Has anyone ditched their carbon bling road bike in favour of a CX bike for all-year round, road/off-road duties? BTW, no racing, just training and general fun-ness.
The split will be mainly road during the summer and a mix during the winter.
No I’ve not shed the roadie but have bought a Giant TCX Advance in the last month and have to say it is an excellent bike. My roadie and niner haven’t been touched since …
I sold my stupidly heavy ally road bike for a carbon fork/ally frame cross bike, goes like stink with slicks on and has completed the fred whitton and the 3 peaks cyclocross, if I could ride it all year all the time then I would.
Unfortunately my local XC races dont allow cross bikes because they are too quick on some circuits, and afan was rough on a hardtail, let alone a cross bike! I do feel like my MTB gets neglected as I never have the need to ride it outside of big trail centres.
I used to think my cross bike (an old on one ti cross) could be a do it all bike for road and cx too as long as you didn’t want to race on the road. It was always a bit tall at the front end for proper road but that made it a good tour bike and slightly less full on winter hack.
However now it has discs and a pretty heavy (and cheap) disc specific fork I’d say its a bit too heavy. Still love it and it’s even better at what it does best but it no longer has the range it previously did.
Not really given up bling road bike, but a couple of years ago I bought a ‘bargain’ road bike. It turned out it was a bit too big for me, but in the mean time, having headed out on country roads, coveted tracks and trails, and riding on rougher roads — I sold it on, got an all road bike for rough road work, light trail use, and intended touring. Very pleased with it.. It’s not light, but it’s robust and inspires re-assurance..
Well, I recently took the plunge and bought a Planet X CX bike. I love it and although I unquestionably am still enjoying the novelty of a new bike I honestly can’t see myself riding much else locally. My mountain bikes will certainly get used a lot lot less other than for big ‘adventure’ rides in Wales, Scotland etc.
A mate ditched his road bike for a Charge Filter. Great for mixed riding and commuting. He does keep talking about getting a proper road bike again. As well as, instead of. Obviously.
So far, given I’ve only had it for a month, I’ve only ridden it on road to get to local woodland for 3-4 miles, so have just been riding everything with the stock tyres. I’ve been surprised at just how well it does ride on road actually. I’d say it’s certainly heavier then I’d expected but I personally find that perfectly fine for off road. It makes me feel a little more stable and confident when conditions are tricky.
When I stick some slicks on it I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Planet X rides pretty well as a road bike. I’ve done about 500k on mine. I’ve got 700×28’s but have had 700×25’s which were fine. It’s good off road too with a nice slack head angle.
It is comparatively heavy though. When I get back on my proper road bike its like your flying up the hills.
My current road bike is reynold 520 and steel forks. Sora groupset. So not the lightest.
I’m kinda looking at heavy duty road/roadish CX bikes for commute + leisure road ride. My current bike would then be split sold.
The Genesis Equilibrium Disc really appeals (but its much £££) then for less there is the Planet X CX and the Genesis Croix de Fer and finally the Planet X Kaffenback is the most affordable.
i have a charge filter hi 2012, its a good bike and has handled everything ive tried on it, with the exception that the original tektro lyra brakes were useless. (since replaced with hayes cx5)
on 2013 onwards models charge have changed these though.
i also have a normal road bike and a susser, but this is my most ridden bike.
I haven’t ditched the bling road bike but have a cross bike as well, mostly because i can. However if i could only have one then it would be the cross bike.
I have a full carbon Cube road bike that barely sees any use now. My Ti VN Amazon works great as a tourer, a decent/comfy road bike (did LeJog on it) and as a CX/light off-roader. It’s amazing how much different it feels with a set of CX knobblies. In fact, I’ve just fitted a set of wider-rimmed/29er wheels to it for a bit more tyre volume. That leaves the Open Pros for narrower road/touring tyres.
Jimmy – you been out on it yet ? Keen to hear what you think of it. Mine was standard although got small block 8s in garage and some more knobbly conti’s on way as std tyres limited off road.
Tektro USA/TRP Brakes has issued a voluntary recall notice for customers and retailers to stop riding and stop selling Spyre and Spyre SLC mechanical disc brake calipers. We have also led a report with the CPSC in accordance with their guidelines.
We have identied a specic condition that could result in failure or one or both of the brakes when installed on a bicycle.
The Spyre caliper uses a dual piston design in which ball bearings move within opposing ramps. We have discovered that in a specic scenario, the balls can be forced from the ramps if the actuator arm is fully activated to its stop with excessively worn or no pads installed.
The effect is that the one or more of the balls can jump from its position within its respective ramp,resulting in a reduction or loss of braking force.
The recall applies to approximately 4000 brake calipers sold from April 2013 to December 6, 2013.There has been one reported incident of a single caliper brake failure with no injury or property damage.
Customers are asked to take their Spyre or Spyre SLC’s back to the original place of purchase,or in UK to contact distributor Upgrade Bikes Ltd, Customer Service to arrange a return shipment.All Spyre and Spyre SLC calipers will be replaced free of charge.
Customer Services
Upgrade Bikes Ltd
Units A-B
Star Road Trading Est
Partridge Green
West Sussex
RH13 8RA
Please note – The recall only affects v.1 Brakes. Please see the below picture to ascertain if you are affected by the recall. Replacement Calipers now in stock – Approx. 2 days turn-around on all calipers returned. Delivery revised of SLC Calipers is expected in the next few weeks.
I have to ask why do some cross bikes – say Genesis Vapour amongst others have really really short head tubes on medium/large sizes. Getting close to 100mm in some cases.
Are the forks longer to compensate? Or are you just meant to use a stem with decent rise?
The short head tubes indicate more race geometry, whereas Croix and arkose are designed more for mixed riding, not much racing and more mtb feel with longer head tubes.
Well, I’ve done it. I took a trip over to Evans, just to look, you understand 8)
They didn’t have the Arkose 3 on display, but they did have the 1 and 2. The 2 only had a single ring up front, which I liked, but thought might limit it’s usability on the road. However, the 1 looked very good value, especially as it was reduced by £85. As far as I could tell, the only extra you got on the 3 was 105 parts added to the drivetrain mix.
So, I took it out for a spin, just to see, you understand. To cut a tedious story short, I bought the damn thing