Honestly, I would pay really close attention to the geometry and see which one was a better fit. After that, I'd think about which suited my needs better (bar-con shifters vs. STI, double vs. triple crankset, etc.).
While the Volpe is more of a touring bike and the Cross-Check obviously has "cross" in it's name, I've seen people touring Europe on Cross-Checks (and having a great time at it) as well as had my ass kicked by a dude on a Volpe all last CX season. They'll both work for utilitarian use.
BrianN
Components can be changed but you cannot take four ponds off a frame.....what is the weight on the Masi?
-B
shapelike
Don't go down that road. I really doubt any of the posted weights for these bikes will be remotely accurate. I can tell you the Surly weights aren't. You're probably looked at double-butted 4130 main tubes for these bikes and straight gauge stays. The forks will be basic. There won't be a secret 3lb frame here.
John Dark
Yeah, I'm aware of all the very sound, traditional advice: proper sizing, the importance of frame quality, try before you buy, etc. I'm factoring all that in. But in this post, I'm specifically focusing on comparing the component sets.
slopvehicle
What do you guys think of Huffy vs. GT vs. Pacific?
M_S
I don't like the Sora shifters on the Masi. Crappy place to cut corners IMO.
lukewall
any specific reason why these 3 bikes. from this list, i'd personally go with the cross check. but in this price range there are some better bikes for the money. ever take a look at the KHS cross bike? looks like a nice bike for the price.
Dabbo
I like Masi, I have one of their road bike and I am happy with it. I looked at the Speciale CX and found it really heavy, also the fork has very little space between the tire and the crown, important feature here in the NW.
If you are not stuck on steel I would also look at RedLine.
Good luck
Paolo
acorn_user
Consider the Soma Double Cross also, it's in the same vein.
John Dark
Consider the Soma Double Cross also, it's in the same vein.
The Soma would be my first pick but it's not sold as a complete bike.
sfcrossrider
Put an LX RD on the Surly and it would be the best choice.
John Dark
any specific reason why these 3 bikes. from this list, i'd personally go with the cross check. but in this price range there are some better bikes for the money. ever take a look at the KHS cross bike? looks like a nice bike for the price.
Yes very specific reasons. I'm looking for a steel, do-it-all, complete bike, for under a grand. The KHS is nice but it's msrp is over $1000. Plus it's more race oriented: AL and has a carbon fork and I probably weigh too much for carbon anything. I'm too old to be racing anyway.
While comments so far have been helpful, I am still not quite getting the feedback on the components I am looking for. Ignoring the frames that they are on, can people chime in with how they would rank the components alone, taken as a whole? I'm trying to get a sense of how they rank in relation to each other.
To me (my very uninformed opinion) it looks like this:
Surly - has the best: headset, bar, hubs. has the worst: brakes
Masi - best: rd, chain. worst: shifters, crankset
Bianchi - best: crankset, gearing, brakes. worst: bar, headset
They appear to all have generic junk for: stem, seatpost and saddle
Masiguy
I don't like the Sora shifters on the Masi. Crappy place to cut corners IMO.
Odd- don't know where that spec list is coming from because we use the Tiagra shifter. I'll have to get the website corrected.
All three are decent bikes for the money. I have my bias... but we all do.
odoyle81
Odd- don't know where that spec list is coming from because we use the Tiagra shifter. I'll have to get the website corrected. The website still lists the shifters as being Sora... Can anyone who has one confirm either way?
Thanks!
From http://www.masibikes.com/cycles/speciale_cx.php
Derailleur Shifter Shimano Sora STI 9 speed
climbhoser
Masi
Cross Check
Volpe
justinb
The website still lists the shifters as being Sora... Can anyone who has one confirm either way?
Thanks!
From http://www.masibikes.com/cycles/speciale_cx.php
Derailleur Shifter Shimano Sora STI 9 speed
Saw a Masi in the shop the other day. 99% positive it was Tiagra shifters... I would've noticed (with disdain) Sora. I remember noticing (with disdain) the carbon seatpost... seemed out of place on the bike.
timcook
Saw a Masi in the shop the other day. 99% positive it was Tiagra shifters... I would've noticed (with disdain) Sora. I remember noticing (with disdain) the carbon seatpost... seemed out of place on the bike.
Looking at a speciale CX right now, you can change that 99% to 100% on the Tiagra shifters.
odoyle81
Awesome! Thanks guys!
timcook, how do you like the Masi? I've been debating for a couple weeks and I'm about to pull the trigger on picking one up. The one thing I'm wondering about is with all the hills in my area if I should change the cassette or add a granny gear. I heard on the cross check it isn't that hard to convert from a double to triple. Could I do the same on a Masi?
Thanks!
justinb
It may be a bit harder to add a triple on the Masi... I don't know if the Tiagra shifters support that, so you might need a new left STI lever specific to triple, along with the appropriate FD and crankset. That said, the 34-28 you can get with the compact double is a mighty low gear, and for $50 bucks, you can buy a SRAM 11-32 or 11-34 cassette and long cage rear derailleur that will get you even lower. You can climb walls with a 1:1 low ratio on a cross bike.
timcook
Unfortunately the "Newbie" under my username doesn't just apply to my forum status. The Masi actually belongs to my wife. She and I got our first cross bikes (and first decent bikes) a couple weeks ago, so I'm kind of learning as I go. I ended up with a Poprad, but had she not liked the Masi so much it's likely I would have gone with it.
Anyway, as such, I'm not sure about how easy it would be to swap out the cassette. We have moderate hills here and it hasn't been a problem for her so far with the stock double, though. From riding it at the lbs while we were shopping around, and riding hers around for fun after she got it, I really liked it. We went over a decent stretch of gravel roads recently and were both happy with how smooth a ride the steel gave (we had previously done the ride on Al clunker bikes).
I wish I could be a bigger help, but by the time I'm familiar with stuff enough to make more technical comments I'm sure you'll have already decided on what you want to do. Though I'm happy to update on it down the road if anyone has questions (no promises I can answer them though).
flargle
I think all three are cool. None strikes me as significantly "better" than the other, it's more about what features you like.
Personally, I love the look of the old Volpe frame in puke green with dayglo decals.
Also, I know road triples aren't very hip, but I think that's a feature that really adds to the versatility of a bike with minimal weight penalty. You may rarely use the granny ring, but when you do, you'll be glad you have it.