bridge club

‘Ollie’ is my Surly Bridge Club. My ‘go anywhere, do anything’ bike. Slow and steady, but adaptable to lots of functions.

The steel frame, wide clearance for tyres on 27.5" rims and multiple mounting points make it ideal for bikepacking. It can also run narrower tyres on 700cc rims, as a rock solid utility bike.

ambition

I want this bike to do several things:

  1. A daily commuter with comfortable tyres that can make comfortable trips of 10-15 km on the flat and also handle weekend grocery runs. This means hybrid tyres on 700cc rims, mudguards, a rack with pannier bag mounts, bright lights, a solid and dependable lock and a bottle cage.

  2. A bikepacking rig that can tackle gravel tracks, hills and weekend rolls around local fire trails. This means wide tyres on 27.5" rims, a platform front rack and some bags, a couple of bottle cages, wide bars and a wide range of gears.

current setup

This setup is part of the way there - especially for bikepacking mode.

Surly Bridge Club (Size L)

  • Surly Moloko bars (Material: Chromoly steelClamp Diameter: 31.8mmWidth: 735mm, can be cut to 685mmRise: 0Sweep Angle: 34 degreesWeight: 709gColor: E.D. coated black)
  • Brooks B17 saddle, circa 2016
  • Ergon GC1 Grip BioKork

other parts and equipment

history

I bought my Bridge Club (size L) in dark moss in September 2023, from Kingston Foreshore Cycles, Canberra. I had Surly moloko bars fitted, to give a variety of hand positions: from out wide to an out-front position. I also bought the Surly Moloko bag, to nestle in the middle of the bars for easy storage. I also had my Brooks B17 leather saddle from 2016 fitted.

I found the riding position too stretched out, so swapped the stock stem for a shorter one with more angle, to bring the bars higher and closer.

I added a basic aluminium bottle cage to the sloping tube not long afterwards. I also added a Quadlock stem mount, though it’s a tight fit on this shorter stem, secured with zip ties.

I bought an Abus Granite X folding lock from Omafiets, Sydney and fitted it to the rear of the triangle mount.

In January 2024, I bought some Abus BioKork grips to give my hands more support on the wide bars.

I had it serviced at Mojo Cycle Repairs, Canberra in 2024. They fitted the Ergon GC1 BioKork grips, but were unable to fit a Specialized Pizza Rack, which I’d bought at Omafiets.

I picked up a feed bag in March 2024, in preparation for an event (which I couldn’t ultimately take part in).