Or Blanca if it’s mine. I’ve had my newest Siren Bicycles MonsterCross bike for about 2 weeks now and all I can say is this is one bad mother. This adds to my John Henry and my stolen-since-recovered Song. I’ve loved each of the bikes Brendan has built for me and I’ve espoused many times over the virtues of being able to put your hands on the person that builds your bikes here in America. Nothing against the other guys, but Brendan and Mary have been very good to me when I’ve needed help and I doubt very highly I’d have gotten anywhere near the support I’ve gotten from them from the 800 number support center of Mega Bike Co. So they get my bucks. 
I’d been interested in a drop bar mountain bike for a few years. Ever since I had my first cyclocross bike. I’d take my cyclocross bikes pretty much anywhere I’d ride my mountain bikes, but they never were as sure on the more technical downhills as a mountain bike and a mountain bike was never as fast up those hills as my cyclocross bikes. 
So I kind of back burnered it until a couple of years ago when I raced Leadville and saw Travis Brown on a Trek drop bar mountain bike. That reignited the bug, but I still didn’t see any options that would have worked for me.
I stopped in The Path over the winter and there was a Salsa Fargo built up that just about had my vote. I called Brendan and he said it was a great bike, great build, but he thought I could do something even greater for me. Fast forward past a couple of months of back and forth and collaboration (OK, I listened and said yes. Brendan thought and did.) and you get what we have here.
Not only is a fast machine, it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s like walking a puppy on the beach. You get nowhere fast with all the comments and questions—but you feel great sharing the love.
I had a chance to pick up my bike from Brendan and Zander over some tacos and coffee. I had a few questions afterwards and thought I’d share the conversation readers here. Enjoy.
- From what depths of your mind did this new MonsterCross come from?
My own riding brought it on. There’s a lot to see here in Southern California by way of dirt roads; be it a burrito stand or a roadhouse bar. I’ve come to realize the “adventure over the horizon” is just a fire road away, and needed a bike for it. It’s primarily made for fast riding on dirt roads, but secondarily suited for singletrack or pavement.
- Any chance it’ll make its way into the regular Siren production lineup?
Certainly! It’s a design worth spreading. Maybe we should call it TED.
- What are you calling it?
I’m still not sure. Should we seriously call it TED? The Every Day’er…
- You have a personal bike which is similar to this one. In discussing the similarities, you said it was that “If-I-Could-Only-Have-One-Bike” bike. We know how new bikes and new obsessions can be. But you seemed really serious that this is the killer bike of bikes. What makes it so?
I do. Mine has similar geometry to yours, but with the Twinzer top tube design. In practice, it adds some spice to the familiar routine… after-work singletrack livens up a bit; calling for more skill but also providing the tools to get it. We all want to have more fun on the bike and this takes a different approach than say, a new suspension design. Those tend to “dumb down” the trail. I want to engage it.
- So I have another fine steel creation from Siren Bicycles. You chose to use
Columbus steel tubing. Why Columbus vs any of the other usual suspects?
I build mostly with Columbus but also with True Temper. I picked Columbus for your bike because it’s very “hard” but also has those nice curves. Gives good heel clearance, a nice ride, etc.
- You built a gorgeous fork for this bike. Walk me through the difference between this fork and some off the shelf fork. (Besides being a functional piece of art!)
Besides great looks, the TED fork stands out from off the shelf stuff in a couple ways. I wanted a lower axle to crown height than the OTS stuff, and curved fork blades for a smoother ride. OTS forks tend to be unicrowns, which are less expensive to produce but less desirable for the opposite reasons. In practice, our fork is smoother but also tracks very well in the rough.
- It’s a fast bike! How about the frame geometry? The bottom bracket sits a little lower. The bars are dropped. What else separates the frame design from a “standard” mountain bike?
The fit is more like that of a road bike. But the front-center (distance from the BB to the front hub) is more like that of your mountain bike. The front center and BB drop are really where the magic happens with this bike. It rails at high speeds but feels more sure footed than say a cyclocross bike.
