Aspirant to Cyclocross questions

rollingscone

Hi All,

Myself and a mate are making the momentous decision to move from being a fat weak commuter (me) and former road racer (him) into doing some Cyclo cross and then dual purposing the Cross bikes for commuting and light trails.

Hoping to get down to watch the race in Raheny next weekend but in the meantime I'm hoping to clear a few things up.

1. Disc Vs. Cantilever brakes: I tried one bike with cantis and they weren't the most reassuring thing in the world but I've also heard that Disc brakes carry a hefty weight penalty (To be honest I'd prefer discs for commuting based on my limited experience of cantilever brakes).

2. Second hand bikes - given that Cross can be pretty heavy going is it better to avoid 2nd hand bikes and if going for them is there any obvious signs of wear to look out for?

3. I know that a cross bike is no road bike but will using it for longer road spins on slicks have any adverse effects?

bcmf

I spent most of the summer on the road on a cross bike. I was warned that the brakes were nowhere near as good as road calipers. And indeed I got a shock the 1st time I needed to stop in a hurry. I swapped the pads from the BBB ones that were on it tothese and spent about 90 mns setting them up and they made a huge difference.
As I said I used the cross bike on the road without any hassle.Just make sure you have road tyres for the road and cross tyres for the off road bit.

C3PO

I agree entirely with bcmf, I use a Cross bike as a training bike and for Cross racing! The canti brakes do take a bit of getting used to on the road (they're basically crap!) but are more than adequate for Cross racing. As bcmf says, put a decent set of pads on them.

I bought a set of Askium wheels last year from CSS on a Wednesday Special for €100, put a cassette and slick tyres on them and it now takes about 3 minutes to change from Cross to Road (a few more if I bother to change the pedals!).

With regard to the abuse a Cross bike takes I wouldn't be concerned about an alloy frame, maybe a little more with a carbon one!

Diarmuid

Might be worth trying out the road racing now... The CX season is pretty much over for this year.

With regard to your questions: Discs are quite a recent development in the sport, while discs do have great stopping power, I never felt that I was lacking stopping power in CX races. When you factor in that everyone else is going to be on cantis, the advantage of discs is reduced even more.
Second hand bikes: The market for s/h cross bikes is very small. Depend on your height, you might spend some time looking for one.....
You can put slicks on it no problem, if it's just for training, you won't have any problems.

GlennaMaddy

rollingscone wrote: »

1. Disc Vs. Cantilever brakes

2. Second hand bikes

3. I know that a cross bike is no road bike but will using it for longer road spins on slicks have any adverse effects?
[/LEFT]

1. Good brakes make a dfference, I have cantis and it took a while to find brake shoes that felt good. Discs were banned when I bought my bike, never ridden a disc tbh, Ive gone through a set of rims in only 2 seasons so I'd look into discs next time.

2. I'd have no problems with 2nd hand road bike but I'd buy new if going for a cx.

3. Cross bike will be fine on long road spins, racing even.

Raam

Cornering on a cross bike isn't as sharp as a road bike. That's when cycling on the road. My experience and a more experienced crosser agrees with me. YMMV.

C3PO

Raam wrote: »

Cornering on a cross bike isn't as sharp as a road bike. That's when cycling on the road. My experience and a more experienced crosser agrees with me. YMMV.

True but that's a plus for use as a winter trainer if you ask me!

rollingscone

Thanks guys.

One more question my accomplice has an ultegra groupset and a pair of aksiums would he be able to us either or on his cross bike (the wheels just for road use) or is it a better proposition to flog the lot?

bcmf

Yes to both. But you wont need the road brakes (as you probably know) plus the gearing on the cranks of a cross bike is AFAIK 36/46. If you road standard (39/53) it will be very limited in cross. If you have a compact (34/50 or 36/50) you may need to swap the chainrings depending on how much cross you intend doing.

Lumen

The weight and price penalty for discs is perhaps not so great.

Taking Stevens as an example:

€1900, discs, 9.3kg (not available until May)
http://www.fitzcycles.ie/products.php?product=2012-Stevens-Vapor-CX-Bike

€1650, cantis, 9.1kg
http://www.fitzcycles.ie/products.php?product=2012-Stevens-Prestige-CX-Bike

15% extra cost, 2% extra weight.

Still, that's a lot of money to spend on a CX bike.

There is a Specialized Tricross Disc for about £900, but based on my experience of the Tricross it'll be a bit of a tank and more suited to commuting than racing.

rollingscone

Lumen wrote: »

The weight and price penalty for discs is perhaps not so great.

Taking Stevens as an example:

€1900, discs, 9.3kg (not available until May)
http://www.fitzcycles.ie/products.php?product=2012-Stevens-Vapor-CX-Bike

€1650, cantis, 9.1kg
http://www.fitzcycles.ie/products.php?product=2012-Stevens-Prestige-CX-Bike

15% extra cost, 2% extra weight.

Still, that's a lot of money to spend on a CX bike.

There is a Specialized Tricross Disc for about £900, but based on my experience of the Tricross it'll be a bit of a tank and more suited to commuting than racing.

From mooching around various LBS and shopping online I'd already formed the uneducated opinion that the Spec Tricross was a non runner and the epitome of the lazy salesman's "it's the ultimate bike for everything really".

Does anyone have any experience of Whyte's Cross?

I looked into Uncle Johns but they're out of my budget for now...

25sean

bout your chainset.. i use my road cranks with a single up front, a 42/44 is enough with a 12-23 on the back.. one less thing to worry about.... come down on sat and have a look at the bikes in st annes for the nats...

billy.fish

rollingscone wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of Whyte's Cross?

I've rode the prototype one a few times.

Its the perfect bike for the 3 Peaks

OR

for someone who cant afford a MTB road and CX bike.

I would not use it to race CX as its way to slack. I am considering one for that certain race I appear to think about to much.

Raced the On-one Dirty Disco and the new Proto yesterday. Excellent bikes, cannot explain how good without ranting. Good price point too.