Surly Troll Vs Crust Evasion.
 

So the title basically says it all. From what I can tell these bikes essentially serve the same purpose, with the crust being quite a bit more expensive. I was wondering if someone with more experience can see any reason WHY the Crust is more expensive? Thanks a bunch :).

The Crust has a lot of nice little flourishes. Just look at the head badge and biplane fork and sparkly paint. The Troll... doesn't.

Troll has braze-ons for V-brakes, Rohloff hub, and Surly trailer hitch. The fork has a lot more mounts. It's basically a big adapter for all the parts you can think of.

I bet the Crust is a lot lighter though I've got no basis for that.

Crust is a small brand of recent origin, doing small batches. Surly is a subsidiary of QBP and is available nationwide, they were some of the first to mass market fat bikes and then plus bikes.

Crust marketing: Try this bicycle I made, I really like it! Surly marketing: lots of cussing

Thanks for the replies. I have an 87 rockhopper that I'm debating essentially rebuilding, or going the new bike route.

as a Troll owner, I would add that if you dont need the horizontal dropouts etc of a troll, look at the Bridge Club, cheaper and still a pretty darn good bike for what you want to do-----which brings us to that question--what do you want in a bike, and what do you want to do with it?
How wide tires do you want to go, do you want to use panniers or smaller bike packing stuff?
Offroad only, road only, mix??

and yes, as has been stated, small company, so higher prices.

but the surlys are good competent bikes that work great. I love mine and would take it anywhere.

lots of maybes here. Depends on the condition, if its 87 its most likely 7 speed at most, so the dropouts rear wheel width may stop you using135mm rear wheels....just lots of variables and utltimately it will be up to you to judge how much money you want to spend vs what the bike will be used for etc etc etc.

Yeah. It was a lot of maybes. Lol. I think I’ve decided to keep the rockhopper as is and maybe upgrade the saddle/handlebars (that I can take with me to a new frame). Then when I’m feeling up to it, get the evasion or troll frame and build it up myself. It’s going to be my all rounder/bike packing rig, mostly off-road with patches of pavement. I have a road bike already so anything that’s going to be mostly road I can use that for. I like options XD. I’m leaning towards the troll. I like the evasion, I just don’t think I can justify the 300 dollar price difference for it.

good luck rockhoppering then
I still ride a rh but about 10 years newer

I'm very good friends with a forum member here, who has the Evasion, and I have the Troll. His is fancy, and mine is, well, a Troll. Both bikes are sweet, but if I'd know of Crust when I bought my Troll, I would have purchased the Crust.
@ryanleegr You will love the Troll. Its a decent attempt at a do-anything bike, and its probably the only Surly with any personality at all.

I can say, like NoControl, that the Troll is a nice riding, multi function bike, and as of 2017, they can take 3 inch tires no problem, front and back, and changed the rear dropout slightly for that "boost" capable aspect, as my understanding is so you can put in wider than 135mm wheelsets.
And yes, you could put that 300 bucks towards a wheelset or other parts or whatever.
I realize this is all a "maybe" in the future, but you could keep an eye out for a used troll, they are few and far between, but you never know, and if not in a rush, could at least keep up on checking for one.
If you dont need more than a 2.8 or whatever in the rear, an older Troll could still work, depending on what you want to do and need tires wise.

anyway, good rockhoppering again

selling as bare frame only?
 

That will do it.. Retail piece at a rime, rather than Big OEM buying power for full component acquisition.

I've seen numerous Surly bikes people have toured upon , in this a summer touring stop/start, pass thru town,


never seen one of the others, it has evaded my inspection..

maybe they no longer sell those?

https://crustbikes.com/products/the-...s-the-evasion/







....

Yeah I know I’ll be spending more overall to do it myself, I’m ok with that to learn how to do everything myself. I’ve done some basic brake work and other small things, but have never built up a complete bike, and would like to do so to learn the intricacies of how everything works. I have been keeping an eye out for a used one, but you’re right, they are few and far between.

Bike coops are a great place to learn stuff, get shown how to use their tools, and to become more comfortable and competent with hands on work.

I have an old-ish Rockhopper frame that is just waiting for some lovin'. Its surprisingly-light and durable. I'm of the opinion that all of these similar steel frames from Trek, Gary Fisher, and Specialized are of the same ilk and lend themselves veritably to re-mod into decent touring builds.

I believe mine is a 97, and they had gone aluminium at that point. Pretty stiff slash harsh rear end, but because of that it's rather composed with a heavy rear load.
I debated using it for my last trips, but in the end realized I would change so much, so I just went the troll route, and the rh is now my winter commuter.

Building it yourself is a rewarding experience, but when it really becomes the best option is when you have strong preferences on your parts. It's rare that there's a complete bike that I don't immediately want to swap out components. I may spend more than the cost of the complete build in the long run, but I also get the bike I want.

Also it can be more economical if you're currently riding a bike with compatible parts. I've built up two bikes from a frame, and both I did by stripping my previous bike of parts and using as much as possible on the new frame. Again, in the long run, all those parts were replaced until I had a bike built to my specs, but it was good way to go from bare frame to working bike without emptying my bank account all at once.