Surly Ogre Monster Touring

It's been a while since this blog has been updated.  Well, the wait is over. This past weekend this fine Surly Ogre was finished and taken home. The customer wanted a do it all touring rig, including gravel roads and possible single track.  Clearance for big tires and versatility were key.  The end result?  This monster touring bike.

Key features you ask?  Sure.  The wheelset is a beefy, drop loving 36h Sun RynoLite build with a front Shimano generator hub and XT rear.  Crank, shifters, an derailleurs are tried and true Deore 9 speed.  This is geared down for touring up front with a 48-36-26 crankset and slightly more compact 11-28t rear cassette.  The big gem in all this are the new-old stock Shimano XT 4 piston hydraulic brakes (BR-755.)  Other nice touches you can find on this build are the Brooks leather saddle, FSA DH headset, the Salsa rear rack, the Civia fenders, Salsa cockpit. 

Upgrades down the road?  Certainly a lighting system.  A front rack, as the Jaand that the customer had would not work for this frame.  Tires to suit the terrain.  And who knows what else?  It's a Surly.

EDIT: Sometimes things don't work out and that happened here.  The customer really wanted drop bars, so we came up with a creative solution to do so without raising the price.  NOS Campagnolo Daytona shifters with a JTEK ShiftMate.  The ShiftMate is something every shop owner knows about, never recommends, but keeps as an ace in the hole.  I can verify that is works exactly as described and I highly recommend it if mixing components can't be avoided.