A roadie mate of mine wandered off road the other day and now fancies a CX bike, he’ll probably be using his works C2W scheme to get it.

Last time he got N+1-itis it was straight down to Evans with the voucher, I reckon He’s going to probably do the same but obviously there are other bike shops…

Help me with recommendations, ideally sub £700-ish…

Boardman CX Comp looks quite good to me at £599 if you can stand Halfords.

I’m thinking of getting one (albeit second hand probably) to replace my road bike as I want a tough capable winter trainer/commuter bike that does everything. Prepare to be corrected if there’s better deals out there, I’m not the most clued up on road/cx kit.

There are like to be lots of recommendations for the Pinnacle Arkose anyway. So Evans isn’t all that bad an option in this case.

A nice shiny CX forum is over here http://grit.cx STW CX site.

I bought the cheapest norco from evans (was the Threshold A3) about the same price as the boardman but may change as the 2015 model has swanky / silly axles. Been very pleased with it. Norco are a big mtb brand in Canada

Stuck on panaracer cinderross because I liked panaracer tyres before going tubeless on the mtb. I was surprised what a nice ride it was on the road, the tyres seemed quick rolling and the bike felt quite responsive. On getting off road it was really good, conditions were bone dry and the bike seemed quick and stable. Gears, Sora, all worked fine, stock bars and saddle seemed comfy and the mechanical brakes seemed ok enough. Colour scheme is quite nice too. Climbs nicely. Niggles limited to an annoying rattle for the in frame deraileur cable and one pinch puncture when I clattered a rock / ridge on a descent which is down to operator error. I was toying with the boardman but they didn’t hav any large ones having ridden this and my wife having got the Boardman I would plump for the norco now. It has lots of bosses for gards etc on it.

On the boardman side that has been fine although even though Mrs Kilo got a frame that fitted her (iirc the smallest) we have had to stick a shorter stem on it and I’m swapping out the seatpost which is very laid back, one of my collaegues also mentioned he had to buy smaller than his road bikes. Kit has worked well even the saddle not had to deal with halfords yet though.

Indeed but grit.CX was doesn’t seem to be the thriving hub of knowledge that STW is for these things TBH…

Spotted the Boardman and arkose one already, I’m sure He’ll spot the Norco threshold A3 there too, it’s cheap and disc braked, anyone had a go on one?

Sub £800 odd all the drivetrains seem to be sora based, so the main differentiators must be frame/fork and braking, I will try my best to nudge him towards discs, this will be a new concept for him though.

Edit, just saw your response kilo, cheers

Indeed but grit.CX was doesn’t seem to be the thriving hub of knowledge that STW is for these things TBH…

It’s only a few months old as it grow it will be, the more people post the better the knowledge base will grow. 😀

http://grit.cx/forum/topic/c2w