Convert road bike to cyclo

Im a roadie but I have little interest in mountain biking, however in love the idea of cyclo cross.
Can I just convert a standard road bike to a cyclo cross bike,
I have spare wheels, cassettes, deraliuers etc, so can I just stick bigger tyres on,
if this is possible I can imagine I'm going to have problems in certain area's, I'm not looking to race just think it will help my road biking,
Advise is appreciated.
Can I just convert a standard road bike to a cyclo cross bike,
I have spare wheels, cassettes, deraliuers etc, so can I just stick bigger tyres on,
if this is possible I can imagine I'm going to have problems in certain area's, I'm not looking to race just think it will help my road biking,
Advise is appreciated.
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I'd love to be able to do that with my road bike, just whack some CX tyres on, but it's not that easy
1. As mentioned above you'll need clearance for suitable tyres. Typically 32-35mm. Some road bikes will only manage 23mm while most will be fine up to 25mm or maybe 28mm. I don't think there are many with sufficient clearance for 30mm+ tyres.
2. Road brakes don't give you much rim clearance which could be a problem in muddy conditions. It may also cause problems with tyre clearance as per 1 and also clearing the tyre for taking off/putting on a wheel.
And I don't mean to upset anyone with this statement but.
A cyclocross bike is basically a mountain bike with drop handlebars ?
So if I got hold of an old mountain bike and put drops on it, would that work ?
Just trying to get a handle on it, as I said I won't be racing, just more for fun with a little one.
You'd probably run into problems with gear & brake pulls if you try and run MTB mechs and brakes from road bike controls as well.
No; it's a road bike with clearance for wider tyres. MTB has quite a different geometry and often suspension forks etc.
Co frame, with my bits and a set of wheels and I'm away.
I've been thinking along similar lines as I have most of the parts I need except a CX frame.
You will need new brakes Cantis/V-Brakes, road calipers will not have mouting points on a CX bike, and even if it did you would have clearance issues.
I wanted one of those Tioga disc wheels soooo much when I was younger.
Looking back, I'm not sure what the appeal was (although I suspect it was a lot to do with John Tomac)