Okay so I’m doing really well this year at staying in shape and staying fit, i generally have one day off a week and rotate the others between road rides home, mtb rides and offroad running. Ideally I want to keep this going over the winter as much as possible so Im curious as to CX bikes and whether this will work better over winter. My road bike is a carbon cannondale so not something I want to ride with over winter, I have a hardtail for mtb use in the wyre forest over winter but Im wondering if a CX bike could be fun for after work blasts or weekend stuff where I can chuck on mudguards and have something a bit different. It could just be N+1 but I’m interested to hear opinions and perhaps suggestions of suitable bikes?

Yeh they’re fun, proper cx race bikes are very stiff so choose carefully.

Some CX bikes you cant get proper mudguards on where the gravel bikes you can.They are very good fun where you can go between road and off-road they work great.

CX bikes are great fun – can make a fairly benign offroad route into an absolute hoot and surprisingly quick at covering the ground. With the taller gears, you’ll probably be working harder on the hills too. There’s a huge variety from out and out CX race bikes designed for 60mins of flat-out racing to adventure / gravel bikes designed for offroad touring so hard to make a simple recommendation. I built mine frame-up – a 17lb carbon framed race bike and a titanium framed travel / adventure bike.

Dont want to do any racing at all, just looking for something where I can combine road and off road sections and cover some ground especially over the winter where my road bike wont be suitable. roads, mixed in with bridleways without having to drive anywhere really. My initial thoughts are disc brakes and tubeless as I dont want the faff of fixing punctures constantly.

I’ve ridden mine in the wyre quite a few times, and it makes everything fun, even the more mundane trails. Quite a few of us locals with them now, going to try it with some slicks on as a change to using my road bike, especially as it’s got spam hydro brakes.

What have you got then?

I got a gravel/cx bike a couple of months ago and am loving it! Faster than my MTB off road unless it’s really rough, and not too much slower on road than my road bike. Even towpaths and bridleways are quite fun!

As for suggestions, I’d look more towards gravel than cx bikes, especially if you’re not racing. Not loads different, but slightly more relaxed with clearance for bigger tyres and mudguards. I went for an On-One Bish Bash Bosh – nothing came close on the price for the specs I was after. For something half the price, Boardmans are worth a look and Halfords always seem to have some sort of offer on.

I’ve got a white Saxon cross, it’s quite slack too, great fun!

My initial thoughts are disc brakes and tubeless as I dont want the faff of fixing punctures constantly.

Best upgrade to any winter byway bike is to go tubeless, imo. Some years ago I stopped using my Croix de Fer most of the year as I couldn’t face the number of flats or using marathon plus type tyres. Now many of the better OE Alex and branded CX rims are TLR. Worth checking for.

I’ve been looking at the Saxon cross for adventure cross events and winter commutes hydraulic discs and 1 x 11 gears bikescene have the 2016 model down from £1500 to £1000

You might find a CX bike replaces your hard tail.

I’ve got a battered Kinesis cx pro6 which is ridden everywhere.
Commuting,playing out,exploring,nursery run,shopping.
For the South East based xc rides I do, it’s perfect.
The ease of linking & taking the off road .traffic free routes really appeals to me . I now, very rarely drive anywhere to ride .

N+1 you say?….I was considering a winter road commuter – but now I’m leaning towards another cx bike for playing out and relegating the current one to winter use.

The hardtail has only done one winter so far so a very recent addition. I use it when going to the wyre forest throughout winter with mud tyres on it, I dont think ANY cx bike will survive the bad winter in the wyre forest, at least not as well as the mudtyres and hardtail do. I am still using it there now as a simple alternative as its gotten a little sloppy again and to go for a blast to kinver. I see the CX bike more replacing the road bike over the winter. Do some CX bikes come tubeless as standard?

I bought a Whyte Saxon cross last year and it’s become my go to bike of choice and my regular commuter replacing my winter road bike. Just love being able to mix the rides up – bridleways, farm tracks, forest tracks, canal towpaths and back country lanes are great fun on the CX, whereas an MTB is a bit over-biked and a road bike just can’t hack it.

Definitely go tubeless. The Saxon Cross came tubeless ready and after about six weeks I made the switch.

Go for it and you won’t regret it!

I was in the same place 3 months back. Croix de Fer, Niner RLT or RLT Reynolds steel.
Ended up with the heavier Croix de Fer. huge amount of eyelets for racks and mudguards, good tyre clearance(45mm fenders, 35c stock tyres atm and room to fit 37c/40c no problem), and nice colour scheme without asking to get stolen when you’re in for a coffee. And it rides amazing!
Despite working in a bikeshop with Niner RLT, Niner BSB, Santa Cruz Stigmata, Surly Straggler and several Cannondale and Scott CX bikes I’ve gone for a Genesis.

