Surly Bridge Club

[Doug H.]

Has anyone here ridden or bought a Surly Bridge Club? I've been looking at them online and plan to test ride one when my LBS has them back in stock. Just wanted to gather some rider feedback too. I may ride a Karate Monkey as well. I'm looking at something to ride some  not too technical trails and gravel but something I could commute on also. It seems that Surly has a few bikes that overlap in terms of design and intended use. I do like that they have attachment points for racks and fenders.

Doug Hansford

[Devin]

Bikepacking.com has a very thorough review of the surly bridge club that would be worth reading: https://bikepacking.com/bikes/surly-bridge-club-review/. A friend of mine just purchased the 27.5 version and I took it for a test ride on some local (fairly technical) single track trails as well as the road to and from. Overall impression was that it was quite capable on the singletrack and comfortable on the road. I liked the double front chainring and the cable disc brakes worked just fine. This version had flat slightly swept back bars which were comfy and put you in a reasonably upright position. 

About a month later I test rode a bridge club at a local bike shop (700c version). I really didn't like the narrower tires at all even on the road but that is personal preference, and the brakes on the version at the local bikeshop were total crap and barely stopped (perhaps the discs were just brand new and not seated). These two things made the riding experience a lot worse than the first one I test rode, but were probably issues that could easily be sorted. 

I think overall its a great all around bike for a great price and would highly recommend it for someone who does a lot of mixed terrain riding. Comparing it to a more expensive bike like the surly Ogre, you pretty much get everything you need in the Bridge Club, unless you have some specific specialized needs that the Ogre meets when you compare the spec sheets. 

I would say you shouldnt go for something like the Karate Monkey, Krampus, or ECR unless you are into really technical offroad terrain or wanting to carry very heavy loads (or are just hard on bikes). 

[Doug H.]

Devin,

That is good feedback since you've actually ridden the BC with both wheel sizes. I have seen the Bikepacking review and its informative. If I decide to buy one I will probably have it custom built from the frame so that I can pick the parts. I would go with cable disc brakes for sure and maybe a better drivetrain than the SRAM SX they spec on the 27.5 version. I'm a little confused by Surly's hub spacing but I'm sure there are wheelsets that will work. 

Doug

[Devin]

The hub spacing put simply allows for 135-141mm spacing in the rear (the steel frame can be flexed easily so it can accommodate a range of sizes), and the front hub is a pretty standard 100mm spacing. It should be easy to find hubs that meet those specs. Obviously the stock hubs are made by Novatech (same supplier that makes bargain priced reasonable quality hubs that are rebranded under many other brandnames). You could probably find a good wheelset at a good price for this bike from Stans No Tubes or Hunt Wheels (who also uses Novatech hubs in their wheel builds).

I really should emphasize that my comments about tire width are just my personal taste. My  bike is a Salsa Fargo with 27.5 x 3.0 inch tires so I am biased towards large tires. If you are riding lots of road and you dont mind the "skinny" tire feel you might be perfectly happy with the 700c version. The 700c is actually spec'd with 41mm wide tires, which by normal road standards would actually be considered quite wide, and in the range of a "normal" width for a gravel or commuter tire so I guess it is all relative. 

I didn't know before you mentioned this that the bike is available as a frameset - that is quite cool! Though I could imagine doing a custom spec would cost you a lot more than the complete, which is very aggressively priced at $1200. I actually was kind of kicking myself after I bought my Fargo thinking that this bike was close to as capable as my Fargo for half the price. Obviously I got a bit more for my money, but its hard to say if I got "twice the bike".

As far as drive trains go I dont have any great advice as I am not too knowledgable about the subject. 

[Paul Shin]

Doug, the complete actually gets you a good value with pretty robust components. SRAM SX, Novatec hubs, WTB rims. All good. You can upgrade as things break or you want. You’ll come out ahead this way.

Bridge Club seems like a good bike for what you want to do. It’ll be good for gravel and road commutes. Not sure how long your commute is, but you can get a set of 700c wheels for paved rides/commutes and fatter 27.5 wheels for dirt. Very versatile bike.

[Justin Hughes]

I was unaware of this bike until this thread. I'd be interested in one because I have wheels and components already. Trouble is I doubt any bike shops have one or can order one. Such is the current state of things.

[Eric Daume]

Frames are available online. Universalcycles, for instance, had some last time I checked. 

Eric

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[Justin Hughes]

If so they're few and far between. If QBP has none then any that are out there won't last long. The usual suspects (including Universal) show bupkis for me. Found one from a UK seller. Perhaps your Google-fu is better. A lot of online sellers offer a psych out right now with a backorder or pre-order button, but they don't actually have the item. 

Justin
I

On Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 1:49:00 PM UTC-4 eric...@gmail.com wrote:

Frames are available online. Universalcycles, for instance, had some last time I checked. 

Eric

On Saturday, July 25, 2020, Justin Hughes <justinl...@gmail.com> wrote:

I was unaware of this bike until this thread. I'd be interested in one because I have wheels and components already. Trouble is I doubt any bike shops have one or can order one. Such is the current state of things.

On Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 11:03:29 AM UTC-4 shin...@gmail.com wrote:

Doug, the complete actually gets you a good value with pretty robust components. SRAM SX, Novatec hubs, WTB rims. All good. You can upgrade as things break or you want. You’ll come out ahead this way.

Bridge Club seems like a good bike for what you want to do. It’ll be good for gravel and road commutes. Not sure how long your commute is, but you can get a set of 700c wheels for paved rides/commutes and fatter 27.5 wheels for dirt. Very versatile bike.

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[rcnute]

Last I checked--albeit couple months ago--there were some at Ride Bicycles in Seattle. Completes though.

Ryan

[James / Analog Cycles]

We have BC frames in stock in most sizes.  -James / Analog Cycles