Here's my new bike: a "Surly Cross-Check." It has a sturdy frame, road-bike geometry and handlebars, good components. I added a rear rack, reflective tape and a solar-powered bike light. I also sanded off all of the component decals, hoping to make the bike less attractive to thieves.

The reflective thingy dangling from the top tube is my velcro ankle wrap, to keep my pants out of the chain.

I may end up lowering the handlebars just a bit, maybe a centimeter or two. Or maybe not.

This page is similar to the review of the "Surly Cross-Check" bike that I wrote on epinions.com. If you don't know epinions, check it out, it's a good place to get user reviews.

My twelve-year-old bike (a Bridgestone XO-2, for those of you keeping track at home) gave up the ghost in early April, 2005: the frame broke at the bottom bracket. This left me with the need to buy a new bike, and the question of what to get.

I'm a big fan of do-everything, "all-rounder" kinds of bikes. I commute by bike, I carry groceries and occasionally other loads on my bike, I do occasional light touring, I do longish road rides, and I do some not-too-aggressive mountain biking. And I really like to be able to do all of that on the same bike. For example, sometimes I ride my bike to work, then ride up into the hills after work and do a ride on the fire trails in a regional park, so I want my commute bike to be able to handle moderate off-road riding. So, what I want is a bike with a very strong frame, a road-bike riding position, that can accept fat tires (for occasional mountain bike trips) and a rack (for commuting and hauling stuff), but with fairly high-end components and a reasonably light frame (for long road rides).

You might think --- I woulda, if I didn't know better --- that the sort of bike I've just described would be extremely popular. It isn't. Above the $1000 range, most people are either looking for an ultra-light road bike or a super-strong, suspension mountain bike. (In the ultra-light road bike category, most bikes don't even have mounting points for a rack, presumably because they are trying to save TWO OUNCES! It's crazy.) In the low- and mid-price category there are plenty of strong bikes capable of accepting fat tires, but they are usually "hybrid" bikes that give a very upright (non-aerodynamic) riding position, have mountain bike handlebars (which I don't like for general riding), have not-too-high-quality components, and have a relatively heavy frame. Some of these are fine bikes, don't get me wrong; the Bianchi Boardwalk, for example, is an excellent value.

Moving up from that, you're down to a very small selection of "production" (mass-produced) frames, such as the very capable Bianchi Volpe, or a small number of bikes from small makers, like the Rivendell Atlantis...or the Surly Cross-Check, which is what I ended up buying. The Surly is ostensibly designed for cyclocross racing, and it can certainly be used for that, although its real target is people like me who want the features of a cyclocross bike even though we don't race. ("Cyclocross" is a type of bike racing that combines road and off-road riding with rugged sections where the rider must literally carry the bike). Bikes designed for Cyclocross are strong but fairly light, though not nearly as light as an ultra-light road bike, and can accept fat tires. T

So in April 2005, I bought a Surly Cross-Check 2005 frame, and had a bike shop build it up for me " (Mike's Bikes" in Berkeley; they did good) with a somewhat non-standard mix of components.

I added a large rack, reflective tape, a home-made solar bike light, and toe-clip platforms that clip into the "clipless" pedals.