CX Bike for General/Winter use?
Comments
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Oohhh.
That would be an extra 5kg on my summer bike. My legs would deffo notice that lol!0 -
Nooooo... you should be able to go easily under 10 Kg with a Vapour... but not much under 10 Kgleft the forum March 20230
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My CX is under 10kg but its still a bit heavy for an aluminium CX I thought.
Its 2.7 Kg (6 lb) heavier than my 'summer' bike and the difference is night and day IMO.0 -
^^^ This ^^^
I tried a Genesis Croix de Fer first, full guards etc; it comes out north of 12kg, which is twice what my Sunday bike weighs. This is not fun. The replacement F3X is full carbon, and weighs 8 and a bit kg with Race Blades; it's sufficient fun, but I still enjoy the difference on a Sunday.0 -
I've got a Pro6 running full 105 and BB7s and it weighs somewhere between 9 and 9.5kg. Not sure of the wheel weights but they are Novatec hubs on Mavic Open Pros and at the time I weighed it 28mm Gatorskin Hardshells were fitted. I'm now running 32mm Vittoria Roandonneur Pro and it seems to roll as well as it did on the Gatorskins, if not better, and I am happier riding them on dirt trails.
I'm not particularly fast, but I'd be surprised if I was much quicker on an out and out race bike. Plus I have the advantage that I don't have to be too precious about road surfaces or the weather. The brakes just work, although they can be a bit noisy in the wet. Very happy with it, great bike.0 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:Nooooo... you should be able to go easily under 10 Kg with a Vapour... but not much under 10 Kg
Yes. 11.9kg re-weighed tonight (size 60). This in in full utility/commuting mode with guards, pump, seat pack with spare tube and repair kit. If I take everything off and put some lighter wheels on and a lighter groupset it might get closer to 10kg, but what's the point? it still gives a harsh, dead ride. No point spending any money on it.
It's just a utility bike, nothing more.0 -
Its got to be a fun, enjoyable ride though surely?
I bought a Fondriest Tech2 last year and absolutely hated riding it. Swapped the wheels to some XC-270 on Miche hubs (Thanks Malcolm
) and it transformed the bike to something I now enjoy riding... It still not particularly light mind... 0 -
robbo2011 wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:Nooooo... you should be able to go easily under 10 Kg with a Vapour... but not much under 10 Kg
Yes. 11.9kg re-weighed tonight (size 60). This in in full utility/commuting mode with guards, pump, seat pack with spare tube and repair kit. If I take everything off and put some lighter wheels on and a lighter groupset it might get closer to 10kg, but what's the point? it still gives a harsh, dead ride. No point spending any money on it.
It's just a utility bike, nothing more.
Have you got the older model with aluminium forks? The new model with carbon blades is a pretty lively and springy machine. If you remove all the crap you have on you get better hadnling, in the same way as if you add all that crap to your race bike, you compromise the bike.
I have the Fugio, which is based on the Vapour, just made of steel instead of alloy... it is a pretty nippy and aggressive bike, not at all dull or dead... which becomes when I add a rack and a pannier.
Tyres make a big difference too. In the past I had some Conti Speed King, which were dull and dead, but a set of Vittoria XN PRO is fast and feels very lively.
In essence, I think you are comparing apples and pearsleft the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:[
The only people I see using "bigger gears" than a 46 x 12 are serious time triallists and a few idiots who rev. with a cadence of 30 rpm in the desperate attempt to get varicose veins prematurely.
My top gear is 50x12 and it's quite often going down a steep-but-not-too-steep hill that I'm spinning out when above 35mph or so, which suits me fine as I don't wish to go much faster, but I suspect with 46x12 pedalling down hill would be pretty much out.0 -
markhewitt1978 wrote:My top gear is 50x12 and it's quite often going down a steep-but-not-too-steep hill that I'm spinning out when above 35mph or so, which suits me fine as I don't wish to go much faster, but I suspect with 46x12 pedalling down hill would be pretty much out.
