Surly Straggler - It's an Animal.

    On the road, my first impression: "Hmm, kinda feels like my road bike..." Not a whole lot of rolling resistance even with the knards... But then I I bounced over to trail, and this bike took off. After 10 miles of pure trail bliss, fire-roads, old conservation lands, the aggressive position allowed me to go faster than I could on my 29er... It didn't want to stop.

    The Good:

1. The Steel Front Fork.  It's amazing.  Stronger and stiffer than my Jamis's Carbon, smooth as butter.
2. "Assertive/Aggressive" frame geometry.  Play time.  Time to let the dogs out and run.
3. 175 Cranks, better than 172.5's I had on Bosanova.  Far more power. Period.
4. Wheel Skewers, Keep disk aligned with calipers much better than Bossanova.  No Rubbing.
5. Avid BB7 Brakes.  Awesome.  My original plan was to go Shimano, but there is no need.
6. Saddle Completely Acceptable, plan on getting a new Brooks for it, but undecided on color.
7. VALUE:  I was planning on building this from ground up.  Cranks, Cables, Wheels, Shifters, Brakes, Groupset etc...  BUT, this build is completely acceptable with the exception of the cranks, which would be fine other than I plan on doing D2R2 this year, and cycle in Vt and NH frequently.
8. Braze-On, Braze-On, Braze On!  Plenty of places to attach your burdens.
9. Wheel with accommodation.  700cX41 works great.  
10. Bonus: Saddle bag fit's nicely with stock saddle.

    The Bad:

1.     Lack of color choices.  I wanted satin-crimson.
2.    Cranks / Gearing not optimal.  Need to get something like a Middleburn for a better climbing experience.  For around the town and "Easy Spinning" locations this is great.  For 3000+ ft climbing per day.... Well lets just say it's not optimal.  Do-able, but not optimal.  This leaves us a rotation ratio of a 36-32.  So over the 1:1, but not quite.  For me personally, this won't work in the long run.
3. Cable Runs.  I don't like the bottom of the top tube to run cables.  Leaves me nowhere to attach my pump because I run dual bottle cages.
4. Did I mention the color?

      NOTES:

1. Frame Size.  I usually ride a 56 to 58cm frame.  This one is a 54.  But it  stretches my spine in just the right way, almost like my old Cannondale did. 
2. The overall Value:  I could have build the bike from the ground up, but the value of the complete build had a few bullet points.

• Decent wheel build.
• Groupset is Tiagra.  For Cross/Gravel riding, these components are similar to road 105, but will be easier to replace.  Soot, Gravel, Pollen, and other particulate WILL get into the cable housings.  It is a fact of life with this type of riding.  Why beat on a high end group?
• At the end of the day, All I need to replace is Cranks and "maybe" the Saddle.  Which makes the cost well worth it.  Down the line, I can look at a proper set of wheels.
• My Jamis Bosanova has Identical Group.  I could swap out parts/wheels any time.
• Immediacy of acquisition of the bike.

Update: 2016-07-18:

    This has been a great bike so far, but I need to swap out the cranks.  I had to hike-a-bike half of Methodist Hill Road in NH (near Eastman Hill in Grantham) a couple weeks ago.  Although I've been getting better at the climbs, I can only sustain it for about 3000 ft of climbing without breaking too often.  My legs turn to mush after a couple hours of extended climbing.   I don't really have this problem on the Jamis, but it is geared different.  On that bike I have a triple, with a 26-39-50, and the granny gear works pretty well for "Most" everything.

    For areas in Boston/Metro-West and inside the 495 belt, this thing is great.  I don't want to lose the comact 36-42 but this gear ratio can't climb with only a 32 tooth cassette in the back.  This setup is well over the 1:1 crank to wheel turn ratio.  I am reluctant to switch to a long-cage mountain deraileur, but I may have to.  I need to get it well "below" the 1:1 ratio for decent endurance climbing, and I have already been in situations on trails where I barely was able to climb.

    So today I ordered a Shimano FC-M785 XT Crankset with a 28-tooth and 40-tooth double, which puts me under the 1:1 ratio with a 4 tooth difference.  I'll still need to go down to a 24 tooth ring or up to a 34 or 36 tooth cassette.  I wanted to go with Middleburn cranks, but getting them in the U.S. is not easy.  There is only one shop in the country that sells them based out of GA.  I called them and left messages but they never got back to me and I needed a decent crank to ride this summer.  I didn't want to wait for them to be shipped from the UK, and there was no shipping option to get them to the USA.

