Surly

Why r/BuyItForLife recommends Surly

3 mentions from real owners

• #1Feb 3, 2025

  What’s one item you bought that has lasted for YEARS and was worth every penny?

  Surly makes ample frames and outfits them with proven components. Buy a Long Haul Trucker, and you'll understand how it got it's name.

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• #2Feb 2, 2025

  What’s one item you bought that has lasted for YEARS and was worth every penny?

  Surly Long Haul trucker an unbendable and unbreakable workhorse.

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• #3Jan 5, 2025

  Has everything we buy reduced in quality over time? Has anything increased in quality or stayed high quality and durable?

  I dont think I buy that, None of this is the: publicly traded company buys mom&pop and redesigns all components with cheaper/shittier materials so the same design works less well now. The fact is you can still buy that 80's steel touring bike in a modern spec. Kona Sutra and I think surly disc trucker and maybe a Raleigh model, salsa marrakesh and a few more are available as a steel framed bike with bar end friction or basic indexed shifters with cup/cone hubs and a square taper bottom bracket. Minimally changed tech from what you're describing, very field repairable and relatively affordable complete build. Carbon is if anything more repairable than an aluminum bike frame but I think it's mostly moot anyway do you actually know anyone that has ever had a steel bike frame welded for repair in the event of a failure? I've heard of a few long distance tourers in the middle of nowhere or very expensive custom frames but it's far from the norm despite the theoretical ability. As far as shifters/brifters and drivetrain components most of what you're describing is a performance tradeoff. The vast majority of people prefer indexed shifting, it's very user friendly. Changes have been to add more speeds to cassettes for the riders experience, modern indexed shifting and narrow chains do have a little shorter life as they rely on much higher precision to function as designed and so wear will show itself a bit sooner. But the things you can ride on a modern mountain bike vs one from 1980 are WILDLY different. The user experience of a modern road bike & drivetrain is impressive as well. I'll give you the cross compatibility, that is a depressing change in 11&12 speed drivetrains, the 8-10sp years were nice for Shimano/sram interchangeability. Shifter/derailleur small parts? The fact is that it's fairly reasonable to replace a drivetrain component in the event of a crash. In many ways bicycles as a whole are very maintainable even if you can't buy a lot of small parts of shifter internals you can buy a new shifter which still allows for bicycles purchased 20 - 40 years ago to be maintained and kept rideable with current production parts. I'll admit to being concerned about the advent of electronic shifting but on the whole bicycles are the best they've ever been and their enshittification feels largely held to the bottom price point of product to me.

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