So I bought a CX bike. It is way more comfy than the road bike it replaced, quite a bit lighter, and better specc’ed. I use t for commuting about 25km in a day, mostly road on the way in and sometimes off road on the way home. The problem is in the last 3 rides I have come off twice. Meatloaf said “2 outta 3 aint bad”, but I am not so keen and have started to lose my bottle which isn’t helping. The first crash was too fast on a wet road and I hit the deck at 23mph, and the second was getting a bit stuck in a rut and overbalancing at about 10mph.
I don’t seem to get much grip on road or off, is that how they are designed, or am I expecting too much? Do I need to find better surfaces to ride on (if so what is best?)? Do I need to learn how to ride a CX bike? Or are you supposed to fall off CX bikes a lot?

I don’t part with my MTB as regularly as this and fortunately it has not damaged me or any kit so far, but as the fear sets in I am worried I might not get off so lightly next time and this is making me brake in corners etc and generally ride even more badly

Any advice welcome, but anything on CX bikes would be more helpful

CX tyres don’t grip as well on the road as road tyres IME though it is possible that you’ve got crap tyres.

Riding a CX bike off road is like riding an mtb offroad just with smaller margins for error. That means you either crash more or have to ride more within yourself.

You’ll get the hang of it soon enough no doubt.

I use mine CX in a very similar way to you.

CX tyres not for Road ime
I use heavy but indestructible and puncture proof marathon+’s. Off road they’re ok, not mtb grip but ok except on wet mud\grass but you just have to ride to the conditions and bike, if you want to go proper off roading go home and swap Bikes for your MTB, CX is a halfway house at best don’t expect any more

Dunno what tyres are on there at the moment, but they are not crap (are they wwaswas???), but I got some SB8’s spare. Going up hill the other evening off road the rear wheel was spinning and then the front washed out. I doesn’t help confidence that I am clipped in on the CX and on flats on my MTBs

I’ve never had this problems in a good few years of CX, cx pros 30c and at 60psi for the road and dropped down to 40psi off road.
It could be that you are running your tyres too high off road causing you to come off or if they are cheaper tyres then they need to be worn in a bit (shiny coating taken off) before they grip well on the road.

29erKeith – Member
……I use heavy but indestructible and puncture proof marathon+’s

same
probably at pressures that are better on road than off as don’t like to pinch flat on rocks or work hard on road

don’t race cx use mine on road / gravel / singletrack

took me a while when riding roots and rocks (albeit very small ones) to adjust back to rigid fork style – which for me is ease back early off the bars and maintain line

to open a can of worms the only time had real problems with a bike which resulted in multiple offs was the stem was just wrong??

Wrong in what way? When I first got on it, I felt a bit stretched but now feels fine

I don’t seem to get much grip on road or off,

For many years I’ve been playing around with various on/off road mix bikes and the tyres are always the trickiest part, there’s just no answer to it, only big compromises. Knobby CX tyres are hopeless at speed on wet road corners and tbh they’re just too skinny + low volume to be much good on most off-road terrain. They’re designed for soft ground without roots and rocks. 40C is about the minimum for general off-road rather than mixed road/off road imo and really you’re into light XC 29er tyres at 47-50C/2″.

The other issue is that the grip area on a CX bike is almost right above the front axle, so it’s really easy to go over the bars (my record is 3x in one short ride locally..). They have relatively bad weight distribution for anything steep, hopping stuff etc. I know it can be done, it’s just really hard compared to a decent MTB and CX bikes seem to get out of shape very easily because of it.

I’ve settled on bikes that are ~75% on-road biased and cope with being ridden with some care/risk off-road for short cuts, exploring etc. But as much fun as riding a bike ‘on the edge’ is (loads!), CX bikes are only truly fast on smooth trails. I’ve had bikes made that try to take a different tack with CX-type geometry etc and got them to feel a lot more hop/jump/raggable but it’s tiring, feels fun for an hour or so but sooner or later it all goes wrong.. And the ‘lairy’ CX bike has then got further away from being any good as a road bike.

Best tyres I’ve used so far for on/off road are Marathon Mondials 47c, but they’re too clunky for a light drop-bar bike imo. More of a big-tour kind of tyre.

I think the tyres that were on there are very much ‘off road’ ones Tim and they’re fairly knobbly for regular road riding (I think they’re almost a mud tyre in cross terms) and won;t grip too well on wet and greasy tarmac.

