XC HT + Roadie? Or XC HT + Cyclocross?

[a.brasington]

I'm looking at building another bike for the odd group road ride and for commuting to uni a few times a week, and need some thoughts from people.

I currently have an XC 29er hardtail race machine for most of my club races, adventure racing, and mtb orienteering, and I'm tossing up between the next bike being either a CX or full on roadie.
Whatever option I choose, it will be a ground-up custom build (potentially going to have a shot at wheel building this time around).

Points for CX
- With the price point I have planned for the build, CX bikes look totally badass.
- The last road bike I had used for training and commutes, I would always have to stop myself from being too 'playful' with the bike. On a CX bike, I can do things like bunny hop up gutters or over speed bumps for example (Can I?).
- Wet weather commutes would be a lot easier.
- There are hundreds of KMs of nice smooth fire-trail routes near my house. It might be nice to mix it up between the XC bike and the CX bike every so often.

Points for Roadie
- The commute to uni is on great roads, a lot of wide-shoulder highway riding, with not too much debris on the roads.
- I won't have massive issues keeping up with my training buddy, who rides a fully fledged road bike on our 'road days'.
- The overall build will be cheaper, as I plan on building part by part, and the availability of the road components (especially when wheel building) will be much greater.



A few last noteworthy points
- I don't carry enough stuff on commutes to warrant pannier racks.
- I don't plan on getting involved in either CX or road racing. XC Mtbing and Adventure racing is enough for me.
- I don't want to play around with swapping tires or wheels around if I went with the CX bike.
- I'm not a fan of a 'relaxed' geometry. I like a normal road geometry, or a XC race geometry.



My current thoughts are that if I can find a nice 'normal road' geometry CX bike frame, that I can build up to be a similar weight and cost to a road bike, then I would definitely go the CX bike option simply for versatility. Problem is finding one with a nice geometry I guess? Anyone ridden one of the Chinese carbon CX frames and can let me know how they ride?

 

[The Duckmeister]

Points for CX
- The last road bike I had used for training and commutes, I would always have to stop myself from being too 'playful' with the bike. On a CX bike, I can do things like bunny hop up gutters or over speed bumps for example (Can I?).

You can still be playful on a roadie. Gutter-hopping just needs a bit more care so as not to smash rims.

- Wet weather commutes would be a lot easier.

How do you figure that?

 

[a.brasington]

Maybe I've only had shitty brakes or braking surfaces, but I find disk brakes to be much better than rim brakes in the wet. That said however, I have never used mechanical disks. Only hydraulic.

As for playfulness, I'm just waiting for someone to post the video of "Road Bike Party". I would love to be as precise as to never worry about smashing my rims. Sad fact is that unfortunately I do make mistakes some times, and it would be nice to reduce those 'cringe' moments with something a little burlier.

 

[Calvin27]

Cx all the way. The number of times when my roadie mate turns around because the gravel is too rough...

I for one can't ride a bike I am scared of breaking.

 

[a.brasington]

Some of the CX bikes around in shops aren't actually nearly as bad as I thought in terms of price. I would consider a few of them, they seem to have nice frames and groupsets. I would only really want to change the saddle, and in some cases I would change the wheelset and tires.

Here are a few I have my eye on:

Norco Threshold
Giant TCX SLR 2
Giant Advanced Pro 1
Felt F5x
Cannondale CAADX 3
Specialized Crux Elite
Fuji Altamira 1.3


I might demo a few and see how I like the CX ride.

 

[mitchy_]

Some of the CX bikes around in shops aren't actually nearly as bad as I thought in terms of price. I would consider a few of them, they seem to have nice frames and groupsets. I would only really want to change the saddle, and in some cases I would change the wheelset and tires.

Here are a few I have my eye on:

Norco Threshold
Giant TCX SLR 2
Giant Advanced Pro 1
Felt F5x
Cannondale CAADX 3
Specialized Crux Elite
Fuji Altamira 1.3


I might demo a few and see how I like the CX ride.

i can vouch for the Threshold, TCX SLR and TCX Advanced having ridden them all, and owning 2 of them. all 3 make acceptable commuters, however if you want a more racey geometry i'd probably rule out the Threshold, they have a longer fork and taller headtube. the TCX have your average length (for a CX bike) fork, and the headtubes aren't too long.

my TCX advanced gets ridden on the road just about every day their isn't a CX race.. can comfortable sit around 31/32km/h average speed.

 

[FatMuz]

I have my first CX bike arriving this week (hopefully).
I sold my last roadie (Trek madone 5.9) about 2 years ago... not that interested in riding on the road anymore. I have heaps of rough back roads, gravel roads and fire trail not far from me... so I figured a CX bike would be perfect as a training bike and general 'get away from it all for a day' kind of bike.
I've bought an Ibis Hakkalugi Disc... full Ultegra and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes.

 

[a.brasington]

I've narrowed it down to:

Specialized Crux Elite
Cannondale SuperX Disk
Fuji Altamira 1.3
Giant TCX Advanced Pro 1

Out of all the other bikes in the price range, the above bikes were the ones within price domain which were carbon, had at least partially internal routing, decent groupset, and hydraulic disks.
The Fuji and the Specialized look to be the best bang for buck. But the Giants just look amazing.

