New cyclocross bike? Advice please

gabriel959

Veronese68 wrote:

Not sure how you tell the difference between the different hubs. Apparently there is someone in the UK selling them for the same sort of price I paid for mine to come from the Far East. You're probably right about the rims. I usually have 28mm tyres on mine but have gone to 32mm now for the winter and have run them with 35mm knobbly tyres. Not tried them with a wider rim so don't know how much better that would feel. Ugo has run a greater variety of rims and tyres so should be able to give a more informed opinion.

I have put the question up in the Wiggle page, lets see what they say. I had a look at Novatec's website and they seem to do more than 1 road disc hub so will be interesting to see what they say. I asked Ugo and he recommended me 711/712 on Archetypes!

tgotb

I've been racing and training all season on 711s/712s, and I'm pretty impressed with how well they're holding up given the treatment they get. I've had to regrease one outboard freehub bearing, but that was after two hours riding through sloppy mud and foot-deep pools of water...

UndercoverElephant

As someone who had, and recently sold a CX bike, I thought I ought to provide some balance.

If you're wanting to go off-road, CX bikes are awful. Truly awful. Tyres are too small to cushion any impact, and there is no suspension, so unless you are on a pristine bridal-path, they are incredibly uncomfortable. Whilst they *can* be good-ish on roads, they really aren't good off them.

If what you want is really a mountain bike, get one - having one doesn't make you less of a road rider!

wgwarburton

UndercoverElephant wrote:

As someone who had, and recently sold a CX bike, I thought I ought to provide some balance.

If you're wanting to go off-road, CX bikes are awful. Truly awful. Tyres are too small to cushion any impact, and there is no suspension, so unless you are on a pristine bridal-path, they are incredibly uncomfortable. Whilst they *can* be good-ish on roads, they really aren't good off them.

If what you want is really a mountain bike, get one - having one doesn't make you less of a road rider!

And if not, get a light touring/audax bike...

Cheers,
W.

gabriel959

I don't really want a mountain bike, it is going to be mostly used on the roads in the winter and in the summer/spring it will be taken off road but nothing too serious or taxing. I want to keep a bike that I can ride all year round basically. What is the tyre clearance for cyclocross bikes? is it 700x40c?

Thanks for the comments though, I considered a mountain bike but it will definitely be wasted with me.

I don't want a light touring bike as I want to be able to fit carbide spiked tyres for winter riding.

tgotb

gabriel959 wrote:

What is the tyre clearance for cyclocross bikes? is it 700x40c?

It varies. The maximum width for UCI races is 33mm, but there are a lot of wider CX tyres around, and CX frames tend to have big clearances for mud. Probably safest to get measurements for the frame you're looking at, but I can't imagine a CX bike wouldn't take at least a 40c tyre; mine would take a 40c with lots of room to spare...

gabriel959

TGOTB wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

What is the tyre clearance for cyclocross bikes? is it 700x40c?

It varies. The maximum width for UCI races is 33mm, but there are a lot of wider CX tyres around, and CX frames tend to have big clearances for mud. Probably safest to get measurements for the frame you're looking at, but I can't imagine a CX bike wouldn't take at least a 40c tyre; mine would take a 40c with lots of room to spare...

Just asked the question on the Wiggle page.

Regarding hubs it seems like the hubs are indeed Novatec, the model is Novatec D521/522 a step below the 711/712 but hopefully still decent, I will ask Ugo about them.

veronese68

My Pro6 might even take a 29er mountain bike tyre as it has loads of clearance. I think Redvee commented that he couldn't get 35mm into a Kaffenback, or it would barely fit with no guard. Can't quite remember the exact details. Hard to tell from the pictures but that Verenti looks to have more clearance than the Croix de Fer that I tried.

gabriel959

Thanks, does redvee have a Kaffenback 1 or 2 (if you know! )?

That Pro6 looks lush!

rubertoe

gabriel959 wrote:

Thanks, does redvee have a Kaffenback 1 or 2 (if you know! )?

That Pro6 looks lush!

Redvee has a 1.

I have a 2.

Mine will take a 40 with no guards no problem I reckon (currently running 28's).

Escadrille Ecosse

I have a Pro6. Realise it might be a bit out of your budget but it takes 700x35 Marathon Winter spikes with mudguards, just. Discs are a godsend in the winter. I got a pair of the Kinesis CX wheels for it. The front has been great and into its second winter. The rear hub finally disintegrated terminally during the summer after a number of bearing failures. Now rebuilt with a Hope Pro2 hub.

veronese68

gabriel959 wrote:

Thanks, does redvee have a Kaffenback 1 or 2 (if you know! )?

That Pro6 looks lush!

Not sure about Redvee's bike. I'll try to find the post if I can.
Thanks. really enjoying the Pro6. Works well in the mud, picture is with 35mm Conti Speedkings and Ugo's Genesis Fugio behind.

aberdeen_lune

Nice bike Veronese. I do like the sick green colour.

antonyfromoz

gabriel959 wrote:

Hi guys,

how about the Verenti Substance?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-substan ... sora-2014/

It looks like an absolute bargain, £528 (with BC discount) for a reynolds 520 steel crosser, with BB5 discs, full sora, etc...

What are your thoughts?

I was looking at these last week when there was a sale on at the BC shop which bought the price down to £498. The bike tends to look a bit like the CDF but it does have a very small headtube for the frame size. If you enlarge the picture then the welds etc look very clean.

gabriel959

antonyfromoz wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

Hi guys,

how about the Verenti Substance?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-substan ... sora-2014/

It looks like an absolute bargain, £528 (with BC discount) for a reynolds 520 steel crosser, with BB5 discs, full sora, etc...

What are your thoughts?

I was looking at these last week when there was a sale on at the BC shop which bought the price down to £498. The bike tends to look a bit like the CDF but it does have a very small headtube for the frame size. If you enlarge the picture then the welds etc look very clean.

Yes I have noticed that too. I am waiting after xmas anyway, not in a rush, mainly because I haven't got the money. I don't like massive headtubes, but 15cm (for the xl) is tiny as you say...

veronese68

Found the Kaffenback comment in the fettling thread:

redvee wrote:

Put the 35c Speedkings on the spare Kaffenback wheels only to find PX are right when they say the frame is for 32c max tyres, took them off and put the 32c Houffalize that came on the Singlecross. Put the XT wheels on KAffenback as day to day wheels, did notice Gatorskins are a lot easier to fit on the new rims.

ugo.santalucia

UndercoverElephant wrote:

As someone who had, and recently sold a CX bike, I thought I ought to provide some balance.

If you're wanting to go off-road, CX bikes are awful. Truly awful. Tyres are too small to cushion any impact, and there is no suspension, so unless you are on a pristine bridal-path, they are incredibly uncomfortable. Whilst they *can* be good-ish on roads, they really aren't good off them.

If what you want is really a mountain bike, get one - having one doesn't make you less of a road rider!

Wrong geography... CX is a sport of the flat-lands, popular in Belgium, Holland, northern France and a lot less in Italy. When I lived in Manchester I made good use of a MTB in the Peak District, then moved south and beside the odd ride in the Chilterns, plagued by foot deep bog, I never used it.. I sold it and got a CX bike, which is a lot more fun to ride here. There are MTB hot spots even south, but I really can't be bothered to cycle 3 hours to go to Leith Hill and back just to do a couple of single tracks there. Traffic is horrendous, so even driving is not a n option.
I can see in your area a MTB makes a lot more sense