My thoughts lately are veering towards a more traditional (if there can be such a thing) Monstercross rig. Black Mountain Cycles sells a Monstercross frame by that name. Steel, cantilever brakes, room for 700 x 48mm tires, nearly horizontal top tube and good dimensions for me in the 59 size (580mm ETT). The designer, Mike Varley, has a good pedigree, having designed bikes for Haro and Masi for several years before opening his own shop and designing his own line of frames. I first learned about the frame from Guitar Ted, the web's guru of all things gravel grinder related. He is using a Monstercross frame for many of his gravel grinder events this year.

My biggest concern from the geometry chart is that I may need more spacers and/or more of an upsweeping stem than I'd like to get my desired fit, but I'm going to discuss that with Mike and see what he thinks. Also, the BB drop at 65mm is about 10mm less than my preference, but that is not a dealbreaker.

One thing I really like about this option is that I can move the wheels and most components over from my Casseroll, saving quite a bit of money. My thought is that I can use this to test the concepts and take note of everything I want different when I later go to a custom builder to make the ultimate dirt road bike for me.


Cross 003 by BMC Mike, on Flickr