Like many of you, I'm sure, I'm always trying to re-evaluate the bikes I have and the bikes I think would compliment each other the best.
Right now, I have 120/120 mountain bike frame on the way to replace my hardtail, an older Trek Boone that I ride gravel with now (and will race CX), and an older El Mariachi that will likely be pressed into commuter duty with fenders and racks.
The Boone sees quite a bit of gravel where I live--but mostly smoothly graded trails and roads along the dykes. There is an abundance of forest service roads and single track here as well. (Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, BC). Some of these roads are pretty choppy. I'm not really afraid to ride the Boone on rough terrain, but many of the routes I want to ride are longer than I'd want to do on a mtn bike, but 1.9-2.1 tires would make them a whole lot more enjoyable--as would a mtn bike double crankset. I feel like the Cutthroat would fill in nicely between the Boone and the mtn bike.
I think you're right on the money. I use my Cutthroat for routes I know will have rougher gravel, forest roads, singletrack, etc... I also like to mtb gearing on it for early season when I'm not as fit as I should be!
I had enjoyed my Cutthroat for two years now. I'm finding out that my MTB and CX are quickly gathering more and more dust. I ride them maybe twice a year. Since I hit the big 6-0, I steer away from massive MTB days or racing the CX. I can bomb on the Cutty if I want, but I usually just enjoy the smooth ride and wide eyes when I crest a peak full of MTB'rs.
I didn't run super wide MTB bars on the Santa Cruz, but I found swapping in some 46cm Cowchipper bars on the Cutty was magic for me.
A couple friends with Cutthroats LOVE their bikes. Another option, which would be much less $$$, is to get a used hardtail and switch to drop bars & shifters. One challenge is that mtb's have longer top tubes as the flat bars don't have the reach of the drop bars. So if you can find a mtb with reach and stack similar to your CX bike you'll be able to make that conversion. If you're interested in more detail DM me.
Go with the Cutthroat. I tried converting a hard tail and it was expensive disaster.. I have the Cutty and by far the most comfortable bike I have and I use it for gravel racing and bike packing. Just change out the front chainring and it'll keep up with the others, no problem..
