You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I had my heart set on the new Marin Pine Mountain or a Cotic Solaris 650 but I can feel this bike calling me......
Any owners on here? Forum search revealed little.
Does anybody know if it will take a 27.5 plus tyre if I decided to do that one day?
Or what size a 6ft2 chap with longish legs would need?
I think it looks like a great fun bike. The only thing I can see wrong is it looks heavy as......
Can't imagine why you'd consider this monstrosity over a lovely new Solaris
[img] 
[/img]
Or either of them over the pine mountain
I don't know why but to me it is a beautiful thing.... I can't explain it.
Mind you I said that to my friends when questioned about my girlfriend, and she was very heavily framed but I didn't notice while riding.
ANYway, I bet you the frame isn't much heavier than the Marin.
You really don't see much about these, and Surly reduced the price very heavily at one point. I [i]think[/i] they've bombed, 26+ isn't a thing they'll gently die away when they've sold their stock.
As an educated guess, you won't get 27.5+ in there in especially "+" size, because they were designed to take [i]either[/i] 27.5 [i]or[/i] 26+ (50mm rim, 2.7" tyre, in 26" flavour).
Personally, I think I'd be getting a Krampus if I wanted a Surly trail bike. But the Solaris is a whole lot less peculiar...
🙂
On Facebook, there are quite a series of groups dedicated to different Surly models - Krampus, ICT and Big Dummy are very active. There doesn't seem to be an Instigator one at all.
On Flickr, there are perhaps 3-4 being photographed - most of the tagged shots are of the older models.
Almost nothing on Tumblr.
Couple on Instagram, one with a petrol engine.
Not that this proves it's a bad bike or you shouldn't want one, just that the overwhelming majority of Surly's loyal fans looked at it and decided they could pass. Which is fairly unusual!
🙂
I really liked th original. In orange. Would've bought one, but bought an ace dmr off here....
[img] 
[/img]
Thing of beauty.
I just built up a Surly Instigator as 27.5. I like the frame a lot. Nice 4130 CroMo with neat welds. It has modular dropouts to allow horizontal slotted for SS, 142x12 thruaxle (direct mount for Shimano rear mech) or 135x10. The frame rides beutifully with short chai stays, slack-ish head angle and long-ish front end. It's as heavy as you'd expect from a steel frame but not a beast. It rides light if that makes sense. Of course it will not be as light at aluminum or carbon, but that's the trade off with a steel frame. The bike is spec'd from Surly as 26+. It will fit 27.5 but not 27.5+. If you want to go 27.5+, go with a 29-er frame. Solaris would fit 27.5+ as it is a 29-er. It has a different geo than Instigator with a longer chain stay. Marin Pine Mtn also has a longer CS but not as long as Solaris. If you're looking for 27.5+/29 with short CS and slack head angle, look at something like Canfiled Yelli Screamy or Nimble 9 (aluminum vs steel).
I could be persuaded to part with this XL Yelli Screamy frame and forks, or even the whole build for the right ££££'s - I'm 6'2"
[img] 
[/img]
Surlies are great bikes. I have two built up (a Cross Check & KM OPs) + a 26" LHT frame waiting for bits. Really well made but are a tad heavy if you're concerned about that sort of thing.
really wanted one. Thought about the price. Bought a Honzo. Never looked back.