The Non-Boardman-CX owners thread.

veronese68

pangolin wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

pangolin wrote:

I really want to get a new Genesis Croix de Fer. Anyone here own one?

Me..

Since December

Really smooth, not sure whether it is the frame or the 35m tyres. They feel pretty grippy in the mud too.

I love that picture you posted of it the other day. Does it feel at all heavy?

A neighbour and fellow Strava-ist has a CdF. He thinks it's heavy. On a road bike he's at least as quick as me (more so up hills - he's a fair bit lighter) yet, at this time of year when he's on his CdF with Marathon Winters and I'm on my Cube Reaction Race MTB with Ice Spiker Pros, I'm putting in times for pretty much exactly the same commute around 2mph faster. I think you can offset some of that by the relative weights (a 14kg bike for me won't be as relatively heavy as a 14kg bike to him) but it doesn't explain it completely.

Hmmm interesting. Although I am finding Marathon Winters are a pig. Are Ice Spikers any better? KB said they were the same tyre I thought?!

What cross bike would you get for 1k at the moment MRS? Something with BB7's...

I popped into Evans in Kingston last night and they are getting the Pinnacle with 105 and BB7s in extra large for me to try next week. It seems to be the best value at £1000 and the lower spec model got a very good review in Cycling Plus. It still just doesn't do it for me though, but I feel I really should give it a try.
Current thinking for me is Kinesis or Cotic frame and forks, Croix de Fer or something else. I'm quite enjoying the thinking about it though.

meanredspider

pangolin wrote:

Hmmm interesting. Although I am finding Marathon Winters are a pig. Are Ice Spikers any better? KB said they were the same tyre I thought?!

What cross bike would you get for 1k at the moment MRS? Something with BB7's...

Ice Spiker Pros are completely different from Marathon Winters. For starters, they're really an MTB tyre and are much wider. They have 3x as many studs (361) but are actually lighter than the Winters. The Spikers are a folding tyre too. The studs, I think, are different materials and they certainly seem to stay in place far better than the Winters. They're a lot more "knobbly" so may have higher rolling resistance - I couldn't say.

I'd certainly get a disc-braked CX bike. I wouldn't be totally driven by the brake brand as it's easy enough to swap the front caliper. BB7 is probably the best. What I would do is aim for at least Tiagra and I would avoid SRAM Apex. Personally, I'd look for the lightest bike I could find. I actually think there's currently a gap in the market for fast, disc-braked, wide-tyre capable, all-year commuter. CX bikes are the closest thing but honestly I don't need it to be bullet-proof or have extra ground-clearance. I do want guards (and some want panniers), I want discs, drops but I want it light too. The Volagi would be fantastic but I don't trust Marathon Winters enough to risk it.

andyrr

As I've seen with my Jamis CX, a requirement for all-year-round commuting ability for some, means the ability to take mudguards (probably a given for a proper cummuting bike) plus wide/knobbly/spiked tyres and that means some fairly wide clearances below the front fork crown and the rear seat stay bridge. My Jamis's clearance at the rear is relatively tight, such that a 32mm cross tyre that has small side tread blocks and minimal centre tread won't clear the mudguard. A 28mm road tyre (Conti 4 Seasons) works fine for me.
I've never used anything other than standard road tyres for my commuting over the past 15+ years so if the road conditions are so bad that a proper set of chunky tyres would be needed then either I'll switch to my MTB or phone in and not make it in to work ! I've 17+ miles to ride each way and I'm not going to trudge through miles and miles of snowy, icy roads to park my arse at my desk. If I was closer then I might have a set of suitable tyres to get me through a few miles of snow but riding for maybe 2 hours each way, which it could take if the weather was that bad, isn't worth it.

jimmypippa

Veronese68 wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

pangolin wrote:

I really want to get a new Genesis Croix de Fer. Anyone here own one?

Me..

Since December

Really smooth, not sure whether it is the frame or the 35m tyres. They feel pretty grippy in the mud too.

I love that picture you posted of it the other day. Does it feel at all heavy?

Not compared to a steel tourer with 7kg of work stuff (food, clothes, and tools) in a pretty well bombproof Vaude pannier...

If anything, the Vaude is overengineered compared to the Ortleib, but as I have only used it for 4-years/20,000 miles I can't say how long it will last.

Escadrille Ecosse

May I suggest the Kinesis Crosslight Pro 6 as an option. Frame is quite light and the fork is a decent carbon fibre job, looks just like the taper steerer CF fork that is appearing on a few other bikes.

