Bikes Of 2018: The Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross

Last version with "dangly bits". Fall 2018

Long time readers know this bike as "Orange Crush", but technically it is a Monster Cross model from Black Mountain Cycles. This one is from the original run Mike Varley brought in several years ago now.

Times change, standards change, but it don't matter to Mike. He still sells every one of these, (mostly), that he brings in. Why? Because at the price you pay, there is hardly anything as good. Even at a higher price, it would be competitive and out ride most anything in its class.

Rim brakes.....still a thing. They work really well if you know how to set up cantilever brakes, (or have a mechanic that does), so the fact that this has no provisions for disc brakes is not a minus here. If you can get past the fact that this model doesn't have disc brakes, you will find a bike that has very few rivals for how it rides and does gravel travel.

When I talk about how bad many carbon forks ride, this is the bike I compare them to. The OG Black Mountain Cycles fork is so smooooth! I cannot speak to his current version. Perhaps a reader that has one can chime in here on the comments. I'd love to hear about it.

That said, the ability to go geared or single speed is a big deal to me and this bike is great as a single speed. I had to set this up as a single speed when I first got it and now the bike has come full circle. Back to a single speed, it will get a lot of rides in 2019, hopefully.

And this is what it looks like today.

I detailed out the build already in a recent "Friday News And Views" post, so I won't rehash that again. I will say that the only future changes I foresee here are the aforementioned lever change and a special wheel build I have planned for this using some Surly New Hubs I have, plus possibly another wheel build I have in mind.

The bike will still be used quite a bit for any future tire testing for RidingGravel.com, so I expect changes there as well.