Which CX Bike?

meanredspider

Since it's the time of year for bargain bikes, I'm seriously considering a CX bike for my winter commute. Why CX? Several reasons:
- I like the drops (especially when it's windy)
- I need to run ice tyres for several months
- I want better brakes in the wet than a road bike provides

The question is which should I be considering? I like the idea of the Focus Mares 2.0 as my other two road bikes are Focus and run 105 chainsets and I'm very happy with them.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions?

clarkey cat

The Genesis Croix de Fer looks lush

phillipjohnson

If you need better brakes be careful with your choice of cross bikes.

Most have Cantilever brakes which are terrible. Only a couple are starting to have disk brakes.

The Croix de Fer has disk brakes and the Boardman CX does as well.

cloggsy

Boardman, but I'm biased

cjcp

I've got a 2007(ish) Kona Jake, which I've used during the last two winters, so they've seen some action in the snow. Some comments based on that:

1. It's fantastic, like being let loose in a sweet shop . I used 30mm Michelin Mud 2s in the snow. The bike slips more as the snow becomes more compact, but they'll do the job.

2. I agree completely with what Philip says about canti brakes: they're worse than useless, particularly in the wet. This makes things a bit interesting downhill or in traffic.. So I'd go for disc brakes.

3. I always wanted a Croix de Fer until, in the last two weeks, somebody on here mentioned that the brakes weren't great. It's probably worth test riding the Croix de Fer and a bike specced with cantis in the same session. Cloggsy's Boardman looks lovely, though.

4. Stevens have a nice-looking cross bike with v brakes - dunno what they're like, but the v brakes on my MTB work better than my cantis. http://www.stevensbikes.de/2011/index.p ... lang=en_US

Hargroves are apparently stocking them, so it may be worth calling them.

Also found these:

http://www.redlinebicycles.com/news/681 ... isc-brakes

http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bikes/cy ... st-classic (They're in Seattle. Ok, so I got bit carried away during the search...)

5. If you're not worried about cantis, have a look at the Ridleys and Scotts, too.

gadgets

check the Canondale CAADX 5C 105

veronese68

I've got an 09 Jake and second everything CJCP said about the bike and brakes. Buying now I would want discs.

meanredspider

Thanks for the comments so far. Definitely don't want canti's - there's no advantage over a road bike in the wet.

The Boardman looks very nice

ads2k

I have a '10 Jake and would say the brakes are the worst thing about the bike, agree with everything that has been said.

Buying again I would probably buy the Boardman , but then I did get the Jake for less than half the price of the Boardman so I'll live with next to NO brakes

will3

This

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cro ... -01-alfine

will3

I should add:
I have the geneisis Vapour (2009 model). Ive pretty much upgraded it in the same way that the 2011 model is. It's a lovely bike and the brakes work just fine (although not better than a road bike in the wet, but then the brakes on my road bikes exceed the ability of the tyre to grip the road, so not much use being better).

meanredspider

The Alfine hub gives what range of ratios (excusing my ignorance)? My commute is hillier than most so I tend to use a good wide range of gears on my 105 compacts. I like the idea that it's less prone to icing up (a real issue for me)

will3

meanredspider wrote:

The Alfine hub gives what range of ratios (excusing my ignorance)? My commute is hillier than most so I tend to use a good wide range of gears on my 105 compacts. I like the idea that it's less prone to icing up (a real issue for me)

no idea, but give from experience a derailleur system becomes single speed after a few miles through the snow, it's got to be better than that!
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HUSHALF135S ... ub---135mm

there was another thread on here about the brakes being shyte, but apparently they're fixed on the 2012 model.

meanredspider

will3 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

The Alfine hub gives what range of ratios (excusing my ignorance)? My commute is hillier than most so I tend to use a good wide range of gears on my 105 compacts. I like the idea that it's less prone to icing up (a real issue for me)

no idea, but give from experience a derailleur system becomes single speed after a few miles through the snow, it's got to be better than that!
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HUSHALF135S ... ub---135mm

there was another thread on here about the brakes being shyte, but apparently they're fixed on the 2012 model.