I got a good deal on the frame from Winstanleys, a pair of the Kinesis disc cross wheels and built the whole thing up using a mix of new and S/H bits, mainly 105 / tiagra gear, SRAM Apex crank and BB7s. Nothing is the lightest, or the heaviest, my intention was to build something tough for the winter, but built up without mudguards and rack I weighed it at 19 lbs which isn't bad. Cost me just over £1k for the whole thing, obviously a bit more if everything was new or a lighter/higher spec. Only thing I'm really not that impressed with is the Apex crank and the shifting is not as good as on the FSA on my other CX.

It takes 45mm guards and the worlds heaviest most awkward tyre the Marathon Winter without any problem and although the rear caliper is on the seatstay the pannier rack mounts are placed well above the dropouts so it is easy to fit a rack without if fouling the brake.

The frame looks very nice, seems well made with good paint (mine's black and light blue) and I've had a few appreciative comments from other riders. Take the guards off and it looks almost "road".

Agree with the comments about BB7s, great brakes for what they are though the sooner all hydraulic systems are available the better. Not on this bike, but I have used a mountain BB7 on another CX bike by mistake. The problem is the pads need to be run very close to the disc of you run out of travel on the brake levers. I couldn't understand the problem at first, but measuring the two side by side, the operating arm on the MTN brake is longer than the Road version. Because of the extra leverage the brake is much lighter and more powerful, but you have to adjust the pads almost every day to avoid them not working so I don't recommend it.

porlyworly

Just spotted this on pedalon, seems a good price
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/canno ... tegra.html

rubertoe

Nice bike for the money, not sure how usefull it would be as an all year round commuter though.

andyrr

Having just gone past the 150 miles this week on my Jamis I'm getting pretty noticable brake judder - judder is maybe too strong a word for it, just a less than smooth feeling through the lever when braking moderately hard. This at the front - still stops well, as before, but if anything I'd thought that once the initial pad and rotor newness had worn it would be better. Low speed when I'm just scrubbing speed off or in traffic this behaviour isn't present but it's annoying/disconcerting.
Other than that the bike is working fine - I'll need to weigh it as I seem to be quite slow on it - it feels fine, ride the bumps well which sometimes feels like I'm actually making better progress than on my other bikes which bump and rattle across some of the crappy potholed surfaces but I'm thinking there's maybe a combination of things at play : the weight, the compact gearing and the distinctly non-aero front-end. Does feel pretty high at the front, when I've tried doing a Cavendish - riding out of the saddle with my head bent over the front - I feel a gain there, spacer removal is probably a first place to go with helping out here.

veronese68

To try and get rid of the judder I would check everything is still tight, including the headset. Also clean the discs, not with car brake cleaner. I think isopropyl alcohol is what you need. You could take the caliper off and clean the mount to make sure that's not allowing any movement.

essex-commuter

Veronese68 wrote:

I think isopropyl alcohol is what you need. You

I use White Spirit.

andyrr

Could use carb cleaner no ? High-flashpoint spray - I've a can of the stuff.

veronese68

andyrr wrote:

Could use carb cleaner no ? High-flashpoint spray - I've a can of the stuff.

I think carb cleaner is similar to car brake cleaner and leaves a very light oil residue which will contaminate bicycle brakes. Paint thinners will probably do the job. The main thing is not to leave any oil residue as bicycle brakes are big and strong enough to burn it off I believe.

Escadrille Ecosse

Veronese68 wrote:

andyrr wrote:

Could use carb cleaner no ? High-flashpoint spray - I've a can of the stuff.

I think carb cleaner is similar to car brake cleaner and leaves a very light oil residue which will contaminate bicycle brakes. Paint thinners will probably do the job. The main thing is not to leave any oil residue as bicycle brakes are big and strong enough to burn it off I believe.

Paint thinners generally aren't light enough, but the degreaser that they sell in car paint suppliers for cleaning the bodywork before painting does the job and it won't harm paintwork. Best I've found is clean the discs with degreaser then a good wash with soap and water then rinse off. Not sure but I assume the wash takes away any residue from the pads.

meanredspider

I use bike brake cleaner. Do you think that this too leaves residue? Not great if it does (given it's designed for bikes)

veronese68

meanredspider wrote:

I use bike brake cleaner. Do you think that this too leaves residue? Not great if it does (given it's designed for bikes)

No, bike brake cleaner doesn't leave any residue. As you say because it's designed for bike brakes. Car stuff does as it's designed for cast iron discs which would go rusty immediately after cleaning without it. Car brakes are powerful enough not to be affected by it.

