Explain Monster Cross Bikes to me…

I’m at a loss to understand the appeal of the “Monster Cross” type of bike.

Now, the way I see it, Cyclocross bikes need no explaining and your Gravel / Adventure bike brings the fast road bike with skinny tyres to the trails, but why would you choose a monster cross bike over either of these or a 29er MTB? You don’t have the light weight skinny, speed advantages of a CX or Gravel bike, or the out & out off-road capability of an MTB.
They seem to have a bit of a cult following, but I can’t see why you’d choose one, other than to be different.
I’m not saying I don’t like them, I just don’t understand them.
Anyone care to enlighten me?

Niche’s within niche’s within niche’s.

What we need is a nice infographic venn diagram of all these niche’s and sub niche’s.

N’ice, Jef!

My colleague has just pulled my apostrophe key out and thrown it out the window.

I built a single-speed on at full niche (Singular, flared drops, chunky rubber) and use it as a commando commuter on the shilly roads between Bolton & Manchester. I love it, I rarely flat and I’ve not bust a wheel (unlike I did on my winter roadie x2). At weekends it’s top fun for canals & fire road stuff I do with my kidlings.

Love mine and is a close 2nd to the SS El Mariachi I ran for years.

Looks cool (IMO) too.

I think they’re for people who want to ride a cross bike on, you know, actual trails

there are no 29er mtbs any more – just enduro9er, slacky9er trailbikes or 29+

have you ever ridden a bike and thought ‘this’d be great with bigger tyres’

have you ever ridden a bike and thought ‘this’d be great with bigger tyres’

Yes, but I’ve also ridden a bike and thought ” this’d be great with smaller tyres”. 😉

for when a cx bike is just a bit too skimpy.

It’s all a continuum isn’t it? Monster cross is a bit of an odd one though, it always seems a bit neither here nor there. Saying that, when you put them in order it’s still all over the place.:

Track
Time trial
Road aero
Road race
Road endurance
Gravel/Gnarmac/Enduroad
CX
Monster cross
XC race
Trail bike
Fat bike
Enduro
Mini DH
Downhill
Slopestyle
Dirt jump
BMX – and indeed the various versions of BMX

Like SP says. My CX which is fast & fun but you have to be careful on the techy stuff. You don’t with a monster. Yes a racey hardtail is very similar, but I always tend and feel like I want to ride faster on a drop bar bike. They look cool as well 😉

So… a drop bar bike to ride “proper” MTB trails on, without having to mince-it up a bit, as an alternative to a mountainbike.
Sorted. 😀

Also with disc brakes you can choose whether to be full monster (650bx2.1 in my case) or more cx type (700c x 35ish) just by swapping the wheels. If you have the right frame 😉

The Reiver

|Combine the worst traits of a mountainbike and the worst traits of a cx bike into one not actually very good at anything bike.
They’re ace.

Or the ultimate do it all bike.
🙂

Covers loads of bases and actually seem to be quite good at most of them.

I love the fact that practical bikes are back in fashion.

‘Cyclocross bikes need no explaining’

You’ve obviously never shown one to your non-cycling friends then! Cyclocross bikes are the result of strict and slightly non-sensical race regs. Take away the regs and most people would at least choose fatter tyres and wider bars.

So it’s a rigid mtb with drops..

What next, fs fatties with drops?

Recently I’ve either been riding a tiFargo or my 95 isla cx bike. They do different things in different ways but I like both. Just need to decide which one to ride on Sunday at the Basingstoke RideIt…

Are ‘gravel bikes’ just CX bikes for people that don’t/don’t want to race CX.
Not trolling, I’m just curious. Neither are for me, but as long as it makes people happy, doesn’t hurt anyone else and is consentual then anything goes.
The same way I see Enduro bikes as All Mountain bikes for racing (if you’re not racing it’s not enduro?).

Tom KP.

No, or at least they shouldn’t be. Gravel bikes generally have lower BB and potentially room for 40-45mm tyres and will be more stable, whereas CX bikes will have higher BB, less room for tyres (because the UCI max is 33mm) and will have sharper handling.
But basically, yes, they’re the same, seeing as most CX bikes sold as such now, err….. aren’t.

So it’s a rigid mtb with drops..

Not really, closer to a CX bike that takes bigger tyres.

A rigid MTB is not made for drops whereas a CX bike is.

I had a singlespeed CX bike a few years back and squeezed in some 45C tyres and while it gave more confidence it killed the responsive of the bike so I went back to 35c

Handy for all the above, and also if you’re racing in a series which uses mtb trails and has a drop bar/ rigid fork/ max 2.0″ tyre rule.

[cough]Even if the people at the sharp end are on 33c.[/cough]

So it’s a rigid mtb with drops..

No it’s a hardtail MTB with drops..

2008_0810fodniche0056 by multispeedstu[/url], on Flickr

I love the fact that practical bikes are back in fashion

^^This^^

There do seem to be more interesting practical type bikes about now for all sorts of more utilitarian / adventure type users… I’m not bothered about “plus” or Fat bikes but a chunkier tyred drop-barred bike does appeal.

I have to admit I have mulled over the option of buying a cheap 29er SS frame to build up as a sort of monstercross commuter to replace my current Fixie commuter under the “one in, one out” policy… Just as a more capable solution.

I’m planning on building one to give it a go, see how it compares to my CX and MTB.

Correctly set up it should be quicker than my MTB on tarmac\fire roads\smooth bridleways. But more comfortable and able than my CX on rough stuff or long local rides on rougher bridleways. If you’re into mixing up rougher bridleways, trails and tarmac then it makes sense in my opinion. If your CX takes fat enough tyres then that should do the same job (wish mine took 40+ rather than 35).