>>1005522>I wish there were more GOOD rigid frames around. adding springs and crap everywhere took off a bit before aluminum so your pretty much left with 90's Hi-ten BSO's and the odd decent chromo bike.There are PLENTY of spectacular rigid frames out there if you're willing to spend a little extra on something from an independent framebuilder or small shop.
>>1005508Right? 700C is fine if you're sticking to the USA, but I spent hours searching for a 700C tube in Nagano a few years ago.
>>1005237The Karate Monkey and the Pugsley were definitely the bikes that made people sit up, take notice, and go "huh, maybe these aren't a niche of product segments as we thought", and anyone who disputes that doesn't have a memory more than a decade long.
But I'm not sure I'd say the LHT is the reason why touring bikes are in fashion. Yes, the LHT has a cult following, but it's really not that amazing. I'd argue that Salsa's new Marrakesh is everything the LHT should be - kickstand plate and all.
>Credit for the bottle cage bosses and eyelets covering frames today tooWut. No. The Salsa Fargo is the bike that touched off the let's-mount-ALLTHETHINGS.jpg-on-the-fork-blades into the mainstream. The Fargo had the fork mounts, the 3-bolt cage mount on the downtube, and the third cage mount under the downtube at least a year before those brazeons showed up on the Troll and Ogre.
ANYWAY. Surly hasn't really put out anything noteworthy in years.
If you want a rigid steel fatbike, they are probably the best value - good luck finding anything as versatile for backcountry bikepacking from any major manufacturer. Want an all-road and off-road touring bike? Hard to go wrong with a Troll or Ogre (or a Salsa Fargo).
But on the other hand, none of their 700c road bikes look compelling at all - yeah, the Crosscheck is a hipster classic, but ehhhh... And the Straggler is DOA with those fucked dropouts. Almost every single one of Surly's roadbikes has a better counterpart at All-City
