CX v Proper road bike

streako

I am currently using my CX bike as an all rounder for road rides, cross rides and racing, just by changing the tyres. Im thinking of going for a Carbon road bike next year and was wondering if it would be much faster and more comfortable than the CX. The CX is a Kinesis 5t all aluminium so is a bit heavy and I have been getting a slight lower back ache on longer rides, which could be the harshness over rough surfaces.
I tend to do much more road riding these days due to where I live so a new bike would get a lot of use. Its just much more convenient.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Monty Dog

Lower back discomfort is more down to core fitness, flexibility and position rather than frame material - replicating your bike position in carbon without addressing the cause will likely still result in back pain.

Going faster is 99% down to the rider, not the bike.

Giraffoto

I rode a CX bike as my on-roader for several years, the main difference from a "proper" roadie is the size of tyres you can fit. Check the frame geometry before you buy, particularly reach and stack, it makes far more difference than whether it's a CX or road bike

markhewitt1978

A proper road bike will not be noticeably faster than a CX bike with road tyres. Any difference you're likely to see is likely to be down to the overall weight, or the wheels.

That said n+1 is rarely a bad idea, but don't kid yourself about it

apreading

A CX bike is just a road bike of the future - discs and clearance for wider tyres. Used to be that cable routing would be different too, so that you could shoulder a CX bike, but they are both going internally routed these days. Both come in all sorts of geometries and both come in all sorts of materials and weights.

fenix

Love my cross bike. And as you can fit bigger tyres - they might even be more comfy than a road bike.
Some CF road bikes can be very harsh - others more comfy. Depends on the design.

Not appreciably quicker. Not necessarily more comfortable.

Maybe get a bike fit on your current bike would be the best spend ?

drlodge

I've got 3 road bikes and a CX bike, the CX bike is basically heavier and has wider tyres than the other 3 so it takes more energy to ride it. Other than that, no real difference.

I use the CX for tow path riding, downs link or road riding if the weather is really rather crappy. It also has the benefit of being heavy i.e. train heavy, race light.

veronese68

I don't have a road bike, just change the tyres on my cross bike according to what I'm doing. The extra kilo of weight it might be carrying makes no difference to someone like me in the real world. Having disc brakes and slightly larger tyres for comfort means far more to me.

97th choice

I have both, the CX is comfier and slightly slower than the road bike, due to the geometry and the tyres.

If you want to faster on road get a road bike. If you want to sort your aching back problems look at your overall bike fit.

fwgx

I like my CX bike and it's not that much slower than the road bike, but the road bike feels zippier as it's lighter and accelerates better. The CX is more comfortable as it rolls on the roads with it's thicker tyres better.

Also it hasn't been mentioned that the gearing is often different between the two types. My CX has much closer ratios: 36/46 with 28-12 cassette, compared with 34/50 with a 32-12 cassette. The CX is perfect for my flat commute, but I'm not strong enough after 30 miles of hard riding to get up some of the big hills round here without the 34/32 ratio the road bike gives me.

Giraffoto

Good point there^ about the gears. My CX bike had 2x10 46/36 and 11-28, which is fine for the Chilterns but may not be so great for hillier parts of the country. The closer ratios up front make it easier to find the right gear - I liked it so much that I had the Roubaix that replaced it modified with 48/36 chainrings rather than the standard 50/34.

ugo.santalucia

I use a CX bike as road bike and it's 90% as good. Only problem is you can't build or buy a 6-7 Kg CX bike with discs... most of the mid range are 9-10 Kg and the lowest you can go is probably around 8 Kg on the top end of frames and components.
It won't affect your ride, unless your rides involve 6,000 feet of climbing

alihisgreat

The difference in geometry is the main difference...

Traditionally CX bikes have a lower BB drop - so the BB is higher in relation to the wheel hubs. This gives good clearance for proper CX riding, but raises the rider's center of gravity.The higher BB drop on a road bike generally means better handling as the rider's center of gravity is lower.

CX bikes also usually have slacker head angles which is good for stability, but in general a steeper head angle provides more responsive handling.

jasonbrim

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19705345#p19705345]Monty Dog[/url] wrote:

Going faster is 99% down to the rider, not the bike.

This. During my last crit race a few weeks ago, there was a guy riding his CX bike (but with fairly normal-sized tyres) to prepare for CX season, and he was drilling it at the front. And last week during our midweek sprint session, there was another guy on his CX bike, with some fairly wide tyres, and he won many of the sprints - flat and uphill.

A lightweight road bike with some nice tubs will make a difference, but any great cyclist will smash you regardless of the bike they're riding! I think it's best you ride a bike you like, and if you can afford to buy a new bike then you should

lakesluddite

There is an ever increasing range of genres regarding 'road' bikes these days, and the boundaries are becoming more and more blurred, mainly due to the increase in use of disc brakes. There are now 'Adventure road bikes' and 'gravel road bikes', which are essentially road bikes with disc brakes and usually without the CX cable routing, along with road-bikes-with-disc-brakes - they all tend to be very similar, perhaps with larger tyres on the former styles, so if you want to go down the disc brake route, then you are still going to have many options if you really want to change/add.

On the subject of back pain, it might be a good idea to try some stretching/Yoga to help?

https://wordery.com/yoga-for-cyclists-lexie-williamson-9781408190470

roger_merriman

Seems to be remarkably little measured differences in performance, lot more in feel.

A nice tyre/frame etc can make a bike feel great, but you'll struggle to find any science to back up any speed differences, quite a lot of opinions dressed as such mind you!

Maybe a bike fit? Or something if your getting back pain?

Anonymous

My CX bike (with 28mm road tyres on) feels very different to my road bike .
So much so thats its CX use only now.

There are obviously some 'CX' bikes that are way better than some 'road' bikes, so its not what its called, its what it is.
If you get a significantly lighter and better spec'd road bike, it will be way better than your CX bike for road use.
You will not have to faff about with tyre swapping then either.

Why not just test ride one?
Much better than asking the naysayers on here

Anonymous

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19708251#p19708251]roger merriman[/url] wrote:

Seems to be remarkably little measured differences in performance, lot more in feel.

A nice tyre/frame etc can make a bike feel great, but you'll struggle to find any science to back up any speed differences, quite a lot of opinions dressed as such mind you!

If going faster is the main goal, take the car lol

When I am in a shop and look at a really nice bike, and a not very nice bike, its not speed that makes me want the nice bike, its how I perceive it will ride.
I know the nice bike will ride better (if it doesn't I will find another nice one that does), and I know it will be faster.

I don't really need any science to tell me how much faster, because it will be a personal combination of just me and the bike.
A personal comparison will also never happen because I will not be buying the not very nice bike in order to compare!

I then own the faster bike that is much nicer to ride, and I will just train/ride harder if I want to go even faster on it.

If people are of the opinion that bikes are all as fast as each other, but some are nicer to ride, are they saying that the discomfort (because thats basically what it is) has no effect on speed or endurance?