The Surly Ogre, yes that is the actual name Surly choose for this bike, is my multi-purpose, do most things, everyday bike and is mostly used for routes where tarmac and smoother surfaces are involved, particularly cyclepaths and urban routes such as canal towpaths. Having said that, with a change of tyres to knobblies it will cope with just about anything within reason, although the Pugsley and the Krampug are much better suited for the really rough stuff.
The Ogre is a 29’er, running 29″ Halo Freedom rims and Schwalbe Marathon Dureme 28 x 2.0″ tyres which give a great ride and a decent amount of grip. Other than that, the build is much the same as either the Pugsley or Krampug, with a Surly front hub and a Shimano Alfine 8-speed hub gear on the rear. Brakes are 160 mm Avid BB7 front and rear. Gearing is slightly higher with a 22 tooth rear sprocket rather than the 24 tooth on the other bikes.
Luggage capacity is made up of an Ogre-specific Surly frame bag and an Alpkit Drop Bear handlebar bag, with additional capacity provided by the rear trunk when required. The latter mostly for rides with my wife when we take a picnic lunch with us down to the coast at Musselburgh.
What I like about the Ogre is that it’s relatively lightweight, fast and numble, at least when compared to either the heavy-weight Puglsey or the middle-weight Krampug, though both these bikes are built for their own specific purposes, and weight is not an issue over purpose. The Ogre is equally at home blasting along forest trails, ambling along city cyclepaths or just nipping down to the shops for supplies. Very much a jack-of-all-trades. Finally, the Surly Ogre is available to purchase off-the-shelf but I much prefer to build my bikes myself, purchasing the frame and forks, and all the other components to suit my own specification. Works out a bit more expensive but you get exactly the bike you want,
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