cyclocross as road bike?

[Thorn Cycling]

Does anyone know of a cyclocross bike that, with changed wheels/tires, could double as a half-decent road bike? I have a max. budget of $1.5k.

 

[DirtyWorks]

A 'cross bike with road wheels is more than half-decent. A 'cross bike weighs a tiny bit more with a slightly higher bottom bracket in some cases. If you are in the U.S. bikesdirect.com has a good pricing on OEM product seen with different stickers at much higher prices.

Go for it, you won't regret it.

 

[elapid]

Does anyone know of a cyclocross bike that, with changed wheels/tires, could double as a half-decent road bike? I have a max. budget of $1.5k.

I use my 'cross bike as my wet weather road bike. No problems at all. In fact, a joy to ride, especially if I want to veer off on one of the nearby trails . My 'cross bike is a Stevens Ultegra, but I am sure nearly every 'cross bike would double more than adequately as a road bike (except for maybe the disc 'cross bikes?).

 

[sashimono]

I got an old Bianchi Axis off Craigslist for $180. Best bike buy I've ever made. Its been a joy to ride and I've put about 4k road miles on it so far with the original suntour parts. When this one wears out, I'm planning to just scrap it and buy another.

 

[kiwirider]

I ride a Cannondale cross bike as a commuter and ocassional roadie - although for the first 12 months that I was over here (before I brought my "proper" roadie over) it was my sole road bike. It cost something just over the $1k Canadian.

Never had any hassles with it - and gave it a hiding. Like Elapid says, if you fit a set of mild cross tyres (file treads or something like that), you can have a blast playing on the dirt and the road.

Only piece of advice that I'd give is to remember that cantilever brakes don't stop you as well as dual pivot road brakes. Nothing major, but just something to remember when you're riding ... Only way around it on a cross bike is to get disk brakes - but that'll push your costs up beyond what you want to spend.

(Elapid - no reason not to use a disc braked cross bike on the road. Buddy of mine has a disc equipped Salsa and will often use it as a roadie - Gats loops, out beyond the airport, wherever ...)

 

[Michielveedeebee]

my little bro uses a Ridley X-bow. works very well for him

 

[Thorn Cycling]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

[TheDude]

I ride a Cannondale CX9 currently as a do-anything bike. Bit of light trails, kid seat or shopping on the rack, 100k weekend fun rides. I may be ading a kids trail-a -bike as an opton soon. I have 2 sets of wheels, 1 box section 3 cross with a set of Michelin Jet tyres and a set of Zondas. I have to adjust brake width a bit when I switch.

 

[Boeing]

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/04/15...-bike-leaks-disc-brake-prototype-version-too/


id ride this all day

I like the new short v brakes BUT

with soon to be sti hydraulic levers too shhhhh

 

[Paul64]

Read the bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Frischknecht

He raced the 1996 Olympics mens road race on a cyclocross bike.

 

[anth73]

I use a Fuji CrossComp as my commuter and winter road bike, running 25mm road tyres instead of 35mm cross tyres. No problems at all other than having swapped out the cantis for mini v brakes with adjustable noodles for much improved braking.

The only negative is the slight weight penalty of the frame and fork over a comparable road bike but in the Fuji's case the fork weighs a kilo! I could shed half that with an aftermarket fork if I wanted to.

 

[Quixote]

Up grade the brakes

Thorn, If your question about CX as a road bike is still a viable one, here's my advice.
I have a GIANT TCX. I put pavement tires on it and use it almost exclusively as a road bike...especially in wet weather or when I'm riding roads with crappy pavement. It's a perfect ride and a great solution. Here is my only advice. The brakes on the CX are not the best...just barely functional. But, if you need to stop quickly...problems!
Solution, I recently upgraded my brakes to the TRP CX-9. This has resulted in a fantastic improvement in stopping power as well as overall control of the machine.
Cheers

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Thorn, If your question about CX as a road bike is still a viable one, here's my advice.
I have a GIANT TCX. I put pavement tires on it and use it almost exclusively as a road bike...especially in wet weather or when I'm riding roads with crappy pavement. It's a perfect ride and a great solution. Here is my only advice. The brakes on the CX are not the best...just barely functional. But, if you need to stop quickly...problems!
Solution, I recently upgraded my brakes to the TRP CX-9. This has resulted in a fantastic improvement in stopping power as well as overall control of the machine.
Cheers

You should be supporting your local economy a riding PAUL NEO RETRO brakes, plenty of stopping power there, and made in Chico.

 

[Quixote]

AND...PRESTO, that was fast...and a good point at that. Okay...so Thorn, if you're still following this thread, by all means, go for the PAUL NEO RETRO! As for me and my great advice, I'm heading over to Sierra Nevada (another facet of our local economy) to see if I can get past this embarrassing moment. And thank you, RDV4ROUBAIX, for the good word about my hometown...I'm assuming that it was an endorsement.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

AND...PRESTO, that was fast...and a good point at that. Okay...so Thorn, if you're still following this thread, by all means, go for the PAUL NEO RETRO! As for me and my great advice, I'm heading over to Sierra Nevada (another facet of our local economy) to see if I can get past this embarrassing moment. And thank you, RDV4ROUBAIX, for the good word about my hometown...I'm assuming that it was an endorsement.

I'm not sure what Chico the town is like, I'm sure it's nice, but you caught my attention since you're from there and are recommending TRP, which is just extremely overpriced Tektro, when for the same price point you could have went with PAUL and boosted your local economy, and "local" being your backyard. I'm a huge fan of PAUL Components, been riding their product and building wheels with their hubs for over a decade. First mfg to produce a SS specific MTB hub. Their NEO RETRO brakes are arguably the most powerful cantis on the market.