Spesh Crux Sport e5 (last one, promise)

ddraver

Hi Guys

my LBS was very sympathetic about my issues with the Trek and KB cycles and pointed out that he had Crux Sport e5 model on a significant sale

I ve been recommended this bike elsewhere and it seems to be similar to the trek in terms of having US style Cross geometry (ie closer to a roadie). Has anyone got any experience of it? Most online reviews seem positive but I saw one complain about the old skool disk wheel spacing..?

If I don't get this sorted tomorrow I'm going to give up on it for this season...

Thanks for your help
David

bobley

We've had Crux's for a while. My lad races an E5 Elite (canti) and I've just built a carbon disc model. The grumbling about the current carbon disc models is related to the layout of the thru axles and the position of the cassette but these models have "SCS" wheels. A base Crux E5 has "Classic" wheels so you wont have any of these concerns. I've just been out on mine this afternoon for a 30 mile road ride after racing it yesterday and I can confirm that it does both very well (although I must admit that CX1 is rubbish at dealing with mud and grit in the chain so I've had to buy a chain device for it).

ddraver

Thanks Bub, think I'm going to go for it

ovi

how about this https://www.boardmanbikes.com/products/515-y1415-cxr-9.2-thru-axle.html

Robb0

I bought one of these before Christmas. A 2016 model - http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.uk/crux-sport-e5/38080/16crux - nicely discounted by Leisure Wheels (not Leisure Lakes!) in Hemel Hempstead. Only got round to riding it today, racing it in the London League. I'm not disappointed with it. It feels good and stable to race on, not much different to my Scott so I don't think the geometry is particularly different. With lightweight wheels it would be pretty light. I bought a pair of Kinesis Crosslight V3s which at 1600g would have brought it down to 9.1kg but I couldn't get Maxxis Mud Wrestlers to fit tubeless on them, so I had to race it on the stock Spesh 2.1kg(!) cartwheels. I loved the disc brakes - first time I've used them on a cross bike - I was able to brake later knowing I'd make the turns. I noticed the rear brake wasn't working at all after the race, though the front was fine. Not sure why that was. I'll have to have a good look at it. The main reason I went for discs was the better mud clearance. It sure was muddy today but not the really sticky kind - the rain kept it watery, so I can't say for certain how it would handle sticky mud. One concern I have in relation to this is the chainstay strut behind the BB. Fine today, but we'll see. In summary I'd recommend it.

andyp

The stock pads would've likely been cheap ones, and a race like yesterday, with lots of wet, gritty mud, has probably done for them.

Robb0

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19772561#p19772561]andyp[/url] wrote:

The stock pads would've likely been cheap ones, and a race like yesterday, with lots of wet, gritty mud, has probably done for them.

I considered that, but I recall there was only 1 corner I had to brake for, and I did 6 laps. I doubt that even cheap pads would wear out after that. And the front is fine, only the rear has faded, and the front will have got more use. I've tried retensioning the cable - https://www.trpbrakes.com/userfiles/file/HYRD_Final.pdf and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8T6cON6y_Y but the lever still needs to go about 3/4 the way to the bar for it to grip. The hydraulic reservoir is supposed to automatically compensate for worn pads (I don't understand how that works) but that doesn't seem to be happening.