CycloX as a commuter

Looking to get myself a CX bike principaly for use as a commuter but also to have a go at cross and a winter trainer.I'd read before that as a multi task bike they are a bit rubbish and only really good for cross,I take it with fashion that the geometry has started to change and they also now include a host of braze ons? I've shortlisted the Genesis Croix de fer and the day one alfine, but top spot just now is the Cannondale caadx, anyone any opinions on any of those? I'm erring towards the Cannondale as it will possibly be lighter(details are vague at the moment), not that its too important to me but I've noticed more than once the weight of the Genesis being criticised.Any other to consider? Limit is £1000 through cyclescheme.

I have a Genesis Vapour for similar needs and it's a great bike. Carbon fork, all the braze ons, comfy and quick with slicks on.

The 2011 CaadX Looks really nice. Cube are also doing a nice crosser for a grand, which is available now.

It's only really full-on race bikes that don't serve well as commuters/winter bikes. Most, if not all around a grand should have eyelets for racks and guards and bottle cages.

I bought mine (Orbea igorre) through Cyclescheme, I've got another set of wheels with slicks, that I use if I'm just commuting on the road, but when I'm in the mood it gives me the option to commute offroad across the Quantocks.
I've had mine the best part of a year now and if I was buying again I'd choose something with disc brakes (canti brakes are pretty scary).

Edit: The Orbea is a bit outside the £1000 mark and doesn't have rack or bottle cage mounts, which is fine by me as if its cold and raining I'll take the car to work.

CX bikes are a great all-rounder

Running a 2010 Kona Jake with a carbon fork (otherwise standard) – absolutely love it and since buying had done a 2hour CX ride most evenings after work

It flies on the towpath too and is great for commuting / shopping duties too

Planning to keep up the rides each and and try a cross race next year when I have the legs / stamina

🙂

.I'd read before that as a multi task bike they are a bit rubbish and only really good for cross

Whoever wrote this is a very silly person.

There is no other type of bike on this planet, that is as multi function as a cyclocross bike.

Limit is £1000 through cyclescheme.

if doing this soon keep an i.e. for the future market value if you want to take ownership…

I like the look of the Surly Crosscheck[/url] and the idea that it can run as singlespeed. Not sure if it is available on cyclescheme though.

What Samuri said – mate of mine uses his Jake for all his riding, including cross racing, touring and road racing.

If I was to have to own one bike, it would be a crosser.

Or you could get a Boardman Hybrid and do this to make it a commuter

and this to make it a cross bike

When I had my first cross bike in 96 I had braze ons added when it was being made for me. I've toured on it, done 10 years of cross racing on it, done fast road training on it, commuted on it and club rides. The only significant difference between my cross bikes and my road bikes is on the sharpness of handling.

(canti brakes are pretty scary).

Not to bad if set up properly .I have just prepped my crosser for the peaks and have set the straddle as low as possible on shorty 6s. I can now lock both wheels easily and have more confidence in their abillity to stop me than the stock set up with the straddle set higher.

I'd read before that as a multi task bike they are a bit rubbish and only really good for cross

Whoever wrote this is a very silly person.

There is no other type of bike on this planet, that is as multi function as a cyclocross bike

Well that was me that wrote it 😛 IIRC and it was a while back I think it was relating to the fact that CX bike never came with braze ons, even water bottles bosses. Since then I thought the trend had been to dilute the style, include mudgaurd eyes/rack mounts etc. I was wondering if the geometry had been tweaked to make the bike more of an all rounder. It could actually have been on the outdoor show at cross at the castle if anyone remembers the episode. I agree though the new range of bikes do seem to offer alot especially for my commute which could now take in a number of other routes.

rootes1 , I could have had up to £3K but opted for £1k as it wil lincur a 5% buy back after 3 years.

I like the cross check but the cyclescheme range of shops don't really run with this type, it would certainly be in the running if it was. Though the CAADX is this weeks number one. I believe it takes a while for the voucher to come through so plenty time to change my mind.

