Today I got given an old Raleigh road bike, having already got a SS flat bar racer and should be getting a proper road bike in a week or two I am thinking that the only bike I don’t now have is a cyclocross bike.

Is it possible to turn it into a cyclocross bike and what do I need to do to convert it?

It looks like it has lots of tyre clearance for some chunky cyclocross tyres but I would have to use normal road brakes as apposed to canti’s unless I spent out and got Argos or someone to fix some disc mounts – Hmm theres an idea….

Also if anyone has done this, got any pics??

You’ll be wasting your time.

But go ahead anyway, it’s fun 😀

BTW You can get adapters to mount v-brakes to a bike with no mounts.

I’d check out the clearance with an actual tyre. The problem might also be the clearance through the brake caliper if you can’t sort the canti out.

Cross bikes are great but for the faff of sorting this frame £175 on a PX Uncle John, or £165 on a Kaffenback which would do you “Cross-lite” might be better.

So where do we get those adaptors from? Just what I need.

If you get small cross tyres you’ll probably get away with it assuming that you have old deep drop calipers. After all its only in about the last 20-30 years that people started to use cantilevers, beforehand they used calipers.

A frame builder can put canti mounts on the back – had it done on a frame a few years back and I think it was about £20.

Otherwise, a v-brake mounting plate is a posibility but the only ones I can find are DNA or Ison, which cost £25!