new road bike or cyclocross???
- Thread starter boogie
- Start date
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My experience was that they are very close, but that's just for me.
I commuted on both for about 3 months. It was only a short (just under 10 miles) commute on some pretty rough roads in South Bucks. Whilst the road bike (a Spesh Secteur Sport) was certainly lighter, more manoeuvrable and more responsive and less tiring on the flat, the extra size of the wheels on my CX bike (a Spesh Tricross Sport) meant that I could just ride without being too concerned about the road surface.
The ride on the CX with 32mm tyres was smoother and easier, less stressful and at a more consistent speed. The ride on the roadie with 25mm tyres was faster on good tarmac but I was always paying close attention to the road surface and I found myself slowing down and dodging holes and imperfections.
The time for the two was so close that I couldn't tell the difference. Any variation could have been down to wind direction, lights phasing and whether I'd had two or three Shredded Wheat that day.
I commuted on both for about 3 months. It was only a short (just under 10 miles) commute on some pretty rough roads in South Bucks. Whilst the road bike (a Spesh Secteur Sport) was certainly lighter, more manoeuvrable and more responsive and less tiring on the flat, the extra size of the wheels on my CX bike (a Spesh Tricross Sport) meant that I could just ride without being too concerned about the road surface.
The ride on the CX with 32mm tyres was smoother and easier, less stressful and at a more consistent speed. The ride on the roadie with 25mm tyres was faster on good tarmac but I was always paying close attention to the road surface and I found myself slowing down and dodging holes and imperfections.
The time for the two was so close that I couldn't tell the difference. Any variation could have been down to wind direction, lights phasing and whether I'd had two or three Shredded Wheat that day.
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
I ride a tourer on country roads on 32mm tyres (not too dissimilar to a CX bike). The bike is heavier than a road bike but the advantage is that I can take short cuts through some very rough farm roads that I wouldn't fancy a road bike on.
Jerry Atrik
Veteran
- Location
- South Devon
Hi Boogie , interesting reading Norm's comments , i pick up a Spesh Tricross Sport today . I tested quite a few road bikes but kept coming back to the Tricross . It felt meaty but light if that makes any sense , very comfortable and the secondary brakes give me alot more confidence as im not that clever on drops but i hope to improve . And to boot my LBS have thrown in full mudguards , rack and a computer for free . Up on Dartmoor tomorrow where i hope it will come into its own , will let you know how i get on .
Brandane
Legendary Member
- Location
- Costa Clyde
Another Tricross fan here. Mine is the basic version, but has now been upgraded with Shimano Tiagra gearset. I have 2 sets of wheels for it, one fitted with 700 x 28 tyres for general running about, and the other with 700 x 23 tyres for road use in the better weather. I have used it for touring in France as it can take a rack and panniers, and mudguards.
It won't do the job of a mountain bike but is fine for the likes of canal paths, forestry roads and land rover tracks. AND; it has mountings for 2 water bottles!
A great "do it all" bike IMHO. The purists might shoot it down in flames, but as a compromise bike for a non-superfit guy who simply enjoys cycling, it suits me. I covered over 3000 miles on it this year in comfort and loved every minute of it!
It won't do the job of a mountain bike but is fine for the likes of canal paths, forestry roads and land rover tracks. AND; it has mountings for 2 water bottles!
A great "do it all" bike IMHO. The purists might shoot it down in flames, but as a compromise bike for a non-superfit guy who simply enjoys cycling, it suits me. I covered over 3000 miles on it this year in comfort and loved every minute of it!
Have to agree with the cross bike fans here.
Cross bikes are the most flexible and useful of bikes. Put road tyres on them and they are fast road bikes - I competed in a triathlon on mine in the summer and I don't think I could have gone any faster on any road bike I could have got for the same money short of an out and out TT bike and even then it would have been marginal.
Swap the tyres for 35mm knobblies though and you're off into the woods going pretty much anywhere an mtb will go... just quicker - and you can get it back on the roof without giving yourself a hernia.
Or, you can put something in between on them for the commute to protect yourself from the potholes without spending too much energy bending rubber on knobbly tyres.
I find road tyres tramline much too easily for comfort or safety when it gets gravelly or sandy so if you are planning to ride on mucky and uneven country roads, a cross bike would be ideal.
