What to expect: Surly Bridge Club on Mixed Terrain Bikepacking 

The setup is super! Happy, safe riding!

Great review. One of the last remaining touring bikes with a truly low grannie gear!

I love this build. Like you say the simplicity and ease of repair of the mechanical brakes. I built a gravel bike, using and old Voodoo Limba frame and forks. A bike builder friend helped me, especially on the gearing side. To got the 'NEW' 1x I was looking at very costly components, so I opted for a 2x and used a MTB gearing. Gave me a much better range and the lowest ratio gave me 0.85 and the 1x would have given me 0.87. The price difference was over £400 saving ! For me a bikepacking set-up needs to be capable of eating up the miles with ease, in relative comfort and it is clear that is what you have achieved here So refreshing to see someone building a bike in today's world, without the want/feel/need for the latest gearing and braking at extortionate costs 👊👍

I've really enjoyed your videos about your Bridge Club. I have a recommendation about luggage on a touring bike. My bike is a Straggler but i reckon it's relevant. Get a rear rack and panniers. Continue to use your front rack and panniers and distribute the load across the bike. Consider a different front rack; one that includes a top deck for a basket, such as a Surly Front Rack or a 24 Pack Rack. Also, consider putting your Camelbak into the bottom most part of the frame bag, and running the tube out the top to where it's easy to reach for a drink.

Amazing review buddy, greetings

Sympa le vélo et belle balade ;)

I did a big part of the TMV in september as a part of my Arlon (Belgium) Iserables (Suisse) trip and I can say that your bike is a good choice. I used a Breezer radar with a 2x9 with the lowest gear a 36-24 and sometimes I wished I had a 22😅. So the set up looks like this one. I'm now converting the bike to a straight handlebar (ergotec m-bar) because the drop bar on this route was a killer for my back. The thing to check out is the capability to hike a bike with this luggage set up because there a lot of steep sections where you are going to walk. I used a front rack with a roll bag and rear rack with a rack pack and a half frame bag. It did it for me. Used the same tires as u (maxxis icon) and had one flat that could be plugged an an other that solved itself (tubeless) on the whole route (1200km) water and food are not a big problem on the TMV. In France the graveyards have drinkable water. Good luck and enjoy!

3x is the future... Again. Happy rolling

Great points made with this build that hopefully help some people out there. I'm shopping for a Bridge Club so very helpful to me. Hopefully whatever type of gearing you choose gives you a nice big range between lowest and highest gears and for a touring bike it's nice for piece of mind to have a couple less cogs in the back and a wider, stronger chain. Also on the brakes seeking out more braking power quickly runs you into the limiting factor which is how much traction do you have. I also love my frame bag, super handy day to day and puts some cargo in the middle of the bike where it carries best.

Just an idea about the front paniers - I had similar issues on my Karate Monkey: The more the weight is in front of the axle, the more reactive/unstable the wheel rides. But if the weight slides to the rear, the wheel drives more stable / sluggish. The good thing is that the brackets on the back of the Ortliebs can move in both directions. So if necessary you could experiment a bit, if you want to transport more weight times ...

Really like your setup. I'm looking at the BC but also the Ogre as it has the horizontal drop outs for a rohloff hub.

3x8 but using 9spd components. DEORE-Alivio. agree totally on this. I have a 7spd 12-32 deore 9spd RD on it smartened the tourney groupset up just right. adding the 22,32,42 front cranks. other bike has 28,38,48 and thinner tires. SOLD MY 12SPD XC8 after one season.. the cables would freeze up in the easiest gear which was stupid annoying.. mild Toronto October at night..

muy bueno

I think the reason Surly used a 1X for their prebuilt drivetrain is because that is half the number of gear shifts to worry about and adjust, keeping things as simple and reliable as possible. I think if I was going to build this myself I would just use an even larger rear cassette to try and get that sweet .62/.61 area ratio, but bring the high gear closer to 3.5-4 like you said. I don't know if that's possible on a 1x setup but I would try I think as much as possible to keep it a 1x setup. I do like the idea of mechanical disc brakes, I'm definitely on board with that decision. Very simple and very reliable.

I have same brakes on my Fargo nice choice

Hint; Compression-less brake cableset (Yokozuna Reaction) will make the BB7s feel significantly more powerful.

I have custom built Ghost Grappler with a Ritchey Kyote alt bar, and a very similar build. We agree on many things!

Hey Fran, Thanks for the great videos, you've inspired me, along with some other creators, to be more in tune with my bike and showed me so many options to consider to personalise my experience. Thank you! Do you have experience with suspension seatposts? Any thoughts? I'm seatpost curious 😅

Interesting frame and build. I like your choices and you explain their rationale clearly. Why do people have such a negative opinion of mech brakes? I have BB7s on one bike and they are so easy to set up and service. I also am trying mechanically actuated hydraulics on another bike [Juin brand]. I have found that the cable housing and cables make a HUGE difference to performance of these types of brakes. I’m using Jagwire compression less KEB-SL but am going to try Simworks by Nessen Talking Parts housing and cables (expensive but look cool too - stainless steel)

Great video ! Recently I get bridge club as well How did you mount front rack? Is there any problems? I am right now try to choose between tara and duo.

Hi, Merci pour ce video!. I am an american living in France and am doing more and more bike travelling. I'm looking far and wide for a new dedicated bike which is versatile. Right now i am touring on road bikes, but I feel the limits and want something for gravel situation, or to be more precise, all the situations you video discusses with the BC. I am pretty sure steel or titanium will be my choice. (lookign at Niner, Salsa, Fairlight, Surly, Leon88...among others) What you video confirmed to me is the importance of 3X drive train. I thought that many recent wide tire compatible bikes like the BC could not accept 3X, but now I see it isn't true. So from your video, it seems like purchasing a frameset could be the best bet, as long as the spec allows for the 3X...Question Is this easy/difficult to ascertain? Thanks again! - Peter

Great video! How tall are you? I’m looking at getting a L frame but I could also go M at my height

Such a shame the Packrat is discontinued...so glad i got one! Does eveyting the BC does but...low trail geo; 15+kg up front, 27.5/50mm mtb tires, much lighter. (Took mine from Amsterdam to Morocco and back, Trans Germany Trail) uwGuess its because the rimbrakes...wich i dont need. Any Surly is awesome though so Enjoy!

Your panniers alone weight a huge amount, I reckon if you look around you can easily shave 1kg off the weight of the panniers before you even add luggages in it. If you look at North St Adventure Micro Pannier 14L, they weight under 400g each, or the 21L one that is over 400g.

Great bike! Love your setup! I noticed that you changed your hanlebars from the last video? are those open bars by surly?

I love the frame bag. What brand is that? It fits the frame perfectly.

With the shorter chainstays would I have chances of heel strikes with a rear rack and ortleib panniers?

I was pretty jealous when I watched your build video and now I'm even more jealous seeing it in action. Also crazy to see that %655 gear range on the 3x. Makes me wonder how 1x ever became the fad.

Hello, what are the size of the tires? Thx

Hey what is your height? I am 1m78cm. Would you rather recommend going with frame size M or L? Thanks

Could you let me know the tire size? 26" or 27.5" or 29"

What bar is that may I ask?

can u say model this handbar?

You put all the extra weight up front?????