Hot answers tagged cyclocross
24
You can absolutely ride road on a cx bike. Many of the components are actually road components, including the wheels, so slap a pair of 700x23's on the stock wheelset and off you go.
Things to consider: 1)Cross bikes are going to be a little heavier than a road bike in the same price range- probably a couple to a few pounds. Ultimately not that big of a deal ...
11
If you have the budget for only one more bicycle you cannot go wrong with a cyclocross bike, you will be able to race CX in the fall (typically after triathlon season) and you can get some fenders and slick tires for road rides in winter/spring and take the fenders off when the weather turns nice for Triathlon season. You can get clip on aero bars if you ...
8
With a mountain bike (26" or 29") you've got
Suspension: basically, suspension lets you get into more trouble. There's terrain you'd need to bail on (or crash on) without it.
Flat bars: Beneficial for two things (IMO)—maneuvering and lifting the front wheel to clear obstacles. Wider bars give more leverage, which may be useful on, say, a very rocky trail, ...
7
There are a few very good answers on here already, however, I feel that a few pointers have been overlooked.
Height
I am not sure whether 29-ers suit all riders. Height comes into it, a 29-er imposes a high handlebar and heavier wheels than a 26" MTB. IMHO you need to be 6" or taller for the big wheel to make sense.
Standover height
The distance between ...
6
Here in Belgium the Cyclocross is used a lot. The championship is a very popular winter sport, and is covered live on national television. It is specially suitable for the terrain here. Flat terrain with a lot of mud and sand.
The cyclocross bike cuts through the mud, and rides on the solid undergrond of the mud, where the MTB floats on the mud. The brake ...
5
Looks like the main question you have is "what should I start doing now to get myself in shape, so that in a year I can race cyclocross?"
Periodization is the Roadmap - Intervals and Hills are the Key
Periodization
The main principle in athletic improvement is interchanging periods of Base Building / Recovery with periods of Strength/Speed/Skill Building. ...
5
What you have to remember is that there isn't a huge difference between a cyclocross bikes and standard road bikes. Generally speaking, cyclocross bikes generally have slightly different geometry, usually burlier parts, and will always have knobby tires. It's a road bike you ride offroad. Switch to road tires and you've got a road bike.
These differences ...
5
A typical road frame could have these issues for cyclocross (CX):
tire clearance -- cyclocross tires are a bit bigger than typical road tires (especially with the small knobs typical on CX tires)
brake style -- you'll want some kind of brakes that aren't clogged up by mud. Road bikes often have caliper brakes that hug the wheel fairly closely, while ...
5
A cross bike will do a little bit of everything fairly well. A triathlon bike will only do time trials. You're also going to have more options at the $1k range with a cross bike. Slim pickins at that price point for a tri bike.
Get some clip on aero bars and get a cross bike. If down the road you really get eaten up with triathlon, and get a dedicated tri ...
5
I encourage replacing once there is a noticeable decline in performance (usually that means that they get "sticky").
Depending on the type of elements you go through, you might get back most of the perf by pulling the cable most of the way out, adding a drop of thin oil, then sliding the cable back through all the housing. Repeat a couple of times wiping ...
5
The main thing to watch out for is the brakes, if the comes with V-Brakes or Cantilever brakes, you should be able to run wider tires and fenders.
Typical CX tires are 32-35mm and typical road from 23-28.
The caliper style brakes found on many road bikes will not accommodate the wider CX tires. There are many options under 2-3K, You could even look at ...
4
I would say 29" in mountain bikes is a buzz word indeed. If this is your first mountain bike, do not make it 29". The selection of bikes, wheels, tires are quite limited comparing to 26".
Decision MTB vs. CX is entirely up to you. All depends on what do you mean by off-road. Off-road can be country roads or Alps singletrack, or downhill trails.
From my ...
4
I own a 29" MTB and a Cyclocross and while I use the CX for winter commuting, trips to the zoo and riding through the park, the 29er is basically for singletrails and mountains only. I rode most of the trails I ride on the 29er with my CX, too (pretty hard work though :) ), but I HATE riding the MTB on the road. So basically I would ask myself, do you want ...
4
You certainly can use a cyclocross bike for almost everything and cyclocross bikes also make a fantastic winter trainer or touring bike.
Key Differences between a cyclcoross and road bike
Longer seat stays and chain stays lead to an increased wheelbase when compared to a road bike which can have a nagetive effect on cornering at speed.Cyclocross framesets ...
4
If you're not trying to be ultra-competitive, you can do a C on any bike that rolls. I've seen guys do 100 miles loaded on a Huffy. And, as I understand it, a cyclocross bike is a "more relaxed" geometry than a standard road bike (closer to a touring bike), and thus possibly more apt to be comfortable on a long ride than a road bike.