Stopping the wheel going round isn't the problem, its the lack of modulation and inconsistency when compared to discs (and even the caliper brakes on a road bike I rode the other day).

I’m loooking for exactly the same and top of the list now is the Marin Lombard or Toscana, mainly because they have disks.
The Croix de fer 2011 is now 1100 so out of cyclescheme.

Any other disk cross bikes out there??

Didn’t I read somewhere about the Cyclescheme max being £1000 ex vat now, which is why some manufacturers have pushed the prices up to £1100.

CX bikes make fantastic all-rounders. It’s only the proper ‘race’ ones that don’t have botle/rack mounts, most of them are super versatile. Quck change of wheels it’ll do roadie club runs, add a rack and it’ll be great for touring, it’ll handle anything a commute can throw at it (potholed roads etc) and it’ll do most of what a normal MTB wil do. Bit slower in some places, bit faster in others.

Agreed. Test rode one of the CAAD9 ‘dale cross bikes + the frame felt great, alu forks felt harsh but despite a bit of tinkering juddered like buggery, fork mounted hanger might have helped.
Be worth looking at the new Cotic X as well.
Nice

I posted this yesterday on another forum but it’s all still valid here:

I see the Cyclocross card has already been played but can I just re-itterate what a fantastic choice of bike they are for general purpose riding. They are much lighter than a mountain bike yet will happily ride down the same mountains, albeit slightly slower. They will also eat up road miles with relative ease. a Hybrid is similar but generally not somewhere you want to spend hours in the saddle.

This last season I’ve been commuting between 5 and 40 miles each way depending on how much time I had.

Racing Closed circuit races and town centre criteriums (I’m the fatty, far right)

Out riding cross country here in the Camrbain mountains

Been out to recce the Dyfi Enduro ‘World Cup Descent’ the day before the event. What you can’t see in this photo is I was wearing brown loafers, chinos shirt and no helmet with SPD pedals!

Competed in a full season of club 10, 12 and hilly 22 mile time trials

An 88 mile and a 103 mile Sportive

I can not express enough what a great all-round bike this is. In my case it’s a 2010 Kona Jake the Snake RRP 1025 quid, but the Kona Jake can be had new for closer to 500 and there’s always the tricross and many other capable bikes in this variety.

If you commute in **** weather, discs are worth their ewight in gold IMO.

Agree with Surfr, haven’t raced on mine but it’s done century road rides, a sportive, toured the Irish end to end with panniers and tent on, and done lots of trail riding. Mine just an old 2004 Jake frame with some carbon bits and campag centaur on.

I’ve even ridden it to work a few times but live too far away to make it a practical commute

I got a Kinesis Crosslight 4T on cyclescheme just under 2 years ago. I’m running cantis not disks, and it came in at around £800 including rack and panniers. I run road style semislick tyres and full mudguards, and it’s ace. WAAAY faster than MTB on the road, capable off road (did a Hit the north preview ride on it). The first winter I’d ride home and put the bike away, and the rims lasted about 9 months. I now hose the bike down to get rid of the grit when I arrive home for a damp commute and the replacement rims are doing fine. Disks add a lot of weight and stopping has not been a problem – thew only time I’ve had issues it was the grip, I was losing traction and skidding out as the wheels locked.

Well that was me that wrote it

Leave while still can, don’t tell anyone where your going or you’ll be hunted down.

Kona Jake the Snake here too and just love it, never had interest in a skinny tyre bike but “thought what the hell if I get on C2W it’ll cost me nothing as can sell it for what I’ll pay for it.” To hell with selling it brilliant fun, go out and do some big road miles or spin along the local trails and then do both.

Today it’s 20C blue skies and not a drop of wind, I want to ride off into the hills and coast. Sadly the MIL who agreed to child mind for us after she retired is earning some pocket money today by working as bank staff.

