thinking of trying it and wondered what it is like ? how comfy is a rigid bike ? I live near the chilterns and have a good network of road and off road trails . Also I was thinking of getting a scott cx comp but it doesnt have disc brakes ! your help would be very welcome

Rich

Did you ride a rigid mtb back in the day ? If so it will be like that ,you learn to ride lightly on the skinny wheels and your legs are your suspension !

They are great get one, with disc brake ideally as there is likely to be a lot of development in this area

ok thanks guys , I fancy doing something different this winter a mixture of road and off road 🙂

Get a disk one for sure. Rim brakes will do your head in coming from a MTB – CX racers just aim for muddy puddles to slow down, so they don’t mind shit brakes.
Rigid cx bikes are generally fine unless you’re taking them out over the rocks – they can get a bit bone-shaking there but generally they’re a comfy ride.

What Garry says ,ride the 3 peaks to lose all your fillings !

Get it bought, it’s great fun, and will greatly improve you as a mountain biker, smoothness is key, not the terrain but your riding style.

maybe save up for a disc one then 🙂

I bought a s/h Major Jake about 6 months ago and love it, has canti and thats fine, wouldn’t want the hassle of discs, 60 miles out of the front door at the weekend with everything from sustrans, bridlway, cheeky foot paths, beach, and road.

looking at the scott range even the most expensive ones dont come with disks !

There’s nothing wrong with good old cantilevers, the top europeans still aren’t using discs for racing at the minute. It might change in the future, but the canti’s are more than capable, and don’t forget you haven’t got the same amount of tyre on the floor, so very easy to lock wheels up.

thats what I thought about my road bike , with rim brakes the back wheel would skid so whats the point of disc ?

If you’re not going to race go for disc’s it’s much better to be able to stop when you want to in the wet rather than when the bike feels like it.
My last CX had canti’s and they where ok in the dry, but show them a bit of moisture and you’d be lucky to stop in the next county (or else they’d be juddering, snatching and squealing).

Pad choice makes a big difference, best I’ve found yet that are affordable are the BBB blue ones, work well in the wet which is always a bonus.

I have a Jake the snake with good tektro cantis, I don’t race but use it for touring, light off road and winter road. Never felt underbraked, but if I was replacing it I’d probably go disc.

you cant be going that fast on a fully rigid bike compared to a mtb so canti’s should be fine if i’m thinking right ?

you cant be going that fast on a fully rigid bike compared to a mtb so canti’s should be fine if i’m thinking right ?

You’re not thinking right, at least as far as ‘a network of roads and off-road trails in the Chilterns’ is concerned. You’ll be going faster.

Cantis are garbage nowadays by any objective measure. If you’re racing then you need them, because you need to give face to the heritage of the sport. Plus stopping the bike is not high on the agenda of most riders in a CX race. If you’re not racing then get a grown-up set of brakes. Particularly if you plan to take your CX bike on any serious MTB trails, which is fun to do every so often, then you definitely will appreciate disks.

Richie – I have ridden mine on some pretty steep rocky stuff. The cantis are fine but I find I get arm cramp and pump from hauling the levers. TBH though, when on that type of trail I quickly realise I am on the wrong bike !