Surly Long Haul Trucker

If you want to carry a lot of stuff while riding your bike long distances, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bike than the Long Haul Trucker. It starts with the frame, whose tubing and geometry were specifically designed for loaded travel. Surly has added braze-ons for everything you’re likely to need, and they’ve given it parts that are durable and long lasting. This bike has been among our most popular models because it’s a good value and a great riding bike.

Truth is, there is little as epic as a really long bike ride. It resets your mind. It challenges your body and spirit. It stirs and purges, soothes and recharges. “The daily grind” becomes meaningful. Just you, and everything you need to live, packed up on your bike.

So where do you want to go? To work and back everyday? A week long trip to the next state over? Or perhaps La Paz, Bolivia, via Homer, Alaska? Maybe you just want to wake up and wonder where you are. The Surly Long Haul Trucker is the right tool for the job. It’s not flashy, and it’s not made of the latest, lightest, thinnest alloy. It is made, like all of Surly’s frames, of CroMoly steel. Why? Because steel is tough and durable, yet resilient. It soaks up the rough stuff, but remains stiff enough to provide an efficient ride. Sure, aluminum can be tough, and carbon fiber can soak up road static. Heck, titanium even acts a lot like steel. But there is nothing else that does all the things that steel does for so little money.

Surly designed the Long Haul Trucker geometry for all day, everyday comfort, even fully loaded (quite different from the vast majority of frames out there). Long chain stays and a laid back head angle provide a comfy platform for day after day after day in the saddle. It has 3 sets of water bottle cage bosses. It has braze-ons for carrying a couple of extra spokes. And it has braze-ons for front and rear racks. The head tube is taller on top to help put you in a more upright position and save strain on your neck, back, shoulders, wrists and elbows. The bigger sizes take 700c wheels, while the smaller frames are designed for 26″ wheels to reduce toe overlap without compromised handling.

Like all Surlys, it sports practical, standard sizing for things like seatpost, front derailleur, and stem. It’s even got downtube shifter braze-ons. All this means you can easily find new parts for it, or use stuff you already have.

The Long Haul Trucker isn’t the bike that everyone is going to have. It isn’t the next big thing. It won’t race like a champ or scream down rocky singletrack. It isn’t about impressing your friends. It’s a tool for finding out what you are capable of inside. Are you ready to ride?

Year 2011