Cyclocross Commuting

Kieran_Burns

I never actually go quick enough to merit hard enough braking.

I understand that carbon forks are prone to it, but really my usual top speed is only 20 ish so the braking forces (even for a lard arse like me) aren't huge

ride_whenever

I did, but it turned out to be the crown race and lower set of headset bearings had rusted away (the bearings disintegrated when i tried to take them out, and the race dropped off the forks when i turned them upside down) now i've fitted a raceface deus headset it seems to have stopped.

itboffin

I'm wondering if I pull hard on the brakes will the shudder develop into something nasty or is that just normal for carbon forks & canti brake?

I'm finding that I reduce my speed because I know when I brake I can't pull as hard because of the shudder.

always_tyred

itboffin wrote:

Anyone else having brake shudder from the front forks?

Are your brakes really grabby? There is a lot more contact area with the rim than road brakes - I think I kind of had this on some d-brakes on an old mtb, went away when I fiddled with the orientation of the brake pads a bit. I think that road brakes are so weak that its much less common to feel this effect.

EDIT - don't see why it should be anything to do with the forks.

itboffin

Always Tyred wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Anyone else having brake shudder from the front forks?

Are your brakes really grabby? There is a lot more contact area with the rim than road brakes - I think I kind of had this on some d-brakes on an old mtb, went away when I fiddled with the orientation of the brake pads a bit. I think that road brakes are so weak that its much less common to feel this effect.

EDIT - don't see why it should be anything to do with the forks.

No I don't think they are, they work pretty smoothly until I need to really slow down quickly then its a bit of a brown trousers moment.

I could of course just pull them hard a see what happens :shock:

Feltup

itboffin wrote:

I could of course just pull them hard a see what happens :shock:

Make sure you film it when you do this so you can analyse what is occurring with the brakes (and we can laugh at you when you end up in the ditch )

GEPC

I also ride cross bike for commuting and for fun and its a great bike. i love the fact that it can hold its own on the road and then you can simply point it off the road and it can hold its own there too.

I think mine is a bit of a rare beast, that is to say I have never seen another and even finding a pic on the internet is hard. Its made by On One and it has the same geometry as the Plantet X Unkle John, however its made from titanium and is part of the Inbred family. I have heard that its called the Tinbred but I don't know that for sure. It rides beautifuly, has Ultegra groupset (witht the excpetion of the brakes) which are now tectro mini V's which are way better than the canti's I had on it before. To answer the tyre question I use Vittoria Cross EVO XG (32), which I really like.

If you only have space or cash for one bike (both in my case) then I don't think you can beat a cross bike. Beofore I got it I had no intention of ever racing but now the bike has almost convinced me that it would be fun. Now I just need to get a bit fitter.

girv73

I fancy a Genesis Croix de Fer actually, but I've nowhere along my commute that would even nearly justify a CX bike. Ah well.