veronese68

So I went to the London Bike show yesterday and didn't really learn anything new. My favourites were the kinesis Pro6 and the Genesis Croix de Fer. I had a look at a few others but those two were my favourites. There was an Orange with drop bars and discs on one stand, Bromley Bike Co I think, but I can't find it on the orange website or Bromley Bike co website. It was priced at £999 and didn't seem unreasonable. I'm still going to try the Pinnacle as it still seems the best in terms of VFM.
But this is favourite:

Unfortunately it would appear they don't do frame and forks in green.

porlyworly

Can I please get some advice guys as I'm going around in circles a bit! I've purchased a Kinesis Crosslight frameset and am in the process of trying to build up a cyclocross but I am getting increasingly confused when trying to buy some wheels. I need campag freehub so options are more limited and was about to pull the trigger on some Campagnolo Khamsin Road wheels from Ribble but it appears they will only take up to 28 width tyres (and that's at a push). Am I missing a trick when looking for road wheels as when looking at new CX bikes they seem to usually be equipped with 35 width cross tyres (thus wider wheels?!?). Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm a bit lost now! All I'm after is some budget wheels with campag hub that will take slightly wider tyres!

rubertoe

PorlyWorly wrote:

Can I please get some advice guys as I'm going around in circles a bit! I've purchased a Kinesis Crosslight frameset and am in the process of trying to build up a cyclocross but I am getting increasingly confused when trying to buy some wheels. I need campag freehub so options are more limited and was about to pull the trigger on some Campagnolo Khamsin Road wheels from Ribble but it appears they will only take up to 28 width tyres (and that's at a push). Am I missing a trick when looking for road wheels as when looking at new CX bikes they seem to usually be equipped with 35 width cross tyres (thus wider wheels?!?). Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm a bit lost now! All I'm after is some budget wheels with campag hub that will take slightly wider tyres!

Disc or no Disc?

porlyworly

Sorry, no disc. Won't actually be used for cross racing which is why I was looking at road wheels

rubertoe

So I assume it is 130 as opposed to 135 (road width not disc).

What will it be used for? commuting?

porlyworly

Commuting and family rides around canal tow paths etc. sorry I'm a rookie, not sure what you mean by 130 / 135

rubertoe

They will be road width.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPP ... 7_wheelset

or

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPM ... et__campag

Not sure what size tyres will fit - but should get away with 25 or 28 anyway.

mudcovered

PorlyWorly wrote:

I need campag freehub so options are more limited and was about to pull the trigger on some Campagnolo Khamsin Road wheels from Ribble but it appears they will only take up to 28 width tyres (and that's at a push). Am I missing a trick when looking for road wheels as when looking at new CX bikes they seem to usually be equipped with 35 width cross tyres (thus wider wheels?!?). Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm a bit lost now! All I'm after is some budget wheels with campag hub that will take slightly wider tyres!

Just use a standard width road rim. Despite what the rims say you can put 34c & 35c tyres on normal road rims no problem.

I've fitted 34 & 35c tyres on Mavic Aksiums and my current Open Pro rimmed wheels with no problems.

Mike

veronese68

My Kona came with very skinny rims and 35mm tyres fitted. I wouldn't worry too much.

porlyworly

rubertoe wrote:

They will be road width.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPP ... 7_wheelset

or

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPM ... et__campag

Not sure what size tyres will fit - but should get away with 25 or 28 anyway.

Brilliant thanks guys, would you recommend the Miche ones over the campag khamsins I was going to get?

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... ampwhfr627

EDIT! Forgot to mention, the campag shifters and front mech that came with the frameset are 9 speed whereas the Miche description says 10 speed campag freehub, does this mean the Miche are incompatible?

rubertoe

I have no Idea.

If any would probably go for the PX ones.

andyrr

Front brake on my Jamis is squealing like a pig when moderate to hard pressure applied. Occasionally with a really firm application it then goes away for a short time but then reappears, the mild juddering is there too - will need to source some better cleaner (seems like carb cleaner was not the best idea)

rubertoe

Muc off is recommended in the other thread.

andyrr

Tried some muc-off-type stuff which did seem to help but there is still a vibration which I'm going to have to attend to, I guess the first thing is to get the caliper off and make sure everything is clean and tight.
I'm tempted to try alternative pads on the front - any recommendations ? Sintered or organic ?

meanredspider

andyrr wrote:

Tried some muc-off-type stuff which did seem to help but there is still a vibration which I'm going to have to attend to, I guess the first thing is to get the caliper off and make sure everything is clean and tight.
I'm tempted to try alternative pads on the front - any recommendations ? Sintered or organic ?

Organic for sure. For all mechanical disc brake issues, search out the Volagi brake tutorial videos on YouTube - there's one for various brake issues

ETA - here too http://volagi.wordpress.com/category/bike-maintenance/