Pimping my Tricross

Bipedist

Hi chaps and ladies.

Just bought a Specialized Tricross (2006), factory fit.

My personal riding style is 90% road, and I ride hard (no consideration to the finer points of avoiding pot-holes, kerbs and small animals).

What I want to do is change the gear to make it as near to a road racer as possible, with high ratios etc, lightness, but still able to handle the punishment I plan to give it AND keep up with 'them-wot-wear lycra'.

Can you knowledgeable bods give me tips and pointers as to what the best bits are to go with?

Things I'm going to change:

Chainwheel - 52 or 54 teeth (not fussed about the smaller ring).
Rear cassette - 11?
Maybe disc-able front forks - lightweight, carbon (I understand there is some judder with factory forks).
Wheels and tyres - want very strong, but light as possible.
Brakes - V-brakes on the rear, discs on the front.

I haven't the budget for top-of-the-line gear, but fairly close to it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - ta!

Iain C

Erm, unless I have misunderstood your post, the last thing you want to do is to put a disc on it as that is loads heavier than your current setup (cantis?)

Are you trying to keep up with lycra wearing roadies or MTBers?

TBH from your parts list, and if you can go for near to top line kit as you say, that is quite a few quid's worth, why not chuck that towards a decent second hand "proper" roadie or MTB, depending on what your answer to my previous question is?

if you are looking at light kit but don't want to avoid potholes you may be in for a nasty surprise. As Keith Bontrager says, "strong, cheap, light...pick two!"

will3

If you're going to all that trouble why on earth buy a built up bike in the first place. It'd be far cheaper to build from scratch!

54x11 You will never use. OK maybe downhill with a tailwind.

AFAIK the problem with the judder is down to brake choice not the forks. Fit a V brake and you won't have to change the front wheel as well.
You won't be able to use V brakes with the road STIs unless you go for mini Vs.

Bipedist

Bugger!

OK - strong and light it is then.

If I can blam around and also keep up with road-racers, I'll be happy.

I know it's not the best choice, but there ya go. My MBT got stolen the other night, and I've decided to replace it with a better, tough, road bike, but I do like speed.

I may still plump for canti's because I just don't like V-brakes, and as I understand it, the juddering is more from the Tricross damping than the brakes, hence replacing the forks.

Iain C

Might be worth picking up a repring of the Feb 08 WMB, they had a story on "green lane bikes", the Tricross was one of them and it won the test.

For a really tough drop bar bike with discs to take serious abuse, I think they had the Kona Sutra, but IIRC it was 30lbs plus and my full susser MTB is in that league...chuck road tyres on, lock the suss out and it probably won't be that much slower, but neither will be anywhere near a proper road bike.

I hate to say it but as the Tricross is such a good bike in the first place, are you really going to be able to improve on the vast amounts of R&D dollars that Specialized spent on it in the first place?

As a final thought, has your Tricross got the Zerts inserts in the forks...was this available in 06?

il_principe

I don't understand where this misconception that road bikes are weak comes from. They are designed to with stand the force generated by sprinting for example some riders produce up to 2000 watts in finish sprints which is a massive amount. I ride my road bikes over awful roads in Wales, London and Sussex without any bother whatsoever. I use Fulcrum Racing 1 and 0 wheels on said roads as well and have not ha so much as a spoke snappage or required a re-true. I don’t believe a Tricross is actually any tougher than its road cousins; it just has bigger tire clearance.

Anyways your money will be best spent:
1: Buy not spending any and just getting yourself fitter and faster
2: On better tires (I recommend Conto GP4000S)
3: On better wheels e.g.: Fulcrum Racing 5’s 3’s etc.

Stuck on a Giant

Another prob, you'd have to make do with mechanical rather than hydraulic discs, in order to be able to use the STIs.
I've got an '08 Tricross, and it came with a 52 chainring, and I think an 11-34 (might be 12-34) rear cassette, so if yours is the same, no need to change.

I think the stock wheels and tyres are fairly heavy and you could certainly get away with narrower lighter tyres, say 28's,

I do find my Tricross much more upright and less 'aggressive' to ride than my other road bikes so I'm wondering whether you've made the right choice for the riding you describe. A longer stem might stretch the position a bit, and make sure it's turned down, not up and you might be getting closer to a traditional road bike position which will help you to push along hard.

Iain C

jashburnham wrote:

I don't understand where this misconception that road bikes are weak comes from. They are designed to with stand the force generated by sprinting for example some riders produce up to 2000 watts in finish sprints which is a massive amount. I ride my road bikes over awful roads in Wales, London and Sussex without any bother whatsoever. I use Fulcrum Racing 1 and 0 wheels on said roads as well and have not ha so much as a spoke snappage or required a re-true. I don’t believe a Tricross is actually any tougher than its road cousins; it just has bigger tire clearance.

Anyways your money will be best spent:
1: Buy not spending any and just getting yourself fitter and faster
2: On better tires (I recommend Conto GP4000S)
3: On better wheels e.g.: Fulcrum Racing 5’s 3’s etc.

Agreed...I guess it's the 10% off road use that the OP hinted at which might make the difference though.

Ken Night

Bipedist wrote:

give me tips and pointers as to what the best bits are to go with?

Things I'm going to change:

Chainwheel - 52 or 54 teeth (not fussed about the smaller ring).
Rear cassette - 11?
Maybe disc-able front forks - lightweight, carbon (I understand there is some judder with factory forks).
Wheels and tyres - want very strong, but light as possible.
Brakes - V-brakes on the rear, discs on the front.!

Best advice is to change nothing, and to get a second bike

The reason being that you'll never get the compromises right, and you'll do your head and wallet in trying

If you want the Tricross to go fast, change the tyres to slicks, and back to knobblies for offroad/tracks

Get a road bike to go out with the lycra crew

Here's my crosser btw-I use it as a commuter with 28s, and as a sportive bike with 23s, but will still take my road bike on most day rides



I should say, I run 48/12 as my high gear, never been dropped at that end of the gear range