Looking at maybe getting a cross bike that i can do a bit of everything on. Currently mountain biking a couple of times a week and road riding once a week.
Thinking about binning the road bike as its harsh as **** and trying outthis cross thingy.
Any recommends for a bike that has a reasonable spec and looks cool?
I love the look of the lime green escapade but is it too heavy for when i ride with my roadie mates?

I just bought an Orange RX9S on eBay.
I ride to work on the road every day but I took the Orange the other day and came back on some farm tracks and canal towpaths that I wouldn’t ride on my road bike on.
Bike felt solid, maybe a little heavy, but sure-footed, robust and a load of fun.
It was also pretty swift on the road, considering.
So, not as nimble and light as my road bike but much more fun.
I will use it more when the weather improves to avoid getting too covered in shite, but it’s great to be able to vary my commute route to include some more fun stuff without taking the mountain bike.
Keep the road bike as well and have the variety.
Don’t think the RX9 is made anymore but they turn up on eBay quite regularly and always seem to be unused and in great condition.
Read into that what you will, but I love it.
The ‘S’ is the later model and has carbon forks, the earlier models were aluminium.
There’s one of the early ones on eBay at the moment but someone’s swapped the drop bars for flats.

A cross bike is a compromise, just like any other bike is, downsides are a little more weight compared to a road bike, not enough cushioning compared to an mtb etc.
The upsides, they handle road work just fine, and they can make a relatively tame trail seem tremendously exciting.
I have one, ive used it with knobbly tyres, it was great.
Ive used it with big (well, 32mm) slicks and a rack to go camping on, it was great.
Ive used it with normal sized road tyres to ride out with my mates, it was great.
Ive used it to go to work, it was great.
Most of them will take mudguards, or a rack, (or both) and bigger tyres too.
Mine is a charge filter, a decent bike but not that light compared to a carbon or alu bike.

Don’t expect a CX bike to be compliant like a MTB, maybe look at a Vagabond or similar (drop bar 29er)?

I binned off my (admittedly not high end, but perfectly decent) road bike a few years back then got an Arkose. I tend to ride the Arkose 50/50 on and off road and whilst it isn’t as quick as a proper road bike on the road it is decent enough. It is comfy and on towpaths and the like it’s amazing.

However, I have in the last few days just got a new (much better, and disc braked) road bike as the “pure” road itch is still there. I’d maybe not bin the road bike off immediately if you don’t need to.

See my similar thread. I had an Escapade and really didn’t like it.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-road-gravel

@TheWrongTrousers

There is a fork recall notice on the Orange website for the RX9. You might want to check if your bike is OK…

RX9 fork recall

I love my Escapade and the ability to link road and off-road sections together. I don’t have roadie mates though so not sure if it would be too slow.

Look for cheap frames and build up from there I reckon. that’s what I did with this and ended up with something perfect for racing and knocking about on if need be.

@benum
Thanks very much for that, I had seen that.
The recall is actually for the aluminium forks on the original model, not for the carbon forks on the RX9S which mine has, luckily
Thanks for the heads-up though, much appreciated