Do you need to? Sometimes we make up some needs that in real life don't exist... one of them is pedalling downhill at 35 mph... another one is having a car with 500 bhp but yet incapable of doing anything useful with all that powerleft the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:markhewitt1978 wrote:My top gear is 50x12 and it's quite often going down a steep-but-not-too-steep hill that I'm spinning out when above 35mph or so, which suits me fine as I don't wish to go much faster, but I suspect with 46x12 pedalling down hill would be pretty much out.
Do you need to? Sometimes we make up some needs that in real life don't exist... one of them is pedalling downhill at 35 mph... another one is having a car with 500 bhp but yet incapable of doing anything useful with all that power
That is some serious common sense. I like it.
Above 30mph I never felt the need to pedal down a hill. I have a single speed and seem to make it fine all the time!0 -
I find 50/12 fine and can go way faster than 35 mph.
46/12 would be too low for a road bike I would have thought, but thats why they are CX gearing and not road.
Gearing is very personal anyway so just do what works for you.0 -
Depends what I'm doing really, if I'm out for a few hours then no, I won't pedal down the hill - I take any opportunity for a little rest! However if I'm on a half hour weekday training ride you can be sure I'm pedalling all the time as I don't have time to be resting.0
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Carbonator wrote:I find 50/12 fine and can go way faster than 35 mph.
46/12 would be too low for a road bike I would have thought, but thats why they are CX gearing and not road.
Gearing is very personal anyway so just do what works for you.
The thing is... 50 + rings is what Cancellara & co. use. They have 400 + watts of aerobic power output, while you probably have 250 (or less). It is a bit pointless to use the same gear ratios if the speed involved are dramatically different (they average 35-38 Kmh in training solo, you probably average 25-28 Kmh on the same ground). Personally I think 36 x 46 is a great chainset for general use... unless of course you have racing ambitions, but in that case you need to address the power as well as the gearsleft the forum March 20230 -
I use my cross bike for all sorts as I don't have a road bike, winter or summer. I use it for trails, road and racing.
I have a single 42t chainring with Ultegra 11 speed 11-32t on the back. I find that's all the gears I need. I do admit on occasions I find I can't quite get the perfect gear for the cadence I want but that's the compromise.
It weighs 8.8kg as shown and 8.65kg with road tyres. Finishing kit is pretty basic stuff I had from my old cross bike and crankset is heavy so I think with fairly small investments I could get it approaching 8kg.
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35mph on 50x12 is just barely over 100rpm cadence. So depending on your typical cadence this may be slightly above normal but you could surely still get some power down well over 40mph?markhewitt1978 wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:[
The only people I see using "bigger gears" than a 46 x 12 are serious time triallists and a few idiots who rev. with a cadence of 30 rpm in the desperate attempt to get varicose veins prematurely.
My top gear is 50x12 and it's quite often going down a steep-but-not-too-steep hill that I'm spinning out when above 35mph or so, which suits me fine as I don't wish to go much faster, but I suspect with 46x12 pedalling down hill would be pretty much out.
I've previously pedalled downhill to reach 80km/h (~50mph) on a 50x12 and 85km/h on 50x11. Having said that, these are isolated instances, 150rpm is probably my limit and I couldn't do it for very long! However, I do regularly descend comfortably under power at over 70km/h with a 50 tooth chainring.
Assuming most people can manage around 130rpm fairly comfortably, the 46x12 setup should be good for about 64km/h (40mph). No?0 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:Have you got the older model with aluminium forks? The new model with carbon blades is a pretty lively and springy machine. If you remove all the crap you have on you get better hadnling, in the same way as if you add all that crap to your race bike, you compromise the bike.
I have the Fugio, which is based on the Vapour, just made of steel instead of alloy... it is a pretty nippy and aggressive bike, not at all dull or dead... which becomes when I add a rack and a pannier.
Tyres make a big difference too. In the past I had some Conti Speed King, which were dull and dead, but a set of Vittoria XN PRO is fast and feels very lively.
In essence, I think you are comparing apples and pears
Well, if you are saying that the vapour is a good frame and this is what a good Alu or steel bike rides like, then I think I'll stick with my CF race bike, thanks very much
I have the 2010 model with carbon forks, fwiw.
PS pics in the your scenic bikes thread. I do actually take it out climbing when the weather requires it.0
