I've had both the Crosscheck and the Karate Monkey. The Karate Monkey is more versatile but heavier. I didn't like the 132.5mm spacing on the rear of the Crosscheck - when I put road wheels on it, sometimes when cranking out of the saddle the rear wheel would come loose. The Monkey would allow you to run whatever tires you wanted and is disc brake compatible. If I could only have one bike, it would be the Karate Monkey for sure.