Oooh yeah - run away, that's it!
😉
I'll save it til you get back. Haven't planned owt anyway.
Where do you live now?
stonehaven - aberdeen
been on standby for this trip for a month now - soon as my back to back gets his multi entry visa i fly out so cant even get holidays that werent booked pre-standby - hence friday and monday last week were hols 🙁
Hmm, Aberdeen could make it tough!
equitorial guinea even tougher 😉
Would be happy to be proven wrong on this one.
I've got a few trails in mind down here that could make it tough to be on a CX bike. I could take a few pics maybe.
One goes up a very steep hillside on heavily eroded loose stones and soil - I've never cleaned it but I have ridden it all. Then on the other side the trail is a deep pile of large loose rocks all sliding over each other 🙂
and how shall we measure "percieved fun" - a ruler for the size of grin at the bottom ?
Uhh tough one that.
I just don't think you could ride some stuff on a CX bike, and some stuff nothing like as quickly...
True mate - You can select different gears for different terrain. It can be quite time consuming to change chain lengths and cogs prior to going out on your ride
WI Dos - takes 2 mins to switch between 36/16 & 36/18. Ride pretty much everything on this that I would on a mountain bike, just a bit slower (downhill). It is the South Downs though 🙂
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To the asker of what size tyre for a 135 spaced pompino....
I have quite a new one and 35 is pushing the limits to be honest, some fit and some don't but they're all very close indeed, I put a 32 on in the end because I was bored with trying to get it set up perfectly without rubbing.
If we're doing a race molgrips, then it has to include a bit of everything, yes? Some road, some offroad uphill and some offroad downhill, some jumpy bits. LETS DO IT!
/clears space on mantlepiece for trophy.
Problem is, if I race you you might be much faster than me anyway.
I know full well a CX bike is faster on roads and smooth stuff, of course it is. The original challenge was to take you CXers on the kind of thing found on my local trails and watch you struggle 🙂
However, I'd be up for some kind of challenge with split times, if only for a laugh 🙂
You could say, do a lap of Cwmcarn, then go back up the road and down the DH course - how about that?
Just under 2 months til the Three Peaks CX. 🙂
My CX bike is covered in dust at the moment although I suspect it'll be covered in mud within a few miles of starting my ride this weekend.
[i]/clears space on mantlepiece for trophy. [/i]
samuri, you'd never win the trophy. Your bike would break...
Nah, I'm only having a laugh. If I did my normal evening loop, ten miles of road, about 6 miles of proper hilly offroady stuff followed by 12 miles of light offroad, mx trails and canal paths I'd be miles faster on my cross bike than my mountain bike. I'm sure if it was all proper hilly offroad stuff I'd kick my ass on a mountain bike.
Interesting idea for a race. I'd certainly be up for it 😆
Could do an uplift day at Fort Bill, and the team with the most bikes (or bodies) left in tact at the end of the day wins 🙂
😆
Can you go tubeless with a 'crosser?
I ask because, whilst they seem appealing, a guy brought one to our weekly XC ride and suffered from pinch flats. If this could be alleviated I reckon it would be a lot more versatile. Not that I can afford/justify one unfortunately 😥
Yup - used tubeless on my cross bike.
Hutchinson do a tubeless cross tyre. Dunno anything about it though....
I'm a big cross fanatic, and love taking mine places where they possibly weren't designed to go, but I don't think a cross bike is ever going to be quicker than an XC bike on a genuine cross country route or race
Race around Dalby and i will be in for it also! On the cross bike. Cant promise i wont get off and run some bits though.
Cant promise i wont get off and run some bits though.
That would be called "losing" - it's about riding FFS!
Losing is the last to finish. Its a cyclocross bike! 😆
Cross bikes rock - fact! In technical rocky trails, they are undoubtedly slower but for flowy singletrack, they're hard to beat for speed. The most inappropriate trail I've ridden on mine has been Conic Hill down the steep descent. What a hoot! There's something fun about riding the wrong bike that makes it all the more satisfying when you ride it.
Loch Muick? Good effort sir!
Sanny
Ah.. interesting point.. Getting off and running is part of CX is it not, and bikes etc are designed around this concept. So CXers should be able to get off and run I reckon.
Btw have you timed yourself on MTB and CX around the same route?
Ive done a timed run around Dalby on an Xc hardtail and on the same bike but rigid. Rigid was slower by 5 minutes. I reckon the cross bike would make some time up on the fire roads so would be in the same ball park as the rigid xc lap.
Its been known for me to run some sections on the mtb to! I am still pretty fast though, just not as technically gifted as some. Or maybe i lack bottle!
Interesting.. if you are technically worse then you might gain more from a CX bike, since you'd be losing less on the techie bits cos you're a mincer anyway... Hmm..
There's something fun about riding the wrong bike that makes it all the more satisfying when you ride it.
Hmm.. maybe a small novelty factor, but that (for me) does not make up for being able to attack something full-on on a big bouncer 🙂
Mincer!!! 😆 Do you know me?!! 😀
No, clearly 🙂
But the point still stands for those who really are mincers, does it not?
Its a fair point. Also being a fit rather than technical rider when i am on a cross bike and the terrain suits it, eg uphills or fire roads i am more inclined to start trying harder and the speed difference over a xc bike feels quicker which encourages me even more. If that makes sense?!
I haven't got a "proper" cross bike, but have a single speed, drop bar RoadRat which I run cross tyres on. It will cope with pretty much anything my Surly 1x1 will, and is way faster on the flat / tarmac but at the expense of some speed on rocky downhills. Having said that. it's a lot easier to "unweigh" it over fast rooty sections.
It's perfect for longer mixed road / off road routes. It makes me very happy.
Cross bikes v mtb? What, like this...
http://www.youtube.com/user/willfoxere2k7#p/a/u/0/Sr2sOhlwOo4
and this...
http://www.youtube.com/user/willfoxere2k7#p/a/u/2/W3ZND8nbU4s
Molgrips
It's not always about getting there but the journey that matters, he said in a wise Mr Miyagi style.
Which reminds me, what the hell is this about a new Karate Kid movie. The first one was guff! Surely this too will be equally as guff or indeed, even more so!
Sanny
OK, I've read on these forums at least twice about people riding SS CX bikes in the south downs. Where would people recommend is a good place to ride? I've just set up a pompino for cross, but the sections of the south downs way I've ridden have been pretty rocky and unpleasant (Amberley area). The best place I've ridden so far has been Epping Forest because of the smooth hard packed surface. But that's not as easy to get to for me. If there's any smoother tracks in the south downs I'd love know about them.
There's loads, trying venturing off the main SDW.
Any specific areas? S Downs are huge and my time is limited, so would ideally like to go somewhere reasonably confident of a good ride...
molgrips - Member
Right, we need a CX/XC bike challenge.
If I were to include it in a potential South Wales STW ride, would trail-rat attend?
Can I put some money on Trail-Rat on a CX bike?
I've seen him ride.
Make him do it on a single speed. 🙂