    The next step will be the rear deraileur, chain and a cassette swap.  I was told by a couple LBS's that a 9-Speed long-cage Mountain deraileur would work with my STI Shifters, but a 10-Speed deraileur would not.  Since I ride 65% road, I need decent graduations between gears for shifting on the road.  This is why I don't want to put a larger cassette in back.  With more range in gears, smooth shifting and road momentum is lost with gaps between gears that are too large.

    Other than that, the Salsa bars are pretty good for trail.  The flared drops do a good job of keeping my wrists from bumping into the hoods.  Also, I found a way to mount my pump on the front fork using the braze-on and a black zip-tie.  It looks pretty cool.  I also put the Brooks saddle on it.  I'll have to upload updated photos of it soon.

    Lastly, I want to vent a bit.  For all the Dog-Walkers who let their animal SHIT in the middle of the trails, have a happy middle finger.  Same to the equestrians.  It's a pain in the ass to hose off that shit out of the treads, and stinks all the way home.  It also makes stopping in at Pete's coffee all that more awkward.  If you own a dog or a horse, PLEASE don't let it SHIT in the middle of the trail and leave it there.  

Update 2016-07-24:

    Getting used to the new crank set is really bizarre.  It's really a "middle-of-the-road" mid-range setup.  You lose a gear or two on the high end, and a gear or two on the low end.  

    I spin out on the 40/11 on the flats frequently, but I think I can live with it for the gains in usable gears for everything else.  It's just weird that I am usually on the smaller gears of the cassette now instead of in the middle.  I DO like the fact that I can find a gear for almost anything, and can spin comfortably at a higher RPM than I could on the other crank.

    For the hills, this works pretty good.  For the trails, I'm a pretty happy camper.  There are more usable gears on the 28-tooth ring, and I can mostly stay on the small ring for single-track/cross trail.  I even get onto the 40-ring on the flats on dirt and unpaved rail-trails.

    I went to a 28/40 in the front (But I really wanted a 26/42), but they didn't have that option.  The reason for this is because I need to keep the smallest gear graduations across the rear cassette without getting gear changes that are too big.  That's why I don't want to go to a larger cassette in back.  I have an 11-32, but I would really like a 12-28, but this would bring me to a 1:1 crank to wheel ratio, which is really bad for climbing.  

    To get a good climbing/road setup, I would need to either swap out my rear derailleur for a long cage, and go with a larger rear cassette (11-34/36), or drop the inner ring to a 22 tooth or less up front to go with a smoother road cassette in the back.  Why can't I just get a good 22/42 crank?  I don't want to swap half my drive-train for 2 lousy teeth.  I need smooth shifting between gears as much as I need range in the back.

Update 2016-08-14:

   So I have done a few more rides with this bike.  I rode the RAID LaMoille 50k loop from Stowe through Morrisville Vt, and also rode the LaMoille Rail Tral from Morrisville to Jefferson and back.  I am posting a few photos below.  I also have changed my rear mech out for a long cage (Altus for now) and an 11-36 cassette in preparation for D2R2 next week.  I have taken the bike for a test ride, and it is fantastic.

    After I swapped out my new cranks, I decided to upgrade the Bossanova, which had an FSA triple crankset with 172.5 cranks and they were killing my knees.  I swapped out the crank and the bottom bracket for the one that originally came with the Surly, and it made a world of difference.  I also dropped the seat and moved it back about 3/4 inch, and now it rides very similar to the Surly, but is now limited to the 36 tooth front ring on a 32 tooth low rear cog.  For now this will suffice as my commuter/all-round bike for the flatter metro-west and eastern Massachusetts area.

    Since I do not have room for a bike-stand, I have dialed in perfectly using my multi-purpose picnic table, by flipping it up on it's side and stuffing an old helmet under one of the legs to keep it level.  (Just in case you are wondering what I use for a bike stand, see below)

    I had a 3/4 inch metal screw puncture my rear tire on my way back from Morrisville heading back to Stowe on Rt 100.  I have a folded-up receipt between the new tube and the tire, and it seems to be holding, but I don't want to risk it at D2R2, so I have purchased some Specialized Crossroads tiires (700 x 38).  I plan on installing these later tonight or tomorrow so I'll have something less questionable under me in Deerfield.