Cyclocross bikes

[cramman]

Right then, sorry for all the links but I'm thinking people looking here will probably know about these things without having to click.
I'm lost, I'm after a bike, thinking cyclocross for the all round ability but mainly road use.

It'll be on the CTW scheme so has to be under a grand, which to be honest is more than I want to spend on a bike.
I don't have to spend it all. For example, is one of the £1000 bikes, £200 better than the GT?

My options are;

SCOTT - CX Comp 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p28804/Scott-CX-Comp-201... - £999

BIANCHI - D2 Cyclocross AXIS Alu SLX/Tiagra 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p30180/Bianchi-D2-Cycloc... - £999

GT - GTR Type CX 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p27909/GT-GTR-Type-CX-20... - £800

KONA - Honky Tonk 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p29695/Kona-Honky-Tonk-2... - £750

KONA - Jake 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p29698/Kona-Jake-2010.as... - £750

KONA - Jake The Snake 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p29699/Kona-Jake-The-Sna... - £1000

GIANT - TCX 2 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p28440/Giant-TCX-2-2010.... - £750

SPECIALIZED - Tricross 2010- http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p28130/Specialized-Tricr... - £699

SPECIALIZED - Tricross Sport 2010 - http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p28132/Specialized-Tricr... - £850

Any thoughts, I'm 6'2 so think my favourite (the Giant) will be too small. I'm not really very keen onthe looks of the Kona's.

Cheers,

[Roman]

I think the Scott and GT are the best bikes there personally - both good spec for the price and nice and light too. The lower spec Konas and Tricross bikes are a little heavy in comparison.

If you'd rather not spend £1k I'd go for the GT.

[anonymous-user]

the Boardman CXPRO has been getting really good reviews in mags recently and at £899 with SRAM Rival, Mavic CPX22 wheels, ally frame and carbon forks its easy to see why.... personally, all your other other bikes dont look anywhere near as good value for money.

if that doesnt float your boat, go for a ridley or a kenesis. crossers are a very niche bike, go to a race and you will see very few people on a trek, spesh or similar.

[cramman]

Thanks for the replies, my problem is that I have to get it from Wheelies, I'll have another look on the site but they do seem quite limited when it come CX bikes.

[anonymous-user]

fair enough. what i would say is look at the crankset and the chain rings that they come with. its not a big issue and fit should be the deciding factor but for example, the bianchi runs 50/34 which would be very good on road but hard work were you ever to use the bike off tarmac. the gt runs 46/36, far better suited to cyclocross but you will spin out on the road when commuting. its hard to say whether a bike is really worth more when there are only subtle differences.

[a11y_m]

That Boardman does sound great value - didn't realise they'd added a 'cross bike to their range.

Maybe have a look at Genesis bikes too. I don't think they're as good value as they used to be - my 2008-model Vapour retailed at £700 at the time and I think I paid only £650. But they're sorted frames with nice geometry and a decent spec.

Genesis Vapour: http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cross/vapour/v...
Genesis Croix de Fer: http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/cross/croix-de...

[Rolls]

I've got the cannondale CX9 - bought on the bike to work scheme - seems ok, even if the brakes are ste compared with my xtr discs!

[mugs]

I went for a 2010 Kona Jake as I needed some money from my voucher to put towards extra kit (panniers, mudguards, winter clothing etc...) but overall I'm hugely pleased with it. It is a touch heavy, but unless you're planning to race it's not a huge issue (see above with me whacking loads of extra weight on it anyway - pointless being a weightweenie on a commuter) and it's stupidly simple to shed some extra weight for not a lot of extra outlay. The stock steel¹ fork weighs a tonne and a lot of the unbranded finishing kit is cheap to replace via ebay. Although it gets most of the important stuff like frame and groupset right. Overall I'd highly recommended it if you're looking at the cheaper end of the market. It does have a triple chainring though. That was a plus for me as it's hilly where I live, but a lot of people recommend compacts. Full Tiagra groupset, very nice frame and high overall quality make it a definite contender. I originally wanted a Genesis Vapour, and if you can stretch to it I think it's even better and worth the price difference, but I needed the extra £100 for other things.



¹I appreciated the fact that Kona chose to compromise on the fork rather than on the groupset, frame or brakes, unlike a lot of other manufacturers' offerings in this price bracket. I'd probably upgrade the fork at some point anyway so chucking a cheap alloy or carbon job on and adding another £50 onto the ticket price would have made the bike a lot less appealing to me than doing it this way around - not everyone would agree, but I'm a serial upgrader of bike parts anyway and the fact that upgrading the fork can lose over a kilo of weight from the bike is incentive enough.