29er Hard Tail versus CX

yertez

Pondering a bike to sit between my full-susser and road racer.
Main duties will be 40Km to 70Km road rides (in winter) which will include sections of graded forest tracks.

Second hand - Gumtree probably, £500 range.

So, 29er hard tail vs cyclocross (e.g. Boardman CX).

Obviously the CX drops will be handy on the long road rides.
CX will be faster on the road sections (or would it ?)

Might also pull the bike into heavy duty mud-plugging to save the full-susser some wear.
It's just flat, 6 inch deep mud for about 5 miles of a 10 miler - once a week all winter.

Monty Dog

I have CX bikes, 29er, 29+ and a 5"-tyred fatbike. Whilst a 29er with CX tyres will have similar rolling resistance, it would be the weight (e.g. suspension forks) position and possibly comfort which will slow you down in comparison to a CX bike, particularly on the road. My CX bike is 1-2mph slower on the road, the MTB feels nothing like as snappy, particularly on the hills.

maddog 2

I run a rigid, light carbon 29er and prefer it to my CXer. It's not as quick on the road, admittedly, but much more fun offroad. Just depends on the road/offroad balance and where you want to strike a balance.

mattrixdesign2

This something I have thought about.

I run 3 bikes currently, a Road bike (Caad10), a MTB (HT Cube 26er) and a CX (Cube CX).

I need a road bike, for those 50-100mile+ club rides. I always want something for "proper" off road, i.e. for Wild and trail centre mountain biking, that the Cube handles fine, its not great for local XC MTB races as everyone else seems quicker on their 29ers.

Never too sure on the cross, its versatile, and it will handle mild off road, and I can trudge it through winder on the road... but I really want a 29er, but don't want a forth bike to store. Its a compromise, I could have a 29er, that would have to be fit for winter road and CX duties, or have a CX but I couldn't race it well at local XC MTB events. Either will do the job, but each will excel in their own areas. I have seen people with narrowish slicks on 29ers going for it on road, and they aint slow. I have seen people throw CX bikes down wild off road tracks.

I think which ever choice you go for a second set off wheels is ideal so you can have knobbies and slicks/low profile/centre tread for on the road. Rather than the faff of changing tyres, especially if you are keen to adopt a tubeless setup.

A CX is always going to be closer to a road bike, its a road bike on steroids. A 29er will be closer to your Full Suss, but different enough to change the experince, so its really what you want in-between. Take the middle ground and go for a fully rigid MTB with drop bars, or a Cannondale gravel grinder with lefty fork LOL.

nferrar

Given the amount of road riding you're looking at then definitely a CX or gravel bike, a 29er wouldn't be as fast or as comfy for extended road rides and a CX will cope fine with graded forestry tracks. If you were looking more at a 50:50 on-road/off-road split then a 29er with narrower tyres would probably be best.

Lookyhere

i had the same dilema went for the 29er, much more fun during winter and do loads of off road linked with on road lanes, guess might depend whats nr you ?

cycleclinic

I don't own a cx bike but I have two 29er's both rigid one single speed one geared. The geared bike can roll along at 17 to 20mph quite easily. It is not as fast as my road race bike but on the road it is as quick as my wet weather road bike. On hills I have been quicker on my mtb than on my race bike. Figure that out I can't.

If I had to sell all my bikes bar one I would keep my geared 29er as it the most versatile bike I have.
I do a fair amount of xc riding and to be honest just have set my mtb as proper xc bike than trail orientated mtb as all I ride now are East anglian bridle ways and tracks when off road.

So if you want to do traditional xc with road riding mixed in a rigid 29er works well.

My 29er's are a large kenesis ff29 frame with rigid forks, a fair amount of saddle to bar drop a long 120mm stem by modern standards and 2.0" tubular tyres and a Gary fisher ferrous single speed with long and low position. The single speed climbs like a scalded cat. The single speed is the mud plugger as gears in the mud don't work well anyway.

So there you go a rigid 29er single speed is what you need. You can even roll around at 17mph or so on the the road. 36:17 on a 29er even works on stupidly steep hills. There is something about 29er's that makes that work.

I think the lines between 29er cross bikes and road disc bikes are becoming increasingly blurred.