Performance wise I'd have to agree with Norm. As I said I did a triathlon on mine (I took it seriously but I'm not any kind of elite competitor) and it flew. I did though spring for a carbon framed cyclocross bike so (a) it's no heavier than the most of the sub £2000 road bikes I was competing against and (b) I was using pretty much the same gear train or better too.
I wouldn't have done it with my 35mm cross tyres on though. I don't switch wheels - someone told me that the gears and the chain bed themselves into each other so swapping wheels can lead to uneven wear and slippage - I just change tyres. At this time of year the cross tyres stay on most of the time. In summer it's the road tyres but they get swapped over in ten minutes if I'm going off road.
I do like the flexibility. For example I wouldn't take a road bike around Rutland Water - there are bits it just wouldn't cope with - but a cross bike eats that kind of track for breakfast. I don't really see why people don't buy more cross bikes. My frame is no less aerodynamic than other carbon framed road bikes I see at the same price - it just has more clearance around the forks and cantilever brakes so (a) I can get the chunkier tyres on and (b) it doesn't get clogged up with mud.
If you can afford two bikes then I might have a cross bike and an out and out road bike but as I can only justify one, it has to be a cross bike. I love mine to bits.
Norm's right again. There are many more cross bikes available now than even two years ago. Just because one doesn't fit the bill doesn't mean others won't. Most will have bottle mounts. Many have mudguard mounts although mine doesn't but I use mtb guards that come off easily when it's dry. You can get clip on road guards anyway if you feel you need those and there's more likely to be room for them in a cross frame than on some road frames.
Good luck wth your choice.
Cross bikes are the most flexible and useful of bikes. Put road tyres on them and they are fast road bikes - I competed in a triathlon on mine in the summer and I don't think I could have gone any faster on any road bike I could have got for the same money short of an out and out TT bike and even then it would have been marginal.
Swap the tyres for 35mm knobblies though and you're off into the woods going pretty much anywhere an mtb will go... just quicker - and you can get it back on the roof without giving yourself a hernia.
Or, you can put something in between on them for the commute to protect yourself from the potholes without spending too much energy bending rubber on knobbly tyres.
I find road tyres tramline much too easily for comfort or safety when it gets gravelly or sandy so if you are planning to ride on mucky and uneven country roads, a cross bike would be ideal.
Performance wise I'd have to agree with Norm. As I said I did a triathlon on mine (I took it seriously but I'm not any kind of elite competitor) and it flew. I did though spring for a carbon framed cyclocross bike so (a) it's no heavier than the most of the sub £2000 road bikes I was competing against and (b) I was using pretty much the same gear train or better too.
I wouldn't have done it with my 35mm cross tyres on though. I don't switch wheels - someone told me that the gears and the chain bed themselves into each other so swapping wheels can lead to uneven wear and slippage - I just change tyres. At this time of year the cross tyres stay on most of the time. In summer it's the road tyres but they get swapped over in ten minutes if I'm going off road.
I do like the flexibility. For example I wouldn't take a road bike around Rutland Water - there are bits it just wouldn't cope with - but a cross bike eats that kind of track for breakfast. I don't really see why people don't buy more cross bikes. My frame is no less aerodynamic than other carbon framed road bikes I see at the same price - it just has more clearance around the forks and cantilever brakes so (a) I can get the chunkier tyres on and (b) it doesn't get clogged up with mud.
If you can afford two bikes then I might have a cross bike and an out and out road bike but as I can only justify one, it has to be a cross bike. I love mine to bits.
Norm's right again. There are many more cross bikes available now than even two years ago. Just because one doesn't fit the bill doesn't mean others won't. Most will have bottle mounts. Many have mudguard mounts although mine doesn't but I use mtb guards that come off easily when it's dry. You can get clip on road guards anyway if you feel you need those and there's more likely to be room for them in a cross frame than on some road frames.
Good luck wth your choice.
I think that mine has three sets of bottle mounts, but it's sometimes difficult to tell underneath the gunk...
Commuting with MTB guards? Yup, I can wear that t shirt too...
Unless you are, like SimonB, competing, I don't see a huge compulsion to change the tyres from something around 28mm to 32mm. I have left the standard tyres on mine, because it gives me the option of heading off-tarmac without having to think about it.
