[Closed] Cyclocross bikes and what you ride them on.

gravel.
rooty single track.

I ride mine on the local trails I would have previously ridden my Canyon mtb on. The option to keep a good pace on the road then dive into the woods to do your normal singletrack is great . They can make fairly boring mtb trails seem a blast and dont discount entering a cx race for fun as even If your at the back It's still great fun.
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Bit of this. Mainly gravel grinders.

Anywhere and everywhere from the road based commute to the same trails I tear around on my trance
Also amusing to rock up at the pump track and get funny looks then be able to go for a 50mile ride on any path u like and race CX if u feel the need.
One bike I will never go without.
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I wouldn't take mine down something like The Beast but I do take it most other places. Last Christmas I was seriously pondering fitting a dropper to it but decided it was silly...

Singletrack,gravel, road, distance, short blasts, long hacks off-road, woods, forests, hills, dales, beach, lowland, mud, fields, biscuit dry trails, races, playtime, London to Brighton off-road, Lakes CX adventure, Wales CX adventure, multiple day CX discovery (overnight stays in hotel/B&Bs) Yorkshire Moors and Dales, Nidderdale Loops, Bridleway bashes, NCN routes, Trail Center bashing, SDW taming..

This ere CX'er of mines been every bloody where.

And I ain't gonna stop.

😀

Does this qualify as "proper off roading" ?

🙂

I find rocks are the main issue, skinny tyres and no suspension means pinch flats any dinged rims.
I've been around eastridge, stiperstones and the long mynd on mine.

Cheers Speshpaul, I live in Ludlow, and thats exactly where I ride too 🙂

I take mind down some silly stuff.They can cope just don't go mad down to rocky descents go easy on it.Done plenty of trails on it down the Forest of Dean.Great in Wilts around the Ridgeway and Avebury they fly on those Byways.You can get the best of both worlds on them.They are the business for XC riding I think.

The top of Minton batch is a bit tricky at the top, but once it starts to flow you are away. Carding mill is ace!

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Super good fun for doing loops that link off-road sections with road bits that would be tedious on a n mtb
Anything fire road or fairly non technical single track they are a total hoot on, the more rocks or roots or steepness there is descending, the sketchier they feel but most things are doable with care and their slight impracticality off road adds to the fun.

Tyre choice makes a big difference to feel.

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i live down south so not so technocal terrain but anything i can ride on mtb i can ride on the cx. Natrually the 29er with fatter tyers is the prefered choice and faster on the rough stuff but the cx eats the roads and bridleway better and can be used for cx racing.
wow wiskey typing 🙂

Anything I would ride my MTB on but not keen on boulders. Got no bottle so even MTB riding has no jumps or big drops. Here in the FoD gravel bashing is a safe alternative to the roads especially at night. 4000 plus miles for the last 4 years on gravel.

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Same place just more convenient some times

Stumpy, is that the Lickeys on "double drop"?

Well spotted RD 🙂 .. u know the alps well

My cross bike is my Genesis ioid; singlespeeded, rigid carbon forks and funky bars. I'm running 26" CX Pro tyres tubeless as these were the only tyres in that size.

I'd certainly take it down the trails I typically ride, but a rock garden would really not be kind to the crest rims.

I'm in the south east. 2&1/2 years ago impending parenthood made me realise a cx bike would be just the ticket.
Initially I rode it everywhere I used to ride a mtb.Surrey hills ,Chilterns etc
The climbs were faster and the descents are much more slower.
Now I pick my routes much more carefully.gravel etc when wet and more rooty single track options in the dry.
Let's be honest, there's miles more fun in riding wet, muddy ,rooty singletrack on a larger diameter tyre with sensibly wide bars.
So at the moment I stick to Hertfordshire lanes and byways etc.

When I rarely ride my mtb, I'm like a downhill god....(joke)

I ride mine everywhere. Road, bridleways, unpaved roads, proper Mtb trails... There are about 2 or 3 of my usual tails over the N Downs I don't ride on it but everything else is fine. Hydro discs have transformed it into a much more mountain bikeable thing. I probably use it more than any other bike. Ride over to the trails after work on the road, ride a couple, ride home.

If you wanted something on/off roadable but not racy wouldn't a hybrid be a better (if less 'on trend') choice?

Took me a while but i eventually worked out that, when you're descending fast and you can no longer see cuz your eyeballs are shaking inside their sockets, you're just about to pinch-flat.

My experience of hybrids is 'no', but all the hybrids I've been anywhere near were cheap, heavy things deserving of 'BSO' as a description...

I love my crosser

One of my favourite rides of last year was on a beautiful summer evening, I'd just dropped a couple of roadies on shiny bikes then turned off onto a trail where I surprised a bloke mincing around on an Orange 5

I don't pretend either would be such an easy target if they were really trying but it felt good nevertheless

Sounds like there's a fair few Shropshire cxer's around here. Mines been round the Mynd, Shropshire woody singletrack, Llandegla, CyB and lots of mixed terrain riding on back roads, farm tracks, bridleways and footpaths through the fields.

Rode one round down the black runs in Morzine and Les Gets for a week.

Once a year down Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen y Ghent 🙂

Other times, I've done pretty much everything I ride in Calderdale on the CX - not quite at the speed of a full suss but all doable with a bit of careful line choice.

