[Closed] Surly Bridge club. Hmmm

Surly has never made a bad bike.

Had one on loan for review:

https://advntr.cc/surly-bridge-club-review/

Now own it.

Popping to the shops or 100k around the peaks, it does it all. 🙂

And here was me thinking on one had monopolised the shit names for bikes. 😁

Seems a lot like an On-One 650b Bootzipper, without the modern hub spacing?

I quite like the 135mmish rear end as all the bikes I have still have this. Im still on 8 and 9 spd😂

Same here - if the Bootzipper was 135mm OLD for 9mm QR I'd have bought one by now.

Seems a lot like an On-One 650b Bootzipper, without the modern hub spacing?

True but then aren't both just trying to fill that niche of "rubbish pub bike for people with too much money?". Except the On-One is expensive, and the Surly is really expensive?

I like rigid steel bikes, I love that you can go anywhere, do anything, put it away filthy and ride it again tomorrow without having to worry about expensive forks getting trashed but why would you pay £1400 for one with a fairly poverty level spec? At that sort of price you're getting into carbon XC bikes that could probably do the whole bikepacking loop you had planned in a day and get you back to the pub in time for last orders!

Surely the whole point is you can do that with the battered old white inbred frame you have in the shed?

My battered old Inbred is red, because my white one got stolen 🙂 Still on the original white forks though. I have a few niggles with my Inbred and Cotic X for the riding that I do and was looking for a frame that I could swap parts over/between; with different OLD spacing a Bootzipper frame would have filled that spot.

Accounting for inflation, I worked out at one point that the Bootzipper was pretty much exactly the same price as the £400 I paid for my white Inbred 16 years ago. Surly bikes are far too expensive for me 🙂

I would get it as a frame only on build up with bits and bobs. True, a old hard tail would do the job. Something like a rockhopper 29er. But it needs to have the rack mounts. So, £600 frame and fork isnt cheap but neither is it astronomical in this day and age.
What else is out there with 135mm rear end, braise on’s, standard threaded bb? It might all be old standard but it works.

Even when they are at like on offer in super sales at like 40% off at Triton they still seem steep!

Though in the flesh, they have nice quality enough touches

Kit is next to useless on their completes but just about dies the job

Personally it's niche whores that buy Surly's and like to reminisce about smoking pot etc etc when in fact they are sheeple stuck in rat race most days with a soggy beard look

So much bitterness

Always liked the look of Surly bikes, but the prices are just plain ridiculous.

and they weigh more than the mountain you are riding up

True that!

🏋️

TBF, they are probably as expensive as they are, due to import charges or crap exchange rates.

£1249 in UK ($1539 at today's rate)

$1100 in the US (£892)

The Bootzipper @ £914 delivered to UK will cost $1414 delivered to US (PX prices)

For those saying surly bikes are heavy, compared to what?
Obviously steel will be heavier than alu or carbon or ti, so what other similarly equipped (braze ons etc) steel frames are there that are significantly lighter for the same sort of price?
I ask because i have a karate monkey, and despite being built with stuff i had lying around, it doesn’t feel heavy to me, neither does anyone who has had a shot, or felt the weight in a car park, ever say ‘heavy’
It’s only online that i hear this, so I’m wondering, what multi purpose steel frame is significantly lighter for the same sort of price?

Surly bikes were reasonably priced, and consequently made sense for what they are, for a while.
I remember when a KM frameset was under £500. We are talking 10 to about 5 years ago at most. I owned 5 of them, at a time when simple, versatile steel frames were not as abundant as of now or simply because they were pioneers of a certain genre (Pugsley).

As of now, looking at their MTB offerings:
- outdated geometry
- crappy paint jobs
- you always end up paying for a fork that you might or might not want
- way overpriced in Europe. Our US friends are starting to complain about the same there

At this point I think there are better alternatives out there.

£1,249?  Could you not buy a custom steel frame for that sort of money?

You can get a ti f&f for that yes, km at that price is a full bike though.

TBF, they are probably as expensive as they are, due to import charges or crap exchange rates.

£1249 in UK ($1539 at today’s rate)

$1100 in the US (£892)

The Bootzipper @ £914 delivered to UK will cost $1414 delivered to US (PX prices)

Thats the nub of the problem, once imported they're almost boutique prices and consequently are seen as being better. In reality Surly are more like the American On-One.

It’s only online that i hear this, so I’m wondering, what multi purpose steel frame is significantly lighter for the same sort of price?

I had an el-mariachi, the karate monkeys middle class cousin. Hate to say it but it was heavy and stiff. Before it I had a Swift (custom crmo) which was comparably priced when new (and before that various pre-CEN 26" steel hardtails from crmo to 853), and after it I had a bargain Charge Cooker (Tange infinity?). The salsa just wasnt anywhere near as nice as any of them.

Like On-One they're good £200 frames, but less good £600 frames.

Id quite like something like the Bridge Club to commute on, but to be good value it would need to be well under the C2W limit and come with a full complement of racks, guards etc (basicly a posher version of my OFO).

*wanders off to scour ebay for another charge cooker*