I'll demo a few and see what I like.

 

[Calvin27]

Just a note: The crux has a weird 1 3/8 lower headset which makes fork interchangeability impossible and headset bearings a very expensive exercise if you take it on dirt too much. This is Spesh being an ass with 'standards'.

I'd take the giant, but the Fuji with it's 1x is pretty good if you can manage with a 1x.

 

[a.brasington]

How often does one go through headsets and forks in CX? Outside of a racing scenario?

 

[Calvin27]

Depends on how high you can bunny hop and how dedicated to commuting you are I guess?

I bunny hop off gutters and have accidently smashed through potholes and kerbs. Still going strong with a full carbon fork. Headset is still strong and I never even clean it. My bike is a secteur so probably not as strong as a crux but I takes the beating well. Road bikes will not be so forgiving.

 

[mitchy_]

I highly doubt you'd change a fork on a cx bike, there is no reason to.

 

[a.brasington]

If it is something that I can just get replaced through Specialized, I don't see there being too much of an issue. I'm not really one to be using aftermarket forks if the Specialized fork does a fine job and has rotor mounts. If it doesn't, then I would probably have doubts about the build :bored:.

I actually didn't notice that the Altamira had the single ring at the front, I've been looking at the double ring on the previous years model. I'm not too sold on a single ring for commuting duties.

I'll shop around for a good price on one of those beautiful Giants. If I can get my mitts on an Advanced Pro 1 for a good deal, then that would be my preference.


This is still all bravado though, as I have yet to demo anything. A ride of each, and an appraisal (and fondle) in person should reveal all :love:

 

[mitchy_]

If it is something that I can just get replaced through Specialized, I don't see there being too much of an issue. I'm not really one to be using aftermarket forks if the Specialized fork does a fine job and has rotor mounts. If it doesn't, then I would probably have doubts about the build :bored:.

I actually didn't notice that the Altamira had the single ring at the front, I've been looking at the double ring on the previous years model. I'm not too sold on a single ring for commuting duties.

I'll shop around for a good price on one of those beautiful Giants. If I can get my mitts on an Advanced Pro 1 for a good deal, then that would be my preference.


This is still all bravado though, as I have yet to demo anything. A ride of each, and an appraisal (and fondle) in person should reveal all :love:

you'll probably struggle to get a good deal on an Adv 1. they keep selling out as it is!

that said, they are a freat bike and dead sexy.. half the reason i bought mine was the colour. :love:

 

[a.brasington]

Yeah I called my LBS, and they are completely out of stock and no available demos in the Giant. They did say however that they can get them on order and it takes about 2-3 weeks for stock to arrive. They also said they would do me a deal that should get me below the $3999 Rrp.

It's going to be a tough call. The Fuji and the Specialized are about $1k cheaper than the Giants... but gosh that Giant frameset is just beautiful. Better components as well.

 

[mitchy_]

where abouts are you? if you happen to be around Brisbane/Gold Coast, you're welcome to try my TCX.

 

[a.brasington]

I'm down south of Syd Thanks for the offer though!

 

[Haakon]

The Advanced Pro frame is indeed very very lovely. In fact, think I'll head out for a ride on it rigjt now

I got an Adcanced Pro 2 - probably easier to get as everyone wants the hydro brakes, but for a roadies I find the TRP Spyre cable discs way more than adequate. And the new 5800 105 11 speed group is lovely.

Even aside from the great deal I got, it's a good 800 bucks cheaper! Spend the change on some flash wheels.

 

[Nerf Herder]

Bombtrack Hook

Ive been getting to know my Hook over the last few months and I'm addicted ... Ive mainly ridden it on my grassy training loops, but have also tried on my short descending track I normally rip with my MTBs.

A whole new world I reckon vs a HT MTB ... just eats grass and actually lets me keep a good clip going so I can giggle around the corners ... fracking scary on MTB worthy descents but in a good butt puckering way ... and I've put a dropper on it to let me rip around tight 180 corners and survive the steeper sections of track.

I haven't ridden a top quality roadie in about 20 years, but this is more than I need or expect for my wants and I've always wanted discs on a roadie

$2370rrp from memory which I'm hoping most n+1 people think is well within budget for a commuter / saddle time / fun training like specific rig ... which is what I use it for

distro through pushie as an obvious declaration

 

[SF Trailboy]

Ive been getting to know my Hook over the last few months and I'm addicted ... Ive mainly ridden it on my grassy training loops, but have also tried on my short descending track I normally rip with my MTBs.

A whole new world I reckon vs a HT MTB ... just eats grass and actually lets me keep a good clip going so I can giggle around the corners ... fracking scary on MTB worthy descents but in a good butt puckering way ... and I've put a dropper on it to let me rip around tight 180 corners and survive the steeper sections of track.

I haven't ridden a top quality roadie in about 20 years, but this is more than I need or expect for my wants and I've always wanted discs on a roadie

$2370rrp from memory which I'm hoping most n+1 people think is well within budget for a commuter / saddle time / fun training like specific rig ... which is what I use it for

distro through pushie as an obvious declaration

Nice rig right there.