[Closed] Would a 'normal' road bike survive cyclo cross?

in all likelyhood the road frame will be built to take closer clearances, smaller tyres and the brakes will be the based on the same ideas. A touring frame might work.

The bike would be plenty strong enough, the issue would be clogging with mud and not having enough clearance to fit knobbly tyres. Oh and the brakes probably wouldn't cope well with the clart.

Mud clearance would be a major issue, plus you probably have enough room in the frame or forks to run CX tyres.

That said if the forecast for the HONC is dry I am so tempted to use my road bike with some strong wheels.

Frame should not snap but you are unlikely to get any tyre bigger than 25mm in a race frame.

I'm using a touring frame for cx just now works fine, in fact I prefer the slacker angles and lower bb.

As above, the bike will probably manage but you'd be so compromised on clearance (if it can be made to work at all) and brakes that it's arguable if it's really worth it.

Depends on the geometry. My Lemond has a pretty low BB and there is foot overlap. Front fork will not take anything wider than 25c... If Your bike has a sporty geometry with some tight clearances than no chance of fitting cx tyres. My aluminium Trek 1200 survived a 2 mile off road shortcut but it was not fun. The Kinesis Crosslight was much more fun for that kind of riding, different riding position. You can get a cheap CX frame on eBay and On-one had Kaffenbacks on offer. They should be fine for some light offroad riding, just swap bits over.

That said if the forecast for the HONC is dry I am so tempted to use my road bike with some strong wheels.

I have done most of the HONC route on my road bike, at different times, it is doable, the Hailes and postlip decents were interesting though.

Yep the descents would be interesting, given the time I would have saved on the roads I guess I could walk down them.

😉

i snapped my old reynolds ribble road frame using it for 'light off road' duties, noticed a small crack in the top tube riding to a mates house and then it went ping as i was cranking up a hill (i had it singlespeeded...) think one of those buses that bend in the middle to go round corners! tourer would probably be fine - i have a crosscheck now 🙂

A friend finished 3rd at HONC about 15 years ago on a road bike - it was bone dry though and he's a tough 'un. Said it was 'a bit shakey' which for him means that it was rough as hell.

thanks all, i'll have a look tonight to check how much clearance i've got.

I fancy the 3 peaks but i don't want to get a new cx bike.

A friend finished 3rd at HONC about 15 years ago on a road bike - it was bone dry though and he's a tough 'un. Said it was 'a bit shakey' which for him means that it was rough as hell.

Andy W as I recall?

Who else 😉

He would probably still have been faster than everyone else on mtbs on the DHs... Goes to show how silly it is saying that roadies can't ride off road...

His cheery optimistic, can do attitude probably helped.

No doubt I'd end up throwing the bike into a bush, we'll see.

mine didn't, but it was a good excuse to buy some new wheels 🙂

KingTut - the Bjarne Riis of mtbing 😉

Heh, I would have jumped up and down on the ****er as well..

I snapped a steerer tube riding a road bike down the Beast on my old reynolds 531 road bike.

The Cannondale survived on the odd bit of singletrack where it cuts out a big road loop on longer rides or bivi trips.

so the frame will probably be ok but i will need new wheels and tyres??

The wheels will probably fine too actually unless you've got really lightweight ones on at the moment - I'm pretty heavy (16stone+) and my old cx wheels with open pro rims and 32 spokes coped fine though obviously with bigger tyres than you'd be able to fit (but they're at 85psi so much harder than you'd likely be using).

Just remembered Dave Millar doing similar 🙂

(sorry, hijack over)

I really wouldn't advise doing the 3 Peaks on a road bike with slightly larger tires.
Think about it they're banned anyway so you wouldn't be able to ride a road bike.

[i]I fancy the 3 peaks but i don't want to get a new cx bike. [/i]

No chance whatsoever!
The Three Peaks isn't a normal CX race (which a road bike would probably survive, issues of mud clearance notwithstanding), it regularly breaks proper CX bikes!

In fact they'd probably not let you start if you turned up on a road bike.

crazy-legs - Member
I fancy the 3 peaks but i don't want to get a new cx bike.

No chance whatsoever!
The Three Peaks isn't a normal CX race (which a road bike would probably survive, issues of mud clearance notwithstanding), it regularly breaks proper CX bikes!

I agree.

If you want to take part in the 3 Peaks, get yourself a proper CX bike and you might just finish with a small smile on your face. Ride it on a bodgily converted 'hybrid' and you'll be in for several hours of misery, if you finish.

I've done the 3 Peaks 4 times and had about 6 punctures, one broken wheel, many offs. As crazy-legs says it's not a normal race, that's why you have to carry a survival bag and why I once saw somebody propped up against a wall with two broken legs. It breaks everything.

BTW I just mentioned this to my wife and she said "Oh my God, he'll die if he does that!" Slight over-reaction, but you'll get the gist, I guess.

ha ha, well it looks like i'm going to need a new bike!