Cyclo Cross Bikes

Headhuunter

A woman at work here would like a bike she can commute on, afix panniers to and possibly ride off road on. My 1st thought was a cyclo cross machine of some kind. She's a beginner cyclist so it doesn't have to be a super-whizz bike or anything.

Do you think my advice is good or are there other options which fulfill these requirements?

What cyclo cross bikes are good? I only know the Specialized Tricross... What other types are there?

cjcp

Kona Jake might do it, too. It's the bottom of the range Kona. I have one and suits my needs (which includes the very odd race).

Alphabet

friend has a kona jake the snake and it's luuuurvely

Headhuunter

Cheers, that looks like a good one...

UndercoverElephant

It depends on how much the "possibly ride off road on" bit is important. What you need to explain is that unless you use road tyres, CX bikes are really pretty hard work on the road. Most bikes which can use a slightly bigger tyre than a real skinny road tyre will be fine on the canal tow-paths, etc.

Personally (though I do have a SS CX bike too), I would be tempted with a road bike which can take big tyres/guards. The Genesis Aether, for instance.

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/roa ... r-10/specs

Alphabet

or a genesis croix de fer - think there's a thread about it being cheap on here somewhere

Stuey01

Or (whisper it) a hybrid, and some cross tyres. Depending on her comfort with drop handlebars.

Headhuunter

Stuey01 wrote:

Or (whisper it) a hybrid, and some cross tyres. Depending on her comfort with drop handlebars.

But are hybrids built to withstand offroading? I suppose if you get an MTB style hybrid but I was trying to steer her away from MTB-ish style bikes because I think most of her riding is going to be on road and IME MTBs/MTB orientated hybrids just sap energy when you ride them on the road. At least with a CX you can switch the tyres for Pro Race 3s or something and you've got a pretty acceptable on road machine. That Croix de Fer looks good, although it's near £1000 and not sure she'll want to spend that much...

Alphabet

if you want to keep the butget down, go for the kona jake - pick up this month's cycling plus as they have a review of the jake, the croix de fer and the tricross. and a roundup of the rest

gethmetal

As regards the performance/durability of Hybrids, I can offer this...
I have run a bottom-rung Giant CRS for 4 years and around 15,000 miles on a mixture of roads, crap paths and trails. I can roll at 18mph easily on tarmac, I can keep up with my mates on their MTBs on all but the roughest stuff.
There's been no damage sustained apart from paint, and I have only had to replace the drivetrain so far due to wear and tear, which I think is pretty damn good considering the pounding the bike gets.

I see no need to 'whisper' about. It's a bloody good bike

Headhuunter

gethmetal wrote:

As regards the performance/durability of Hybrids, I can offer this...
I have run a bottom-rung Giant CRS for 4 years and around 15,000 miles on a mixture of roads, crap paths and trails. I can roll at 18mph easily on tarmac, I can keep up with my mates on their MTBs on all but the roughest stuff.
There's been no damage sustained apart from paint, and I have only had to replace the drivetrain so far due to wear and tear, which I think is pretty damn good considering the pounding the bike gets.

I see no need to 'whisper' about. It's a bloody good bike

Hmmm, may be a ybrid of some sort then. I just know that when I moved from commuting on a hard tail, non sus MTB to a road bike it was like a revelation, it felt as though someone had untied the bag of bricks from the back end of the bike and all of a sudden it had become extremely responsive and quick. The difference was amazing! I just didn't want her to end up with some kind of nobbly tyred heavyweight...

jejv

Headhuunter wrote:

A woman at work here would like a bike she can commute on, afix panniers to and possibly ride off road on. My 1st thought was a cyclo cross machine of some kind. She's a beginner cyclist so it doesn't have to be a super-whizz bike or anything.
Do you think my advice is good or are there other options which fulfill these requirements?

A couple of things:

- How fit/sporty is she ?
- How much of a mechanical la-la is she ?

I guess she's not short, or you's probably be looking at something else.

If she's not going to look after it, and there isn't anyone else to look after it maybe something like a Subway 8 (is there a Subway 10?) with a Marathon Plus on the back ?

If she's strong and can look after it CX might be fine. If she's not so strong, the gears are going to be way high for someone who's only moderately active, if she's going up proper hills, and even on the flat. Would she actually use a 50T ring at all ? Most people wouldn't. Could swap all the rings, and the cassette on day 1.

If she's going off road, and not limited by CX racing tyre widths she might want wider tyres than want to go on 13.5mm rims. Fat tyres are more tolerant of neglect than road tyres, as well as more comfy. 19mm rims ?

Hewitt do steel touring bikes with MTB chainsets. Brifters + MTB chainset is tricky.

Headhuunter wrote:

She's a beginner cyclist

If I thought she's look after it I'd take an inexpensive 8-speed hybrid, lower the gearing to give ~20-90", without big jumps, and maybe fiddle with the bars & tyres.

gethmetal

Mine's a medium with steel forks, and tips the scales at 27 pounds while wearing it's lights and a rear mudguard. The only upgrade is a Deore Hollowtech chainset.
I hate slow bikes, which is why I don't ride an MTB.

In addition, it has drillings for racks front and rear. Not that I use them.

Headhuunter

jejv wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

A woman at work here would like a bike she can commute on, afix panniers to and possibly ride off road on. My 1st thought was a cyclo cross machine of some kind. She's a beginner cyclist so it doesn't have to be a super-whizz bike or anything.
Do you think my advice is good or are there other options which fulfill these requirements?

