<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>I doubt I’ll be entering an CX races but you never know once I’ve got my fitness to a decent level. Had hoped to buy a frame then build it up but I can’t really find anything that floats my boat within my price range so have started to look at complete bikes. Looking around £1500ish for a complete bike, any comments in the ones below</span>

Boardman Elite CXR 9.0 https://www.cyclerepublic.com/boardman-elite-cxr-9-2-force-mens-cyclocross-bike-2019.html

Giant Tcx Slr 1 https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/road-bikes/giant-tcx-slr-1-2018-cyclocross-bike-aluminium-blue_382042?currency=GBP&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAiAlb_fBRBHEiwAzMeEdm7o5sFK_Rabjyek65aGAUhdKc4KDy859NsZQxawAU-zmk-jy8DXDxoC9_oQAvD_BwE

Cube Cross Race Pro https://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/cube-cross-race-pro-cyclocross-bike-2019

On one? Decent looking ally bike on there at the mo for not much, although it’s cable discs

On one Space Chicken SRAM Force down to £1599 currently.

cube cross are pretty nice geometry but not particularly light at that price especially in the wheel department but the frame is worth upgrading when the wheels/parts are worn.

the trek crocket is a cracking bike though £1400 gets you a race proven design and adjustable dropouts etc that gives it a more versatile leaning for grvel riding too https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/road-bikes/cyclocross-bikes/crockett/crockett-5-disc/p/23092/?colorCode=black

Giant TCX is a lovely bike. Best quality frame out of those three i would say. Nice price and unusually for a Giant nice colour too.

According to the manuf website Boardman only offer a two year guarantee on the frame, Cube is the same wheras Giant have a lifetime warranty.

Oh and from what i can see on-one only offer a two year warranty too. I think with that bike you may be purchasing some good quality components but…

If you don’t plan entering races and therefore UCI rules don’t apply, the OO Space Chicken is definitely worth a look regardless of the name. I very nearly bought one myself when I bought my current CX-that-does-not-Race (but could)…

The other thing to really consider is Gravel bikes. Again despite the silly name, they’re probably a better match for many who don’t need to care about UCI CX rules.

As this is STW and recommending what you have is de riguer,  I bought a Kinesis Crosslight 5Tdisc after falling in wuv with it after sitting on it in the shop.  Strictly it should be too small for me at a 54 (I’m 178) but it fits beautifully and goes like a rocket ship compared to my previous more conventionally sized CXy bike…

Had a look at the Boardman CXR 9.0 yesterday, seems the kind of thing I’m after, looks nice etc. Just need to sell my other two and I think it’ll be the Boardman, although the Cube keeps catching my eye!

If you don’t plan entering races and therefore UCI rules don’t apply, the OO Space Chicken is definitely worth a look regardless of the name. I very nearly bought one myself when I bought my current CX-that-does-not-Race (but could)…

You can change that to ‘don’t plan at winning races’ really. You can race local races just fine on the OO, by the time you need to worry about regs you’ll have 2 identical bikes and a pit crew washing them and handing up fresh specs every lap anyway. Wessex league has the full spectrum from the seriously fast (see above) to the glacially slow (ahem…) and a wide variety of bikes most of which wouldn’t pass regs.

From that list I’d buy the Giant if I was leaning more toward racing, the Boardman for more all round .. the only thing I’d add from some classifieds searching for a specific race bike is that the Boardmans appear to come up cheaper – not sure if this is poor residual value generally or just a wider distribution, happy to sell at below what they are worth .. seen a few real bargains just a bit too far away from me on FB/Gumtree especially.

Hi,

I bought this: – https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-energie-crx-cyclocross-bike-force-1×11-2019/rp-prod168782?gs=1&sku=sku631440&pgrid=60711842818&ptaid=pla-557035208398&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA+All+Products&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mkwid%7CsJnWI0v6D_dc%7Cpcrid%7C309840119990%7Cpkw%7C%7Cpmt%7C%7Cprd%7C631440UK&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInqfV2bjg3gIVqrXtCh0AowsyEAQYASABEgIfwvD_BwE

6 weeks ago and super impressed, with my Wiggle discount I got it for £1,550. I use it for commuting but have done some longer offroad rides and its good.

I think the most important thing here is why you want a CX bike if you’re not interested in races although brassneck is fair – if you might dabble in small races then pretty much anything with two wheels and no motor will be allowed to start so long as it isn’t dangerous and without the pit crew and second bike you just won’t be competitive whether you buy a CX bike or a BMX although there is still muddy fun to be had.

If your only purpose in buying a CX bike is to have a bike with 700c wheels that is tougher than a road bike which is what sold many ‘cx’ bikes a few years ago, the market has moved on and adventure/life/gravel bikes may be more suitable.  Actual CX bikes are only really designed for hour long races around a shortish, often muddy loop attempting to get as many laps as possible.  What makes a good CX bike doesn’t necessarily make a good all purpose off road bike.