Surly Bike Owners

riding this round for a little bit now, much like previous cross check talk it does nothing special, not spritely, not particularly great loaded, and tbqh, feels a bit dead 90% of the time. this isn't built light but it's got some light bits on it and it's still portly, you can feel the frame flex, just enough to trick you into thinking it might not be you who's slow, but never plush enough to make you feel like you're gaining some real comfort as you would with a beefier bike.

i can see why someone might get one of these and think that it's a compromise, sounds like a bike for someone who doesn't like riding bikes, but finds themselves needing to ride a bike, somewhere. they might not know what they'll face and something like the cross check would take them there. if they wanted to do something fun they'd choose something specialised, or even something just nicer. lighter tubing, more customised geometry, a little prettier, hell, even disc brakes.

but i think they fun of this bike does come in its modularity, unlike a lot of bikes in this kind of no mans land of utility it stands out. i think that's because of min maxing

previously, i have owned a kepler and a caad x, when i tried to make the kepler spritely its geo let it down, it still felt like a weighty steel disc tourer, looked like one too. when i tried to make the caad x a little more capable it had a carbon fork and no mounts. the sjs basket just flexed on the canti mounts down the canal path, threatening to put me in the drink or in the dentists chair. when you tried to tilt these bikes to either side of the spectrum they supposedly occupied, you could never quite get it there.

the cross check tho? has cross-ish geo, nice high bb and and steep ish seat tube, you won't hit a podium on it but you'll feel quicker off the lights than your old dawes galaxy. then it also has the mounts, yeah you put a lot of wight on it your bars will flop around like a fish, but you can put some nice solid racks on it if needs be. it hasn't got discs which keeps the weight down, it has dt shifter bosses so you can swap between bars easily (albeit with time and faff of doing brakes still), it feels robust enough for you to drop it in anger at the top of a hard climb and looks unasuming enough to leave outside the pub but still take a fun ride home.

all in all the surly cross check might be a list of compramises that please noone , but even after all the gravel bikes, all roads, quiver killers and all rounders its inspired, it still stands out in doing these compramises in a way none of the bikes released since manage to do.

(i have tilted the saddle down since this)