Dont want to do any racing at all, just looking for something where I can combine road and off road sections and cover some ground especially over the winter where my road bike wont be suitable. roads, mixed in with bridleways without having to drive anywhere really. My initial thoughts are disc brakes and tubeless as I dont want the faff of fixing punctures constantly.

Yeah, that’s pretty much what my cross bike – On One Dirty Disco – does. I have a spare set of wheels with fat road slicks on as well, but it’s at its best for linking up back roads, easy trails, more back roads, more trails etc.

I’ve seen the argument that a road bike is better on the road and a mountain bike is better off road, but I’d see it the other way round and say it’s better on road than a mountain bike and better off road than a pure road bike.

I don’t know what comes tubeless ready as a complete bike, but I’ve been running Crest 29ers with TR Bontrager CX0s and standard CX0s converted to tubeless and WTB Cross Boss TR, all tubeless. I think – touch wood – I’ve had one puncture in around two years now. Disc brakes, yes. Why wouldn’t you?

Dont want to do any racing at all, just looking for something where I can combine road and off road sections and cover some ground especially over the winter where my road bike wont be suitable. roads, mixed in with bridleways without having to drive anywhere really. My initial thoughts are disc brakes and tubeless as I dont want the faff of fixing punctures constantly.

Yep, “Gravel” Bike. I went for the Jamis Renegade Expat. Can’t really fault it. Does everything you state above. 40mm WTB Nanos, whilst making it ever so slightly slower on the road compared to the stock 35mm Clement Xplor USH, greatly improve it’s offroad capabilities. You can smash down French forest roads without a care in the world.

I bought a CX bike at the end of last year as I too was curious. Used it for a couple of mixed rides – roads, some moorland type stuff etc. Found out very quickly around Calderdale that you have to tailor your rides – you certainly can’t go doing stuff you’d normally have done on a mountain bike (or if you do, you certainly can’t do stuff like rocky descents anywhere near as quick or as comfortably or as fun) but thats kind of to be expected.

Since those couple of early off-road forays, its been relegated to my commute – 2 miles of mixed towpath and road with a bit of gravel track inbetween. For that its good – faster than a mountain bike and the ability to whip off down the side of the river singletrack if the mood takes me is something you couldn’t do on an out and out road bike.

Do I like it? I can’t say I do. As a commuting tool, it seems pretty good. Would I prefer the same thing with flat bars? Yes. For off-road stuff would I prefer a rigid mountain bike with chunky tyres? Definitely.

I had a gravel bike (Forme Hooklow 1 2015) with cyclocross tyres on it. It was excellent for commuting along the canal towpath, quiet country roads and tame bridle paths. I mainly used it in winter as I didn’t have to worry about anything breaking due to all the mud and could easily fit mudguards.

I’ve just sold it and plan on getting a hardtail as a replacement soon. For the type of riding I was using my CX bike for I decided that I’d rather have a hardtail. Although the CX climbed offroad well, going downhill was a bit terrifying due to how shit the brakes were, unless you had your hands on the drop bars, which isn’t a great position to be in offroad!

Although not strictly CX (more an unholy marriage of skinny rigid 29er ATB and backroads tourer) I’ve been having a massive hoot on the Vagabond. It has effectively replaced three bikes, ie my MTB, my hybrid/keep fit bike and a tourer. I’ll prob be needing a hardtail again one day but right now I’m mad about this thing and can’t stay off it, already planning loaded epics as gives all-day comfort plus climbs and descends extraordinarily well on trickier off-road stuff. Grabbing even medium air whilst on the hoods pumps the old adrenaline. It gobbles miles offroad and although not been tempted to put skinnier boots than the stock 2.1s on it as yet, I can’t see it being too tardy on a commute.

I was of the same opinion as you, something for 1/2 and 1/2

For something half the price, Boardmans are worth a look and Halfords always seem to have some sort of offer on.

so took advantage of the C2W scheme and bought this.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Hurk3Y]Untitled[/url] by eastham_david, on Flickr

Yet to try it in anger, but I think of all the changes, the wheels may be one of the first, they feel heavy 🙁

but I’ve been running Crest 29ers

Have they been OK?

they seem quite light and wide compared to 700c rims. Plus they are tubeless and cheap on triton at the moment 😀

Question to the STW massive, are 29er Crest rims OK for it?

I run Crests on my Crocket and did on my Felt F65X before that. They work well. Am using Spesh Terra Pro 2Bliss tyres and have also used Vittoria XG Pro TNTs which also worked nicely.

I run Crests on my Crocket and did on my Felt F65X before that. They work well

cheers

might be worth a punt then.

it’s got Schwalbe Rapid Rob’s on at the moment, which I intend to try tubeless with some stans rim strips as a stop gap.

Loving your enthusiasm for that bike Malvern Rider. That’s what it’s all about.

