Which cyclocross bike (or frame) for racing

Swedish chef Would you make the jump to discs now or wait a bit?

Those ex-Fidea Ridleys look tempting at first but they’ll have been hammered to death at the highest level, thrown into the back of a van repeatedly and just generally abused.
You might get one that was a fifth bike for one of the lighter-weight women if you’re the right size, or Tom Meeusen’s #1 bike that he’s been smashing all over Belgium 🙂

Fast-Direct-Stiff-Light… Rides very well I have built this for speed and boy it’s quick

My position on bike feels sweet and I’ve set up contact points near as dammit to my genesis ..

I was expecting a decent frame set for the money what I never expected was the high quality finish and the
Attention to detail with the neat cable routing guides for brakes ..

Not a clue on bb drop ? Maybe it’s on geometry chart on speeder cycling ?

@Plus One – do you have any photos of the tyre clearances? What do you think is the largest that will fit?

scott addict cx 😉

Those ex-Fidea Ridleys look tempting at first but they’ll have been hammered to death at the highest level, thrown into the back of a van repeatedly and just generally abused.
You might get one that was a fifth bike for one of the lighter-weight women if you’re the right size, or Tom Meeusen’s #1 bike that he’s been smashing all over Belgium

Well that saved me typing a reply, +1 😆

Swedish chef Would you make the jump to discs now or wait a bit?

Canti’s for me, partly as I’ve two sets of tubs, so disks would mean buying two pairs of wheels as well. Also I’m not sure I’d be faster on disks, there were certainly no courses last year where they would have been an advantage to me.

You’re also paying quite a weight penalty for them, however I expect the race scene to go towards them more and more, especially with LvdH riding so well with them.

Ooh that reminds me, Giant, another frame to Google about.

Arh Scott, good call Sefton.

Giant is tempting me, but I don’t think they do frame only. The proprietary seat post is a little off-putting, but if I was to buy one from anyone then it’d be Giant as their post-sales IME is excellent.

Giant seem to be disk only, but the look of that pale blue TCX1 is just lovely. Rotor cranks too 8)

Spotted this

http://www.deballbikes.com/products/deball-hup-hup-carbon-cyclocross-frame

LOL – that DeBall is the Chinese MC098 I linked to right at the start, with a posh paint job which in turn is a Fuji Altamira Disc 😉

But if the paint job is worth £250 or so (and that’s at the reduced price!) go ahead…

ut if the paint job is worth £250 or so (and that’s at the reduced price!) go ahead…

naa.. Not me. was just putting it out there 🙂

What size is yours clubber?

nemesis

It’s a 58. I did consider a 60 and I’d have probably gone for that if it was for the road but it’s pretty spot on for CX and offroad.

Doof Doof at work will post pics morn .. Clearance on front is huge !!!! Bit less on rear I’m running 32’s with plenty clearance ..

Great post on weight weenies about geometry

doof doof

Pics of clearance

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image[/url] by Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr

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image[/url] by Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr

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image[/url] by Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr

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image[/url] by Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr

doof doof
Pics of clearance

Thanks for taking the time to do that, much appreciated. Looks like you could almost fit a Hans Dampf in the front 😉 I think that frame is top of my list to replace my cracked ti frame.

I meant to take some pics of my MC098 (or DeBall as I’ll call it now 🙂 ) to show clearance.

This gives an idea though – the tyres are 35mm Stans Ravens on Arch EX rims so about as wide a combination as you’d ever actually race CX with (obv wider than 32mm legal)

FWIW, I’ve never had any clogging or even significant mud build up.

Great post on weight weenies about geometry

Pretty much spot on. Too many people worry unduly about achieving some kind of holy grail of geometry/fit on a cross bike. And I hate to say it but they tend to be the same people who would do better by worrying about getting a bit more training in…
So long as it fits and can get you to the end of the race without breaking it’ll be fine, unless you’re in the top 5 every week just get out there and enjoy it. I can’t recall ever having a conversation about BB drop on a cross bike, never measured it, never even considered it.

Tricky think I recignise your bike from warmley just to mention the tcx is nigh on sold out from hq but i do no of 1 m/l slr2 left in the uk and its local to u 😉 drop me a line for more info
I’m actually in the market for a frame looking at the kinesis fiveT in bright orange using the parts off my tricross

What were you riding rp16v? Which kit are you in?

I had ashocker at warmley. 1st race since september and a bit out of shape. My bike was properly clogged at the end

Same as me tbh my first ever “summer” race it was soooo much fun tho getting caked in mud
Was on a old tricross with mini vs in a bris MTB club top taking up all the space at the back

Well i got to try out this at wednesday nights summer cross race

I was pretty blown away. Compared to my kinesis it is way ahead. It fits me perfectly (56 seat tube 54.4 top tube). It felt stiffer, cornered better. Only downside was the brakes (bb7) but then i didn’t get chance to bed them in properly and they were brand new. Could be made very light.

Someone lent me their cross bike with those trp hyd disc brakes on it. Wow.. they are incredible. Notice helen wyman uses them

http://road.cc/content/feature/99736-cyclocross-star-helen-wyman-talks-racing-disc-brakes%E2%80%A6-and-future

and yes..i know brakes aren’t the limiting factor in cross. I’ve ridden canti’s and v brakes and haven’t really been thinking about switching to a frame with discs.

Anyone looked at the cx1 groupset? Flipping heck it’s expensive

I looked at that CX-1 groupset, but couldn’t justify the price, so just bodged myself a 1×10 SRAM CX set-up, using an AbsoluteBlack CX chainring on an old set of 105 cranks, running an X-9 Type 2 short rear mech and some Rival shifters. Just popped out the gear lever from the left shifter (about 5 mins). Its working lovely, with crisp shifting and no chain slapping around.

Not heard much about those Sublime bikes. They do look a lot like nicely painted up versions of the usual Chinese carbon jobbies (certainly their TT bike does.)

It felt stiffer, cornered better.

Wonder how much of that was down to frame and how much down to carbon wheels?

Wonder how much of that was down to frame and how much down to carbon wheels?

Well this is coming from a very old kinesis alu frame that now feels a tad small for me. This frame has got a bb30 crank, the tapered headtube is 160mm

I was using 50mm carbon tubs to race before. The one’s in the picture are clinchers

Sublime bikes. They do look a lot like nicely painted up versions of the usual Chinese carbon jobbies (certainly their TT bike does.)

Yes. I think they are quite open about this

Yes. I think they are quite open about this

Any idea how much more they charge over just going direct? I suppose there may be some benefits in dealing with someone UK based.

If it’s anything like the DeBall, it’s about 2+ times the price of going direct (though their sale price is more like 1.5 times)

I notice this isn’t the same as deball bike. I haven’t seen this one on ebay

Yeah, different frame but I’m going to guess that the cost factors are similar so in theory you’d end up with similar pricing differential.

I’d bet you’d find it on aliexpress FWIW.

Ooo new Cannondale CX bikes[/url].

Ive got a S-Works Tricross frame that is far to good to replace, arguably its a size to small for me but this makes it VERY chuckable – I’ve never found the brakes a limiting factor although this may say more about the state of my legs…

Ooo new Cannondale CX bikes.

Interesting.. disc only models

That’s right, all CAAD-X and SuperX cyclocross bikes are disc brake only, no more cantilever options