A couple of things:

- How fit/sporty is she ?
- How much of a mechanical la-la is she ?

I guess she's not short, or you's probably be looking at something else.

If she's not going to look after it, and there isn't anyone else to look after it maybe something like a Subway 8 (is there a Subway 10?) with a Marathon Plus on the back ?

If she's strong and can look after it CX might be fine. If she's not so strong, the gears are going to be way high for someone who's only moderately active, if she's going up proper hills, and even on the flat. Would she actually use a 50T ring at all ? Most people wouldn't. Could swap all the rings, and the cassette on day 1.

If she's going off road, and not limited by CX racing tyre widths she might want wider tyres than want to go on 13.5mm rims. Fat tyres are more tolerant of neglect than road tyres, as well as more comfy. 19mm rims ?

Hewitt do steel touring bikes with MTB chainsets. Brifters + MTB chainset is tricky.

Headhuunter wrote:

She's a beginner cyclist

If I thought she's look after it I'd take an inexpensive 8-speed hybrid, lower the gearing to give ~20-90", without big jumps, and maybe fiddle with the bars & tyres.

She's pretty fit, she did a 5k run earlier this year in 22 mins or something and has been out with me on 35 mile rides (on a borrowed BSO) and although it took ages and she walked on a couple of hills, she still made it round.

She's not very good at looking after bikes, she left the above, borrowed BSO out in her garden all last winter. Perhaps I should advise her to get a bike with an Alfine gear system? What's that bike with disc brakes and Alfine again? On One Pomp something or other?

I thought about a touring bike.... Might have to have a chat with her about how much off road riding she is really likely to do...

secretsam

Headhuunter wrote:

What's that bike with disc brakes and Alfine again? On One Pomp something or other?

Cotic do a Roadrat version like that, if that's your bag, but it's around £900 or so.

Headhuunter

SecretSam wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

What's that bike with disc brakes and Alfine again? On One Pomp something or other?

Cotic do a Roadrat version like that, if that's your bag, but it's around £900 or so.

I was thinking of this one http://www.on-one.co.uk/news/products/q ... bike-build but the Roadrat could be an option...

Jay dubbleU

I have a Cube Nature which is basically a flat barred cyclocross bike - 700x35 cyclocross (Racing Ralph) tyres, Hayes hydraulic discs, rack and mudguard fittings, 63mm Suntour forks - works on all levels

Canny Jock

I'm a big fan of cross bikes, but here's a good hybrid alternative:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 333c018336

Stuey01

Headhuunter wrote:

Stuey01 wrote:

Or (whisper it) a hybrid, and some cross tyres. Depending on her comfort with drop handlebars.

But are hybrids built to withstand offroading?

Depends what you mean by "offroading"... would I take one round a red or black route at a mountain bike trail centre? no... but would i pootle along a canal path or fireroad on one? of course.

jejv

Canny Jock wrote:

I'm a big fan of cross bikes, but here's a good hybrid alternative:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 333c018336

Wow! An off-the shelf bike with gears for normal people!

You could put 12-23 on the back, and still have a lower low gear
than most off-the shelf hybrids.

The Rookie

Dare I say Carrera Subway? OK it's not very glam, but they are hard wearing, cheapish, have road tyres and are flat barred hybrid.and the 8 is hub geared and even comes with guards.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65534#dtab

Simon

the_hundredth_idiot

Headhuunter wrote:

What's that bike with disc brakes and Alfine again? On One Pomp something or other?

This one from Genesis has just come out. Me likey a lot - and less than 6 months until I can get another C2W voucher.

jejv

Stuey01 wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Stuey01 wrote:

Or (whisper it) a hybrid, and some cross tyres. Depending on her comfort with drop handlebars.

But are hybrids built to withstand offroading?

Depends what you mean by "offroading"... would I take one round a red or black route at a mountain bike trail centre? no... but would i pootle along a canal path or fireroad on one? of course.

Well, we do that with our Giant CRS's, on 40mm Marathon Cross. But we're not very quick. We don't think twice about taking them cross-country.

Are MTBs built to withstand offroading ?

A colleague of mine went on an endurance mountain bike race at Thetford a few weeks ago.
I asked him if he'd done it on his singlespeed. He said yes. I said "You're a looney!". He said that the winner was on singlespeed, and the only rider with gears on the winning lap was on his second bike.

Time to get some 29" tyres.

Stuey01

jejv wrote:

Stuey01 wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Stuey01 wrote:

Or (whisper it) a hybrid, and some cross tyres. Depending on her comfort with drop handlebars.

But are hybrids built to withstand offroading?

Depends what you mean by "offroading"... would I take one round a red or black route at a mountain bike trail centre? no... but would i pootle along a canal path or fireroad on one? of course.

Well, we do that with our Giant CRS's, on 40mm Marathon Cross. But we're not very quick. We don't think twice about taking them cross-country.

Are MTBs built to withstand offroading ?

A colleague of mine went on an endurance mountain bike race at Thetford a few weeks ago.
I asked him if he'd done it on his singlespeed. He said yes. I said "You're a looney!". He said that the winner was on singlespeed, and the only rider with gears on the winning lap was on his second bike.

Time to get some 29" tyres.

What's your point?

You take your hybrids round trail centres slowly? well done. I wouldn't, i'd rather be riding a bike built for the task that I can hoon around on.

Do SS bikes break down less than geared bikes? generally, yes. So?
Was your mate's bike a single speed mountain bike or a single speed road bike?
Thetford is about as mountainous as holland, so it's hardly surprising that a single speed could go well around there.