Anyone ditched the road bike for a cyclo cross?

Right I’ve done it, kind of, well a cx bike is on its way at least. N+1 and all that road bike might go one day 🙂

My only road bike is a CX. Boardman Disc one, fwiw. Not generally a problem keeping up on club runs (just pick the right group).

I got it for two reasons, one so that I could commute on the road but come home over the military areas when time’s less pressing, second because commuting in town it’s a bit more upright and with chicken levers I can sit up high and still brake. But I ride it more and more – my original MTB’ing, 20-odd years ago was taking a rigid boneshaker up farm tracks, over hills, down bridleways, just to see what’s around the next corner. Then I got into suspension, and singletrack and roots and drops, and all that. Gradually as I got older (and bounce less) I tend just ride bridleways and farm tracks and go over the hill to see what the view’s like and…… and my CX does that better than either of my MTB’s

What did you order, Parkesie? You won’t regret it.
I did a 32 mile ride on my Arkose yesterday, incorporating road and light trail. So much more versatile than a straight road bike, and according to strava, I’m not far off the pace either – usually in the top half, of road sections, sometimes top third.

Gone for the new boardman cx team. Will see how it compares to the carbon pro Road bike.

It’s interesting, I don’t think most of the bikes people describe as CX bikes these days actually are CX bikes they’re more utility/commuter/tourer bikes in the main… That’s no bad thing IMO, it seems like practical, multi purpose bikes are back in fashion to a certain extent.

For my own part I am still keeping a proper road bike, because I like riding it, and I quite like having a slightly more offroad biased “CX/Gravel” bike with proper knobbled tyres which is still perfectly capable of trundling on the road…

My MTB is getting neglected though now…

I ride my charge filter as my winter Devon lanes proof roadie / commute / mixed on and off road bike a lot. It’s my cheapest bike and probably most often used. It’s really fun to ride off road and comfy on……. But……

On a sunny summers day with some exmoor hllls to climb and some roadie mates I wouldn’t trade my carbon roadie for anything. It’s definitely faster up and downhill for less effort ( and there is lots of climbing here) and I love the feeling of efficiency and directness it has that the steel charge doesn’t.

If I could only have one it’d be a very difficult choice!

Well it’s arrived and I’ve done my 1St comute on a cx bike. It’s everything I’d expected almost as quick on smooth roads as the road bike quicker and more importantly comfier everywhere else. Hydro disc stoppers are better than calipers straight away on this wet morning aswell.

Never got round to adding a picture of the cx bike. My comutes have got alot longer and interesting since i got the boardman. My road bike hasnt even moved of its hook.

Comfort zone broken by chris[/url], on Flickr\
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Those of you running two sets of wheels.. Do you have any problems with having to align the mech and brakes each time or are you able to just switch the wheels over and ride?

Back wheel works fine. For some reason the front brake disk rubs when I switch, I just adjust the caliper – two minute job.

To be honest, I tend not to switch too much now – it’s got trail tyres on it at the moment and they will be staying until at least the end of the summer so I can hit the cheeky trails on the way home.

Will swap back if somebody suggests a long road ride to me though…

I tend to stick to the roads when commuting in winter so I swap around a bit more.

Since buying my CX, I’ve dust build up on my mtb and road bike.

Just does it all.

Trying to sell all my road stuff now 🙂