Hey raceface – get yourself a cx bike and come and do the next SPAM event. 100Km around the Plain; we’re billing this a CX /MTB ride – 30th September. SPAM BLAST Web site needs completing, but most details are there

Most stuff’s good on a cx bike.

Great for those ‘bit of everything rides’;

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxC7rgeTGck[/video]

you know what,i think i will save up for a cx bike (after reading your comments).i am not a fit/quick rider,but the idea of having a bike that i can ride on the road (it will be faster than my duster 🙂 but to also have the option of going off road with it too.the main reason i am thinking about though is during the winter months.i can use it on the road,and not have to worry about it like a nice road bike.also not have to spend hours cleaning it like my mtb (if you have ever ridden any of the off road routes in wiltshire.they can get very cloggy/chalk,clay terrain),a cx bike would be ideal for me (and it would get me fitter also/as long as i rode it 😉

p.s am not going to be getting anything expensive,but will try and get one with discs if poss.but as i say it will be a while off yet.

this topic got me thinking today so went for a spin to see how realistic that clip above is
it really is correct u can do 90% of riding on one riden like a big bmx straight from the door i rode bristols cobled streets where a skinny road bike would suffer hit the pump track and after about 5 laps i could quite eisely manual a set of small doubles and clear a table
then headed up to ashton court and did a full lap of the bikefest course oviosley taking chicken run on the larger drops but quarry was great fun untill some baby deers ran out infront of me.
on the way home it really had me thinking it was one of the best things i have bought from the bike trade.
i think ul have fun and not be disapointed.

😆

Have you ever ridden a BMX?

you can jump pump track tables or manual rollers on one of these too..
I’d honestly struggle to find a bike you couldn’t

but if you’re happy riding round drops that’s cool!

dont no if u no a/c corse but the ones im refering to are on the old beggerbush section towards the cafe gap,theones on red run and quarry wernt a problem just feels very far forwerd even on the hoods for a drop of that size,after a few runs i think would be doable.

I love my cross bike. It’s great when the weather is a bit crappy and I don’t want to ride my posh road bike, plus I can pop into the trails over the N Downs if I feel like it. Great for exploring for the next time I ride my MTB over there. Always makes me giggle riding it down BKB – drops on the drops! I had one a few years ago but that had canti brakes which really limited it off road – my new Vaya with discs is a lot better as it actually stops which is nice.

GB

Really!? On what grounds?

I used to ride mine around Ashton Court when I lived in Bristol. Was good, but a mountain bike is a lot faster, and IMO more fun, and those are the 2 criteria I’d use to judge!

On anything more than a smoothish bridleway they’ll be less comfortable and slower than an MTB, unless 90% of your riding fits that brief I’d disagree with the above!

If you’re the sort of person who likes to do a road ride and perhaps see what a certain bridleway looks like I don’t think ‘cross bikes really work. I wasn’t like that – I’d either go for a road ride, or I’d go for an off-road ride, never really mixed them up, so found a cross bike pretty miserable most of the time!

Granted I live in the middle of Salisbury Plain, so anything I do on my mountainbike round here I can do on my CX bike, but I stand by that comment. Out of interest, what MTB do you ride as Ashton Court isn’t exactly a gnar fest.

Shit loads… I gold medal’d at Bristol bike fest on a single speed surly cross check.

If I only had one bike it would be a crosser.

Out of interest, what MTB do you ride as Ashton Court isn’t exactly a gnar fest.

Couldn’t agree more, but I still reckon it’s faster on an MTB, which is my point. It would have been an Epic when I was there.

but if you’re happy riding round drops that’s cool!

Friend of mine used to ride some pretty decent drops (5ft+) on a cross bike, plenty of MTBers would avoid smaller – I don’t include you in that don’t worry 🙄

Awesome clip wwaswas

I still reckon it’s faster on an MTB, which is my point

sometimes it’s funner on a cross bike, though.

it’s wet, muddy, cold and miserable today. aka_gilo and I went out on our cross bikes and had a brilliant ride. I don’t think we’d have enjoyed it anywhere near as much on mtbs.

