Cyclo Cross Bike for (sort of) newbie

[anonymous-user]

Been mountain biking ever since I could ride a bike and have decided that a Cyclo Cross bike would make a great addition to my hard tail and full suspension as a bike to blast about on the road and tow paths! The roads round me are in a terrible state so thought the X would be ideal.

I have just started looking around and don’t really want to spend a lot and found this in my local Halfords and wondered what the experts thought on the spec for the price and if there are any other alternatives worth considering? I don’t know an awful lot about road/cyclo cross bikes so any advice appreciated.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/c...

[bakerstreet]

MonkeyMatt said:

Been mountain biking ever since I could ride a bike and have decided that a Cyclo Cross bike would make a great addition to my hard tail and full suspension as a bike to blast about on the road and tow paths! The roads round me are in a terrible state so thought the X would be ideal.

I have just started looking around and don’t really want to spend a lot and found this in my local Halfords and wondered what the experts thought on the spec for the price and if there are any other alternatives worth considering? I don’t know an awful lot about road/cyclo cross bikes so any advice appreciated.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/c...

No way was that ever £649! However at the advertised price, you can't really go wrong. I bought a CX bike a year ago and I really like mine. I've since added carbon bars, new stem and a few titanium bits

If you have a look on Ebay and have a bit of budget creep, then see if you can find a Boardman cyclocross bike. They go for around £450-£550. They got good reviews

[anonymous-user]

bakerstreet said:

No way was that ever £649! However at the advertised price, you can't really go wrong. I bought a CX bike a year ago and I really like mine. I've since added carbon bars, new stem and a few titanium bits

If you have a look on Ebay and have a bit of budget creep, then see if you can find a Boardman cyclocross bike. They go for around £450-£550. They got good reviews

I did look at the boardman bikes and really liked them but a new one is a big jump in price!

[anonymous-user]

The Halfords one looks fine. The Boardman is better but costs a lot more as you say. If you find a local one that hast been trashed then that's the way to go - good luck with that !

[austinsmirk]

bump.

finally my employer has offered a cycle to work scheme: so I have a window in the next two weeks to get a bike bought.

I already have all the bike varients: now I want a cyclo cross bike- not just for collecting- but because of where I live and my commute etc- it'd be nice to have the on road and off road commute on a multi purpose bike.

I live in a place called Bingley, west yorkshire (think yorkshire dales) Indeed my commute takes me onto the moors- basically all you do round here is climb up severe hills and descend hills.

so whatever bike needs to have a cracking set of gears on it.

so up to £1000- what would you recommend. not that it probably matters but I'm 5.11 " in height.

[gazza285]

Perfect timing, you'll be needing this...

http://yorkshirecyclocross.com/

[bakerstreet]

austinsmirk said:

bump.

finally my employer has offered a cycle to work scheme: so I have a window in the next two weeks to get a bike bought.

I already have all the bike varients: now I want a cyclo cross bike- not just for collecting- but because of where I live and my commute etc- it'd be nice to have the on road and off road commute on a multi purpose bike.

I live in a place called Bingley, west yorkshire (think yorkshire dales) Indeed my commute takes me onto the moors- basically all you do round here is climb up severe hills and descend hills.

so whatever bike needs to have a cracking set of gears on it.

so up to £1000- what would you recommend. not that it probably matters but I'm 5.11 " in height.

Your height isn't really relevant!

The Planet X Cyclocross bike is good value for £1000. Decent looking bike and a carbon frame too. I think they do a SRAM Apex equipped one for £1k. Check their web site.

If you go for a SRAM Apex Wifli rear mech, you can get a 32T on the back and standard CX gearing is 46/36 on the front, so that should be enough to get you up most hills.

Boardman do a carbon framed CX bike, but its about £1500, so a bit of budget creep required.

Focus do a good CX bike along with Merida. The Merida is ali frames, but around £1k. The Giant TCX is worth a shout too.

[Roman]

Paul Milnes Cycles in Bradford have specialized in 'cross for decades:

http://www.paulmilnescycles.com/cyclocross-bikes-6...

[SoliD]

I topped up my voucher recently and bagged a Pinnacle Arkose 4 from Evans, got £100 of free accessories chucked in, but has full hydraulic brakes and latest shimano 105 which was exactly what I was after, and got enough of a range of gears with 50-34 front and 11-32 back.

[TheLemming]

bakerstreet said:

Your height isn't really relevant!

The Planet X Cyclocross bike is good value for £1000. Decent looking bike and a carbon frame too. I think they do a SRAM Apex equipped one for £1k. Check their web site.

If you go for a SRAM Apex Wifli rear mech, you can get a 32T on the back and standard CX gearing is 46/36 on the front, so that should be enough to get you up most hills.

Boardman do a carbon framed CX bike, but its about £1500, so a bit of budget creep required.

Focus do a good CX bike along with Merida. The Merida is ali frames, but around £1k. The Giant TCX is worth a shout too.

The Boardman carbon CX bike arrives mid way through the elite range, its not a Halfords machine and the frame alone is about £1500 (it is a damn nice frame though).

Price wise the planet x cyclocross can't be beaten on a spec for price basis at the moment.
The closest you'll get in Halfords is the 900 quid CX team.
I've got one, upgraded it till the frame is the only original part remaining (and its not a great frame).
Raced it, used it on road and off - wish I'd bought the planet x tbh

[Rolls]

Where are you based? I've got a canondale cX9 that i'm currently trying to get rid of in a 58cm...

[austinsmirk]

Cheers all. I'm hunting in earnest now, so I will report back.