CX – am I missing something!?

I’m a road racer and occasional mtb’er, and I enjoy both. I used to cx race in the road off season to keep up fitness but after 6-7 years of doing it I just resigned to train harder on the road. I never got it and consequently never got much out of it, I occasionally enjoyed the odd race, but I think that was more about competing in some decent races, rather than the riding. Equally I got a gravel bike about a year ago, and ended up just trying to make it like my caad12 disc which is my winter trainer, and I just use the ‘dale more. Guess I just like road biking and the odd MTB ride, nowt wrong with cx or the whole gravel thing, just not for me.

Recently been riding my Croix de fer round muddy woodlands and fast muddy and kinda rooty pathways. Absolutely love it. Probably wouldn’t be as happy on rocky ground. Likewise wouldn’t take it to a trail center. Getting used to more rim strikes when a rock or particularly knobly root pops up and do wince a little but mainly due to the thought that I haven’t made it tubeless yet and am waiting for the inevitable snakebite.

@stuey: That video has made my evening! Where did you find that? 😀

They’re very sensitive to surface. Stuff that you wouldn’t even notice on an MTB can be utterly vicious on CX tyres, and too much of it can quickly spoil a ride. On the right stuff they’re great.

I think if you’re not after a full on CX race bike, then something with clearances to take bigger tyres than 33mm could be much more of an all rounder. 33mm is just too small to run a tyre pressure that will absorb the small stuff without bottoming out on the bigger stuff.

TBF I do think the UK concept of what a “CX” bike actually is seems a tad confused…

It’s become a catchall term for almost any bike with drop bars and bigger tyre clearance that could go offroad… Really I suppose “CX” should refer to proper CX race bikes only, but I don’t think that’s going to stick now.

A lot of these bikes are mainly being used as road commuters with slicks and panniers from what I see, which is fine but it’s not their original purpose…

“Gravel” is more of a marketers term here as we don’t really seem to have the same “Gravel” events/scene they do in North America, here it’s more of the on/offroad bridal paths and sustrans bimbling and the odd bit of woodland, solo or with a couple of mates, Also fine (and more what I do), but certainly not everyone’s bag…

This video sort of illustrates the whole thing for me (bit long winded):,

I’m not too sure all the marketing subdivision of drop bared offroad bikes helps. A lot of people perhaps have aspirations of doing one thing with their shiny new “Adventure/Gravel/Cross” bike, reality sets in and what they’ve really bought a posh tourer, commuter or tow path pootling hybrid, which is fine but it’s a bit of an oversubscribed niche now (like much of cycling has become) and when you realise you’re not that into it, maybe you are better getting shot and moving on…

Skankin_giant – Member

Took my father-in-laws hybrid around Castlewellan..that wasn’t fun with toe clips and narrow bars wasn’t fun….

Black run I hope….

Man, cookeaa, you may be right, but your last few sentences are a bit depressing.

The main issue is thinking that it’s a replacement for a mountain bike, or can do the same things. Once you get over the fact that it’s a road bike which you can take mild off roading you relax and it becomes a blast!
Leave the rooty steep rocky downhills for the mtb and take it out on a mix of fireroads, smoother bridleways and tarmac and you will see it’s a great tool 🙂

The rocky rooty trails will not be fun on a cx bike – thats not to say you cant ride them though, you just ride it slower than on a mtb … if you want your wheels to still turn!

Mtb`s have just made the biffas biff their way down a trail with no concern for line.

geologist – Member
The main issue is thinking that it’s a replacement for a mountain bike, or can do the same things. Once you get over the fact that it’s a road bike which you can take mild off roading you relax and it becomes a blast!
Leave the rooty steep rocky downhills for the mtb and take it out on a mix of fireroads, smoother bridleways and tarmac and you will see it’s a great tool

Fair enough – fire roads and bridleways don’t really interest me on the MTB (being so #FullEnduro ) so maybe I need to try again with some tamer terrain. The plan for summer is to do the 25 mile each way commute every now and then on it, most of which is on a canal path, so maybe I’ll try and find some mild off roads bits on that.

