I love cyclocross racing and there’s no summer series in the southwest. There is however social criterium series. I can’t decide if building a new bike and blatting round a track will quite replicate that feel.

Any thoughts or advice about bike build?

Something cheap you don’t mind crashing and won’t hesitate when going for a gap. Weight not really a big deal as it’s flat. Race cunning and a good sprint far more important than strong legs or a nice bike 😉

Nathb has a big racing thread that’s mostly about people getting into crit racing and building bikes for that purpose. Check it out.

something you don’t mind getting ridden over by some numpty on a claud butler

Buy new bike, throw it down the road on the first ride – you’re now ready for the first race, scratches’n’all 😉

Chinese carbon frame, 105 groupset and some carbon wheels. £1000. Job done.

Slight hijack, I’ve watched the Chinese carbon frames come down in weight quite a bit over the last few years. Are they stiff enough? I’ve an old Planet X SL and its nice enough and comfy but honking out the saddle isn’t exactly solid. And these are on the heavier side of things.

Did a bit in my yoof – it’s bloody hard, very fast out of corners, so if you aren’t near the front going in, you’ll get dropped.

Factor in lots of crash damage – as a roadie I never used the best bike in crits etc – I was mainly a TT’er but the thought of smashing up hard earned Dura Ace parts, I used the training bike instead.

We have proper crit circuits now though which are better than dealing with road furniture.

You need this thread:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-i-want-to-try-road-racing-build-a-bike-specifically-for-this

And as njee20 says, cheap is good for crits!
Specialized do a nice version of the Allez called the Sprint which is essentially a crit specific bike. They originally planned it as a 1x but roadies are too traditional for that sort of common sense!

Alu frame, 1x, some stiff wheels that are as cheap as possible. Job done. 🙂

Race crash insurance isn’t dear. I think I’m paying £70.
My version of Nath’s Workswell build came in a little over budget but is now around the 7.6kg / £1800 mark with Ultegra and 50mm Prime wheels.

Crit racing is fun and very friendly around here, I’ve met some great people. It is a bit crashy (15/35 races or so but I’ve avoided all but one!) and a little negative in Cat 4 but it’s stopped me bothering with CX at all this season.

It’s not great CX training though- it’s the art of efficiency rather than skill and suffering. If you can overtake someone whilst coasting then you’re doing it well 😉

That’s interesting crosshair. Some great comments and suggestions here. It’ll be interesting to give it a go!

Buy a used TCR and have fun! Where is the series? Velopark? Dunkerswell?

Odd down?

hi TiRed, I was thinking about the velopark one.