I haven't been riding my BMC Monstercross enough--well, that's true of all my bikes lately--but whatever bike I'm riding on the road, I usually wish I was on the BMC. Lots of tire clearance, a lively but not noodly frame, good brake, and a spot-on riding position. Just a fine bike to ride. I keep wanting to use it as my around town bike, with gears and flat bars, but then I miss my drop bar bike. I saw a 65cm frameset for sale a while back for a nice price, but I was too slow (and I hesitated about having two of the same bike in my stable)
My ROS9 has immediately improved my mountain biking. I'm faster and more confident pointed downhill, with no great loss in Alum Creek maneuverability (OK, there is a little loss, but not much) I think I'll eventually want a slightly bigger rear tire, which has me looking for a true B+ frame, not a converted 29er. I always have to be looking for something.
No one has any interest in buying my old Raleigh Technium Peak, so I rebuilt it back into a townie type bike. I think it looks pretty sharp with the aluminum fenders. The position is just a bit too low with these bars--why did I cut this fork steerer? But it rides well enough. I need to figure out how to install the Burley Picolo rack onto the wishbone seatstay.
My trusty old Karate Monkey is falling to the back of the pack these days. I like the Niner's geo better, though the KM works pretty well with a longer fork. After reading too much of Matt Chester's old blog, I tried it as a drop bar mountain bike. It was comfortable enough with the VO Cigne stem, but overall pretty bad when I was jumping off things. Anyway, it's not worth terribly much, so I'll probably just keep it where it is now--hanging from the garage ceiling, waiting for me to want a 29er XC single speed again.
I haven't warmed up much at all to my latest bike, a Traitor Wander. The ~33mm tires feel too small for me these days, and a downtube shifter is not the right idea for this kind of build. Yes, that's my fault, but I'm not very inspired to throw something else on. For what I paid for this, I coulda had that 2nd BMC... One stupid thing: I like the Raleigh better as a town bike because I can use my chainstay mount kickstand. It's important to have priorities.
Interestingly, I also find myself liking level top tubes more these days, except for dedicated mountain rigs (then, the more slope the better). This semi-sloping compact geometry of the Traitor just looks odd. Look how tall and proud that Raleigh is!
So back to five bikes again. The Traitor won't be hanging around much longer, I expect. The KM is not in regular rotation. I think if I found something like another Surly Cross Check I could make it my city bike, and flog the Raleigh cheap on CL. And maybe a Soma B side to replace the Niner. That would be a nice fleet, simple, straightforward, steel.
Hey Seatboy! Let me say I am dually impressed that you've been able to keep this blog going for so long. Well done! Most personal blogs have been subsumed by Facebook or Instagram in this day and age. Then there's me - I never had the self discipline to start a blog in the first place (and I don't much care for social media either).
ReplyDeleteWell I'm always interested in the state of your fleet, so here goes:
BMC: Man, I want one! If it wasn't for the fact that my CC is 90-something percent the same bike and its slightly sportier geometry may actually be a better for how I ride the bike. But I gotta say, I love the frame and fork details on the Monstercross, and BMC is probably the coolest bike shop in America. Glad to hear you're lovin' yours.
ROS9: So is this one the ultimate YASH? Somewhere I recall you opining in the past that you don't much care for hardtails and would rather have full squish or straight up rigid instead of the half-way house. So its real interesting to read you heep such love on this bike. Is there something about the B+ tire out back that makes it better than other hardtails?
Raleigh: As I recall, people never warmed to these even back in their day. Maybe that's why you're having a hard time selling it. Always good to have a beater bike handy, though.
KM: I've always wanted one of these too, but never got around to scraping up the cash. On the dropbar thing - I've bombed around enough trails on my CC to find dropbars offroad kind of a fun change of pace. I certainly see the appeal, especially for less technical riding. But now that I've made the jump to wide bar on my dedicated mtb, I can't see going full time to offroad drops. The leverage and control I get from the wide bars were a gamechanger for me; I should have switched sooner.
Traiter: Agree. They look rather uninspiring. I've never cared for sloped toptubes on roadbikes either, even the sloped toptubes on Rivendells that Grant swears aren't really sloped toptubes. Good luck selling it. Maybe you'll bring in enough denaro to get that second BMC. On that note, if you've got two of the same frame, but each is set up completely differently, than that counts as two different bikes in my book.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and the great use of the word "subsumed." I just put the Raleigh on CL today, and the Traitor won't be far behind it. So I'm constantly on the lookout for another 700c crossy type frame to replace them. Er, maybe another Cross Check. But maybe as an internal gear three speed! My latest thing.
I can't say the ROS is my ultimate YASH. It rides well, but I think ideally it would be a little flexier. This is why I'm thinking about the B side, since my old Juice rode so well. But these are rare on the used market, and I'm trying to save money where I can. No big rush, with winter rolling around here.