I’m starting to think about a new “cross” bike from Circle A. About a month ago I missed a chance to get a wicked awesome Gazelle 531 frame in mint condition. Could have been awesome. But anyway, it got me thinking, and I think a cyclo-cross bike is not exactly what I’m looking for. What I really want is a bike I can take up dirt climbs (like the Oracle side of Mount Lemmon, D2R2 maybe), take on the dirt roads in Maine. In addition, I’d like this bike to be a good option for hillclimbing on certain types of paved climbs.

So here is my wishlist:

  • Geometry and fit that is as close to my road bike as possible.
  • stainless steel chain stays (to protect the paint against flying gravel)
  • BB30 w/ Hollowgram cranks (using either compact or mountain (double) spider.) So front gearing options of 50-34 or 42-26 or something like that.
  • Sram XX for the rear derailleur. that would give me the opportunity to go as low as 36 in the back! Which means I could keep the compact in the front and still get 1:1 gearing. and if I wanted, say if I were to do Scanuppia some day, I could go as low as 26-36.
  • Couplers? Maybe. It would be nice to be able to easily pack up the bike and take it on an airplane. Especially if I took it to europe. but then I’d need to do that several times before it would pay back the price difference. and since it adds weight, etc. might not be the best option.