Bike Check: Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross Khaki Grey

In this video, I go over my love and details on this Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross frameset I got during the summer of 2025.

Correction it has a 71.5 deg heat tube angle not 72.

It has bits from Chris King, SRAM Force 22 groupset, velo orange stem 100mm length with a 26.0 stem clamp for the Nitto M151 44cm bar, some Schwalbe Rx One tires in 45mm, white industry H2 hubs with Belgium R rims.

What’s up, y’all? Uh, I got a new bike check for you today. Uh, this is a Black Mountain Cycles uh, Monster Cross, uh, in a size 53. And, um, yeah, this is the V6 version, uh, which is the, uh, gray. Um, it’s kind of like a light lighter gray gray color. Uh, really into this color way this these days. Um, this has um this is not the most latest drop which he it’s basically the same geo minus the I think u Mike changed the uh fork crown on the newest one to fit a little bit of a wider uh tire in the front. But um I really like this color and I don’t mind I don’t necessarily need to have wider tire clearance on this bike. I definitely won’t be going greater than 50 mm tires. Um, but this is a uh a bike that um feels really great to ride. Uh the tubing specs that he’s done on this is really nice. Um and I think really uh purpose-built. Um for the most part, this is a parts bins built stuff that I’ve had um not necessarily old stuff, but just stuff I’ve I’ve had from previous builds. Um and yeah, I’ll kind of go through that today. Um, start with the wheels. These are kind of my go-to rim brake wheels. These are, um, White Industries. Um, these specific hubs on these wheels are actually the H2 hubs. And, um, yeah, I got a really good deal from, um, the owner of Falconer. Um, I think his name is, uh, forgot his name. Uh, something with the C. But uh anyhow um he was selling them for a good deal on um on a site and I got it off of him and um yeah these are laced to um Head Belgium RS. Uh these are new rims that I built myself and um they’re laced with um sepum lasers um with brass silver nipples. And uh the tires that I have for both front and rear are the Schwabby um RX Pros in 45s. And um I really like these tires. Uh they hold air really well. Um they’re uh grippy enough for the stuff that I’m doing and um pretty good on the road as well. So they’re great all-around tire. you know, something where it’s like a 5050 mix of road and dirt. Um, yeah. So, the rear the same thing, basically, uh, same specs. I’ve got a Force 22 drivetrain. Uh, all mechanical and, um, really like it. I do have an aftermarket chain ring here. This is kind of like an AliExpress special. Um I think they called it goldicks. Um and this is a 4630 up front and I have a 11 to 36 in the rear. Um again force 22 derailer and the uh front derailer here. Um the brakes on here are the Paul miniv. Um these are the ones that um I’ve had for a little bit and polished them. They used to be originally black. polish them, dean anodize them, and I actually have these cool stop pads on them that I think they’re called the cross pads. So, they’re not like your typical salmon ones. Um, and, uh, what I like about these, they’re a little bit shorter and they don’t squeal as much. So, uh, they grip really nice and they break really good. Uh, the saddle I have here is an SLR Superflow by Cell Italia. Um the seat post is a 272 and um this is actually a titanium seat post that I got on eBay used. Um it’s a Synchro um seatost and it’s pretty light. I think it comes in um right around uh under 200 g. Um I do have a little coma light. I did this little custom bend here on the end so it can fit on the actual canal lever uh brace there. Um I’m not using canal lever so I just wanted to get some use out of it. Um yeah, just uh something a little different there. Uh what else I got? I got a orange stem here. Um, there’s not a whole lot of over- the-counter options for a 26 mil stem uh clamp for these bars. Um, so yeah, it’s a Vevel Orange. Um, it it looks around, but there’s actually like a little it’s kind of a little bit diamond shaped, if you will, or like there’s a little curvature there. Um, so yeah, that’s kind of interesting. Got a Chris King headset um in turquoise and also a matching bottom bracket. These were actually off of my road bike I kind of disassembled and um yeah, I’m just using them here and repurposing them. I have a spur cycle bell uh in the raw and uh these are Nitto bars uh that I custom flared a little bit. So they’re flared out just a tad. Um, and they’re 44 cm wide. And I have an Amazon kind of uh computer mount here with a uh a light and a Wahoo Bolt V2. Uh, this is an ION 200RT light. I’ve had it forever. Um, it’s made by Bontrager Trek. Now, uh, shifters again are Force 22, both front and rear. And um yeah, using the stock seat clamp, seat post clamp. Um I do have a Sila um pump here. This is the Gravalero with the bottle cage. I got some titanium bottle cages here. And um I do find that it helps to do use the RAM little um chain guard here so it does not drop on the inner side and damage your frame. Um the front derailers on these um older mechanical stuff are not perfect, but if you can kind of put guard rails there, they actually work fine. Yeah, I think that’s it. Um I really like this bike. I’ve been using it quite a bit on some of our mixed terrain rides. Um, it’s not like a I feel like the tubing is speced pretty perfectly for how I’m using it. Um, it’s not super dense and heavy like some Surirley’s I’ve had. Um, but it’s um not super light and like noodly either. So, it kind of matches that middle ground, which I think you would want to have a bike that can do well on road and um be fast and can be doing dirt roads and kind of a little bit more chunkier stuff, which is this is the bike that I use it for. Um, the Geo’s really great. It’s got a uh about a 74 degree uh seat tube angle. And uh based on a bike fit that I had several years ago, my uh fitter does want my seat saddle to be a little bit forward. It’s about 20ish 20 mm um behind the bottom bracket from the tip of the saddle. So, uh, yeah, having a 74 mm, uh, or 74, uh, degree seat tube angle helps that. So, the seats is not too far back or too far forward. Um, yeah, the head tube angle is really nice. Again, I think it’s like a 72 and uh, that really plays nicely for this with these tires and um, you know, 700c. Uh, yeah. So, I think uh, I’m really happy with it. It’s been a really good addition to my um group of bikes that I have and uh yeah, just been using it a lot more. Um I think the tires are really make it make it too because they’re pretty efficient on the road. So anything with like 50 to you know 75% road ride to the dirt, this can definitely handle it. Um so yeah, anyhow, if you have any questions, um let me know. I do think that they still have this bike or the new version with different colorways is um available for sale and you can uh get them at Black Mountain Cycles and um yeah, I think you won’t regret. I think the price is really great. I mean, I think it’s like under $900 uh retail and I think the shipping is very reasonable. Um yeah, and you can kind of support a uh a small business. Um, anyhow, uh, good to, uh, give you this update and, uh, again, if you have any questions, let me know. Talk to you later.