OK, so I have 2 cross country bikes and a road bike.

Despite moving saddle forward and getting a midget stem my road bike is just too big for me, I was just going to buy a new road frame and swap all the bits across, but then I thought about getting a cyclocross bike. (would potentially make commuting a bit more fun, and could potentially get into a bit of racing over the winter to keep fit)

Was looking at the Cotic X.

Firstly, how tall do you think I ought to be to ride their 52? (I assume CX sizing works out differently to road bikes).
And are there CX specific components, or do you just use existing road / mtb components?

Cotic X frame is maybe a bit over my budget for a frame 😳 but I can probably stretch to it as it looks nice and I’ve heard good things about cotic in general. But are there any better value frames/ full bike builds that I should be considering?

Depends what you really intend to do with it. You will require new wheels whereas if you chose a non disc frame you would just need new cantilever brakes and smaller chainrings.
There are mixed opinions on the Cotic X.
If your current road bike appears to be the wrong size I would suggest going to a good LBS and getting their opinion on the fit of that and some recommendations towards getting a better fit.

I have 52. X . I am 5’7″, wear 30″ leg jeans and have aching wrists and elbow. After the headset was fitted I could get 12 cm spacers on the steere before the cap! Choppped it down to 6 to get the saddle fairly level with the seat.
Nice bike. 1 or 2 minor moans. It could do with a 3rd bottle cage mount on the seat tube. Cotic say that this would get in the way racing. Cobblers. It’s not the best pure race bike in the world anyway. Mine is set upm with 28, 38, 48 triple chainset, Campag ergos with a 10 speed shimano hub. Tektro discs as they offer with complete bikes. They are fine but do all you can with regard to decent cable outers etc. Mine runs with 25mm road tyres or 38mm CX tyres. Looking for some thing wider as i beleve 42mm will fit. Where are you? You would be welcme to try mine if you are near the Forest of Dean or Chaingang cycles in Hereford have one on the wll but its big. Thats where mine came from. My only vague but silly thought is I should have bought a Singular as I wanted to run whopper tyres. Just might sell my frame but only at a price that would make it worth while, so doubt it.

FoD is a bit far away for me I’m afraid, although thanks for the offer 🙂

Any racing I do won’t be too serious so not fussed about that, it will be mostly for commuting and road / bridleway exploring.

Just spotted these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=43322 quite like the looks of them (and as a 2010 model somewhere else might have them cheaper than CRC), reckon the 48cm might be a better fit for me too 😛
Any opinions on these too?

Third bottle cage?? A proper cross bike has no bottle cage mounts at all.

The Lyra CX frame & forks is much cheapness at Planet X. Though I can’t work out their sizing?

Those Kinesis are fine and popular frames, but you’ll need forks.

Those Cotic X are supplied with steel forks at the starter price. The same ones as on the RoadRat i.e fugly. The illustrations show the nice shiny carbon ones.

For other cheapish frames try Zepnat and Schils.

I was under the impression that CX sizing is very much the same as road bike sizing. I’m 5’9″, 32″ inseam, I ride a 54cm Crosslight

Cotic X frames were with carbon forks when mine was ordered just after xmas. 3rd bottle cage. Cotic sell the X as a cx bike yet fit 2 bottle mounts on the down tube. Not bad idea but to say that the seat tube one is missing as it spoils the bike as a racer is daft. If you wanted a racer ou could find better stuff. Still like mine though and I wouldn’t sell it really.

extend your budget and buy an IBIS!!

There sexual to ride..

How’s this look as a build?
http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/product.php?id=12