Mtb`s have just made the biffas biff their way down a trail with no concern for line.

They really haven’t. You just choose a line with different criteria.

I have a rooty descent on my local loop I’ve done countless times on the rigid and the 7″ travel FS. On one particular corner for example I have to go left to avoid the steppy roots, but on the FS I’m going about 3x as fast, so I can run higher up the right hand side on more of a racing line and then come flying down the remainder of the roots. Different line, still chosen just as carefully.

I feel a bit the other way about this. I came to modern mountain bikes from a background of road and CX. My first CX race was the 3 peaks (after a night of drunken bantering). I really had no idea what I had signed up to. After that CX league races seemed a bit tame – still shattering though.
CX bikes are great. For things like SDW in a day there’s no way I’d want the extra heft of a mountain bike.

The newer wider tubeless tyres for CX bikes have widened my range of relatively extreme rocky XC riding here in N Wales as the chance of pinch flats is so reduced. Also planning to put a dropper post on the CX bike when funds allow.

There’s no way I’d take my CX bike to CyB or Penmachno – much as I enjoy CX based masochism that would just be silly.

Now I just need to stop riding my Spicy like a CX bike…

I never really ‘got’ cross bikes, then I got an RLT9 and it all started to make sense[/url]

I never really ‘got’ cross bikes, then I got an RLT9 and it all started to make sense

Ditto but replace RLT9 with Jamis Renegade.

not sure if missing anything – its what you enjoy that counts and if ain’t fun for you do what is fun

my cx stylee drop bar hybrid replaced my road bike not my hard tail with the aim of getting away from litter strewn main roads filled with aggressive drivers – if i want to ride technical(ish) stuff with loose rocks/drops/logs etc then that is MTB territory – to link up sections of road riding with some pleasant gravel trails/some cheeky woodland paths/rough bridleways then my cx stylee it is and I enjoy it and it works for me – then again I don’t ride 24hr events/race downhill or chaingang at 5am/timetrial or track race

I bought a cross bike about 18 months ago with the aim of using it just for ‘something different’ vs a hardtail or a full sus. Used it once off-road. A truly vile contraption and to be honest, every bit as sh*t as I was expecting it to be.

Since then its been used to transport me to and from the station as part of my commute. 2.5 miles on road and towpath with some very tame, riverside singletrack in the summer when its dry (instead of the towpath). For that, its fine.

Might give it the benefit of the doubt in the summer and try it again on some nice hardpack moorland stuff (but by that time I’ll have my hardtail finished which would most likely get pulled out the garage instead of the drop barred weirdo bike).

I want to get it, but my Arkose is my commuter that is used mostly on the road. I have to say that getting used to braking on drop bars when on a bumpy track does take getting used to. But the tyres I have on it are for commuting so no use off road when it’s too wet/muddy

For local stuff off road stuff I use a rigid bike, which I find comfier than my Arkose but obviously slower on the road. It’s currently SS but I like the extra challenge this brings

My burliest bike is a 120mm forked Solaris, which doesn’t get ridden as much as it should as my rigid bike is enough for everything locally.

I don’t ride anywhere technical/bumpy enough to justify full susser

I have reached n=available storage, so no chance of any other acquisitions. Apart from a cargo bike, I’d like a road bike to make my Arkose more for off road use, although that would mean riding the Arkose less

It always strikes me on threads like this that most people would be happier with a touring bike.

However, they buy something compromised, then complain about the compromises!

It’s always a compromise (or a balance if you’re a glass half full sort of person)

Rarely is a bike 100% suitable for 100% of conditions (and meet the expectations of 100% of people in those conditions)

I don’t think a CX bike is a compromise or balance. Part of the pleasure of riding a CX bike on tricky terrain is the wrongness of it – there’s certainly an element of nursing the bike and I suppose you either get that or you don’t. It’s exactly the right bike for lots of my riding but then I also have a mountain bike and a couple of road bikes if needed. If I had to have only one bike it would be the crosser.

All this gravel/adventure niche creation is tiresome though.

