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.

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.

Rear View 2018: Pink MCD & GTDRI

The Bubblegum Princess on its maiden voyage.

Mid-Summer brought two notable events in my life. The first was an addition to the stable which replaced my old Twin Six Standard Rando. It was the Black Mountain Cycles "MCD" model which was renamed by my daughter as the "Bubblegum Princess".

FYI: This will serve as a "Bikes Of 2018" post:

This ended up transforming from a "hope that it is as good as the old BMC I have is", to "Wow! This thing is awesome!" in a big hurry after I rode it the first time. The fit, which I had researched from my other bikes and transposed to the BMC, was spot on. I haven't tweaked a thing since the day it was built. That's very odd for me. 

Besides the obvious pink bit, the bike was kitted out in carbon from Irwin Cycling (wheels) and Whiskey Components (Handle bar, seat post). It has a new Shimano CX series crank with 46/36 gearing and an 11 speed cassette with 11-36T spread. The rear derailleur is a Shimano Ultegra. (Yes- it isn't supposed to work. Hint: It's perfect) That gives me one 1 to 1 gear and usually that's plenty low enough. It's what we had on our old loaded touring bikes as a lowest gear, and that always got me where I needed to go.

The tires are WTB Riddler 45's on there now, but I have run 650B X 47's and in a while it will be back to 700c X 42mm wheels and tires using my all-time favorite tires- the WTB Resolutes. Otherwise, no changes in the near future for this rig.

I really, really wanted to ride this bike on my GTDRI ride, but responsibilities to RidingGravel.com testing prevented that choice. This would bite me in the you-know-where for most of the rest of 2018.

That be MG wearing his fresh DKXL jersey. Kyle Platts on the right here. 2018 GTDRI.

The second big deal of Mid-Summer was my annual Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, (GTDRI) which happened on a hot day in late July. It was a big turnout- 25 riders total- and it turned out to be quite a hoot. I think that locally it was something that eventually turned on a lot of riders to Tama County gravel riding. That's a good thing.

I was stoked to have all who came, but was really grateful to MG for making the trip from Lincoln, Nebraska. I also was glad to see local rider Jeremy Fry return to this ride after skipping it a couple of years.

But as I stated above, the bike I was testing and reviewing for Riding Gravel had a 1X set up and I had issues with the bike getting into the lowest three cogs, as in it wouldn't shift into them. That left me pushing way too big a gear on climbs, some of which I had to walk due to fatigue later into the ride. I wasn't real happy about that. Had I ridden the new Bubblegum Princess, well, that would have been a non-issue. Even if I had a balky rear derailleur, at least I could have dropped the front ring down to a 36T. The Apex 1 crank had a 42T ring, and that was killing me. My legs weren't the same for months afterward.

Next: Late Summer 2018

Rear View 2018: Pink MCD & GTDRI

The Bubblegum Princess on its maiden voyage.

Mid-Summer brought two notable events in my life. The first was an addition to the stable which replaced my old Twin Six Standard Rando. It was the Black Mountain Cycles "MCD" model which was renamed by my daughter as the "Bubblegum Princess".

FYI: This will serve as a "Bikes Of 2018" post:

This ended up transforming from a "hope that it is as good as the old BMC I have is", to "Wow! This thing is awesome!" in a big hurry after I rode it the first time. The fit, which I had researched from my other bikes and transposed to the BMC, was spot on. I haven't tweaked a thing since the day it was built. That's very odd for me. 

Besides the obvious pink bit, the bike was kitted out in carbon from Irwin Cycling (wheels) and Whiskey Components (Handle bar, seat post). It has a new Shimano CX series crank with 46/36 gearing and an 11 speed cassette with 11-36T spread. The rear derailleur is a Shimano Ultegra. (Yes- it isn't supposed to work. Hint: It's perfect) That gives me one 1 to 1 gear and usually that's plenty low enough. It's what we had on our old loaded touring bikes as a lowest gear, and that always got me where I needed to go.

The tires are WTB Riddler 45's on there now, but I have run 650B X 47's and in a while it will be back to 700c X 42mm wheels and tires using my all-time favorite tires- the WTB Resolutes. Otherwise, no changes in the near future for this rig.

I really, really wanted to ride this bike on my GTDRI ride, but responsibilities to RidingGravel.com testing prevented that choice. This would bite me in the you-know-where for most of the rest of 2018.

That be MG wearing his fresh DKXL jersey. Kyle Platts on the right here. 2018 GTDRI.

The second big deal of Mid-Summer was my annual Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, (GTDRI) which happened on a hot day in late July. It was a big turnout- 25 riders total- and it turned out to be quite a hoot. I think that locally it was something that eventually turned on a lot of riders to Tama County gravel riding. That's a good thing.

I was stoked to have all who came, but was really grateful to MG for making the trip from Lincoln, Nebraska. I also was glad to see local rider Jeremy Fry return to this ride after skipping it a couple of years.

