cx or hardtail mtb

Okay, bit of an open ended question but after a long period of not cycling and having to sell off bikes due to not working i am now in a position to get back into it.

I can only afford the one bike and only have the space for one bike. My ideal type of ride is a sort of all day affair using roads, bridleways, woods, and any other bits of offroad i can find. Don’t mind if there is a fair bit of road involved. Not really into trail centres (not yet anyway).

So i was looking for some opinions on best bike for this sort of riding. So far –

1) good hardtail with rigid or decent short travel sus fork with lockout for roads

2) CX bike – don’t know much about these and not sure how much offroad they could handle. Also regarding these why do all CX bikes have drop handlebars as if i was to go down this route i would prefer a flat barred one (if they exist)

3) 29er hardtail – again new to me but thought the bigger wheels would help on the road.

At the moment i am leaning in the direction of a 26er hardtail as this is what i know but would appreciate any insights from people who do the same sort of riding.

thanks

cx bike have been traditionally stiff harsh racing machines designed for an hour blast in the park – this is changing but they are not the most comfortable for an “all day affair”.

the big tyres of a mountain bike would be more comfortable. Flatbar CX would be a hybrid really.

29er would allow you to fit CX tyres which will be a bit faster on the road sections. many 29er riders (me included) run faster, race type, tyres than you can get away with on a 26er. for some reason they seem to grip better.

i would try and get a demo on some bikes if i were you.

Can you stretch to 2 wheelsets?

My 26″ Inbred works fine with 700 x 37 CX tyres for mixed road / off road rides. Then the 26″ wheelset with off road tyres goes on for messing about in the woods with little or no road riding. I’m sure there will be plenty of 26″ bikes with similar clearance.

I’ve enjoyed rigid 29ers for landrover track type rides, but prefer 26″ for the woods, so it’s a good compromise for me.

I try drops every year or so, but never really get on with them. I don’t like standard relatively straight bars either and always feel better on on-one Mary bars or the Titec version of the jones H-bars. Much nicer for my wrists.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I assumed there must be more to a CX bike than simply the main difference between it and a hybrid is flat vs drop bars. Although obviously the term hybrid does cover an lot of different types.

Never thought of 2 wheelsets. Problem i have is that i set off and then find some bit of offroad i have never done before and just head off that way so never sure of which type of wheels i’d need :-). I just really enjoy setting off from my house and seeing where i end up !!

Tyres are an issue though ie. full knobblies are not really suited to road and can wear down quickly in my experience. Like the sound of the faster race type tyres you can get use on the 29er.

DEpends if you like drops, and whether you need the off road capability of big tires or the road speed of cx tires.

Have a ride of a 29er if you can, depends partly on your height and whether a lot of your riding is in tight twisty singletrack which they can feel a little lethargic compared with a 26er, but they do seem to float over obstacles easier and would be better for road riding with knobbly tyres as these can have less knobbles than 26er tyres but still provide enough grip off-road.

On One have got the Scandal 29er on offer at the moment which is a pretty sorted geometry for them.

Yep, i think a 29er test might be a good idea. I am 6ft so should be okay for them, i guess i am just so used to the idea of a 26 mtbs, need to catch up !!

Just out of interest how does the sizing work out for 29ers ie. i usually have a large (19″) frame on a 26 so is it simply the same ie. i need a large. Obviously a test ride would be good but if i can’t get that then is it roughly the same ?

thanks

CX= Bike all the way! 70/80miles are easy on one.

Point 4 onwards may help, if you have the dosh check out a Cotic Solaris, if they ride anything like the Soul (not ridden one but have ridden a Soul) then that’s what I’d get if I could afford it.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/help/what-size-bike

Read this, enjoy the pictures, and see if it helps your decision: 😉

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/first-cx-ride-a-pictorial-journey

@danti – thanks for the info and link. Was thinking about the Solaris actually so will definitely try out a 29er somewhere.

@aka_Gilo – that link looks like really good fun. Looks like the kind of riding i was suggesting as well.

So one more question. I simply cannot get on with drop bars, tried them and never really got comfortable with them. So i’m assuming because of the brake levers etc. you can’t simply swap out the drops for a flat bar ?

If not can anyone recommend a good flat barred CX bike or a hybrid that in effect could perform as well as the CX bike ?

mancjon – no you couldn’t just swap the bars for the reasons you say.

re: drop bars, have you tried them with chicken levers (that come as standard on many cx bikes, the Boardman for example)? They let you ride on the tops so it feels like a (admittedly very narrow) straight bar. I’d persevere with drops, they actually work surprisingly well off road once you’ve got used to them.

cynic-al – Member
DEpends if you like drops, and whether you need the off road capability of big tires or the road speed of cx tires.

I think this is the key point to an extent and obviously a personal decision that in the end only you can really know the answer to. But these are my thoughts, Cyclocross bikes are great for a different ride to a MTB and are going to be faster on the road sections and will be great on smoother trails but will be a bit limited if you need/want to do anything more technical or a trail centre. Yes you will be able to ride this stuff, you can get pretty much any bike to do anything if you want, but maybe not the best. For me I always found the drops difficult off road, not wide enough and if set them up so I could descend for a period of time comfortably, the bars felt too high when on the tops/hoods but if set right for climbing (more like the road bike) they felt too low and would get a sore neck from trying to see far enough up the trail. Drops were fine for me on the flat or short descents (and fun)but not on anything longer/ more technical- but then cyclocross bikes are really designed for that.

You could as asked stick a set of flat bar on a cyclocross bike but why? Is what I would ask, in my mind you would be much better of with either a 26 or 29er hardtail, run good quality semi slick tyres (or even cross tyres on a 29er) and flat bars with bar ends and short travel fork or rigid. I think this way you will end up with a bike that’s more versatile as your one and only bike. It will roll along fine on the road, you are not going to win any races with it on the road but get the impression that’s not your aim and it will be better off road. Plus should your riding needs change to being more MTB aimed it can easily be adapted. It’s easier to make a MTB a bit more of a hybrid than it is to make a cross bike into a MTB. Yes should your riding come more road aimed then a cross bike might be better, but then if you end up just riding road a road bike will be so much better.

In my eyes the xc hardtail is still a more versatile bike than a cross bike. If you have no intentions to race cyclocross I think avoid as your only bike. I am in no way knocking cross bikes, a great as a 2nd or 3rd bike but for someone that doesn’t get on with drops it seems a little pointless, to me anyway. As I said I not a huge far of drops off road -fine on road-,I did a very unscientific test riding my then cross bike round a fairly easy route (smoothish singletrack and road) vs my xc race bike, the times were almost identical with the xc bike being very slightly faster, but would but that down to it suiting me.

I have written a lot sorry, hope some of that is of some use!

@cows_in_car

No need to apologise, very useful and i can’t see myself ever becoming a pure roadie so i think i’m looking at a hardtail with rigid/lockout.

Many thanks.

No problem, glad to be of some help.