An extensive search revealed some three year old threads with some disturbing posts about poor quality, inconsistency, etc. However, nothing like that recently...and I know how things can get blown up and/or exagerrated on a message board.

I'm obviously thinking about building one of these up. No, don't suggest the Surly Cross Check. Why? The Surly doesn't have disc mounts, and horizontal dropouts are dumb unless you're running single speed or an internal hub. As Richard Schwinn says, "horizontal dropouts were handy back when frames tended to get crooked. Nowadays we prefer to simply build them straight and keep them that way."

That, and the Soma is lighter, being made out of Tange Prestige. But I digress.

All this is for naught if they aren't turning out a well made product. So I want to know if anyone is riding one, and if it had nasty, ugly welds and crooked braze-ons, etc.

I don't like the lack of a replaceable derailler hanger. I broke a derailler hanger once, and I was darn glad it was replaceable.

While I'm at it...approximately how expensive is an S&S coupler conversion?