With the dream of bikepacking and having more fun on non-paved surfaces, I was looking for a new bike. Actually, I’m always looking for new bikes and the top result in my Craigslists search history is always “Surly”. I read a bunch of forum posts, watched videos, and posted a question to the Internet to see if the Surly Bridge Club was the right bike for me after falling in love with it while reading this post.

Turns out it is an awesome bike and I love it. So far I’ve made the following changes from the stock 2020 27.5 Medium Bridge Club:

• Surly Moloko bars
• Ergon GC1 grips
• Brooks C17 Cambium saddle
• A few random bottle cages I stole from my other bikes
• An old saddle bag
• King Cage ManyThing cages. I have no idea what to use these for yet but I bought them on a whim 🤷‍♂️

Some plans I have for it:

• Widefoot liter cages since it is darn hot here in the desert. I don’t mind the heat and would like the ability to bikepack through 90-100 degree days so I think I’ll need multiple 48oz bottles and a bladder.
• The frame, handlebar, and seat bag bikepacking trifecta. So many cool bag makers and everything is backordered it seems so I’ve had endless time to look. But I have no idea on sizes. I want to keep my ability to overpack to a minimum while still having enough room to grow into week-ish long trips. I have my eye on Rogue Panda and Road Runner bags.
• Tubeless tires. So far I’m averaging 1 flat/week with thorns in the desert so I love the idea of less tire maintenance.
• Put some supple bar tap on the front holds of the Moloko bars