Looking for a bit of advice please, I use a heavy entry level road bike to train on weeknights, I would like a cx bike to use bridleways to shorten my distance to the hills, the ride will be 80/20 in bias of being on the road. I have schwalbe marathon on my road bike which at 28c are as large as I can go ruling out cx tyres, I like the Planet x kaffenback, I’ve emailed them and the largest tyre you can fit is 35mm, would this be as big as I would need for what im doing, in the summer my training rides can go upto 60-70 miles on canal towpaths and dry rooty dirt trails and on/off road climbing to maybe a 50/50 split of on and off road, I’d like to do the coast to coast or the Leeds Liverpool in a day, these are only possibilities though as if I have free days or weekends I spend them on the mtb, so is 35c ample for cyclocross type bikes or do I need to be waiting for the uncle john or most possiblly the Boardman cx comp, really like the bronze kaffenback though, another intriguing option is the monstercross, never seen one before browsing these forums

35 is enough. my new bike (salsa) vaya will take bigger (up to a 50 at the front) and i’m pleased about that – i think a 40c will be perfect.

Kaffenback is similar to a pompino (got one of those too) it’ll take a 35 but theres not a huge amount of mud clearence – this might not be an issue for you…

35mm is larger than the UCI allow for CX. I think 34mm is the limit? Typical racing cross tyres are 30-35mm. People ride the three peaks on this so you’ll be fine.

I’ve ridden (to and around) Kielder and Newcastleton on mine. 130miles mix of road, gravel and red grade mtb trails. All on a 35mm semi slick (conti speed CX).

My CX bike is good enough for the road. With narrow tyres I can ride a club run easily enough and have done plenty of road centuries on it through winter. Don’t limit yourself to road bikes as cross bikes with slick tyres will be fine.

Worth having a look at the Surly Crosscheck. Very much a do it all bike.

Kaffenbacks are really, really weighty bikes in case you’re bothered by that. Having said that, I’ve got one with Landcruisers on, and it’s great fun off road.

Im happy with the weight penalty, the bike I choose will have to be able to deputise as a road bike too, my current road bike is 13kg then add schwalbe marathon tyres and difficult gearing its perfect for training, I do like road riding but I love mountain biking so at the moment I want my training bike to be built slightly heavy, if 35c tyres are bearable on a red route although I’ve never been to either of the ones mentioned they will be more than capable for what im intending to ride with them, I realize I have confused things as the kaffenback isn’t a true cx bike, I just want a bike that will take cx tyres

How tall are you? I have a 60cm 2007 Kona Jake the Snake which needs to go. I used it almost entirely as a road bike until I bought a proper one, and it seemed to do a very fine job!

Think it’s quite a bit less than 13kg!!

Pics somewhere in here if you’re interested…

Sorry for the hijack.

35mm tyres are perfect, it’s what I’ve always used on my CX (cos it’s the max size you can use at the Three Peaks).

Currently got a set of Schwalbe Smart Sams which, although fairly heavy, are also nicely hardwearing and grippy in most stuff but fast rolling on the road and not annoyingly buzzy.

For the love of God, full stops.

Cheers crispy, lovely bike but im looking for 52cm ideally

How necessary is pulling up peoples grammar mistakes on a mountain bike forum? I left school ten years ago with a C in English, my bearing on grammar and punctuation has demised year on year since I left, further to your comment I may seek further education outside of me working full time and riding bikes, there are things im not very good at or knowledgeable about hence me asking for advice on a mountain bike forum, if the time ever comes when I wish to improve my poor grasp of the English language then you can rest assured I will seek help on the relevant forum, did you notice I didn’t use a single full stop when I wrote this passage?

non racing cx rider – think 32mm give a good balance between ok on the road and cornering on loose stuff – a lot less sketchy than 28mm