But as I stated above, the bike I was testing and reviewing for Riding Gravel had a 1X set up and I had issues with the bike getting into the lowest three cogs, as in it wouldn't shift into them. That left me pushing way too big a gear on climbs, some of which I had to walk due to fatigue later into the ride. I wasn't real happy about that. Had I ridden the new Bubblegum Princess, well, that would have been a non-issue. Even if I had a balky rear derailleur, at least I could have dropped the front ring down to a 36T. The Apex 1 crank had a 42T ring, and that was killing me. My legs weren't the same for months afterward.

Next: Late Summer 2018

Bikes Of 2018: Surly 1 X 1

The 1999 Surly 1x1 as seen in March

The Surly 1X1 wasn't featured in too many "adventures" that I had on bicycles in 2018, but I did ride it a lot. This year every ride was in fixed gear mode too. Because of this I was able to raise my game in terms of skill and comfort with being on a fixie like this.

That doesn't mean I learned any new tricks, I cannot skid, and I don't ride backward or anything like that. Let's be real here! I am not talking about anything spectacular. I just did a lot of back pressure pedaling instead of using the brakes and my curb hopping skill level went up a few notches.

The small-ish gearing made me spin like a mad man, and that was beneficial to how I rode my other bikes. The back pressure pedaling is also pretty amazing. You can really work your hips and legs in your muscles you don't normally use for cycling doing that. But I wasn't bombing the down hills, like I can when coasting, because I never take my feet off the pedals on this bike.

A few changes happened to the ol' 1X1 this year. I switched pedals to the Fixaytion Mesa MP Subzero pedals. A MUCH better pedaling platform than I had been using. I also swapped out saddles, going through an Ergon and finally landing on a good old brooks B-17 Special. I often used a saddle bag and later, a top tube bag, on the 1X1. I'll likely keep those items rolling on the bike.

Future changes in store are that I need to replace the worn bits on the drive train, a new bottom bracket is needed, and I need to clean out the old sealant in the tires and re-up with new stuff. But other than those wear items and regular maintenance, I expect the Surly to keep on truckin' right into 2019.

Bikes Of 2018: Surly 1 X 1

The 1999 Surly 1x1 as seen in March

The Surly 1X1 wasn't featured in too many "adventures" that I had on bicycles in 2018, but I did ride it a lot. This year every ride was in fixed gear mode too. Because of this I was able to raise my game in terms of skill and comfort with being on a fixie like this.

That doesn't mean I learned any new tricks, I cannot skid, and I don't ride backward or anything like that. Let's be real here! I am not talking about anything spectacular. I just did a lot of back pressure pedaling instead of using the brakes and my curb hopping skill level went up a few notches.

The small-ish gearing made me spin like a mad man, and that was beneficial to how I rode my other bikes. The back pressure pedaling is also pretty amazing. You can really work your hips and legs in your muscles you don't normally use for cycling doing that. But I wasn't bombing the down hills, like I can when coasting, because I never take my feet off the pedals on this bike.

A few changes happened to the ol' 1X1 this year. I switched pedals to the Fixaytion Mesa MP Subzero pedals. A MUCH better pedaling platform than I had been using. I also swapped out saddles, going through an Ergon and finally landing on a good old brooks B-17 Special. I often used a saddle bag and later, a top tube bag, on the 1X1. I'll likely keep those items rolling on the bike.

Future changes in store are that I need to replace the worn bits on the drive train, a new bottom bracket is needed, and I need to clean out the old sealant in the tires and re-up with new stuff. But other than those wear items and regular maintenance, I expect the Surly to keep on truckin' right into 2019.

Bikes Of 2018: Raleigh Tamland Two

Yep! The ol' Raleigh Tamland Two again. It's been a perennial bike on the list since I got it four years ago. Only four years? 

It seems like I have had this bike a lot longer than that! But after so many adventures, I suppose it does seem that way. The funny thing is, things have changed so much since then that bike came out that it is almost an antique now. That's mostly due to wheel axle standards, but still. If you cannot get good wheels for it in the future, then that about puts this bike out to pasture. Wheel standards are another whole story though......

Anyway, this bike did get tweaked again in 2018. Big surprise! The first thing was that it got a new saddle. I finally switched to a WTB Pure V on the bike and that was probably what I should have had on it forever. However; that lasted only a short time before I got a WTB Silverado in to test, and that has remained on the bike since. I also switched out the seat post again. This time for another Salsa Regulator Ti post. Love those things! I own three of them now.

Finally, I swapped out wheel sets on this bike a few times, using a carbon fiber set of Irwin Wheels with their Aon GX 35's. I settled on a set of the aluminum Irwin wheels for now though. Those a 700c hoops. I also still have the set of White Industries/WTB KOM wheels, but those are not in use at the moment.

Raleigh Tamland Two. Current sitch.