Gearing might be an ...
4
A simple solution from Specialized itself to your problem could be the installation of a Tricross Fork Brake Hanger.
Here is a lengthy discussion at reddit/r/bicycling about this exact same problem with the same bike: Carbon forks flex under braking. How much is 'normal'? How easily do they fracture?
4
Assuming that your rims are actually 622x15 ISO size, like the Shimano page for those rims says...
According to this handy chart on Sheldon Brown's site, putting a 35mm tire on a 15mm rim is slightly bigger than recommended. It's close enough that it should be fine, however. That chart is fairly conservative (and even says so at the bottom).
As far as the ...
4
I've just looked at the Centurion website and it's not clear from the pics or the German specs whether the frame and forks have caliper mounting holes. Look for a hole in the centre of the fork to take the caliper, and a corresponding one in the centre of the rear cross-brace above the wheel.
If those are there you can use caliper brakes of some kind, if ...
4
So I decided to take the plunge and try the tubeless wheels. I've got about 80 miles of road and gravel riding on them now, and figured I should start formulating an answer. I ended up using the stan's alpha 400 rim because of my weight and the lack of rim brake compatibility in their cross specific rim.
So far it's been as advertised. The tires can run ...
4
I think the more common strategy is to squirt spray-lube into the housings once or twice a year and only replace them when they're showing rust or other signs of being over the hill. I replace mine every 10 years, whether they need it or not.
Certainly if you're replacing the tape then that's a good time to replace the cables, but I only replace the tape ...
4
Cyclocross bikes will have a slightly different geometry. More like a relaxed road geometry with a higher bottom bracket than a road bike typically. You'll be stretched out a bit less and more upright. Cross frames also will have wider tire clearances for 32mm to 35mm tires, but it varies by model as some can fit 38mm to 45mm tires.
Traditionally, brakes ...
3
Well configured cantilever brakes should give you good stopping power. Start by making sure that the braking surface and the surface of the pads are clean. You can clean the braking surface with steel wool, and the pads should just need to be roughed up with a coarse sand paper.
Make sure that your pads aren't below the minimum wear line.
Cantilever pads ...
3
Cross bikes are generally ok for less serious trails where you're looking for decent speed, without the need for serious climbing, suspension and traction.
You've got more clearance on a cross than a road bike, but the frame is a similar size and they've generally got 700mm road size rims, so they aren't as maneuverable as an MTB. They generally don't have ...
3
Comparing a 29'er and CX is like comparing apples to oranges. The 29'er is a special variation of the Mt. Bike. The CX is a completely different beast.
Extending what Traimax said, I think you may have narrowed this down the the wrong choice ( a "false choice".)
(And I have ridden a CX bike (my first bike out of college, 18 years ago) and currently have a ...
3
Hydraulics for your drop bar bike might be difficult to acquire. I believe that someone made a cable actuated hydraulic brake ... it was downright terrible.
The clamp on adaptors are in my experience a nightmare. They allow for greater vibration and therefore terrible noises.
First, check your bike for disc tabs. If it doesn't have them you could have ...
3
You can get in-line cable housing adjusters.
A pair is listed on http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/cable-hardware-brake.html, part CAH32. I think those are made by jagwire, and they should be available at virtually any bike shop.
edit: those inline adjusters are for derailleur cables only. Use this ...
3
For a carbon-fiber disc fork the difference is almost certainly purely aesthetic. Both curved and straight forks will be designed around equivalent rake values, so the direct handling and performance will be identical. The only other difference between curved and straight blades - mostly discussed in terms of standard steel forks - is a minimal amount of ...
3
I've done a conversion on an old steel Schwinn, and these look similar. I'm not sure how in-depth you want to go, but at the most basic level you only have to worry about two issues:
Tire clearance
Brake clearance
Tire Clearance
The most popular size of cyclocross tire is 700x32. You may find that a knobby cyclocross tire will fit between your fork, but ...
3
On first thought, I would say NO due to the lack of cantilever brake mounts. Caliper brakes which come on this bike limit tire choice a lot. But if you don't plan to do traditional cross racing and are just looking to ride this bike on fire roads and gravel paths, then I think you can make it work fine. The issues you'd have in a cross race would be ...
3
They should be fine. There are a lot of people that ride "road" wheels for cyclocross. Unless you have some dedicated tubular wheels with wider and shallower glue beds to accommodate cross tires, you're probably riding "road" wheels with cross tires on them anyway.
I'm currently using some Mavic ksyriums on my cross bike as training wheels and they work ...
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