which cyclocross bike?

stinger53

I am looking to buy a cyclocross bike soon as a winter bike and for when i want to do a bit off road. once i've sold my kite surfing kit.
but i dunno what to go for or quite sure on budget as it will depend on how much my kite surfing kit goes for..
But say up to £1000-£1100
I like the look of the cube cross race
but what would you suggest?

Thanks

stinger53

or http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/road/crux

sorry for double post

nawty

I have very little experience in this but I'll tell you what I was told when looking into these things:

"Not much point in getting a CX bike without disc brakes"

Like I said, I'm not in a position to pass much judgement but this makes sense to me having done a MTB event on a hybrid with rim brakes!

With that in mind, a friend has one of these and it seems to be a very nice bike:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... o-12-45407

Otherwise, if you're happy with rim brakes then the Kona Jake the Snake gets great reviews.

arlowood

Current edition of Cycling Plus has a comparison test of cross bikes all around the £1K price mark.

The one that came out on top was this:-

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec039562

It was also one of the cheapest on test so give it some consideration.

Only drawback is that Evans are the sole outlet so your bargaining power will be a bit restricted. However they are currently offering £100 worth of accessories on bike orders.

stinger53

arlowood wrote:

Current edition of Cycling Plus has a comparison test of cross bikes all around the £1K price mark.

The one that came out on top was this:-

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec039562

It was also one of the cheapest on test so give it some consideration.

Only drawback is that Evans are the sole outlet so your bargaining power will be a bit restricted. However they are currently offering £100 worth of accessories on bike orders.

cheers. was thinking would it be better just to pick up a hardtail mountain bike instead?

nawty

Depends entirely on what you're going to do with it...

If it's anything to do with going up muddy hills, down stoney hills, through mud pits then a mountain bike is DEFINITELY the way forward.

My Hybrid, which is basically a cyclocross with straight bars really really struggled with the recent Purbeck Hill-a-Saurus and I REALLY wish I'd had a proper mountain bike, as did my mate on his cyclocross. I used to think suspension was for pussies as the last time I did any mountain biking was nearly 20 years ago, pre-suspension, I take it all back (also fat tyres and LOW gears are a must).

If on the other hand you're going to be doing a fair bit of road riding with some summer trail riding then a CX could well be the way to go.

stinger53

nawty wrote:

Depends entirely on what you're going to do with it...

If it's anything to do with going up muddy hills, down stoney hills, through mud pits then a mountain bike is DEFINITELY the way forward.

My Hybrid, which is basically a cyclocross with straight bars really really struggled with the recent Purbeck Hill-a-Saurus and I REALLY wish I'd had a proper mountain bike, as did my mate on his cyclocross. I used to think suspension was for pussies as the last time I did any mountain biking was nearly 20 years ago, pre-suspension, I take it all back (also fat tyres and LOW gears are a must).

If on the other hand you're going to be doing a fair bit of road riding with some summer trail riding then a CX could well be the way to go.

cheers yer i think i will go for a hardtail mountian bike and prob a cheap winter bike like the ribble 7005.