Black Mountain Cycles: Road Review

[sc53]

I have a BMC Monster Cross arriving to me in Virginia on Friday--thanks to this thread I checked out Mike and his bikes, talked to him on the phone, emailed him a lot (he answered all questions within 30 mins of my asking them!), and finally decided that his frame would be exactly what I was looking for. I was also considering VO Polyvalent, Rawland, Boulder Bikes, Bruce Gordon, Ocean Air, and various other leads I had on frames that would fit BIG tires (> 37c) but use drop bars and be lighter than my heavy Atlantis. I think the Monster Cross should do it!

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by sc53

I have a BMC Monster Cross arriving to me in Virginia on Friday--thanks to this thread I checked out Mike and his bikes, talked to him on the phone, emailed him a lot (he answered all questions within 30 mins of my asking them!), and finally decided that his frame would be exactly what I was looking for. I was also considering VO Polyvalent, Rawland, Boulder Bikes, Bruce Gordon, Ocean Air, and various other leads I had on frames that would fit BIG tires (> 37c) but use drop bars and be lighter than my heavy Atlantis. I think the Monster Cross should do it!

Nice, congrats!

[yetitotheheady]

Originally Posted by sc53

I have a BMC Monster Cross arriving to me in Virginia on Friday--thanks to this thread I checked out Mike and his bikes, talked to him on the phone, emailed him a lot (he answered all questions within 30 mins of my asking them!), and finally decided that his frame would be exactly what I was looking for. I was also considering VO Polyvalent, Rawland, Boulder Bikes, Bruce Gordon, Ocean Air, and various other leads I had on frames that would fit BIG tires (> 37c) but use drop bars and be lighter than my heavy Atlantis. I think the Monster Cross should do it!

Congrats please post the finished product. I bet it will make your other bikes jealous.

I considered all of the bikes you mentioned except the vo polyvalent too. I almost pulled the trigger on the Rawland Nordavinden and really like the look of the Boulder Bikes Road Sport Its nice to have all these options to choose from.

[vav]

Put around 100 miles between yesterday and today. Mostly paved streets, although Providence streets could be considered "gravel" roads by many standards. Running a 11-25 cassette but I'll be changing that soon. Got some 700x37 Paselas and the ride feels unbelievable smooth. Overall I am very happy so far with my BMC Monster Cross.

[fourflys]

Nice, love it!

[yetitotheheady]

Yeah Vav that's cool.

[vav]

the combination of a new ride with the nicest weather in the last 3 months made for really nice riding all weekend long. The Brooks Swift really hits it too. I totally forgot about the saddle I was riding. And it was my first time also using egg beaters and MTB shoes, I did a lot of walking around and the MTB shoes are just so much easier. I think one of my road bikes gotta go as I see myself spending a lot of time on the new horse on the stable.

[hoffsta]

Very nice bike, thanks for the review! I'm getting parts together for a similar build right now. I'll post it up when it's complete.

[RFC]

Great thread. Thanks.

I have been looking at the Black Mountain bikes with some interest lately, In particular, I am looking at the road version, which I would buy in a minute if it had rear and front rack brazeons. I see that there is a brazeon on the rear dropouts. Is there sufficient room over the rear brake to use the brake bridge hole to mount a rack?

Also, how much slope is there in the TT?

Thanks.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Originally Posted by RFC

Great thread. Thanks.

I have been looking at the Black Mountain bikes with some interest lately, In particular, I am looking at the road version, which I would buy in a minute if it had rear and front rack brazeons. I see that there is a brazeon on the rear dropouts. Is there sufficient room over the rear brake to use the brake bridge hole to mount a rack?

Also, how much slope is there in the TT?

Thanks.

Your best bet is to contact Mike @ Black Mountain Cycles. I can tell you that there are single eyelets on the front and rear dropouts, though.

[efuentes]

You can always use one of those seatpost clamp gizmos with eyelets for racks or the ugly but secure p-clamps.

[yetitotheheady]

I would ask Mike at blackmtncycles@gmail.com

If you ask me I would say if you use a rear rack like a tubus fly rack that use the rear brake bolt hole as a mounting place, then yes. Keep the load relatively light, 25lbs or less. I bet it would be fine. Or use a seatpost collar that has braze-ons on it with any standard rack.

I say this because Mike's newest run of cyclocross frames had rack eyelets added to it, after previously not having them. The road and cross frames are the same exact tubeset. If Mike ok the tubeset on the cross frame, I would imagine they are robust enough on the road bike to handle a lighter load. For a front rack I would suggest Rivendell Mark's rack this guy set his BMC up with previously mentioned rack as a rando bike

OH almost forgot the top tube slope on any size frame is about 2 degrees of slope.

[yetitotheheady]

I haven't done any of the things that I said in the previous post but I plan to. p clamps aren't an elegant solution for a front rack but it would work for light loads.

with rear rack and panniers many people use "front" panniers on the rear for better heel clearance.

[bluesea]

Great thread. I wish Black Mountain would do a run of SS dropouts.

[RFC]

Originally Posted by bluesea

Great thread. I wish Black Mountain would do a run of SS dropouts.

The cross is very similar to the Surly Cross Check and also has long horizontal dropouts. I have my Surly set up SS and it works very well.