Always fancied one of those, it just looks...right. I was riding down the Apedale Road a couple of years ago and passed a group of riders heading up - a guy on a Snake went past his mates on the hoods at lightspeed.

Just been out on my Audax bike for today's therapy, skinny wheeled & steep angles - it flys, so much faster than the mountain bike despite not being particularly lightweight.

Be a nice bike for something like the Sustrans C2C, or the other long distance partially offroad routes. Tough enough to cope with the rough bits in Wynthrop Woods and the waskerley way and even the coach road for the couragous, without all the weight of a fully fledged MTB. Wonder if you could mount panniers?

If I had the space, the money I'd consider one as my 'road' bike.

"Better off-road than a road bike, better on road than an MTB"

Worse on road than a road bike, worse off-road than an MTB, =P looks interesting if only I can afford a fleet of bikes...

Not that much worse, though. And yes, you could put panniers on it. On the back, anyway.

Decent flared bars would have been nice the forks and frame have rubbish clearance compared to a Surly Cross Check, bar end shifters would have allowed a drop in price or alternatively they could have hiked things a bit and run a 105 groupset with the nice little Shimano cantilevers.

They do a posher one with 105 if you've got more money. I'd have liked it less with with bar ends I think. And the Cross Check cheats by being steel ;-)

the only time I've ever seen a cross bike out mtbing was our mad mate Leon - by the time we got to the end of a particularly twisty stretch of Bristol singletrack he was looking rather green!

I'd quite fancy one for longer exploring rides - like riding to the Mendips or Bath or the Quantocks. I'd like to ride out there on my mtb but they're a bit too far (10-15 miles) to be enjoyable - a cross bike would be ideal for this. Have to get a job first though mind :)

I think that everyone should get one simply because they are so flexible. I had a cross bike (Dave Yates frameset) for four years and rode sections of the C2C, on the roads ,MTB routes and used it for commuting. I sold it last year and started using an MTB for everything. This was a mistake and earlier this year I ordered a new cross frame.

The Cross Check is an ace bike so far I've ridden mine on road through woody singletrack over steps and through rockfields as well as down some fairly steep bits, all singlespeed as well I did try it fixed on singletrack the once and have now learnt the error of my ways.

I'm not disputing the aceness of the Surly. It's a 'cross bike after all, must be ace ;-)

Cross bikes make you a better rider.

You'd be surprised just how much they can handle technically although it does take skill to ride them fast. Since the brakes so often shudder, you basically learn to ride with very little braking, particularly on descents. Since you don't have as much grip your handling and reactions get better. Ride a cyclocross race season and you'll be stormingly strong for the mtb race season. It's all good.

£700 isn't bad for a cross bike. Most people build their own from old parts, but to build from new via the usual frame only route with 105 is likely to cost you about a grand.

Mike, has the geometry changed at all from previous versions? The smaller sizes were known for toe overlap.