This is the perfect type of trail for a cx bike, narrow smooth singletrack is an absolute blast, plus you can ride the trails that are too narrow for the ridiculously wide bar curently in vogue 😆

I bought a CX to extend my local riding options – there is nothing MTB worthy from my door so opening up bridleways etc to mix up my road riding. I then tried racing and got totally bitten by the bug.

They aren’t going to handle rocks or roots well, but the sort of track that Ferrals posted are a blast. Ridden mine at Cannock (blue and red), taking it to Woburn soon (nominally as practice for Battle on the Beach) as well as local mixed loops from my door.

I also own a rigid fat bike and there is something appealing about back to basics, slightly inappropriate equipment, and you can really develop your skills on benign terrain. Lapping Trimix at races is an added bonus 😉

Most of my local trails, particularly in summer are ideal for CX bikes and I’m often quicker than I can ride an MTB.

I used to race the odd CX years ago as a youth/junior when it was unfashionable as part of my xc racing. I hated it. racing round muddy fields is shit. If it got into woods it became interesting and more wooded courses I’d use my mtb to my advantage. It was a hitter version of XC racing.
The only use I can see is using roads to connect bridleways.
MTB’s still rule off road.

All this gravel/adventure niche creation is tiresome though.

In defense of those type of bikes, I’ve for decades been trying to source/build a comfortable rigid do-it-all drop-bar ATB that carries me and my stuff via tarmac and trail to both near and far-flung places with the minimum of maintenance and aggro. Now I can buy one new and it works straight of the gate. With 29ers + disc brakes. ‘Niche’? Surely the more ‘niche’ bikes are lightweight XC, Downhill, Fat, CX, Enduro, etc? Whatever you call an adventure/monstercross/gravel/offroad-touring bike – it’s surely just a very (most?) versatile bike?

CX bikes beat you if you ride mostly MTB trails, no doubt about that. Choose a bike for your terrain?

Now I can buy one new and it works straight of the gate.

This. The new ‘bit more general purpose than a cross bike’ bikes, call them what you will, are probably what I would have had if they had been available when I bought my cross bike and would almost certainly have been more use to me than the roadie I bought before that. That was back in 2005 though, when (at least as far as I knew then) I could choose between a ‘proper tourer’ or a road bike- the former heavy and no fun most of the time, the latter entertaining but somewhat twitchy loaded with camping kit.

The fact that proper disc brakes, sensible gearing etc are all now coming as stock at good prices is annoying- bought the crosser a year or two too early….

Oh, and as for cross bikes in general- first two rides I did on one (borrowed from a friend) were hell. First ride- took it down some steep and slippery singletrack, no grip, felt like I was going over the bars all the time, no fun. Second ride- went somewhere gentler, but felt like I was being beaten up trying to hold a line.

Left it for a week then decided one more ride before I had to give it back. Thanks to the marvels of tubeless, the tyres had lost enough pressure that it had gone from terrifyingly sketchy to entertainingly sketchy and it suddenly made sense- snappy acceleration, nippy handling, drop bars get your weight on the front wheel making you commit. Local to me I’ll ride most things I’d ride on the MTB without dropping the post, although anything with rocks usually has to be a bit slower. We don’t have too much rocky stuff though. I can head north and skirt the boundaries of the London sprawl and fit in bits of woodland, parks, road sections etc to make a ride that would be tedious on a mountain bike but somehow works on the CX.

I have reached n=available storage, so no chance of any other acquisitions.

Extra pair of roadie-rubber-equipped wheels for the Arkose? Then you have onlyto perform a quick wheel-change depending on yr ride requirements.

If you don’t actually race in the strange world that is purist CX but still want to ride a faster, rigid fun bike on a range of surfaces, why use the odd (and ultimately expensive) compromise of drop bars?
What’s wrong with taking a good steel disc frame and chunky rigid fork, adding 29er wheels and then a proper set of brake levers & shifters onto a flat bar, a Jones or an Alpkit H bar…?
It’ll handle better off-road than anything with drops and yet tour or commute better on a variety of surfaces. You can run it with anything form say 28mm road slicks right up to as much as the frame & fork will take; I’ve currently got 1.9 semi-slicks on an old rigid steel 29er and it’s a hoot on tracks & trails, yet very competent at normal road rides. It’s in a ‘sweet spot’ for me.

