Thinking of purchasing a cyclocross bike for some winter racing and commuting….

Planning on spending in the region of 600-800 quid… are there any decend bikes for around this amount? what would you recommend?

The other option is to go for a second hand one for under £300 if you anyone has one they are looking to offload!

Cheers

There's lots to choose from at the £6-800 mark. The Kona Jake, Spesh Tricross and Focus Mares all spring to mind. I have a Jake which is the least flashy and worst specced of the lot, but it does the job fine! Celia has a Jake the Snake which is very similar but a bit lighter. Nouveau has a singlespeed Tricross and a Jake The Snake and rates them both, although he rides the singlespeed more, for perverse reasons of his own. Dylan likes his Dolan too.

Second hand is a good way to go, that's how I got mine and Celia's. If you want it for commuting, bear in mind that some of the racier frames don't have bottle bosses or mudguard eyelets.

Race season's coming up soon, get your bike sorted and we'll have to go out on some training rides!

Planet X Uncle John an obvious choice as well, builds from £799, see the Planet X website. Got one myself although it's not a Planet X build, built it up myself. Absolutely love it, a really good CX/commute/hack/winter bike.

Giant TCX2, I picked up a 2009 for £600

marin toscana for £620. good commuter too as it has all mudguard mounts.

Toscana is £999 new and has discs. If it's "serious" racing, discs aren't allowed.

It was only a matter of time 🙂

as above I'm happy with my dolan. I reckon that second hand is the way to go unless you're on b2w. Cx season starts shortly so there'll prob be a load of last years' for sale shortly as people upgrade.

I don't know where you buy your bikes from druidh, :lol:but i would try here instead http://www.cyclesuk.com/106-201160

I don't know where you buy your bikes from druidh, :lol:but i would try here instead http://www.cyclesuk.com/106-201160

give paul milnes a bell in bradford. a columbus xwing frame and forks for about 300 and rest on the build . lovely machine.

Ah- I should have made it clear – that's the 2010 model pricing.

Thanks for the ideas….

Indeed the b2w has opened it's doors again, so will probably be a new one unless there is a really good deal on a second hand one in the next week or so!

Unfortunately it is through Halfords, so if it is anthing like last time getting hold of some makes will be difficult!

Looking like the '10 tricross will be the way forward (just need to decide on the £700 or the £850!)

a wildcard

Can't get Decathlon through Halfords B2W

The tricross sport (£850) is good for the money and unlike most other tricrosses isn't completely fugly – I guess that the colours disguise it better.

i've got a felt f1x that i'm pretty into

Been looking at the felt ones, although I can't get any prices for the '10 models – F75x and F95x

I quite like the look of the tricross sprort…. now that it is not in sh1t brown…. a bit more white for me the wash the mud off!

another vote for the dolan here love mine, 650 and they will deal with halfords for the b2w, contact them direct in thefirst instance i think

Mine's for sale if you're tall – 60cm frame.

Rode it for about 3 months last Autumn

£500

http://s714.photobucket.com/albums/ww150/stick_man/

Eggbox. What is the clearance like on the Giant? I'm quite interested but haven't yet found a shop with one in to have a look at it.

traildog – I got a small TCX which feels similar(ish) to a medium OCR road bike.

The bottom bracket height and tyres make the TT higher, so at 5'8" with a 29" inside leg I am happy with a small, length wise it feels good too. You get plenty of spacers under the stem so you can tinker with the height at the front quite a lot. It's a compact frame so you get quite a bit of seat post visible, but not silly amounts.

I asked my LBS in Urmston to order one in for me to look at, they also matched the price that I had seen online of £600. Can't fault it for the price really.

Eggobox – assume you mean Eddie's? Good shop.

I ride Giant road frames (size small), but can't see how I could ride CX on something as compact, as I'd never get my arm through for lifts. Is the geom any different for this reason?

ourmaninthenorth – I race a medium TCX (51.5) and am 5'11"
There is plenty of room for shouldering and the underside of the top tube is flattened for comfort. It's probably more of a semi-compact frame to allow more room. Geometry is sharp and definitely race oriented.

yeah, I got it from Eddie's, it's a great shop. It looks like a "Christmas bike" shop from the outside but they know their stuff.

I have no problems shouldering on the size small frame, it feels fine. I am very impressed with it so far and intend to get out and race at some point in the autumn if my fitness allows it.

Sorry, I meant mud clearance. I should have been more specific. A lot of otherwise nice handling frames suffer from lack of mud clearance, usually on the chainstays I find. It is a major consideration if you only have the one frame.

The TCXs have recently been redesigned and are not longer as radically compact frames as they used to be so you can now shoulder them easily. They look nice, but I haven't yet managed to see one in the flesh.

mud clearance looks Ok but they come with small block 8s which are not a very rugged tyre anyway. I have ridden it in some pretty awful conditions and it's been ok. I will try and take a piccy tonight if I get chance.

Eggbox – nice one. Since you bought it from the shop owned by the Manchester Wheelers president, how about you come and race at the Wheelers' cross event on 18 October?

I've also found mud clearance ok – particularly for a USA designed frame!
TBH when courses get really bad most bikes get clogged – that's when you need 2 bikes, a jet wash and pit crew like the top guys.

So I tried to take a picture of the mud clearance but it was a bit of a shambles. According to my tape measure the chainstays give 5mm clearance each side of a 35mm small block 8, so the chainstays are 45mm wide in the area where the tyre would be. Hope that helps.

I might "race" at Boggart hole clough but that tarmac climb is a bit daunting with no granny gears to rely on. 😀

ta