what CX bikes are people riding?

karlmoreton

Ritchey Breakaway Steel, comes in half and fits in a case (supplied) has mudguard and rack mounts and has a quality steel ride- shame its grey and orange, not aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Certainly not common though

roger_merriman

cjcp wrote:

mkirby wrote:

Sigh more choices.

I think im down to the Orbea mud and the genesis croix de fer. Dad is of to evans in a couple of weeks with a cycle scheme voucher (hes also looking at a cx) so i might have a look and a test ride on the cdf if they have one in.

Out of interest how heavy is the cdf? I would imagine a steel frame and discs is a hefty combo. And just how powerful are discs? i've only ever ridden normal roadies so a bit apprehensive of moving to discs.

The cdf does tick all the boxes and its only 100 more than the orbea, man i can see which way this is going to go.

One other point arising from your original post: if you want to use it on club rides in manky weather, I'd go for the Genesis - I wouldn't use a bike with canti brakes if I was riding in a group.

Lift them both up to see how they compare weight-wise.

the CX ones do seem to have issues, riding around the woods with a friend in the snow her CX seemed to have very poor brakes.

cantis can be very powerful though they can be a pig to set up.

using the old MTB with slicks on club runs, had noticeably better wet braking. so it's not as if cantis can't be powerful but they seem to be awful on CX.

gbsahne001

cjcp wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

just ordered the koolstop mountain blocks for my canti's, which should help the juddering I'm getting at the moment.

Which brakes do you have and which blocks* have you ordered? Cheers.

EDIT: just in case there's more than one type of block.

Kool Stop mountain blocks (CX as they're almost dead anyway) and Kool Stop II Eagles for the hybrid (as we're almost metal to metal)

Canny Jock

Regarding the brakes, the 2009 comp canti's in my opinion are pretty good. I changed the tube/spacer hanger for a fork one (supplied free by Specialized) and get no judder at all, there was some there before. As above, this is standard on the 2010 models. Stopping power is good, although in the wet they take a little longer to react - but then all rim brakes have this problem.

Don't seem to get any squealing, and I find them easy to set up - it's worth having a read of Sheldon Brown on mechanical advantage. Brake feel is very good when properly set up.

Having said all that, I do thinks disks may be the way forward!

mudcovered

Canny Jock wrote:

Don't seem to get any squealing, and I find them easy to set up - it's worth having a read of Sheldon Brown on mechanical advantage. Brake feel is very good when properly set up.

Having said all that, I do thinks disks may be the way forward!

Can't argue with any of that. After spending some time with that site and some tweaking I've now got the power and feel of the canti brakes on my Jake where I want them. I'd still swap them tomorrow for disc brakes as I prefer not to have that 1 revolution of uncertainty that all rim brakes have in the wet.

In terms of braking power I can bring my bike to a complete halt on the the steepest hills using just the front brake without a single squeal or judder. Not something I could have said when I first got the bike.

Mike

Fireblade96

Is the problem people have been experiencing with cantis purely when they're used with road bike brake levers ? I ask because I've got cantis on my commuter (old rigid MTB) and I've never experienced judder. They can occasionally squeal like a fox in heat in the wet (great for warning peds you're coming), but I've no problems with their effectiveness. And I'm no bike-mechanics guru!

I had thought of changing them for V-brakes during my last bout of fettling, but decided that if they ain't broke.....

mudcovered

Fireblade96 wrote:

Is the problem people have been experiencing with cantis purely when they're used with road bike brake levers ? I ask because I've got cantis on my commuter (old rigid MTB) and I've never experienced judder. They can occasionally squeal like a fox in heat in the wet (great for warning peds you're coming), but I've no problems with their effectiveness. And I'm no bike-mechanics guru!

I seems to be a quirk of modern CX bike design. Like you I never had any problems of that sort when I was using them on a rigid MTB.

From my experiences retuning my Jake no to do it I had to change:

1. Pad material from Avid supplied pads to Kool-stop dual compound V Pads.
2. Brake unit from Avid Shorty 4 to Kore Race.

The first of these got rid of the squeal and most of the juddering. The second change got rid of the juddering for good as it allows me to tune the feel and mechanical advantage of the brake to exactly what I want.

Mike

tomb353

Kinesis Tripster if you want disks (around £1200), or kinesis crosslight 5T if you can live with Canilever brakes (around £1000).

Canny Jock

Fireblade96 wrote:

Is the problem people have been experiencing with cantis purely when they're used with road bike brake levers ? I ask because I've got cantis on my commuter (old rigid MTB) and I've never experienced judder. They can occasionally squeal like a fox in heat in the wet (great for warning peds you're coming), but I've no problems with their effectiveness. And I'm no bike-mechanics guru!

I had thought of changing them for V-brakes during my last bout of fettling, but decided that if they ain't broke.....

No, I have Shimano STI levers and they're fine.

The judder (I believe) is associated with the (carbon) fork flexing when braking, therefore changing the cable length as the brake hanger was mounted under the stem. Mounting the hanger on the fork (Kona style) seems to cure the judder problem, and Specialized have finally accepted this and fit them as standard. They even had a technote for the issue:

http://cdn.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf ... _Guide.pdf

As to squealing, not sure, I just don't have the problem. I toe the pads in, I hear Koolstops may improve it but I just have the original blocks. I used to get worse squeal using proper V-Brakes on my old hybrid.

holybinch

Arg, more choices then.
I was 90% sold on the kona, but I have to say some suggestions are tempting.
Good there's another month till the C2W scheme kicks off...

u01akrg

I've just taken delivery of a Surly Cross-Check (steel frame) having attempted commuting (22 miles each way) on a Giant TCX with slick tyres, either with backpack or boom-rack mounted from the seatpost (centre of balance all wrong - too high & too far back, very difficult getting going from a standstill in traffic).

The Cross-Check has all the braze-ons etc necessary for a rack & mudguards, with plenty clearance for virtually any size of tyre. The rear dropouts are semi-horizonal, so SS/fixed is an option.

Sorry to see the TCX go, as it was awesome as a CX bike, but the Surly is a much better all-rounder. A lot of long term owners really rate it as a CX bike, so I don't feel its a compromise. So far I've taken it on muddy paths, over grass and across a ploughed field in addition to a few miles on the road (some with a trailer), and it soaks it all up. Granted it is a bit heavier, but that'll just make me faster on my Road Bike (I hope).

prawny

FWIW I'm sure the boardman will take a rack/guards.

I'd go for the genesis out of all your choices, they are lovely looking bikes I make doe eyes at the one in evans to see if they take pity on me and just let me take it home.

g00se

OK - just to throw another one in, not officially a CX bike but has discs and all the mountings:



http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=dewdrop