n+1 time (well, kind of). I have a 20 kg steel tourer that I wouldn’t race on and a Bianchi road bike that I never got on with.

I want a CX bike to have a go at racing this winter summer and that I can still take on the odd road ride with mates and the Mrs.

I see two options and I’m not sure how the compromises will stack up

1. CX race bike
2. Gnarmac bike

The CX may have a higher bottom bracket (less ideal for road), the gnarmac will have a longer wheelbase (less ideal for racing).

I’ll probably end up with some sort of mudguards on occasionally for road rides or commuting with The Long Way Home (though that should be the role of the tourer).

I could always sell the tourer for an extra £300 of budget or so but it’s not really worth it.

I’m guessing that the ideal way I compromise will depend on what ratio of CX to road I’ll end up using it for, but I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m just hoping that someone will have gone through a similar buying process and what their conclusions were.

Also, any suggestions to improve on the following? I’m going to have to spend a bit longer trying bikes out than I did with my old roadie!

1. On-One Pickenflick
2. Pinnacle Arkose

Also, any excuse to post bike porn should never be missed 😀

I’m sort of in the same situation – but not quite.

I mostly ride MTB and have bikes to cover most options (hardtail, full suss, SS). I also enjoy a bit of road and have a Cannondale Synapse that I really like (so not quite the same situation as you there).

I like the idea of a bike I can use for some winter road riding, but also something I can use for a bit of gravel/lanes/towpath type shortcuts or just mixed in with road rides for variety.

So similar to you but different. You’re not likely to find someone with exactly the same set of circumstances, preferences and priorities though…..

For what it’s worth, I’m very tempted by the Arkose 5 that is currently on sale for £1200. For the price it looks like a great option – even if the colour is a bit iffy).

There’s a really nice new Mango Point AR model coming out in the next few weeks. Should hit all the points that most people are looking for.

I’d very happily (road) race my CX bike that doubles as a winter road bike (quite a posh one). It may actually be lighter than my road bike and the geometry feels fine on the road.

In fact, I’m minded of the review of the Boardman road bike in bikeradar when they said it was too slack for road racing and Chris Boardman pointed out that it was used by many of the British Olympic team including Nicole Cooke who’d won gold. I reckon too much is made of (handling) geometry within a certain range.

No mudguards on mine but I just use raceblades which I’ve found work 90% as well as ‘proper’ ones which is close enough for me.

AFAIK you still can’t race a road bike with discs.

Sportives are fine tho.

Depends which races IIRC but yeah, something to consider though from the OP’s post, he doesn’t actually seem to want to road race on it.

OP – Are you not letting the marketing BS steer you too much?

I had no frigging idea about the 2 different categories you just mention, and I have a CX bike that I use.

So far it has worked off road, in a CX race, and on the road. I really didnt know the decision was so complicated 😆

Just make sure you get some road tyres and everything will be fine, unless the fashion Police now stop you riding a bike where you like?

Double post.. not sure how that happened?

Are you not letting the marketing BS steer you too much?

Quite possibly. Without doing a bunch of racing I’m not going to figure out (or maybe I never would) how much a long wheelbase hinders a ‘snappy’ racing feel or the high BB of a CX bike for extra clearance feels less stable at high road speeds….

I have it on good authority that CX Bike BB’s have dropped over the last X largely because clipless pedals mean you don’t have to design for riders riding around with toe clips flapping around upside down.

So their BB’s are now close to the same BB drop as a road bike, though a higher BB because of the larger tyres.

CX bikes often have longer seat tubes for a given reach, so that the bikes can be shouldered more easily. Even though that’s really only useful (according to the people I talk to) in the Three Peaks.

I love this photo, I’ve posted it up before

Arkose 2 on an off road detour section of my commute

The CAAD-X BB height is 2mm different from the road bike.
Switch to road tyres and …

My Vaya is very nice to ride.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P3SALE-iMQ[/video]

I was in a similar situation and opted for a GT Grade 105 – my only disappointment with it is that it’s a bit heavy at 23.5lbs for a Medium.

I think the pickenflick and the Arkose are about 1 kg lighter than that (of course those are catalogue weights with no pedals and likely hard skinny tyres…)

so yeah, maybe I should just go look at nerd over some geometry charts in detail 🙂

essexbiker: I was in a similar situation and opted for a GT Grade 105 – my only disappointment with it is that it’s a bit heavy at 23.5lbs for a Medium.

That’s strange because I was considering one of these and have seen figures of 19 lbs quoted. 23.5 lbs seems a lot for a 950g carbon framed bike.

EDIT: Just noticed, is yours a carbon frame or aluminium?

OP
A CX will be way betterer off road than a road bike ,and it will be way betterer on the road than an mtb.

In a CX race you will be breathing out your Rss,so you won’t notice or even care.

Remember the main rule,when using it on different surfaces.. it’s adapt or die crash blame the bike buy an new bike . 🙂

I like the Rose CX bikes

I should weigh mine at some point. It didn’t start off massively lght. I then stuck 32c marathon pluses, a rack, a heavy D lock and mudguards on.

Lets just say it hasn’t got lighter