36mph on my 26″ rigid mtb is fast enough.

why use the odd (and ultimately expensive) compromise of drop bars?

Some.of us like the riding position. If it weren’t so rocky and steep here I might well have drops on my Salsa. Still eyeing up some road discs and new wheels for the purpose anyway.

If you don’t actually race in the strange world that is purist CX but still want to ride a faster, rigid fun bike on a range of surfaces, why use the odd (and ultimately expensive) compromise of drop bars?

I agree. Should be a no-brainer if you spend more time off paved surfaces than on. For me it was an easy choice to choose drop bars on a rigid 29er. I tried it and it felt great as I’m either ATB-mincing most of the time or putting some serious road/farm-track miles in. After riding with exclusively straight bars or Mary bars for the last 30 years I’m really enjoying the difference of drops and no regrets as yet. I cut my teeth on a road bike as a teenager and it took me everywhere, and have always loved touring on drops owing to various hand-positions. It was a close-call though, nearly opted for a Longitude with wide straights 8)

Before buying a bike with drops I also considered fitting either Titec H or anatomical touring bars to my old 26er rigid MTB that I already used as you say (with multisurface 1.9 tyres) but it was definitely time for a change as over a weekend demo I took to drops like an old fish back to the pond. Your mileage may/should vary…

I have reached n=available storage, so no chance of any other acquisitions.

Extra pair of roadie-rubber-equipped wheels for the Arkose? Then you have onlyto perform a quick wheel-change depending on yr ride requirements.

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I keep thinking about this, and look at a wheelset to go with it. But then reality strikes, I’d have to take off the mudguards which probably wouldn’t work with the nano 40c tyres I have for it (which are hanging on the wall), I’d then also have to take off the rack. Plus put it all back on for commuting on weekdays. Easier just to grab the rigid MTB instead

The logical option would be to sell my motorbike and have space for 2-3 more bicycles. But my heart says no so I’ll accept the need to limit space for toys

felt like I was being beaten up trying to hold a line.

1) Misses the point CX bikes are meant for 1 – 1.5 hours hard blasting, where getting beaten up is just part of it and no big deal.

2)mtb suspension has made people soft, even mtbs were like that back in the day and people still rode them.

Why are people riding steep, and/or rocky trails on cx bikes? That’s why mtbs were invented. CX bikes are for the flatter terrain typical of Norther Europe where they came from.

They are perfect for where I live. A mix of nice roads, fire roads and very easy singletrack.

I can ride where I fancy at the time. All road gets dull, all off road can sometime feel slow so just do both on every ride.

I actually use a fixed track bike but same sort of thing (drop bars, narrow tyres etc,.)

I don’t want a CX bike, but I do really want a Genesis Vagabond 🙂

1) Misses the point CX bikes are meant for 1 – 1.5 hours hard blasting, where getting beaten up is just part of it and no big deal.

Pure ‘CX race’ bikes, maybe. Not ‘drop bar off road bikes’ as a more generic type though. As it turned out, the tyres were at maybe 50psi, once down to 30 or so it became a lot more fun.

Besides, the degree of ‘getting beaten up’ was not the sort I was used to on a rigid mtb, i.e. fun and challenging but more thinking I might have broken something every time I hit a bump.

… put another way; the biffas won`t enjoy riding a cx bike.

I don’t want a CX bike, but I do really want a Genesis Vagabond

Me too! I don’t even really know why either. It just looks right for the type of riding I now do.

If you find it dull on an FS, you aren’t pushing hard enough, or you are Danny Hart and I claim my £5

I reckon bigblackshed was talking relative to the experience he just had…cue shits and giggles.

That video looks ace, a colleague at work just said shame they are probably all dead now! It reminds me of those Telematch games in West Germany back in the 70’s.

It is a funny ol sport.