The Surly Trucker touring bikes are probably the most recognizable touring
bikes in the world. Go to any popular cycling destination and you'll find a
handful of people riding them. Jump on Instagram and lots of folks are using
them for their cross-continental trips. With so many happy users there's no
doubt they're great bikes, and now there's a fresh update to the Disc Trucker
for us to analyze! I've actually used a Surly Trucker to cycle across dozens of
countries, covering in excess of 50,000 kilometers. So I'm very familiar with the
bike, in fact, my Trucker was the first touring bike I purchased as a 19 year
old. In this video, we'll go through all of the changes, but if you're time poor
check out this summary. Okay, so the frame has had a few geometry tweaks. The most
notable is the increase in stack height. Stack height is the height difference
from the bottom bracket shell to the top of the head tube. This height has gone up
20 to 30 millimeters on all sizes which will reduce the number of headset spacers
required to get your handlebars to a suitably upright position. In addition,
the Disc Trucker comes with a handlebar which has 30 millimetres of rise. When
combined with a taller stack, the end result is five or six fewer headset
spaces. As a bike with a taller stack tends to increase the frame standover,
Surly has added more top tube slope on the 700C bikes to ensure that the stand
over remains the same. But unfortunately, the standover is actually eight
millimeters taller for the riders who usually need it most. So smaller cyclists
take note. Surly has also taken 10 millimeters from the chainstay lengths
to make the bike a little bit more agile. I don't think this is a win for a
dedicated touring bike, but it makes the bike feel a touch more nimble without a
load. The frame geometry is otherwise pretty much the same as previously. Surly
has followed Kona's lead with an update from quick-release wheels to 12
millimetre thru-axles and flat mount disc brake calipers. This format is standard
on road disc and gravel bikes and is presumably going to be more widespread
on touring bikes in the future. Flat mount is a pretty neat standard,
certainly looks better, but there is one key downside - you cannot use rotors
larger than 160 millimeters. A 180mm front rotor is a nice upgrade on a
through-axle bike, especially for those with a bike and body and gear weight on
the higher side. Although 12mm hubs are not
commonplace in developing countries, hub failures are uncommon so I don't
actually see this as a negative. In the case of a rim or spoke failure, you can
always find someone to rebuild your existing hubs into a new rim. A cool
thing about this new axle standard is that you can pair it with the super
powerful Shimano 705 dynamo hub. This hub has been tested to offer the most output
power at low speeds of any dynamo hub. The fork now has three-pack mounts for
cargo cage bags and internal routing for a dynamo cable. You can also fit the
Surly Porteur racks to the fork crown, giving you many luggage options up front:
baskets, porteur bags, panniers and cargo cage bags.
Unfortunately, the Disc Trucker still does not have a kickstand mount, but
there is an adapter plate which is included with the bike. While kickstand
mounts are on literally every European touring bike, I have no idea why the
American manufacturers don't make it easy to fit one. I used my kickstand 50
times per day to quickly take photos, pack my bags, organize my bags or park my
bike. I don't mind having no kickstand on a backpacking rig because you can lean
your bike on the ground to your handlebar. But when it comes to using
panniers, a kickstand is a must in my opinion. The disc trucker previously came
with a 3X10 drivetrain using a Shimano XT rear derailleur and bar-end
shifters. For 2021, the bike has unfortunately been downgraded to Shimano
Alivio. Let me remind you of the hierarchy from top to bottom: XTR, XT,
SLX, Deore, Alivio, Acera and Altus. This solution is currently the
best option if a manufacturer is looking to fit user-friendly integrated shifters.
The Sora shifters are reliable these days, but I'd prefer to see a higher spec
30 speed drivetrain with bar-end shifters on this bike, as it will offer smoother
shifts and in my experience will work much better in nasty weather
conditions. There are other drivetrain options as shown on this Co-Motion or
this Thorn touring bike. In terms of climbing gears, the lowest gear is 20
inches with the 26 inch wheel, and 21 inches with a 700C wheel. For reference,
20 inches or less is what we're looking for on a touring bike. If you find the
stock gears a bit high, the good news is that you can swap out the front
chainrings or the cassette to one with a 36 tooth cog, which probably should have
been fitted from the factory. The rims have an internal diameter which is three
millimeters wider than previously, making them perfectly adequate for a 40 to 50
millimetre touring tire. They're also now tubeless-ready.
Unfortunately, the wheels look to have been reduced to 32 spokes, so they aren't
quite as burly as they could be. Although I don't think this is a deal breaker
because the Alex Adventurer 2 rims are pretty solid. Surly offers 26-inch wheels
for its smaller bikes, that's 42 centimetres right up to 56 centimetres.
26 inch is often touted as being the best for developing countries, but from
my experience in Latin America over the last few years, 27.5 and 29 inch
are definitely the most common sizes as they're readily found on entry-level
mountain bikes. Finding low quality 26 inch tires and rims is no problem but
when I last went shopping with a friend to find a good quality 26 inch tire, we
came back empty-handed. With the 56cm bike you get two wheel size
options, then from 58 to 64cm you'll be on 700c wheels. The maximum
tire width with fenders is 26x2.1" or 700x47mm. It
would have been nice to see a similar clearance to the Salsa Marrakesh or Kona
Sutra. It's worth noting that Surly has a FANTASTIC size range with 10 frame sizes,
rather than the 4 to 6 sizes that are typical. The 42cm bike is one of
the smallest touring bikes available, and the 64cm bike is one of the
biggest touring bikes you can buy, suiting riders over 2 metres tall. The bike has
been upgraded to the best cable disc brakes in town,
that's the TRP Spyre. These cable disc brakes are one of the only models to
pull both brake pads in at the same time. Otherwise,
you'll find Surly Extraterrestrial tires and a high-quality sealed bearing Cane
Creek headset. The price jumps up to $1675, which is in line with similarly spec
bikes the salsa Marrakesh and the Trek 520, but it's a couple of hundred more
than the Kona Sutra. If you want to do your own build, you can also get the
frameset for $725. The frame geometry
is as good as ever, it's still available in a very wide size range, and I love
that the stack height is now much more appropriate for touring. The 12mm
thru-axle standard future-proofs the bike, but on the topic of
future-proofing, I think 27.5" wheels would have been
the smarter option in the smaller sizes. While the Shimano Sora shifters have
proven themselves to be very reliable, I think the previous 3X10
drivetrain offers much better performance for the price. I can see why
Surly picked that lower spec drivetrain with integrated shifters - they're just
that bit more user-friendly. As the Trucker frames have never felt as
laterally stiff as other touring bikes, I would have loved to have seen some
larger diameter steel top tubes and down tubes. A rear kickstand mount would have
been a very welcome addition, and a bit more tire clearance with fenders would
have been appreciated - just enough to get my favourite slick tire in - the 700x50mm
Schwalbe Almotion. The Disc Trucker is still a great bike, and with
its reputation, it will be as popular as ever. But with more tire clearance, a
better spec and a lower price the Kona Sutra is still my number one pick for
the touring bikes in this category. If you're interested in learning everything
there is to know about touring bikes, you want the Touring Bicycle Buyer's Guide!
The front half of the book teaches you everything you need to know about the
bikes, the middle section teaches you how to compare them, and the final section is
a listing of 160 touring bikes from around the world.