Rivendell Quickbeam vs. Surly Cross Check vs. Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross

My typical road bike is a steel cyclocross bike. Fat tires, strong brakes, and provisions for some useful braze ones make these attractive all-rounders. Today's post covers only my longest serving 'crossy road bikes, I've also had a Soma DoubleCross, a Velo Orange Camargue, and others. But for today, let's focus on these three and see how they compare.

I'll start with subjective stuff

Looks
1. Quickbeam (64cm)


The QB is lugged, orange, and has an appropriately sized head tube for 6'3" me. An easy win:

2. Cross Check (62cm)
I pick the CC over the BMC simply because the BMC uses a "cheater" head tube to try to raise its stack measurement. The CC is boring black, but at least it's an honest boring:

3. Monstercross (62cm)
I hate small headtubes and the corresponding stack o' spacers. The BMC's headtube is 20mm longer than the CC, yay! But it's mostly due to the extension above the top tube, which does nothing to increase the all important gap between the top and down tube. I'm knocking it down for this sin:

Ride Quality (ie, planing)
How flexible a steel frame is plays a big part in how it rides for me. A springy, lively frame is a delight to ride, while an overbuilt frame can feel dead and isn't much fun to pedal hard. I've never ridden a frame where I thought, "gee, I wish this frame was stiffer." Really lively frames like my old Rawland rSogn are typically non-oversized--the Rawland's top tube was 25.4mm outer diameter with 9/6/9 wall thickness (ie, 0.9mm on each end, 0.6mm in the middle of the tube). These three are all single OS (28.6mm top tube), and the wall thickness are about the same (8/5/8 for the BMC and probably the QB, and 9/6/9 for the CC). As a result, they all ride pretty much the same, and I'm going to call this one a wash. If I had to pick one, I'd say the BMC is a little livelier than the other two, but that's splitting hairs.

When people complain that Surlys ride like tanks, I'm not really sure where they're coming from. Steel is steel, and a frame with similar tubing dimension will ride similarly.


Comfort
1. Quickbeam
2. Monstercross
3. Cross Check

The QB wins this one, thanks to its threaded headset. I can easily get the bars up enough for a comfortable ride for my aging back.

The BMC comes in second, because it ships with a 350mm steerer tube for. The CC falls to third; its fork steerer is just 300mm long. This might not matter as much if you ride a smaller frame.

The BMC also has a shorter top tube than the relatively long and low CC, which helps me get the drop bars in a good position.


Handling
They're all pretty much the same. They all have 72 degree head angles, and the forks range from 45mm rake (CC) to 50mm (BMC and I think the QB). Bottom bracket drop is within 5mm of each other, and the weight distribution can be set up similarly. As a result, there's not much difference here. People rave about Riv handling, but there's no magic here.


Tire Clearance
1. BMC
2. CC
3. QB

The BMC can handle a 44mm tire with fender, or a small 29er knobby without fenders.

The CC can fit a 42mm with a fender, and maybe a 50mm slick tire without.

The QB is pretty maxed out at a 38mm tire with a fender


Rear Dropouts
1. Cross Check

The Cross Check has long, forward opening horizontal dropouts. These let me use a 6t difference in my front rings when making manual gear changes--40/34t x 16t in my typical case. Forward opening makes wheel changes easy. Surly split the difference between 130 and 135mm hubs at 132.5, giving more wheel selection. And a derailer hanger lets a guy do an occasional geared build.

2. BMC

The BMC's dropout is very similar to Surly's, but the chainstay length only allowed me to run a 36/40t up front (with my 16t rear), and it's 130mm spaced, which meant shoving in my 135mm wheel took a bit more effort.

3. QB

The QB has a very long slot, able to accommodate up to an 8 tooth difference in rings. But, its rear opening makes every wheel change a hassle, and that gets worse with fenders. 120mm spacing and no derailer hanger are part of the deal with the frame going in, but they do limit options in building it up, as does just one eyelet.


Cable Routing, Etc.
1. Surly
2. Black Mountain
n/a. Rivendell

The Surly has downtube cable routing, which makes for a cleaner look to my eye. Downtube cable stops give the flexibility to add downtube shifters for a low-clutter geared build.

The BMC runs all the cables along the top tube, which is theoretically more mud resistant, but I've never noticed any difference. It just looks messier to me.

The Riv has a lone cable running along the top tube, but again, that's part of the deal going in.


Value
1. Surly
2. BMC
3. Quickbeam

A Surly frame and fork is $500 new, but they're relatively available used due to its long model run. The BMC is $600 new, and good luck finding a used one. The Riv is out of production, but frames typically seem to trade for $700+. A used Riv will hold its value better, but the other bikes do more and cost less, and are readily available, so I'm giving them the win.


Overall
You can pick what category is important to you and set your winner from there. Me, I'm wondering if I should have bought that used Cross Check I had my eye on instead of the Quickbeam.