the difference between a road and cx

[jpembroke]

True. Mine's a Planet X Uncle John so sort of fits into the category you describe. It has rack and bottle mounts, for instance. I use it for commuting at the moment, but seriously regret selling my fixie, and have used it for a couple of sportives. However, it's main purpose is 'cross racing.

Anyway, I just don't really get the 'go anywhere' thing. Does this mean people ride 'cross bikes around with knobbly tyres? That'd wind me up. I have dedicated cross wheels on with 'cross tyres, and separate road wheels with 23mm tyres for when I want to use it on road. I can't go off road when those are on so if I wanted to use it on any terrain i'd have to have have big tyres, which would slow me down.

And 'cross brakes are cr*p in comparison to other bike brakes. I've tried Tektro Oryx, 720s, and frogglegs. All fairly poor in comparison to dual pivots and v-brakes. The campag brakes on my road bike are way better. In 'cross there is always a compromise between stopping power and mud clearance.

 

[Norm]

The reason I mentioned the brakes, JP, is that many 2011 cx-styled bikes (such as the Day One with an Alfine hub, or the Croix de Fer are shipping with disk brakes.

As for the tyres, I've still got the standard tyres fitted (Specialized Borough, IIRC, in 700x32) and they've proved capable away from tarmac when it's not been too gloopy. Even when the muck was bad enough to leave the bike looking like this after a ride. The grin on my face was too wide to fit into a single picture.

 

[Zoiders]

I ride on 177.5mm cranks & can't see how, considering how hard you have to be turning to risk a pedal strike I'd say that pedalling through a corner like that would get you into serious problems.

Some crit races are on very tight course indeed, you don't have to pedal through a corner to get a strike you just have to misjudge it and get the pedal in the wrong position, people do this on tight courses.

 

[John the Monkey]

Substitute "crap" for "finicky", I reckon, with regard to cantis.

V brakes, dual pivots - as long as you match lever to caliper correctly, you're ok. Cantis take a degree of faff[1] and some knowledge (and possibly after market parts - I'd not use the Oryx' included straddle, or the Tektro pads, f'rinstance).

Don't underestimate the contribution of big tyres to comfort either - I love my SCR2.0 (23, or 25mm tyres, dependant on the wheels I'm using) but the LHT (on 42mm tyres) has a plush ride that's just lovely - didn't change my averages much over the 32mm tyres I started with either.

[1] Low profile cantis probably require more of that, with true wheels and frequent adjustment of the gap between block and rim essential. Wide profile are more forgiving, but achieve less mechanical advantage, which some folk can live with, and some can't.