[Closed] Should I 'cyclocross' my inbred?

Do it! I put drop bars on my inbred for the SSCXEU chanps in Brighton last week and it has been great fun. Needed to put a 45mm stem on the keep the reach acceptable though.

that's true, I have a 90mm at the moment, might need a little tweak (the reach doesn't feel massive though).

Did you run skinny tyres?

[i]"Monstercross"[/i] innit... Do it!

What are your current braking arrangements? Cable or hydraulic?

It might be worth making up a bar/stem, brake levers, lines and calipers 'loom' to facilitate quick changes from MTB to monstercross mode and back...

I've had drop bars on my Surly Troll before, it looks pretty weird but it does work! 🙂

Single speed, drop bar, big tyres. Do it, they're lots of fun set up cyclocross. (Am a bit biased as that's my setup. Originally intended to be just for the winter but discovered I really enjoyed the single speed thing)

Do it. If it makes you ride it. Here's mine. It's SS and I don't ride it on the road, but it is a competent CX racer and weighs only 22 lbs.

[img] ?oh=36031f4726f74d6550e94036335fef17&oe=592AFF80[/img]

No, I monstercrossed it keeping the 2.3's on it. Perfect for the sscxeu course... In my opinion

Well I too raced the sscxeu on the above and it's running Schwalbe CX pros that are about 38 mm. tubeless too. Stem is 100mm and accommodates 25.4 mm bars which are Soma Sparrow, not truly drops, more like H bars, but I didn't want to swap brakes from original MTB. Grips are Ergon.

Do it

I converted mine over a year ago, for a commuter that I could use off road at the weekend too

The drop in bb height made it feel like a new bike i even preferred the way it handles now.

Not going back that's for sure

There was off the peg Inbred available in monster cross gusto some time ago.

[img] [/img]

They called it Haddock...

So adding lighter rubber or even wheels shouldn't be an issue. I used to run my slot dropouts Inbred with 40c tyres but with narrow low rise bar as a fully mudguarded commuter.

Cheers!
I.

Sorry to sound flippant, but if you want to go on longer mixed terrain rides then why not just get on the bike and go, no mods really needed? You could put some faster xc tyres on but there's no real need to put drops on and deal with the faff of drivetrain/brake compatibility and extra cost. Just go and ride a bit further than you normally might...?

Aaahh the voice of reason. That would be the logical solution.

I could just be hankering after a slightly different setup, I find that I'm looking for some extra reach when I'm thrutching up a long climb seated.

I was also wondering about racing a bit of cyclocross (what could be better than flogging yourself to death in a muddy field?) along with the longer rides.

Careful, someone will be along shortly to tell you stem or bars don't change reach (which is true)..but I guess you mean more length between you and the handlebar! Guess you could try different stem bar combos?

I was on the verge of putting drops on my scandal, but decided it gave more compromises, and that a regular rigid 29er is really versatile. I suppose if you're doing some CX racing then you might need to do more mods, but i've no idea about CX racing rules. Some more informal ones allow mtbs, others I assume are more strict on bike rules?

That orange inbred up there is the perfect south downs Xc weapon. If i was to do the sdw in a day again I recon I'd want something like that.

Quite true Faustus, more length (Oh Matron!) is what I am looking for.

Choice would be:

A longer stem and maybe a different bar (I'm on a 90mm stem slammed and 720mm flat bars)£

Drop bars and mechanical discs, skinny tyres etc. £££

surely a 700c wheeled bike with drop, 35c tyres could be classed as a cyclocross bike? or do I need to wear a skin suit? 🙂

quite fancy something I can naff off for 30-40 mile rides on, mixed terrain, some trails some roads etc.

I do that on my Salsa El Mariachi. It has 2.3s on, cos it's rocky here; On One Fleegle Pro high sweep bars; Enduro grips; and a triple chainset. Perfect. I keep thinking abotu drops but then I realise it's fine like it is.

Skin suit. Always the skin suit 😉 😆

Would race organisers balk at me dishing out the hurt (or receiving) on something like this?

[img] [/img]

And of course wearing a skin suit..... anything else would be unacceptable.

Just change your tyres.

Maybe fit some bar ends for more hand positions.

Regional CX races allow mtbs. I can race the Genesis with 559 wheels and funny bars. National races require 700c wheels and 35 mm tyres (may be 33). The CX Pros on my Stans rims are too wide. I have a proper cross bike too. But no national aspirations!