That suits me and the sort of riding that I like, I'm sure that others wouldn't want to get a bike with drop-bars into this sort of condition, though...
Commuting with MTB guards? Yup, I can wear that t shirt too...
Unless you are, like SimonB, competing, I don't see a huge compulsion to change the tyres from something around 28mm to 32mm. I have left the standard tyres on mine, because it gives me the option of heading off-tarmac without having to think about it.
That suits me and the sort of riding that I like, I'm sure that others wouldn't want to get a bike with drop-bars into this sort of condition, though...
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
The main difference would be in the tyres. If you had decent quality slicks on both types of bike, I don't think that you'd notice a big difference between them.
Interestingly, I carried out an impromptu experiment in the difference in rolling resistance between a road bike with slicks and a cyclocross bike with semi-knobblies on when I met CC member Alun on a forum ride a couple of years ago...
We were chatting about this very subject since he had turned out on his new cyclocross bike. I suggested that we both freewheel down a hill to see what happened. (We weighed the same at the time so on the same bikes we'd have gone downhill at pretty much the same speed.) The difference was very obvious - I accelerated away from Alun and by the time I had covered 100 yards he was about 50 yards behind me.
Interestingly, I carried out an impromptu experiment in the difference in rolling resistance between a road bike with slicks and a cyclocross bike with semi-knobblies on when I met CC member Alun on a forum ride a couple of years ago...
We were chatting about this very subject since he had turned out on his new cyclocross bike. I suggested that we both freewheel down a hill to see what happened. (We weighed the same at the time so on the same bikes we'd have gone downhill at pretty much the same speed.) The difference was very obvious - I accelerated away from Alun and by the time I had covered 100 yards he was about 50 yards behind me.
the problem with the bottle mounts was that its a second hand frame with no wheel set so i was hoping i could get one hell of a spec bike for not stupid money as its running ultigra gear and then i could get a decent set of new wheels. i realy like the idea of the cyclo cross though it means i could mayb opt for that to do the cost to cost on again instead of my specialised rockhopper
There are alternative bottle mounts.
You can get some which are, essentially, crocodile clips which wrap round the frame (but make sure that you protect the paint beneath them), or attach to the back of the saddle.
Maybe, if the frame (sorry, I didn't consider the possibility that it was second hand) is that cheap, you could get a Camelbak or something similar.
You can get some which are, essentially, crocodile clips which wrap round the frame (but make sure that you protect the paint beneath them), or attach to the back of the saddle.
Maybe, if the frame (sorry, I didn't consider the possibility that it was second hand) is that cheap, you could get a Camelbak or something similar.
well it may not particually be cheap but im looking at spending around £700 and would like to get the best i possibly could i think with some hard bargening i can get a new road bike specd with tigra for that. but if i go second hand i could maybe go a few steps beyond wishfull thinking and all
As with all replies, its only my opinion but for what its worth I fully recomend you give the cross bike a go.
Again, only my opinion but unless you plan on doing serious mileage and cycling at speed, the cross bike will give you years of pleasure and most are capable of a bit of abuse.
I own a Colnago Master which is a really gorgeous bike but I also own a 2009 Giant TCX cyclocross which did not cost half the price of the Colnago but out of the two the cross bike is more flexible.
Get bored of the road and just turn off down a track and go exploring, brilliant for cannal path rides also and even capable of north and south downs expeditions. Most have eyelets for full mudguards and a rack so ideal for light touring.
Pushing the old Giant past the Colnago on a nice sunny morning does make me feel a bit guilty for neglecting her but I just live that dirty battered Giant!
Paul.G.
Again, only my opinion but unless you plan on doing serious mileage and cycling at speed, the cross bike will give you years of pleasure and most are capable of a bit of abuse.
I own a Colnago Master which is a really gorgeous bike but I also own a 2009 Giant TCX cyclocross which did not cost half the price of the Colnago but out of the two the cross bike is more flexible.
Get bored of the road and just turn off down a track and go exploring, brilliant for cannal path rides also and even capable of north and south downs expeditions. Most have eyelets for full mudguards and a rack so ideal for light touring.
Pushing the old Giant past the Colnago on a nice sunny morning does make me feel a bit guilty for neglecting her but I just live that dirty battered Giant!
Paul.G.
