RH Clark

I want a flat bar all road type bike ,rigid frame but able to take at least 2" wide 29er tires. Light ,but able to bikepack,or ride across the USA if wanted. Would like to be under $1200 to maybe $1500 if possible. Would a Surly Troll fit that description, or are there better choices?

Bike will be mostly gravel roads but some single track and no real technical stuff. I prefer to travel and explore than fly over obstacles. I'm 51 and still enjoy speed and agility but don't want to see how far I can fly.

hokiefyd 

The Giant Toughroad sounds like it's right up your alley. It's a more contemporary bike, with an aluminum frame and carbon fork. In Surly, I think the Ogre fits your description better than the Troll. You could get close to it with the Surly Bridge Club -- they say 47mm tires on 622mm wheels (2" would be about 50mm). Look also at the Soma Saga -- it'll fit 52-622 tires, but it looks like it might come as a frameset only.

RH Clark

Thanks for the suggestions. I had looked at the Giant Toughroad on youtube. I will hopefully ride the different bikes but I wanted to have an example from different manufacturers to look into and wasn't really sure who all made such bikes other than those already mentioned.

I love the idea of the Bridge club,and Surly just seems cool to me for some reason. I ride a Marlin 5 right now but also have a steel frame cruiser that I love to ride. I am assuming that the Surly would be a stronger but heavier bike than the Giant but also more versatile which I also like.

It's hard for me to pick a Surly because the Troll, Ogre, and Bridgeclub, can all be set up with different tires and wheels which in my mind seems to blur the lines of which one would be best for me.

hokiefyd 

I really like steel bikes. They just have a special ride quality to them not typically found with aluminum bikes. I have a newer Giant Roam, but I find myself riding my older steel bikes more often lately. I've thought about selling my Roam and buying something like a Bridge Club. My dad has an electrified Surly Pugsley that I haven't ridden yet, but that I'll see in about a month from now. I imagine Surly bikes wouldn't ride quite as supple as some steel bikes, only because they seem to be intended and designed for heavy duty touring/abuse.

You're right that Surly's offerings seem to compete with each other to some degree. Bridge Club seems to be more of a typical touring bike...maybe slightly more MTB than their tried-and-true Long Haul Trucker, but still on the traditional spectrum of touring. Then Troll seems to be all the way to the other end of the range, into the hard core, ride-over-anything, overland spectrum. Ogre seems to be somewhere in the middle, maybe between Troll and Bridge Club.

The way I see it, from traditional touring to extreme overland:

Long Haul Trucker > Bridge Club > Ogre > Troll > Pugsley (fat bike)

AU Tiger

If you're willing to go with 650B tires rather than 29ers, the Salsa Journeyman and Kona Dew lines are others to consider.