridden these on several bikes, including my everyday workhorse Dew Drop and they never fail to impress. Performance far outstrips any rim brake I've ever tried and they are dead easy to adjust, with a dial on both sides of the caliper. The pads are hard wearing too – I've done nearly 4000 miles so far on crappy Devon roads and they don't need replacing yet.

The only part that I'd swap out is the WTB SST Comp saddle, which seems to be a well-liked budget mtb saddle. It was fine for long day rides, but on the second day of a 200 mile weekend the rounded profile felt like it was punching me firmly in the nethers. A flatter saddle would be better, but as saddles are very much a personal choice I wouldn't be too critical.

Although this is a touring and expedition bike it is also an absolute hoot to ride. The angles are relaxed, but there's nothing stodgy or sluggish about it, helped by the fact that small wheels really do accelerate faster than big ones.

I commuted and audaxed on it and if it had been fitted with mudguards I'd have happily done more than the 600 odd miles I ended up doing. The cockpit is on the high side, typical of a touring setup, but the spacer stack and upturned stem give you ample opportunity to drop things quite a long way should you wish.

The skinny bars, in a 42cm width, give a comfortable ride and thanks to the bar end shifters it's easy to fit a bar bag as there are no pesky STI cables in the way. The Tektro brake levers lack the internal gubbins of an STI unit and are consequently a little on the narrow side, which makes them a slightly less comfortable platform for riding on but it's not a big deal.

At a full retail price of £1199 this isn't a cheap bike by any means, highlighted by the lack of essential extras like a rack and mudguards. You can't deny that Surly is a niche brand with an inevitable premium, but equally you can't deny that this is a very good frame, built up into a great bike. Of all the touring bikes I've ridden in the last year (including the super high-end Tout Terrain Grande Route and the Dawes Super Galaxy that I haven't actually written up yet) the Surly is the one I would actually spend money on.

Overall this is a super practical bike and much more fun to ride than you might expect.

Verdict

Very well thought out tourer with bags of character.