Genesis Croix de fer – Upgrades

Following my post some months ago about what N+1 bike to buy, I settled with a Croix de fer 20.

It is a great thing, but now its approaching Christmas, its a decent excuse to fling some upgrades at it because why not.

Can anyone suggest some decent upgrades to this bike, for example, I understand the the OEM wheelset is quite a heavy item, and see that older CDFs came with a carbon fork etc.

So,

Any decent wheelset suggestions?
Is the carbon fork a worthwhile upgrade?
Anything else you’d upgrade whilst at it?

Money not really an object to a point, just putting a list together of good parts for the future.

Cheers folks.

I did the following in this order

Wheels – Mavic Aksium
Seatpost, stem, saddle – Ritchey WCS and Fabric ti rail saddle
Upgraded to 105 11 speed
And yesterday bought the Ti frame and fork

Hope/Mavic Open Pro on mine, built from a frameset. Ritchey WCS here too. Flite saddle. Love it.

I have the slightly older one, a CDF 30, which came with carbon fork and 105. All I have upgraded in 2 years is the seatpost and saddle.

Oh, and the rear mech, to Ultegra, only as I had a spare new one.

Nice one, thanks so far.

It’s the wheelsets that confuzzle me the most, I’m fine with MTB wheels (I have a set of hopes on my squidge) but there are so many more types of road/cx wheels about i’m Scared of picking something not up to the job.

In saying that, the CDF makes the MTB feel like a bloody boat anchor!

#1stworldproblems etc. Keep the suggestions coming!

Had one of the ye old originals. For upgrades, I got some hand built wheels – h plus son archetype on ultegra cx hubs. Fantastic wheels.

Then trated her to Brooks bar tape and swift saddle.

Was a beautiful thing…..sadly she is no more

I’ve got a set of handbuilt wheels on mine now, but previously had a pair of DT Swiss R32 which were really nice, and which we’ve used on a couple of similar custom builds with great success. Tubeless-ready, stiff, fairly light, and look great.

What happened to your one Snipsnap? Nicked or broken?

Drover – I was looking at the ‘Hunt’ wheels and was trying to figure out how to break it to the kids they’d be getting nothing from Santa. Just couldn’t do it! Ha!

Edited for spelling.

spyke85 Where dd you get your Ti frame and fork from? I am looking for a XS. I missed the last of the cheap ones from Freeborns!

I’m running Hunt 4 season wheels on a steel Norco Search which is similiar to a CDF – great wheels. I’m also running a Lynsky fork – they do a 1 1/8” straight (alu) steerer with carbon crown and forks built for gravel/adventure bikes.

spyke85 – Member
…And yesterday bought the Ti frame and fork

That’s some upgrade. 🙂

Same as iain cdf 30 with carbon fork. I would suggest the biggest gain would be new wheels (as mentioned above).

I got some kinesis crosslight v4 wheels and they are great… Much lighter and set up some tubeless wtb nano’s. Transformed the bike into something usable off road. Stock wheelset is bombproof but bloomin heavy.

Also running some decent bar tape now, bit thicker than the original stuff so less hand buzz.

Oh and also gone single oval ring upfront which again sheds a tiny tiny bit of weight.

Carbon fork would be lighter but it’s harsh… I rode the cdf 20 with steel fork and I think I prefered it. I am not sure why genesis dropped it from the range but maybe they had a good reason too (could be just more expensive who knows)

So in summary of my ramblings… Spend the money on the best wheels and decent tubeless tyres.