I can see a reduction in her wages coming. 😆

Hi,

I bought my cross bike through the Cyclescheme (Dawes Edge X at £890). I use it as an all rounder, including the commute to work.

I don’t know if it’s just this model, but I find it under geared for serious road work & TTs. Roadie friends typically have 50 teeth up front & 11 at the back, whereas I have 46/13.

Consequently, I’m finding it a bit too slow on the road.

I don’t know if it’s just this model, but I find it under geared for serious road work & TTs

All cross bikes have lower gearing (for off road). Just fire a 50 ring on, and ride it like that.

I run mine with a 34/50 compact and 26-11 at the back, I think. Didn’t really pay attention, I just let that nice man Jon @ Bicycle Smithy[/url] build it how he thought best for my intended (commuting) use

I’m seriously considering getting a CX bike for everything from commuting to time trialling.
I’m intrigued by the disc v rim brake option.
When I ran Magura hydraulic rim brakes on an MTB, I could shred the pads in a couple of weeks, so I’m thinking of discs for a CX.
Are they much heavier ?
They seem to be less common. What bikes should I be looking for second hand with a price range of, say, £500 – £1000 ?

Yup I bought a 50t ring for the front so now I’m running 36/50 front and 12-25 rear. It’s got me up everything except the hard side of Bwlch y Groes and that was my legs rather than gearing failing if I’m honest. I can hit 35MPH easy in a flat sprint, probably more. Once over 40MPH on the down hills I find it faster to tuck in and stop pedalling anyway.

I run an 08 Giant TCX as my commuter. Bought as frame only and made up from spares off other bikes! So like nbt it’s running 34/50 (FSA) with a 12-25 (Veloce). At the moment it’s pulled up with Shorty 4 cants, but I may swap to a decent set of V’s. It’s been on Michelin Jets all summer, but as I will probably be stuck on tarmac for most of winter I’ll be swapping them over to my usual commuter Schwalbe Marathons

Just fire a 50 ring on, and ride it like that.

I haven’t done this as I still want to use the bike for CX.

However, having read some of the comments here, perhaps I should give it a go.

I’ve contented myself with swapping wheels up to now – being able to quickly substitute road tyres & cassette.

Lots of good info folks 🙂

Midlandtrailquestgraham, I’ve been finding it hard to find a light CX with discs, at the moment its only the genesis bikes I can find(under £1K) and they do seem to be on the heavier side. For 90% of the time it wouldn’t be a problem but I do fancy a bash at the 3 peaks and maybe a bit of racing.

Any lightweight disc bikes out there?

A heavy bike may feel like it’s really slow, but in reallity it’s not slowing you down much, not a big deal unless you are in the top ten etc 😉

Fixie Pure blood, but way above the £1k mark

£750 for frame of £2k+ with SRAm force build

A heavy bike may feel like it’s really slow, but in reallity it’s not slowing you down much, not a big deal unless you are in the top ten etc

True, especially when you have as large an ass as mine 😆 its the retrobiker in me.

The Marin Toscana / Lombard have disks but are also quite heavy at 25lbs plus.

Anyone know if Focus are doing a disk cross bike for 2011?
Wiggle have some 2011 bikes in stock now that look like great value (105 setup for £860), but no word on a disk model like they had the past few years.

About to race my first cross race on Sunday so I’l tel you how I get on with 36/50 and 12-25. I don’t feel like there’s any holes in the ratios on road though so should be OK.

About to race my first cross race on Sunday so I’l tel you how I get on with 36/50 and 12-25

Thanks Surfr – that would be really useful.

My first race will be at Blenheim on 3rd October.

My new Uncle John:

Came in at around £1k plus a pair of Model Bs with road tyres. Been training on the road, around Llandegla, just a great all rounder.

Bars look like they need rotating back upwards towards the rider a little. Otherwise, very nice 🙂

Entirely personal choice, if I commented on every pair of bars I saw pointing at the sky I’d have no time for anything else!