Road and cyclocross bikes

It depends how you define "light off-road stuff". Road bikes are really quite robust and will take a fair bit of punishment, but may be uncomfortable as you are restricted to tyre size etc. CX bikes have much more clearance for fatter tyres, so if you are considering riding on grass, mud etc this is the way to go. You could always get a second set of wheels and tyres and have one set for road and one for off-road.

I have ridden both for commuting and although the CX is chunkier, you only lose a couple of mph top speed. This never bothered me as I'm not a rapid rider anyway.

steviecfb wrote:

Mmm - it's looking like CX is still the way to go. I would like to top 40mph at least once in my life (37.93mph best so far: I have a couple of hills, you know ) but I'm thinking that narrower tyres (current ones 37mm), lighter and more aerodynamic bike and position (current bike: a Scott hybrid) and practice will bring that about.

Thanks.

*cough*

http://youtu.be/REkXfVVFG4c

*cough*




Running on 28C Conti top contacts at 100psi. This was after cycling the 13.5 miles of the Tissington Trail both ways as part of a 100Km loop. Not sure if you need any more encouragement that a CX bike can do what you need.

I'm a roadie at heart but looking for something on the C2W scheme I found this at 1000 pounds in a lbs.

http://www.formebikes.co.uk/bikes/road/ ... rtdisc.php

British and beautiful!!!!!

Not all CX bikes, as with road bikes, will be the same :
I bought a Jamis CX bike at the start of the year specifically for commuting purposes and it had a std road compact chainset whilst the other CX bike I tried at that price-point, a Norco, had what would be seen as CX-relevant chainrings, 48 biggest. Some are aimed at pretty squarely at commuting/road riding so have higher ratios than a CX-racing spec'd one, I came from 20+ years of riding std road ratios so dropping to a 48 front outer was too severe but the 50 on mine suits fine. Strangely those 2 bikes I tried were inconsistant in the tyres fitted as std : my Jamis came with proper CX tyres whilst I think the Norco had a more road-orientated tyre then again although the Jamis has bosses for fitting mudguards it could not accomodate these at the rear with the fitted CX tyre (32mm) so I swapped out a 28mm road tyre I had spare - meant that in the crappy winter weather I had the gripper tyre on the front which wasn't a bad decision anyway.
Geometry for CX bikes tends to give a shorter + higher position than a road bike - can be tweeked to an extent with alternative stem but that is 1 thing I think is common with them.
For me the benefits of a 'CX' bike are :
Clearance for 28mm tyres and fitment for proper mudguards.
Disc brakes : don't have the hassle of road grit etc causing rims to shed metal particles in pads plus consistant braking in all weathers.
Weight is similar to my previous commuter bikes - I only paid £520 for mine so a road bike at that price is alwo pretty low-spec : at a similar price for a road bike you might get a carbon fork which would assist in keeping weight down as the alu fork on mine looks hefty : possibly to handle the disc-braking stresses. I think you're nearer £1000 for a CX bike to come with a carbon fork.

unixnerd wrote:

Geometry for CX bikes tends to give a shorter + higher position than a road bike

A valid often overlooked point. CX and mountain bikes have a higher bottom bracket, so you have better ground clearance when off road. This isn't a good thing for a commuter as it makes it a little harder to get a foot down. My road bikes have fairly low bottom brackets and even with the saddle in the optimum position I never need to get off the saddle at junctions.

Curious. You mean you're able to put a foot down while still on the saddle? I'd question if your position is correct. Of course if it works for you...

The Rookie wrote:

You can always fit the crosser out with something narrower for on road......as I have one 45mph log on my Hybrid, 40+ on a crosser should be easy!

I got pulled by the cops for going rather too quick on my Rev Cross. Seemingly I was doing 45 coming down a steep hill into a 30. Officer was rather nice about it, said he wasn't so much worried about my speed, as someone not thinking a bike would be going so quick and pulling out. That was on 32 gators.

Didn't feel like 45 to be honest, but I had only his word to go on.

Highest speed I ever did was on my tourer, 48.5mph coming down Slochd Summit with a strong tail wind :-)