If you think that mountain biking is just about going down hill as fast as you can and jumping off things, you’ll hate it.

As clubber says above, atrocious conditions today, would have been miserable doing an MTB ride or a road ride, but on the cx bikes it was brilliant, loved every minute of it.

And that sums up cx bikes for me really.

aka_gilo loving it earlier today 🙂

Impressed you have a fast enough shutter speed on your phone to catch me as I sped past….. 😀

I used to have a 1996 fully rigid Orange P7. It was long and low as was the XC fashion in those days. I didn’t have a car so I’d ride 15 miles out, link up some valley mountain trails and then ride up to 20 miles back. I don’t think I’d fancy that on my 5 due to the upright geometry.

A cross bike would be great for that. I’d seriously consider breaking the P7 out for similar if I still had it 🙁

Pretty much anything that the average MTBer would call “trail riding” you can do on a CX. Some of it faster, some of it slower.

Where CX is at a major disadvantage is rocky descents, otherwise they’re pretty capable – there have been pics posted on STW in the past of riders going down steps and getting air out of bombholes on CX bikes.

I ride in the Peak District quite regularly on mine, was out today on it on the Peaks Pootle and the only times it was ever a handful was on the Pindale and Edale Cross descents.

atrocious conditions today, would have been miserable doing an MTB ride or a road ride, but on the cx bikes it was brilliant[img]http://images.everytrail.com/pics/fullsize/4722398-pic_128.jpg?nocache=7010[/img]
tripoding your way down easy descents? that does indeed sound Brilliant!! 8)

Pretty much anything that the average MTBer would call “trail riding” you can do on a CX. Some of it faster, some of it slower.

do people really go around categorising their rides as “trail riding” these days? 😕

there have been pics posted on STW in the past of riders going down steps and getting air out of bombholes on CX bikes.

Wow!! really? What is STW’s fascination with riding down steps all about? my 2yr old can ride down steps on her 10″ wheeled bike, there’s absolutely nothing difficult about it and so long as you run your tyres hard enough pretty much any bike can be used for it.

If you think that mountain biking is just about going down hill as fast as you can and jumping off things, you’ll hate it.

thing is Duirdh, for some, mountainbiking actually is ONLY about going fast DH and jumping.. takes all sorts, eh?

takes all sorts, eh?

Certainly does, good job some of them are as awesome as you at everything

@crazy-legs after riding the Pootle with you yesterday I am in awe of what you managed to do on your CX bike. You are a leg-end in this house chap. 😀

I am sure that riders ability and fitness helps and you are built like a racing whippet so that has to help.

Didn’t notice you struggling that much on Pindale & Edale Cross, then again I was too busy bouncing from rock to rock! 😯

GW, your awesumzness knows no bounds as you’ve told us many times 😉

as was said earlier

druidh – Member
If you think that mountain biking is just about going down hill as fast as you can and jumping off things, you’ll hate it.

You’re quite right though, it is a doddle of a descent on an mtb which is why I never ride it on one. Riding a CX bike it’s really tricky and I’ve yet to do it without a dab. As I said earlier, having a CX bikes opens out the routes available locally that I enjoy riding.

it doesn’t open up the routes/terrain available tho does it?
it quite clearly turns anything vaguely technical into a spazzy tripod or walk so in actual fact riding CX will cause you to stop looking for or ignore many more challenging sections.
CX bikes may well allow you to cover more miles and cover ground faster on the dull pedalling sections of your ride but for actually riding stuff they are nowhere near as versatile as a decent mtb.

All depends where you live obviously. IME, most areas, there’s more stuff that will become worth riding on a CX bike than stuff you can’t ride on one.

And FWIW, not all riders tripod down everything on a cross bike (sorry gilo) 😉

No.

All depends where you live[b] look[/b] (clearly not so obviously)

😉