2012 Surly Troll build  
  This bike is built for commuting on the cracked, pot-holed streets of DC. Rather than go with a shock absorber system of springs and seals I'm choosing huge fat tires. They are amazing at soaking up road vibration. I'm trying to use the old, classic Brahma bars. I don't like the Rohloff shifter up on the end where it is so I may have to go with a flat bar. I've got a front generator hub by SON that provides 6 volt/3 watts of AC power for my front and rear lights. I've got the soft as a babys butt Brooks saddle that's probably 35 years old.  
 
 
     
 
 
  The rear light is very visible but also very vulnerable. On my Surly Long Haul Trucker I put a piece of angle aluminum around the tail light to protect it from damage. The light is just plastic. If the bike tips or when I'm moving it around in a tight space that portion swings the widest.  
 
 
  I've adapted the fender mount to hold the fenders close to the big, fat Schwalbe Big Apple tires. The front fender also has to contend with the disk brake tabs on the fork. I had to mount the fender further back on the frame and bend the fender supports to get around the disk tabs. I should have a picture from the other side to show this. There is so much clearance I could probably put 4" tires. The Big Apples are 2.35".  
 
 
 

The image below shows the Rohloff hub gearing system. The design and features are similar to the classic 3 speed Sturmey Archer hubs of the 60's & 70's. The derailleur systems are susceptible to damage from bumps and weather. The internal hub systems require much less maintenance. Another advantage is 14 speed system does not have any duplicate gears. Gear ratios are measured in gear inches. With typical 3 front sprocets/8 rear you have 24 available gears but there may be 3 or 4 duplicates because the gear inches are the same. Another difference is the ease of use of the internal gear hub. You click one way to get a higher gear and the reverse gives you a lower gear. With derailleur systems you have two derailleurs to keep track of. The final cool ability of the Rohloff is that you can switch gears while standing still. No other system offers this. If you're at a stop light and haven't changed to a starting gear it's not too late. With derailleur or other gear systems you must be moving to switch.

It was a bit of a challenge to understand and install the cable system which actuates the shifting process. It's very different from derailleur systems.

 
 
 
  Currently I've got a triple crankset on the bike until I can get a single speed crankset. On the CycleMonkey website I noticed that have a Schlumpf crankset that offers some interesting options.