Decent budget CX bike

dbaggie

Hi all. New to the forum here.

I've been commuting to work for the last 10 months on a £40 Gumtree special but I'm now looking to upgrade.

My budget is relatively modest (in cycling terms) at £500 and I don't want to go dedicated road bike as I do some occasional off-road cycling.

The best I seem to have found so far is the Voodoo Nakisi from Halfords at £440 but would like to hear about other suggestions.

I have a few LBS nearby but all seem to stock only mountain bikes or high-end road bikes!

dbaggie

I should've added that I'd be looking for disc brakes ideally.

bendertherobot

Spend a bit more and you'll gain a lot more. That one has a steel fork, which isn't ideal as it's weighty, but ok.

Boardman CX Comp much better at £650. Take 10% off if you have British Cycling discount.

Merlin Axe7 more money but a good bike.

Or, the used market. CAADX for example on ebay

dbaggie

I was looking at the Boardman as an option actually as I do like the idea of dual brakes, particularly for when in traffic. I don't have a British Cycling discount unfortunately but I think I can get 10% off at Halfords through my employer.

bendertherobot

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/cy ... an-cx-comp

Review of the boardman, still no carbon fork, which would be better, but it's a good bike.

Second hand would see a better bargain, for example, I will be selling my CAADX 105 with Fulcrum DB wheels for £650 ish shortly. If you're in Wales and a 54cm, that would be better. But, that's just an example, as second hand can get you a much better bike.

Where are you based?

dbaggie

Bit of a trek to Wales unfortunately - I'm in Yorkshire. I do like the look of the Boardman though and it turns out a Halfords near me has it in at £65 off currently.

bonzo_banana

I would of thought if you actually wanted to do some light off roading then you would want to avoid a carbon fork. At the value end I would definitely consider the Voodoo models as well as the calibre lost lad at go outdoors and look for offers on last years models around the web. £500 should get you something decent with steel forks or possibly something not so decent with carbon forks. If you want strength and long term reliability then steel forks if you want to shave off a little weight to achieve lightness and greater speed then carbon forks.

dbaggie

Thanks for your input - thinking about it, general reliability/ruggedness would be more important for me than saving some additional weight. The likes of the Voodoo and Boardman I've been looking at are already around 4-6kg lighter than what I'm currently using so they will make a marked difference as is. I wasn't aware Go Outdoors did bikes so I'll check them out.

TonyJams

dbaggie wrote:

Thanks for your input - thinking about it, general reliability/ruggedness would be more important for me than saving some additional weight. The likes of the Voodoo and Boardman I've been looking at are already around 4-6kg lighter than what I'm currently using so they will make a marked difference as is. I wasn't aware Go Outdoors did bikes so I'll check them out.

The GoOutdoor Forme Hooklow is good for the money but if you can get your budget up you'll get a lot more. Check out the Kona Jake deals under the Forme

dbaggie

TonyJams wrote:

The GoOutdoor Forme Hooklow is good for the money but if you can get your budget up you'll get a lot more. Check out the Kona Jake deals under the Forme

Thanks for the link - my employer is running a cycle to work scheme for the next month so this does potentially bring bikes in the £650-£750 price range into budget... but only if they'll accept C2W vouchers from that particular scheme.

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this one which is currently available for £649: https://www.jejamescycles.com/focus-mares-al-commuter-20g-road-bike.html. Think it's last year's model with the 2018 version retailing around £900 currently. Can't seem to find anything about the weight though.

bendertherobot

dbaggie wrote:

TonyJams wrote:

The GoOutdoor Forme Hooklow is good for the money but if you can get your budget up you'll get a lot more. Check out the Kona Jake deals under the Forme

Thanks for the link - my employer is running a cycle to work scheme for the next month so this does potentially bring bikes in the £650-£750 price range into budget... but only if they'll accept C2W vouchers from that particular scheme.

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this one which is currently available for £649: https://www.jejamescycles.com/focus-mares-al-commuter-20g-road-bike.html. Think it's last year's model with the 2018 version retailing around £900 currently. Can't seem to find anything about the weight though.

Very good bike I'd imagine, excellent spec. Won't be light cos of the fork but cracking at that price.