Go for it

Like all all-rounders, it’s not brilliant at either end if the spectrum, but I does a sterling job in the middle ground

I’ve turned my arkose into a commuter, which I love, so I’m looking to put my el mariachi into a gravel style monster crosser with jones bars, hub gears and wtb nano 2.1s. So it sits more somewhere in that middle ground too (want to bikepack on it a bit). Somewhere between my Solaris and my arkose

You’ll love it

Although the CX climbed offroad well, going downhill was a bit terrifying due to how shit the brakes were, unless you had your hands on the drop bars, which isn’t a great position to be in offroad!

It’s actually a really good position for your hands to be in off road – very secure grip, keeps your weight low, means you can use the brakes easily. I guess it might feel insecure if you’re not used to drops or if your bars are set too low – compact drops with less, erm, drop help a lot – but with the right set-up it’s the way to go ime.

Maybe try some wider, compact drop bars with a slight flare to the ends – Salsa Cowbells work for me. Cross bikes may not be brilliant on more technical rocky stuff, but they’re generally pretty predictable, not least because there’s no fork dive to shift weight in an exaggerated way off drops etc.

which isn’t a great position to be in offroad!

1932 just called to say ‘Oh my Jeeves, au-contraire, it’s spiffo donchaknow?!’

Very mixed opinions about it doing neither thing very strongly but copes with both very well. I may just try to lighten up my hardtail and fit some slightly different tyres that will handle the on road a little better than the pure mud tyres that I have for the wyre forest.

how about a Van Dessel WTF? Buy quick, before the £ slides too far. It’s very adaptable and has all the mounts necessary. It’s their jack-of-all-trades bike.

I’ve got a spesh tricross which is just bombproof. Can’t justify having this and a newer bike (e.g. a VD WTF), though my inner tart wants the VD. I’d love a singlespeed, with chunky tubeless tyres, full guards, rear pannier and a front facing rack.

CX bikes are a lot of fun & a lot more capable than they appear.

Last weekends ride was on 32mm slicks, which weren’t as bad as you’d think through this stuff. I have some 41’s which would have been better here, but a drag for 90% of the ride.
Hydraulic discs would have been good, as my V brakes were getting pretty ordinary.
Benny in the photo is on a Specialised Diverge, which is a good bike for not a lot of money.

Looking at that picture, first thought is how much more fun it would be on a mountain bike 😀

I have a CDF 30, which gets a lot of use, mainly quiet road touring, winter road and very occasional offroad. Usually when I take it off road I wish I was on one of my MTB’s !

I’ve had my Saxon Cross since late 2012 and use it more than any of my other bikes, on and off road. I’ve upgraded the brakes over that time from the original BB7’s via TRP HyRd’s to RS685’s which are brilliant.

It’s a straight line on my Yeti. On the Singular, it takes a bit more concentration, but it’s still fun.
The 30km of gravel road before Andrew suggested this bit, would suck on the Yeti.

I’ve done a few miles of gravel on my hybrid with 32c slicks. The bike survived, as did I. However I wouldn’t call it ‘capable’ in any way.

If you want to mince nice and slowly; you enjoy carefully picking lines to compensate for inappropriate equipment; or your off-road is really smooth, then you’ll love it.

For me to go for a ‘gravel’ bike it’d have to be very smooth and I’d need some pretty fat tyres on it. Where my home riding is even a rigid 29er is hard work. I could string together a longer ride with a gravel bike by finding smooth enough trails, but I’d probably prefer to take the rigid 29er and put up with the slight disadvantage on road than deal with the significant disadvantage off it. But then, it’s quite rocky round here. Having said that in Swindon it’s not rocky but it is bumpy in places, for extended distances too – the mud dries like concrete.

Cotic Escapade here. Its evolved from being a winter road bike into a do everything bike. Built up with a mountain bike bias – 1 x 10, hope/crest wheels, dropper operated from the redundant left hand shifter, 40mm/35mm Nano/cross boss tyres, wide drop bars. It doesn’t sound like I’m too far away from you op – this is my favourite bike now for Clent/Kinver and the multitude of bridleways between them around the hagley area.

Escapade here as well, what a bloody hoot.

I’ve done a XC race on it and everything. It’s not light mind.

I was CX curious a while ago and used my arkose on and off road. I just find I didn’t enjoy the compromise off-road, and didn’t find it fun unless it was fairly smooth which is ultimately limiting when my local terrain is very mixed smooth/soft/hard/loose. Just kept thinking i needed proper 29er tyres. So i’ve built myself a fast rigid 29er scandal with as an anything bike. Can choose any tyre size I want, it’s pretty light, but can take a beating but be more capable in more off-road situations. It’ll be just fine and comfortable on tarmac too. Think the right rigid 29er is pretty much the ideal all-rounder, giving more versatility than a CX bike.

Think the right rigid 29er is pretty much the ideal all-rounder, giving more versatility than a CX bike.

+1

The Volkswagen Golf of bikes. Adequate but boring.