wanting to buy/put together a cx bike for mucking about on and probably racing/wobblingabout next winter.

Not a big budget, so nice new stuff not really an option. Doesn’t appear to be a lot of second hand good uns’ around (i guess buy it and ride it once types don’t buy them).

That leaves getting a frame and building with second hand bits / old stuff in shed.

Any recommendations? Can a cross check be built light enough to race? Do you go down a size from road bike?

Cheers

I could have a 50cm frame complete bike available if you want?

Cheers, but a bit small for me. Ride a 56cm trek road bike and 16inch 456. So thinking 54cm cx bike? Could always buy a second hand complete as donor bike and sell the frame i suppose. Normal roadie gears and wheels i presume are needed.

well my CrossCheck is around 21lb – but that’s single speed. I’ve raced on it – it’s great 😀

a chap I know was saying that a couple of his friends race them in the Scottish series so thay can’t be that bad. When you say ‘heavy’ it’ll only be a pound or so heavier than a ‘light’ bike with the same bits bolted to it if you think about it… Anyway your doing it for fun aren’t you? Not like you’ll be winning the 3 peaks or anything, eh?

Is it normal to size a cross bike about 2″ smaller than a full road bike?

Have a look on ebay for paul milnes frames, or for columbus that are also sold by paul milnes. Alt giv e paul milnes shop a call and see if they have any deals.

Do you go down a size from road bike?

Depends on the bike 😉

Is it normal to size a cross bike about 2″ smaller than a full road bike?

No.

You don’t want to be too rangy on a cross bike, but that doesn’t necessarily translate as “going a size down” from a road frame. Lots of people race the same size cross as their road frames, but that really depends on what sort of road fit you might like.

Top tube length is (as ever) the critical measurement. Quite a few manufacturers cross frames have much shorter top tubes than their equivalent road frames, but only by a centimeter or so.