Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • A Few Questions for the Cyclo Cross dudes
  • deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    I recently acquired a few years old Kona Jake the Snake which is set up for road riding…and in lovely condition. I’m really enjoying it. I’m in an adventure race in Ireland in August and fortunately (didn’t realise this when I’d decided to enter), the winner the last few years has ridden the cycling part (mostly country roads with a bit of mild off-road…probably too hefty for skinny slicks) on a Cx bike so jake is going to be used in anger.

    So, to my questions. Am I stuck with cantilever brakes or can I change to V-brakes on the jake? It’s been years since I had cantis and to be honest, they’re doing my head in trying to get them set up. Looking at other Cx bikes though, they all seem to have cantis on them as standard (I could be way wrong here) – is there a specific reason for this?

    Secondly, at the moment, the bike has these wheels (mavic cosmos):

    with some generic audax slicks on them. Will I need new wheels if I want to put chunkier tyres on there? If so, what would anybody recommend that won’t lead to mrs deadly leaving me? If just tyres, then what’s good (in the say £50/pair budget)?

    Like I say, Cx has always been a mystery to me, but I reckon, having done the race in Ireland, I’ll probably be up for it a bit more.

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    You can put mini v brakes on cross bikes but I wouldn’t bother as it really cuts down your tyre clearance and if you get a wobble on the wheel they’ll rub as there isn’t much clearance between pad and rim. Stick with canti’s, they’re really not too bad when well set up, get the cable hanger high and aim for the straddle wire to be 90 degrees angle as it goes over the yoke. set the arms up parallel with the rims and then adjust the pads to suit.

    Re cosmos wheels, they’ll be fine. I’ve run up to 37mm on mine, they are Open pro rims.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    Cheers dude. I thought the cantis/v-brakes thing might be a clearance issue so you’ve confirmed that. I’ll persevere with them. As for the wheels, that’s a relief, just tyres then. Will allow me to get something a little higher priced for the race then.

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    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    worth putting nice cables on the canti brakes also, I always use gore sealed ones as it improves the power no end.

    flip
    Free Member

    I’ve got Cosmos on my winter bike they are very strong i’d keep them on if i were you.

    I got schwalbe CX pro on my cross bike which are perfect imho, and should fit the Cosmos.

    Cheers!

    samuri
    Free Member

    I always run mini-v’s on my cross bikes, or disks. Never had any problems with clearance. As you say, canti’s are such a pain, if you’ve got to adjust them out in the field it’s a nightmare.

    Crosslight woth disk and mini-v’s.

    Pompino with disk and mini-v’s

    Close up of rear mini-v’s.

    That’s a fairly slick tyre but you can see there’s masses of room.

    IdleJon
    Full Member

    Haven’t raced cross for the last couple of years but I have Cosmos wheels on my Jake as well, never an issue when I was racing.

    Vs are as much of a pain to set up on a cross bike as normal cantis. It’s easier just to accept that you can’t stop……

    Leon
    Free Member

    I run the Shimano R500 cantis – the best I’ve found so far, and better than all those retro stylee ones.

    The trick is to immediatly bin the straddle wire thingy, and use an old fashioned one, set up fairly low. This gives you more power, and a slightly mushy feel (which I prefer as it gives more control). I also used to recommend extra spacers on the canti’s as they were designed for wider rims, but Shimano have figured out that these are mostly used with skinny road rims, and the latest ones have an extra spacer on them.

    For Tyres, I can really recommend Panaracer cross blasters in 31mm width. Really grippy, but still roll well, and sooooo light!

    I did a Polaris with this combo, and it was great. So quick on the road compared to an MTB, and there’s not a lot you can’t ride on it. Not so good on very steep descents as the position puts you quite far forward, and not so good on bumpy stuff, but any time you lose is more than made up on the bridleways and roads.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice.

    I love STW so much sometimes.

    By the way, the race is Gaelforce West. Hoping some more from STW might be giving it a go.

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