Hi,

I'm looking at making the leap from fat tyre to thin(ner) tyres and a cylcocross bike seems a good solution for me. I'm looking to do road riding but still some singletrack on the commute and for fun, but I really don't know the first thing about "non-MTB" bikes.

I'm intending to get this through the cycle2work scheme and the options I'm looking at are:

Kona Jake £770

Genesis Vapour £850

Focus Mares 2010 £850

Fuji Cross Comp £850

The only make I've heard of is Kona, but they all seem to be fairly well thought of I think? I don't know much about the groupsets either – is one of these 4 a stand out buy? Any recommendations?

My intention is to do a bit more research and then go to Evans (or anywhere doing the scheme) and order one, hopefully trying out some sizes (I'm 6'3").

Any advice/suggestions would be most appreciated.

Definitely try some sizes before ordering, road bike sizing is quite critical.

Check for mudguard clearance & two bottle cage mounts – "pure" cross bikes may not have them.

The Jake is a old favourite but probably the least well specced of the four (steel fork). Personally I like the look of the Vapour but the Focus and the Fuji also look well specced for the money.

Dunno much about wheels, anyone with opinions on those?

Canti brakes on a crosser can be fiddly to set up, some have issues with vibration when there's a long cable drop below the front brake cable hanger (low mounted hanger on the Vapour is better). Or you can replace the cantis with mini-V's (but the purists will come after you with pitchforks!)

This is a great looking bike in the flesh and good value too. I think Chipps reviewed it a few issues back. I want one

{EDIT{ but it is singlespeed so may be a niche too far for you 😉

I went for one of these on the Cyclesheme, but its out of the price range and its got no rack/mudguard or bottle cage mounts. It is rather nice(if a little scary at times)to ride on the Quantocks.

Out of your list I'd say the fuji is the best specced bike. Although, just to add the mix, for that money I'd have a look at http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/tricross-sport-2010-cyclo-cross-bike-ec020083 as well.

There are a lot of bikes you could chose from, most, for the same money, will be evenly specced (i.e one might have better wheels and another a better chainset) so pick a few you like the look of, and then if possible, test ride them and chose the one that fits best!

What about something with discs? As a MTB er you might miss the braking power. Genesis do a nice one for a grand.

what about a salsa vaya?

Been enjoying a Genesis Croix de Fer as a commute/mild singletrack/training machine on the bike to work scheme. Bit heavy for a competitive cyclocross bike but very good fun out on the trails. Has been round the red at GT at night and down some fun Pentlands singletrack. I could keep up on road rides with slick tyres.

Solid spec on my 2009 model, only the tyres have been replaced in the last year of daily rides. Lots of mounting options for accessories if thats your thing.

CX bikes rock!

With semi slick 30mm cx tyres its a great commuter/tourer

With skinny slick 23mm tyres its a great road bike

With knobbly 35mm its a great local trails bike.

I got a condor CX bike and it ain't new so cannot recommend as I knew know very little about the skinny wheeled stuff. I can say though that its a choice you won't regret.

p.s you don't "really" need discs as my wheels lock up with canti's. Modulation is what you need not full on power as the actual ground contact point is small so easy to lock up.

Hi Skillwill,

I'm 6'2" & just bought a cyclo-cross bike on the CycletoWork scheme as well. It was a difficult choice as Kona & Dawes are my two preferred manufacturers.

I opted for a 58" Dawes Edge X (£880) & it's going well!

I've put slicks on it for the commute to work, but will revert back to knobblies when the cross season starts in the autumn.

There is a review here.

Ridley Crossbow?

Trying (unsuccessfully) to get C2W up and runngi here so Ic an get one of those beauties.. half my team are Flemmish though, may be colouring my judgement. Got mudguard and rack eyelets.

Kona Jake would also be on my list.

i got a dolan cross bike full rack, mudguard and 2 bottle mounts for 649 last sept on the bike to work, came with full tiagra groupset. i think that graham weigh cycles do it with sram rival for 799, realy pleased with mine.

p.s you don't "really" need discs as my wheels lock up with canti's. Modulation is what you need not full on power as the actual ground contact point is small so easy to lock up.

the problem with rim brakes is that the loss in power in the wet and mud is massive, not to mention what goes wrong if the wheel goes out of true, both likely if doing cyclocross. I'm sure lots of CXers will come on and say they us v brakes or whatever without issue, but my experiences with v brakes and mud is that they are rubbish.

My cantis on my road bike are plenty powerful, but I don't ride in the mud and rain on my road bike

I'm another happy Croix de Fer owner. Mud clearance isn't great for a cross bike and the disks make rack mounting a bit of a pain but other than that I love it. Absolutely flies along off road and is surprisingly capable.

The main reason I wanted disks was to avoid wearing out rims in the grit and crap of winter.

I got a Giant TCX1 through Cyclescheme just over a year ago for the commute across Cannock Chase. It has cantis but I sort of wish I had chosen something with discs for exactly the reason above – they're powerful enough but it's quite alarming how quickly the rim is disappearing!

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I did look at the Spesh Tricross and agree it seems well specced, I must admit the look of the fork put me off a bit, it seems strange!

Will be using this bike 75% on-road 25% off so I think cantis will be fine. I keep injuring myself mountain biking (just recovering from broken elbow and rib) so I'm thinking this will be good for still getting out there but not quite a fully roadie bike.

Recently I've been injuring myself more on the cross bike! There I am, pootling round on nice and safe trails when I'll forget which bike I'm on and do something stupid. Many are the times when I've had to extract myself from bushes and trees after failing to ride something I can ride easily with better brakes, more grip or bump absorbtion…

Second the comments by elliptic – getting the right size is v important. Consider the HT length as well as top tube, because affects how the bike feels too.

Then decide whether you care about having rack mounts – if you want them it will eliminate a few options such as the Focus.

Also consider whether you want disc brakes. As Stilltortoise says, you may find rim brakes are rubbish in the mud esp now we all have discs on our mountain bikes. I reckon discs are well worth it unless you want to do some proper racing.

Jake here, mate just bought that genesis
However I would get the £1k genesis
The one with disks – saw it in evans
Looks very cool, and disk brakes are uci legal now don't you know

Does look awesome doesn't it?

Thats the puppy
Made me think about C2W scheme.
J.

My C2W Planet X Uncle John has been great and at the time I got full Ultegra for £1k. Not sure the spec is so generous now though.

Did the 3 Peaks, plenty of chain gangs, plenty of local trails and is currently on commuting duties.

CX bikes are the future!!!

Just a late post to say I got the Croix de Fer and absolutely love it, really got the buzz back. Thanks for the advice.

Few pics

Nice one, looks lovely 🙂

Though a tad more expensive I would recommend a Surly Cross Check, I've managed to use mine for racing, commuting and touring round Morrocco, very versatile….