I'll have to work out what a range of 300% means relative to the range on my Compact set-up. I know exactly what you mean about single-speed (stopping to manually move the derailleur for the next climb/descent) though that's in the more extreme conditions. Mostly I'm dealing with roads with significant black ice patches (hence the ice tyres) - so I don't want to be too compromised by the gearing. On the plus side, the colder it gets, the less the wind blows which removes one gear selection factor.

jackfeeder

I was all set to get a Genesis Day 1 Alfine and then I had a good think about it. Didn't fancy trying to get that rear wheel off in the dark& cold with possibly a rear mudguard as well. Also, wouldn't have been able to use it on my turbo without changing tyres etc.
So I've gone for a Merida CycloX 3 which was reduced from £999 to £799 and I can get it at that price on cycle2work as well - seems to make sense to me. Just waiting for my voucher to arive now.

ride_whenever

I'd go for the pompetamine versa drop, get it geared so the lowest ratios match and live with whatever the highest gear ends up as.

They just take a 32mm knobbly (although you have to trim off the stubble) and the studded marathon winters should fit as well.

godders1

meanredspider wrote:

will3 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

The Alfine hub gives what range of ratios (excusing my ignorance)? My commute is hillier than most so I tend to use a good wide range of gears on my 105 compacts. I like the idea that it's less prone to icing up (a real issue for me)

no idea, but give from experience a derailleur system becomes single speed after a few miles through the snow, it's got to be better than that!
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HUSHALF135S ... ub---135mm

there was another thread on here about the brakes being shyte, but apparently they're fixed on the 2012 model.

I'll have to work out what a range of 300% means relative to the range on my Compact set-up. I know exactly what you mean about single-speed (stopping to manually move the derailleur for the next climb/descent) though that's in the more extreme conditions. Mostly I'm dealing with roads with significant black ice patches (hence the ice tyres) - so I don't want to be too compromised by the gearing. On the plus side, the colder it gets, the less the wind blows which removes one gear selection factor.

Now that the drop levers are more readily available I'd keep an eye out for Alfine 11 equipped bikes coming out over the next few months (pretty sure on one are planing an 11sp pompetamine versa). That'd give you a 409% range.

godders1

Looks like the new Genesis Day one is Alfine 11 equipped too.

http://road.cc/content/news/39332-first ... hifers-are

meanredspider

Godders1 wrote:

Looks like the new Genesis Day one is Alfine 11 equipped too.

http://road.cc/content/news/39332-first ... hifers-are

The Day One Afline 11 will be available in October and will cost £1,699.99.

Ouch! :shock:

godders1

Sh!t I didn't notice that. I assumed a couple of hundred quid on top of the price of the current model (as that's roughly the price difference between the two hubs).

meanredspider

Godders1 wrote:

Sh!t I didn't notice that. I assumed a couple of hundred quid on top of the price of the current model (as that's roughly the price difference between the two hubs).

That would have been a reasonable assumption. Might see if any of the LBSs have an Alfine 8 strapped to something so I can get a feel for the ratios. The big gears are less important - especially in the dark - I'm not expecting to do the 40+mph I do in the summer. It's the lower end I'm more interested in. Whether the reliability improvement over a 105 set-up is worth the cost, I don't know.

Will look at the Boardman too if my local Halfords has it (that'll be a No then, I'm guessing) as it looks better and better value.

A colleague bought some drop hybrid/CX bike with discs recently - he's on holiday at the moment - though I've got the feeling it was Trek or Cannondale or some other big name

dilemna

My local Haflords had a Boardman CX for sale for £500 recently. They said it was one of the bikes used on the coast to coast ride across Britain so was going cheap. It was unmarked, unused even. I test rode it but even for a medium frame the top tube was rather long for me and I didn't like the SRAM shifters or drive train, as they felt pretty agricultutal compared to Shimano or Campag variants. It was a nice ride though. Carbon fork. I went back the next day but it had been sold. I guess gift horse don't look at one too long comes to mind, but I wouldn't have been happy with it without improving the spec so perhaps it was for the best not buying it.

tincaman

Have ordered the Boardman CX to pickup on monday.
Will try and post up a short review this week.

iandennis

tincaman wrote:

Have ordered the Boardman CX to pickup on monday.
Will try and post up a short review this week.

