Cyclocross mtb

eddm87

Hi. I have an awesome cyclocross bike that I am more than happy with.
So far I have only ever taken ot on the roads and am reluctant to taking it on 'proper' mtb tracks. I am worried it will mess my bike Up, that it can't handle it and that the s wheels and tyres arent up for it (perhaps I need to change them)

Any thoughts would be great. Thanks

imposter2.0

CX bikes are great for CX. Not ideal for MTB terrain. Difficult to comment further without knowing what you mean by a 'proper' MTB track. For anything more than a green or blue route at a trail centre, I would rather use an MTB.

bendertherobot

https://roubaixcycling.cc/2016/05/02/th ... lbe-x-one/

That's the sort of stuff I do on mine, and with the new X-One bit would go a bit further afield.

robertpb

I've been riding MTB's for over 30 years, before that I used all sorts of bikes offroad. My CX bike has 29" MTB rims with 40mm WTB Nano tyres and a 10-42 cassette with a 38 chainring, so I ride everything I can manage, that covers nearly everything I ride on a 150mm full susser.

It's a different kind of riding but I have a lot of laughs riding two different bikes over the same trails, if you don't like the look of a bit of gnarly you can always walk, given time you'll be surprised how much you can get out of a CX bike.

Jterrier

Cx bikes do have a fairly narrow operating window. Fatter tires help. But as soon as the ground gets a bit rattly they get quite uncomfortable. In some ways they arent even that good for cyclocross..... But they can be fun for short periods. If you tore up the rule book and went again you would have a cannondale slate basically.

Chris James

I've been to trail centres with my cross bike and had a good time. The blue routes at Glentress and Gisburn are good fun on a cross bike, as is the red route at Sherwood Pines.

I've even done the supposedly extreme bike bike park downhill and dirt jump zones at Sherwood Pines on my cross bike, but that was just childishly showing off in front of my kids and some mountain bikers who reckoned that roadies were softies and I wouldn't be able to do it!

But generally rock gardens and drop offs are a bad idea when you have no suspension and your weight is distributed forwards like it is on a cross bike.

Doing bridleways and the like on a cross bike is fine - in fact they are perfect for them. I sometimes do about 7 miles along a rutted canal tow path with embedded sets and the like and it is quite good practice for actual cyclocross as you learn to ride through awkward bumpy terrain with poor grip, keeping the power on.

bendertherobot

Jterrier wrote:

Cx bikes do have a fairly narrow operating window. Fatter tires help. But as soon as the ground gets a bit rattly they get quite uncomfortable. In some ways they arent even that good for cyclocross..... But they can be fun for short periods. If you tore up the rule book and went again you would have a cannondale slate basically.

I completely agree and disagree with all of this. You're absolutely right and wrong. Especially on that last point.

CX is weird, I spent 3/4 hour on Sunday doing stuff I'd not run on, snow, slush, mud, dirt, shale, bonkers stuff. And the CX was amazing. But, it probably would have been easier on a MTB, better on a Full Sus and, you're right, the Slate would probably be the best of all.

But then there are other courses where the CX really does rule. And some where I could probably ride my Supersix and get away with it. So, yep, I do agree, and disagree etc.

There is nothing quite like using something that's arguably unsuited to a task to really make it look suited to a task though. And that's arguably what CX might be all about.

Hinaultscrapcousin

What's possible on a CX bike?

Have a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgoY3T3crZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izlfe5n_jK8&t=81s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRF8XasCpS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvL1agpqwvE

bendertherobot

Another thing I've been tinkering with is riding in the drops. I did it for a bit on Sunday and thought I had greater control and leverage.

roger_merriman

bendertherobot wrote:

Jterrier wrote:

Cx bikes do have a fairly narrow operating window. Fatter tires help. But as soon as the ground gets a bit rattly they get quite uncomfortable. In some ways they arent even that good for cyclocross..... But they can be fun for short periods. If you tore up the rule book and went again you would have a cannondale slate basically.

I completely agree and disagree with all of this. You're absolutely right and wrong. Especially on that last point.

CX is weird, I spent 3/4 hour on Sunday doing stuff I'd not run on, snow, slush, mud, dirt, shale, bonkers stuff. And the CX was amazing. But, it probably would have been easier on a MTB, better on a Full Sus and, you're right, the Slate would probably be the best of all.

But then there are other courses where the CX really does rule. And some where I could probably ride my Supersix and get away with it. So, yep, I do agree, and disagree etc.

There is nothing quite like using something that's arguably unsuited to a task to really make it look suited to a task though. And that's arguably what CX might be all about.

Being a old MTBer i.e. pre suspension and even V brakes, and MTB's frankly what I like about CX bikes is its a fairly simple and fun do it all bike, I can take it on some MTB trails and also burn up some tarmac oddly even with x-ones it's stuff like rock gardens that it ends up being slightly out of it's comfort zone, On road it's remarkably close.