Surly Cross Check Bikepacking

I often say this is a surly that wishes it was a rivendell.

Surly cross check bikepacking.

The build is inspired by our lord and bicycle savior grant peterson. It safely guided me from coast to coast with only minor issues. Surly cross check 52 cm robins egg blue. I thought about this build for many hours during my tour through central america.

Overall if i had to rate the surly cross check on a scale from 1 to 5 i would give it a 3 5. Rad companies that support bikepacking. Mike has contributed a time or two on the blog and here is the surly cross check he built in the spring of 2013 for a summer road tour across western europe. There s a reason that nearly every person who has ever worked for surly has owned one.

The bike proved to be reliable versatile and straight forward. Drop bars or flats gears or not chunky tires or slicks it s all been done. Cross check was the first complete bike we ever offered. Sram apex 10 speed 11 32 cassette 50 34 truvativ crank velocty dyad shimano lx hub hand built by peter white cycles schwalbe marathon pro tires with 500 miles on them carbon seat post with specialized toupe saddle avid canti brakes with kool stop pads chris king headset.

The surly troll as i had it is a perfect bike for hauling big loads of gear through second and third world conditions. We provide inspiration and information through original bikepacking routes. Surly cross check bikepacking gear gravel all road mike has contributed a time or two on the blog and here is the surly cross check he built in the spring of 2013 for a summer road tour across western europe. This cross check started its life as a stock build and i ve slowly swapped out pretty much every part on the bike.

It certainly isn t a bad bike and as a member of the steel is real movement i appreciate what surly is doing here however i feel like no matter what you are using this bike for you are making some trade offs. I wanted a lighter. The only original bits are the wheels shifters and front derailleur. Over the past two months i built surly cross check to be my light touring and commuting bike of the future.

The surly cross check doesn t need a lengthy introduction of course.