I’d put the SB8’s on now we have drier trails you should find they’re better on and off road.

it took me a while to get used to how much further forward my weight was on the cross bike off road – you really have to concentrate on keeping your weight on your feet as much as possible.

I’ve had 3 crashes whilst racing my CX bike, and all 3 of them have been on tarmac – and hurt. As for trail riding on CX bikes, I find mine has pretty good grip compared my XC bike in mud, but everything else they are a little sketchy (and downright scary on wet rocks!)

It was pretty muddy going up Tea and Cake and it was all over the place.
Will get the SB8s on and slow down a bit on anything difficult/techy/wet/steep until I get more used to it then.

There were a load of people on the “if you only had one bike” thread who were chosing their CX, but if it keeps spitting me off, I might be hanging up the off road tyres for it!

It was pretty muddy going up Tea and Cake and it was all over the place.

“they all do that sir” 😉

I always just tried to keep it going in the right general direction when it was at all wet (or just avoid the wet bits altogether). ‘cos you have to run relatively high pressure and they have such small volume roots are ‘interesting’ when either they or the tyres are wet/muddy. I think you can’t really treat like a rigid mountain bike – it needs more caution.

I think on more open bridleway stuff cx bikes are much less likely to catch you out even if it’s a bit damp. You do have to take extra care on singletrack at Stanmer.

[edit] be aware that you’ll get less grip in some conditions with the SB8’s – you’re making a switch from mud tyres to summer ones, really.

as said above, CX tyres tend to be crap on tarmac, with spaced out knobs affording less grip than a slick tyre, with added squirm, so you just have to go easy into tight road corners
this is tyre tread dependant obviously

off road, they will get sucked into ruts a lot easier than an MTB tyre as they’re a lot thinner so find gaps easier, it’s something you have to compensate for

grip is significantly less than an MTB, and handling is a lots quicker, it’s just something you have to adapt your riding style to, you can’t just blast through stuff, you need to ‘go light’ and ride with a certain amount of finesse, which is what makes it fun

i ride the same South Downs trails on MTB and a CX bike, even the steep ones, it’s the fear on the latter that makes them come alive

hold off on putting the SB8s until it’s completely dry, they’re comically sketchy in the damp 🙂

It was lovely up near Truleigh Hill at lunchtime, try some more open stuff for a bit, maybe, until it dries out more?

oh, and avoid the urban single track if you can – it’s all nettles attacking your legs and cow parsley trying to grab your bars – I nearly got caught out heading up a cheeky trail to the Foredown Tower from Portslade village. 🙂

If you think your cx tyres are bad off road consider how bad your road tyres would be there.
If you think your cx tyres are bad on the road consider how bad your MTB tyres would be there.

If you’re going to use the same bike for on and off road you’ve got to compromise somewhere. Personally I’m loving my Halo Twinrails as a light road and hardpack biased tyre, but I wouldn’t push them as hard either on or off road as a single purpose tyre.

Much as has been said by JoB above, CX bikes don’t ride exactly like a good road bike, or a good MTB. New higher volume new generation cx tires have more leeway than old style tires, to a point, my current favourites being Clement PDX and Challenge Grifo clinchers.
I shall leave my new Dugast Typhoon for the right day.

why not ride a rigid 29er e.g genesis fortitude. all bases covered!

It’s a compromise as

Mostly Balanced – Member

If you think your cx tyres are bad off road consider how bad your road tyres would be there.
If you think your cx tyres are bad on the road consider how bad your MTB tyres would be there.
said.
Grifo XS tubs on the road in the wet are scary with front and rear slides. They aren’t road tyres. Dry/firm mud and they’re brilliant.

I think my Kenda Small Block 8s are a reasonable compromise for both road and off-road grip/rolling resistance.

DC I presume you have one for sale? 😉 😉

The Fortitude is the latest bike DC is championing Tim 😉

He might be on the right track though in terms of what you need; a rigid steel MTB running high volume but fast rolling tyres would be a much better all rounder. I find that Maxxis Crossmarks run great on the road with little drag you’d normally associate with MTB tyres but still providing the grip you’re after. A rigid MTB is also much more confidence inspiring in traffic than my road bike ever was.

Hope to see you out for a ride soon mate by the way,

Paceman

The Schwalbe Swan thingys that came on my Giant have been alright on and offroad so far. I ride on and off road on my commute and I was expecting death in the rain, I’m still here 🙂