NB Chipps ran a dropper for the 2013 Three Peaks... just sayin'

I commute across the Quantocks, the cross bike gives me so many more options for the journey, and it still surprises me the stuff you can hit and survive.

find rocks are the main issue

This is the killer for a crosser. Rocky trails are fun in a 'can I do this' kind of way but it gets tiresome after a while.

It really is surprising what you can do on a crosser. I tend to view mine like an old school rigid mountain bike. As long as your local trails are not particularly rocky or droppy then I'm sure you'll have fun riding them on a crosser.

Depends on what other bikes you've got. I've got a light 29er mtb and compared to that, of road my cross bike is rubbish, so it gets used for racing only. If my mtb was a heavy gravity oriented bike a cross bike might make sense for less rough trails. As others have said they can be ridden over most anything, but the rougher the trail the less fun they become.

I'll take mine more or less anywhere I'd take the MTB, but I live where it's mostly roots rather than rocks. Still tacoed a front wheel attempting to bunny hop a root garden last year.

Major things that makes me think twice (and three, four times) are big compressions as I've ridden the rim into the ground before when the tyre couldn't support it and (usually just before that) really steel stuff. A month or so back I discovered I can get far enough back to hit my chest on the saddle if I panic! Got a dropper out on loan that I'm going to try when it comes back

I ride mine mainly on appalling roads. Some similar to the surface of the moon for large portions of it.

Offroad around, in the dry season, sandy rocky sections, and I imagine when the rains come, it will be muddy.

In a moment of paranoia, at how bad the roads would be here, I fitted 38c Schwalbe Marathon Plus - I always wonder if a thinner tire would be better for me. I've found they have taken me over everything but sand.

I am thinking of treating myself to a set of thinner wheels when I know it is only going to be okish roads, and swap the wheels in and out when I know it is going to be a bit shit.

I bought mine after being off a bike for two years. I knew that a full supension was pointless for me, a hardtail might be ok, but I really wanted the ability to hop on and ride, but be able to take the rough stuff as well if I needed it.

I ride most of what I'd do on the MTB although I'd draw the line at trails like The Beast or Cavedale. I live in the Peaks so, with a bit of careful route choice to avoid the rockier trails it's a brilliant all rounder.

Also ridden it at Gisburn & Grizedale quite a bit.

As others have said, it'll do most of what an MTB will (usually faster up/slower down) but be much better on the roads so the ability to knock out a 50 mile road ride but still take in bridleways, fireroads, generally rubbish roads is what makes it such a good bike for me.

3 peak in Yorkshire
Otherwise it is fine on all my local MTB stuff but you have to ride more carefully and precisely.
I've ridden red routes at Kielder and Newcastleton on it.

Sounds like the best of both worlds but what to wear ? Lycra or Baggies ? 😉

Lycra on the cross bike, drop bars innit.

can't get enough of mine at the moment currently doing a regular ride from Bow in East London (start of the River Lee Navigation) all the way up to the junction at The River Stort towards Bishops Stortford and back roughly 80-90k of quiet gravel & firm mud tow path.

Cheers all. 🙂

wear baggies on mine. and camelback.
same when i'm using it in "road" mode 😈

Carbonfiend, when I'm in Town I join up with a Group from Rapha who ride upto/into/home over Epping Forest way. We use part of your route to get out of Town.. They had a CX ride there today but I'm not up there 😐

I know I am a bit late to the party but I ride it on everything, gravel, singletrack etc. 3PCX was a highlight as was the world cup XC route at dalby, just have to ride everything a little bit slower. Also attempted a dirty 100 miler in the moors over gravel and bridleways and ended up with my collapsing in a silly mess.

Do it. They're great.

Now I'm thinking

Do I need a cx bike or a winter road bike?

Why not both?

I don't get paid enough

Lyrcra if just riding, and not really stopping off anywhere

Baggies if stopping off places as I don't like people staring at my willy mound

No one's interested in staring at an insecure boys packet

Skin suit for that pro CX look surely 🙂

My terrain of choice 🙁

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New soffits anyone.

I've ridden mine on the road, on farm tracks, on rooty singletrack, on trail centre red trails, to Scotland. It's ace.

Anywhere I'll take my xc bike, my cx bike can go.

@bikebuoy yeah there's a few ways into the forest from the Canal, one I do sometimes is from Enfield lock. It's pretty popular with a lot of riders too Strava segments everywhere 🙂 I really like the contrast you get from being so close to the big city yet smack in the middle of nature.

I'd echo what taxi man says

I've got a light 29er mtb and compared to that, of road my cross bike is rubbish

If you set up a rigid 29er with some very light thin tubless tyres (ie bontrager X0 1.9) and a longish stem and short bars. Then its a million times better off road than a cyclocross but not that much slower on road. It will be slower on the road obviously but not as much as you think.

Ok this is a ride I did from Twyford to Swinely on my rigid 29er. I managed to average 15.7mph on the road section to Swinley and that was with my 2.25 Racing Ralphs on.

http://app.strava.com/activities/232088852/segments/5649352500

over half an hour I can normally average 19-20 mph on 25mm road tyres on that route-ish.

The thing with the 29er rigid is that on some single sections I've actually got my best times (ie labrinth at Swinely) over the Full Suss.(although if I try to do the full trail with out stopping my times are quite alot slower on the 29er than my Full Sus as I tend to tire much quicker)