Soma Fabrications Double Cross Frame and Fork

very poor quality manufacturing. Frame snapped at a weld on the chainstay. Soma would not respond to any of my requests. Buyer beware!

I bought this frame to build up a commuter bike. I've been riding it now for over a year. I love this bike. It's very comfortable, plenty of clearance for fat tires, and lugs for a rack and fenders.

I'm quite surprised by the previous reviewer. I've found the quality of these frame remarkable considering the price. The welds look fairly clean, the alignment is spot on, and the paint is of decent quality.

Built up one month ago, and now have nearly 400 miles on it. It has quickly become my go-to bike any time conditions are not perfect for my best rosd bike, or any time I want a more casual ride. Very versatile - I built mine with a Ritchey carbon fork, some old 9-speed STI shifters on a Salsa Cowbell bar, an FSA cross crankset and an 11-32 cassette for wide gearing - but every Double Cross will be different.

I did take the frame to my local bike co-op and borrowed their frame tools chased and faced the BB shell, reamed and faced the headtube. That was time and a few bucks well spent to ensure a quality build. The frame appears well made, paint seems good, and braze-ons nicely done including a rear brake bridge.

Check the sizing carefully - I was replacing a 56cm Surly Cross Check that was too big for me. My Soma is a 52cm (based on actual seat tube) and has essentially the same efective top tube length as my 56cm road bike. The fit is perfect.

1) Overlap with frame and pedals (e.g. careful with track stands).

2) Having the cable-braze-ons on the top-tube and the disc braze-ons is absurd - this snags and tears your expensive tights (plus it's butt ugly) when setup for disc. Pretty much, you have to be careful whether you decide to track-stand (snag foot fall over) or put a foot down (tear $150 tights) at a stop-light.

3) The 132.5 rear-drop-out spacing makes it difficult to put the rear wheel back in after a flat (or anytime).

4) Chain-stay mounting of rear-disc-brake braze-ons makes it impossible to use a torque wrench for the rear-most CPE bolt when installing an Avid brake.

5) Happily, it does happen to accommodate an HP-X frame pump (yahoo!) - no pump peg, though.

They need to lay the head-tube back a bit, dedicate the frame to disc-brake-only, position the rear disc-braze-ons in the conventional position and use 135mm rear-drop-out spacing. I.e. all of their innovative features are stupid ideas.

Good value. Commute, race cross, train in the rain. It does it all.