Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno SSCX First Ride

On Saturday, I took the Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno out for the first time.  I decided to do a (mostly) road ride with it just to get familiar and make sure everything was well set up.  I first headed over to Peninsula Bike Works to drop off some tires for Micah, then hit the bike path toward Marina.  After passing through Sand City and on to the Fort Ord Dunes path, I took a side detour toward the old military bunkers.  They are all blocked by large cubes of concrete, but make a great place for photos due to all of the colorful tagging.  I took a few photos in front of them, then headed back to the main trail over a sandy dirt area that wasn't really a path.

I have to admit that I went a little more custom with this bike than I had originally planned.  The only stock parts left are the frame, fork, wheels, and tubes.  I changed out everything else.  That said, I'm really happy with the bike.  It was the best first ride I have ever had on a new bike, and I don't plan on changing how it is set up.  I spent a lot of time measuring between my road and cross bikes and it paid off.  At some point I will probably change the seatpost to a Thomson Elite to match the stem, and when I need new bar tape I might add some carbon bars with a compact drop.  Different tires will also be in order depending on how I plan on using it.  At the top of my list right now are the Clement X’Plor MSO tires in 40mm with 120tpi casing.  They look like a great all around tire and will fit the bike.  For a while I have been stuck on the Bruce Gordon Rock n' Road tires, but I think that if they do fit there won't be much clearance.  The Rock n' Roads are also about 60 grams per tire heavier.  It's not a big deal for overall weight, but enough to feel in rotational weight.  For pure SSCX riding I'll have to look around, but I am happy with the IRD CrossFire 32mm tires on my geared CX bike.

The bike handles very well and is more stable than I expected.  Other reviews I have read mentioned twitchy handling, but I didn't get that.  Also, toe overlap was not an issue for me.  The main drawback to the bike is the weight, but I didn't feel it to be an issue while riding it.  With all the nice parts I have on there, it still weighs 21 pounds.  The fork alone weighs about 930 grams uncut.  The full specs of the current build are listed below.