Surly Pacer vs. Cross-Check

[Kubla]

I have a lot of experience with the 42cm sizes of the Pacer, LHT and "Cross Check."

The "Cross Check" bike I have is a Motobecane Fantom CXX which is basically the same frame as the Cross Check. I recently got this bike in 42cm white and have it built as a commuter and around town adventure ride. With the SRAM Apex it's a good buy, with better gearing, compared to the stock CC. You can ride it just about anywhere in an urban environment. I don't know what size you ride but the 42cm size has some pretty significant toe overlap. Some of my other bikes have toe overlap and I don't do track stands so I don't worry about it much.

I had a Pacer as my first real road bike. I think it's a really nice road bike frame for the price. It's not as light and fast as most road bikes, but it's very comfortable and stable. A bombproof road bike for varying road conditions. Mine had an all-day ride quality. I liked the steel fork. I always thought that it would be a great ride for multiday supported tours, and for lightweight loaded touring. Mine had a little lightweight pannier rack on it. The frame does not have braze-ons on the seat stays for a rack, but one strut attached to the brake bolt worked fine. I carried up to 20 lbs on that bike. The Pacer does have *much* less tire clearance than the CC, it only takes up to 32mm tires without fenders. I moved on from the Pacer only because I found a Gunnar Sport in my size and moved all the Pacer parts onto it.

The ride of the "Cross Check" and the Pacer is pretty similar. I haven't ridden an Aurora to compare. I assume it would ride pretty nice too.

Eeofolis,

I took a look at the Motobecane-not a bad choice for the money. Coincidentally, I found one on my local CraigsList after you mentioned it, but it's a 54 and would be too large for me. (I rode a 50 cm in the Cross-Check; I think that is a good size for me.) What I'll probably do is research tires for the Dolce and go to 25's instead of leaning toward the Pacer.

I compared the 2012 CC specs with the 2011; the 2011 seems to be a little better for the money. We don't have a lot of dealers that carry Surly, but the shop where I bought the two Jamis bikes (Harris Cyclery) seems to have leftover '11s as well as 12s. I may call them this weekend if I'm not successful in talking myself out of this...