The future for the Tamland is in doubt. I still am toying with a retirement for the frame and fork. The thing is, all wheel sets I will be needing to review/use/buy in the future probably will be through axle wheels. That makes this a hard bike for me to hang on to because I need to be having bikes that are current/forward looking in the stable here. It is a big reason why I let the Twin Six Standard Rando go early this year.

The Irwin wheels are convertible, and so that makes those swappable. Obviously the rest of the bike's components, for the most part, are easy to switch over too. I've already got my eyes open looking for a possible replacement. Maybe I'll just get the alternate color Black Mountain Cycles MCD.......

Bikes Of 2018: Raleigh Tamland Two

Yep! The ol' Raleigh Tamland Two again. It's been a perennial bike on the list since I got it four years ago. Only four years? 

It seems like I have had this bike a lot longer than that! But after so many adventures, I suppose it does seem that way. The funny thing is, things have changed so much since then that bike came out that it is almost an antique now. That's mostly due to wheel axle standards, but still. If you cannot get good wheels for it in the future, then that about puts this bike out to pasture. Wheel standards are another whole story though......

Anyway, this bike did get tweaked again in 2018. Big surprise! The first thing was that it got a new saddle. I finally switched to a WTB Pure V on the bike and that was probably what I should have had on it forever. However; that lasted only a short time before I got a WTB Silverado in to test, and that has remained on the bike since. I also switched out the seat post again. This time for another Salsa Regulator Ti post. Love those things! I own three of them now.

Finally, I swapped out wheel sets on this bike a few times, using a carbon fiber set of Irwin Wheels with their Aon GX 35's. I settled on a set of the aluminum Irwin wheels for now though. Those a 700c hoops. I also still have the set of White Industries/WTB KOM wheels, but those are not in use at the moment.

Raleigh Tamland Two. Current sitch.

The future for the Tamland is in doubt. I still am toying with a retirement for the frame and fork. The thing is, all wheel sets I will be needing to review/use/buy in the future probably will be through axle wheels. That makes this a hard bike for me to hang on to because I need to be having bikes that are current/forward looking in the stable here. It is a big reason why I let the Twin Six Standard Rando go early this year.

The Irwin wheels are convertible, and so that makes those swappable. Obviously the rest of the bike's components, for the most part, are easy to switch over too. I've already got my eyes open looking for a possible replacement. Maybe I'll just get the alternate color Black Mountain Cycles MCD.......

Bikes Of 2018: Surly Big Dummy

An unusual January devoid of snow meant this bike got some riding time.

Surly Big Dummy:

I don't talk a lot about this bike on the blog, but it gets pulled out fairly often for service around here. More like a "tool" than a bike I'd ride for just the joys of cycling, but that said, it's a fun bike.

The Big Dummy gets used mostly as a recycling rig. I've hauled hundreds of pounds of cardboard, plastic, and glass to get recycled with this rig. It's fun, and a great excuse to get out and ride on days when I have "other duties" to attend to. Ya know......like mowing, washing clothes, cleaning the house. Non-cycling related responsibilities I tend to neglect due to riding my other bikes.

So, when this one gets pulled out it is a great day for knocking out the recycling and other duties I need to accomplish around the G-Ted Headquarters. There could be a case made that it is too fancy for a garbage skow! But it gets looks wherever I o and it rides really well. And I have used it to aul home stuff sent to me for review on RidingGravel.com.

As for changes on this rig over the past year, there haven't been any, but I did use the sideloaders once this year. That was the first time I had done that on this rig. The "sideloaders" are the extensions on the sides of the cargo area which enable you to load bigger objects down lower alongside the bike. I used them for some big pieces of cardboard I wanted to recycle.

Look for more "Bikes Of 2018" coming soon......

Bikes Of 2018: Surly Big Dummy

An unusual January devoid of snow meant this bike got some riding time.

Surly Big Dummy:

I don't talk a lot about this bike on the blog, but it gets pulled out fairly often for service around here. More like a "tool" than a bike I'd ride for just the joys of cycling, but that said, it's a fun bike.

The Big Dummy gets used mostly as a recycling rig. I've hauled hundreds of pounds of cardboard, plastic, and glass to get recycled with this rig. It's fun, and a great excuse to get out and ride on days when I have "other duties" to attend to. Ya know......like mowing, washing clothes, cleaning the house. Non-cycling related responsibilities I tend to neglect due to riding my other bikes.

So, when this one gets pulled out it is a great day for knocking out the recycling and other duties I need to accomplish around the G-Ted Headquarters. There could be a case made that it is too fancy for a garbage skow! But it gets looks wherever I o and it rides really well. And I have used it to aul home stuff sent to me for review on RidingGravel.com.

As for changes on this rig over the past year, there haven't been any, but I did use the sideloaders once this year. That was the first time I had done that on this rig. The "sideloaders" are the extensions on the sides of the cargo area which enable you to load bigger objects down lower alongside the bike. I used them for some big pieces of cardboard I wanted to recycle.

Look for more "Bikes Of 2018" coming soon......