It seems many of the points I would raise to answer your question have tactfully been answered my most other members.
Having owned a CX check and the Hillborne I will echo that I was more comfortable and more satisfied with the ride quality. I never loaded up my Sam with bags for a short tour as I did with my old Surly but I have no doubts it would perform well over the same set of surfaces. Perhaps the only area I feel like the CX check outgunned the Hillborne was pushing the bike's limits on singletrack trails. I believe the more robust-feeling threadless stem, stiffer tubing, and larger diameter steerer tube contributed to the confidence of the CX check compared to a tall quill stem on my Riv. One last thing I enjoyed about the Riv is the people I met through the bike. I had more curious people approach me to talk about it than I ever did with my cross check. I did enjoy many of those brief conversations with strangers interested in my handsome tuxedo black Hillborne than I ever did with my old Surly. In short, I don't think you would go wrong by switching to the Sam. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/764a5ff3-f2b8-4e04-9e78-aaed9567c6d6o%40googlegroups.com.
