New job in a very flat part of the country is making me look at cross bikes again. Struggling to find a garage so looks like it’s going to need to be one bike for winter training and local riding, cross bike looks like the way forward.

Don’t have a clue on sizing though and very hard to demo atm. Know exactly what I want on the MTB but the road bike i couldn’t even tell you what frame size it is, it was fitted to me, it works and i dont change anything.

6’1 ish with 32″ trouser inseam which is pretty short for my height. Looking at lots of different options but a lot seem to have short top tubes for seat tube lengths which is a bit alien to me – idea mtb frame size is about 50cm seat tube and around 64cm top tube. On one pickenflick looks good size wise. What do you look for in cross bike geo? is shorter t/t good? Seems to be a huge amount of sizing differential across brands.

Currently looking at the pickenflick, XLS (which looks too short) and the canyon inflite. Anything else to consider – ideally couple of reccomendations from people my size would be good.

Budget is £1500 max. Cheers

Worth measuring your road bike as a starting point, given you’re planning on spending that sort of money! CX have shorter TTs for a given size than road bikes to put you more upright. There’s a general rule of thumb to go a size down from your road bike size, but different manufacturers size differently to each other, and some effectively take this into account when recommending frame sizes.

You will also get less standover than an equivalently sized road bike as the bottom bracket is higher.

Stand-out bike at that money IMHO is

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/road-bikes-c5/cyclocross-c36/cannondale-super-x-carbon-sram-rival-disc-road-bike-2015-p10287

blinding deal on an awesome bike, they’ve used the Hi Mod carbon which if you bought the Supersix road frame would cost more than this bike. I’m 5’10 with a 32″ and have this in 54 and it’s perfect (and I’d ride the same sized c’dale road bike), not sure if standover on a 56 will suit you? As a lifelong Shimano man I’m getting on with Sram and like the firm/clunky/loud action.

I also looked at this

http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/catalog/product.php?CI_ID=18688&O_ID=5

and

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuji/altamira-cx-13-2015-cyclocross-bike-ec069070

but was put off by the replacement cost of CX1 parts on the Fuji.

Also check out the Norco range at Evans, seem really highly rated and good value.

http://www.evanscycles.com/search?query=norco+CX&x=0&y=0

Personally will never by a P-X/O-O bike again, and can’t quite get my head around buying a “premium” product from a company that sees Sports Direct as their model, but I also appreciate they have a large fan base. No knowledge of the Canyon other than they make really nice well specced good value bikes, but don’t sell to us in Euros so are more expensive here than in eurozone RIP OFF BRITAIN ITS AN OUTRAGE (according to several threads, anyway….)

I think it depends on what you want to do with a CX bike. I think a shorter top tube would suit racing better. I think. If you’re just looking to ride the bike here and there then a longer TT might provide a bit more stability.
Out of those two bikes – and assuming no racing – then I’d go for the ti pickenflick. I had an XLS and it was a great bike to ride but was quite harsh and I found the clearance for mud at the rear, even with 35c tyres, was very cloggy. A friend has the pickenflick and the clearance is much better at the rear.
Size-wise, I went for the 59cm XLS. I’m 6’3″. I had quite a bit of seatpost showing. I’d assume that size would suit you but I am quite leggy.
I opted for a Niner RLT9 (62cm) in the end as the tyre clearance bothered me so much. Now I can take up to 45c!

If you buy the current issue of Cyclist magazine (Issue 40, Oct 2015) that’s got a CX supplement in the back which lists a range of bikes at everything from £1000 up to £silly.

The Vitus Energie Pro (£1440) and the Canyon Inflite Al 8.0 (£1120) both come out highly recommended.

Sizing is impossible to determine. Both my road and CX bikes are Specialized, they’re listed as the same nominal size and both fit perfectly but they’re far from the same measurements!

The CX waters have become quite muddied recently with all the crossover between CX – gravel bike – “endurance” road bike.

Size wise, am 6’1, 32 inside leg and bought a large (58) norco threshold

Using it for everything, apart from cx racing…