Get Your Own

Regular readers here will no doubt know that I have a certain love affair of sorts with an orange bike I ride on gravel mostly. There are several reasons for this, but that's not the point of this post. So, at the risk of sounding like a schill.....

Now in a fetching gray, or....

I pinched these images from the Black Mountain Cycles site (please forgive me, MV), and they show some new frames that are now on their way to the California based shop. These are the "monster cross" models which is what my beloved "Orange Crush" is. The new batch has the same features as mine with the exception of added rack mount bosses on the new ones, and the drop out spacing is now fixed at 130mm.

The steel construction gives this frame and fork just the right amount of stiffness without giving away the steel feel which many riders like. I know steel forks are heavy and not in vogue, but trust me- Keep the fork on this bike. It rides really swell, and better than a carbon fork does. (I know- I tried one on mine and didn't like it.)

The new color is a grey, as shown to the left here. I like it. It is an understated, yet classy look, and would be swell with silver bits on it. I had a grey Trek at one time with a similar color and it really grew on me, which I was surprised by, since I typically go for the more retina searing hues in the color palette.

...or get one like my "Orange Crush".

This is a really versatile frame set. I like it because I can shove big 1.8"ers in the frame, or I can opt for more reasonable 35's with boat loads of clearance for the goo. Fenders work a treat with these, and now with rack mounts out back, one could likely do light loaded tours, or set up a great adventure rig.

The geometry on these is a bit like a Surly Cross Check with notable differences in head tube length, (longer), and chain stay length, (also longer), which in my opinion makes the BMC frame better for gravel riding. But it also does "all road", rough road, or whatever ya want ta call it. It isn't just a gravel road rig.

Finally, I want to say that I am not being asked to pimp these frames/forks. I really just like mine a lot. I figure that most folks might benefit from knowing that there is a smartly designed, small batch rig available that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It doesn't look like a freakin' bill board, it has some class, and the fine details are really nice on these frames.

There are other great steel frames out there too. Singular Cycles comes to mind. The aforementioned Surly, and others as well. But I am just one guy that is stoked on a Black Mountain Cycles frame and fork. Maybe you will dig it too. Maybe not, but there it is.

My BMC

I am sorely tempted to get another one of these frames and a fork. Why? I already have one, right? Well, my first build on my own BMC was a single speed. This bike makes a great single speed gravel rig, and I wouldn't mind having a dedicated frame/fork for that which mimicked my set up with the geared BMC.

That'd be quite the luxury, but it would be fun. Who knows? Maybe I'll clear the shed out of a few rigs to make way for this.

Then I'd have to figure out which color to get. Yes- I would entertain getting another orange one. I like orange bikes. Orange is fast.

But in reality, I would most likely opt for the grey. I like it a lot, and as I say- silver components would look trick on this, and I have almost everything I would need to set one up right down in the Lab now.  Or I could go and swap over all the geared bits from the Orange one to the grey frame and go back to a single speed set up on the orange one.

Sheesh! I think I am talking myself into another one of these! Better settle down there.

Anyway- if you are curious, see Black Mountain Cycles here. As I say- I don't get anything at all for pimping these frames, but you could do a whole lot worse than a Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross frame and fork.