Please do as i'm really interested in one of these as trying to work out which cx bike to buy

dilemna

I think Boardman CX full price is £899 which makes it way over priced IMHO. The SRAM groupset is not good enough for £900. Maybe £500 but even then I would think about it. I guess that comes from being used to riding bikes with either Ultegra, Record and Chorus groupsets.

jimmypippa

Arrgh, the Alfine looks pretty good for winter because of the reasons you mentioned. The deralieur was getting to be hard work, and the brakes were interesting as well.

I like the idea of having a CX and a tourer, but it probably isn't a good idea.

iandennis

dilemna wrote:

I think Boardman CX full price is £899 which makes it way over priced IMHO. The SRAM groupset is not good enough for £900. Maybe £500 but even then I would think about it. I guess that comes from being used to riding bikes with either Ultegra, Record and Chorus groupsets.

There is little point in putting ultegra or the like on a bike where you are more likely to break something off road or in a race.

I have Apex on my roadbike and its better than 105 IMHO, everybody has their own view but comparing it against groupsets at double the price isn't really objective or fair.

identikit

gadgets wrote:

check the Canondale CAADX 5C 105

Boom! Got mine on Friday. Love it.

oodboo

I've got a Genesis Croix De Fer and I think it's great for commuting.

tincaman

iandennis wrote:

tincaman wrote:

Have ordered the Boardman CX to pickup on monday.
Will try and post up a short review this week.

Please do as i'm really interested in one of these as trying to work out which cx bike to buy

OK, initial thoughts after 30 miles over very hilly terrain, roads only so far.

Price, bought online, boxed for 809.99 using discount code NUSAUG11
Picked it up on Monday, unfortunately already built, Halfords error.

Gave it a good check over first, mostly OK, brakes had to be setup again, front caliper mounting bolts loose, front wheel not fully home in the forks, smallest cog on cassette not available, high stop adjusted. Handlebars not straight.

Have cycled to work and back which involves lots of climbs including 16%, twisty graveled lanes, smooth city tarmac, hairpin downhills.

As a comparison I have previously been using a Boardman Road Team with Apex gearing a similar setup to this bike.

The first thing notice was how smooth and comfy the ride was on 35's compared to 23's, some broken tarmac surfaces were horrible on the 23's, but hardly noticed on these 35's, this seemed to help with maintaining speed over this surface as well.

Obviously already a fan of the SRAM doubletaps so no change there, seems to be no difference in practice between these APEX compared to RIVAL shifters. The FSA chainrings and Microshift front derailluer seem smoother than the SRAM and RIVAL front mech combination. The very low gearing provided by 34 front and 32 rear helps an older guy like me on the steep bits, those 16% hills are about 1/2 mile long.

Orginal saddle has been binned for my favorite Charge Spoon, pedals, which aren't included are SPD's

The brakes are a revelation really, not fully bedded in yet so are getting better with each use, on the long steep downhills I can use the "suicide levers", which saves the pain between thumb and forefingers using the hoods.

Mudguards will be fitted at some point, the fixings are alll there, as well as rack mount at the rear.

Tyres are OK, don't really need the tread for normal road use so I have bought some cheap Schwalbe Speed Cruisers from Planet X for £8 each, not fitted yet.

So far I am really pleased, really nice to ride, comfy, good fit for me, excellent brakes, good groupset, well equipped.







[/img]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/Tincaman2/IMAG0353.jpg[img][/img]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/Tincaman2/IMAG0351.jpg[img][/img]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/Tincaman2/IMAG0353.jpg

meanredspider

Looks very good - still the best CX bike I can find for anything close to this price.

Is there any way you can get the bike delivered to a store? They want to charge me £40 to deliver it to home/work. Discount code is very helpful though!