Another option to find in the second hand market… Kona Major One.
I ride one (never raced CX on it) and being the only CX bike I have ridden I can’t really give any comparisons. I got mine for for a bargain price brand new. I rode it last night for the first time in a long time due to my seized bearings, and I have to say I love the damn thing. It’s not as ‘pretty’ as a lot of the other bikes that have been mentioned, but I feel that it would be a good bike to look for. It may take a while to track one down though.
For what it’s worth I love my All City Nature Boy. Picked it up cheap second hand. The dropouts haven’t busted yet, when they do it’ll get solid one’s and a fresh powder coat.
Mine does commuter duties daily and DDCX duties for a couple of races a year. It’s comfortable enough that I’d have no qualms taking it out for an all day ride if the route was mostly flat. The geo seems pretty bang on to me.
Your brake selection may decide your frame selection. I wanted canti’s. Cable operated discs suck balls and road hydro isn’t yet mature enough, or cheap enough for me. My Shorty Ultimates are unreal, especially matched with Sram carbon levers. In the wet they are still ok but I expect them to be better once I swap the pads out for salmons.
As mine is a primarily a commuter it had to have mudguard mounts too. If you drive as soon as a few drops of rain fall, this isn’t a problem. On the same note, discs are heavy and pointless if you’re not riding in the wet/mud.
Sounds like the Mash could be the go for you, if the budget can stretch…
Thanks everyone for the help, explanations and advice!
Looks like i’m down to a Nature Boy or Mash, possibly still Colossi though (dont want to rule that out).
But as fate would have it, I blew all my money on a set of race wheels for track.
Anyway, this will be shelved for a little while until the cash flow recovers… Might just get myself a set of velocity’s and brakes for my Bridgestone to satisfy my SS needs in the short term.
Another +1 to the Nature Boy.
I rode mine for nearly 3 years, jumped it off gutters, popped wheelies on it everywhere and all the other fun commuter stuff with no issues. I had the fancy drop outs on mine, which never broke. So either I’m really smooth, or I got lucky.
I didn’t like it off road, which is why I sold it and bought a SS rigid 29er (now 1*10). I wasn’t really commuting on it too much near the end of my ownership, so cleared it to buy a bike I would ride.
The new owner I assume is still riding it. I did get sent a photo of it a month or so ago of it set up fixed.
I got the Nature Boy because it was in tall mans size.
what size are you after? I have a very good condition Specialized Tricross Singlecross in 56.
light and nice alloy frame, carbon fork combo. a couple of nice upgrade parts (sealed Stolen headset & Salsa clamp). 120mm spacing for use with any track hubs/wheels.
Very cool bike, have kept it for a few years as i wanted to keep it for another project - but it’s surplus to needs. PM me if you’re interested.
This looks pretty neat. Was considering an All City macho man disc but i do like the tapered ht on offer here…
But what the hell is the distributor thinking on pricing?! Australian RRP for frame/fork is $1,099 versus $599 in the US of A??
For 1,099 i’ll go get myself a macho king disc thank you very much. tapered ht, carbon fork and reynolds 853…
I spoke too soon, looks like the new owner of my Nature Boy has broken it already.
I wonder if him running a 120mm wide hub instead of 130mm had anything to do with it?
