I've got a mountain bike and a road bike, and was thinking of getting a winter road training bike like a ribble but someone mentioned to look at cyclocross bikes.

I'm just wondering what sort of off road stuff they will cope with… and what will i be able to cope with on them without getting completely shaken and battered to exhaustion with the lack of suspension compraed to the mountain bike.

Was thinking i could use it for road stuff and then cut down forest tracks (eg fire roads) to make up some interesting loops combining road + off road. I'm thinking it'd be nice for winter training as i can get a faster ride than on the mountiain bike but still combine some off road stuff for more variety.

What kind of tracks except fire roads could i ride them on? ( i guess i'm asking lakes cylcocrossers here as thats where i ride, but never really seen anyone off road and not on a mountain bike)

cheers

it depends on the rider really…

taken mine round glentress red before. it was fine, good fun jumping it down spooky wood…
woodsy stuff is more fun i think. but it'll take plenty battering.

I'm sure a few around here have been known to take theres around trail centres, and will no doubt say, that it was "easy"..

Personally, i like mine for like you said, having a spin out along the canal, and on the more gentle off road stuff.

Having said that, one of my all time favourite routes on it is what we are doing with the STW collective led by DeeJay on the 2nd, around Black hambleton…

i live in the dark peak….i have riden down jacobs easy.
Its not the bike that'll go it;ll be you.

yeah. You can ride one plenty of places, way more than you'd expect. Sure, you get battered around a bit but it's all doable. All depends on the rider at the end of the day.

I'd say you can ride them anywhere you'd ride a mountain bike unless it get *seriously* sketchy, and I'm talking jumps and drops here. personally, i'll ride mine anywhere I ride my mountain bikes. i might take slightly different lines or takes things a bit easier in places but they're an immense amount of fun offroad.

I've said it many times, there's nothing like caning along the road at 20mph+ and then suddenly cutting off down a footpath at warp speed, flicking around down some singletrack, trees flashing past your head, pedal, pedal pedal, fly over the pavement and back on the road, wind it up to 25mph. Brilliant!

And you can climb like stink on a cross bike. See all those MTBer's in the distance, you'll be passing them like you've got an engine. More brilliant. For the truley brave, wait for them to catch you at the top, let them start the next descent and then see if you can catch them. Double brilliant.

What Samuri says is true to a certain extent but they do need a bit more nursing over the bumpy stuff than a rigid MTB. Rocky trails are quite hard going and you get pinged about a bit more, but unless the trails are really rough the whole way round you will be less knackered overall than if you do the same distance on an MTB.

As with MTBs the wheels and tyres tend to be the weak spot. I have some cheap and nasty road wheels on mine (Shimano RS10s) and have put a couple of flat spots in the rims and broken two spokes in the back wheel, but that's with over a year of pretty hard use – a winter's racing, the Hell of the North Cotswolds, 2/3 of the South Downs Way and taking it off-road most weeks.

I used my new Cyclocross Bike around the Glentress Red route on Tuesday night, its a lot quicker ascending, and I was just losing contact with my mates on their full sus MTBs on the decents. It was really wet which didn't help my confidence, and my hands kept sliding down the drops. Thinking of heading down to Glentress at the weekend to go Freerider baiting.
I plan to use my CX bike as a winter road bike with road tyres and mudguards.
One thing to consider is the toe overlap on a CX bike i.e. the amount your toe overhangs the front wheel, as its not much fun catching the studs on the front of the MTB shoes on a nobbly tyre. My bike isn't too bad (Voodoo Limba), but other friends have had issues (Genesis Croix De Fer) with their bikes.

Doug

Thinking of heading down to Glentress at the weekend to go Freerider baiting.

This would rock awesomely, count me in. You might want to try some Salsa bell lap bars. They have this little bulge in the drop which helps keep your hands in place over the seriously bumpy stuff.

Careful though, they're known to generate feelings of hate amongst the purists.

Bell Laps are indeed awesome….

Very, very comfy bars.. 8)

thanks for the replies, looks like a cyclocross bike it is then!

Just need to find a good deal now. Tempted by the wiggle focus mares, and you can even try it for 7 days and send it back if you dont like it according to the website!

I bet those focus's are excellent bikes. They look like a great deal.

I love my Focus ^^^^^

My Ritchey drop bars do have the bump on the drops, but I wouldn't mind a pair of Salsa Bell Lap as the flares on the drops sound good too.
Are there any other Cyclocrossers who would want to meet up at GT for a ride some time?

Doug

If you are looking for a bike to cross the boundries between summer on the road and winter off then you can't go far wrong with a crosser. Though if it's for some serious training then I'd suggest a winterised road bike.
I had a crosser that I used a lot over winter as the trails are a bit agricultural around here, however that broke otherwise I'd still be using it.
However I've decided that I want to get some miles in this winter so I'm in the process of building up a winter road bike for that very reason.

now im getting excited about finally building up my singlecross frame 😀

Teeto – so have you got round to riding the MTL on it yet??

I've got a focus mares 09 and give it 10/10, superb bike and good value (I got mine at 25%off!)