Lenny, Alek and Rob's cyclo crossbromance

lukegjpotter

Went to the park on Sunday, tree roots are slippy. Albeit with 80psi slicks. I crashed and took a rock to the knee.

Spent last evening/night playing Bike Mechanic Simulator, new wheels and handlebars. Although, my rear TRP Spyre caliper is not straight, sticking and not locking the wheel.

Hitting the park again this evening, hopefully my close personal friend Joe Biden allows me in.

lennymc

tis only June!! It's like school uniforms being on sale before the kids have finished for summer, or christmas cr@p being on sale in September!!

STOP!!!!

(And give me back my thread title!)

Alek

Just ordered a pair of Schwalbe X-ones.

You need to try better Lenny.

lukegjpotter

Is that David Conory at the UCI CX Training Camp?

http://www.cxmagazine.com/interview-checking-geoff-proctor-uci-cx-training-camp-50/15

Kaisr Sose

lennymc wrote: »

tis only June!! It's like school uniforms being on sale before the kids have finished for summer, or christmas cr@p being on sale in September!!

STOP!!!!

Sure Easons are doing specials on school books for the new term and it's only a matter of days before the first Chriatmas Shops open for business...BT being the favourite with Paddy Power :-)

SuperSean

I'm thinking of changing my the V brakes on my CX for Cantilever brakes for the next season.
Only just started CX last year but it felt like my brakes were terrible!

Are Canti's better ?

mloc123

SuperSean wrote: »

I'm thinking of changing my the V brakes on my CX for Cantilever brakes for the next season.
Only just started CX last year but it felt like my brakes were terrible!

Are Canti's better ?

I am pretty sure I have read that V brakes are better than Cantis... Perhaps a V upgrade is a better option.

RobFowl

SuperSean wrote: »

I'm thinking of changing my the V brakes on my CX for Cantilever brakes for the next season.
Only just started CX last year but it felt like my brakes were terrible!

Are Canti's better ?

Canti's set up well are ok, not great but ok. Discs are the way if you really want an improvement. Braking in cross is over rated anyways

SuperSean

Well the bike is pretty budget so if I put disc brakes on it they'll be more expensive than the bike lol

The brakes that are on it are pretty budget/basic so I want to upgrade them anyway. So that's why I was thinking of changing to cantis

mloc123

SuperSean wrote: »

Well the bike is pretty budget so if I put disc brakes on it they'll be more expensive than the bike lol

The brakes that are on it are pretty budget/basic so I want to upgrade them anyway. So that's why I was thinking of changing to cantis

I would imagine the best return you will get is on upgraded Vs with better pads and setup properly.

C3PO

RobFowl wrote: »

Braking in cross is over rated anyways

Yep ... rarely needed more brakes in Cross ... constantly looking for more speed!!

SuperSean

C3PO wrote: »

Yep ... rarely needed more brakes in Cross ... constantly looking for more speed!!

Well I could of done with brakes that work when I was going down that Hill on the swords course and ended up running off the course

RobFowl

lennymc wrote: »

(And give me back my thread title!)

Make it Lenny, Alek and Robs Cyclocross party..

Please Mods

Go on go on go on go on go on

CramCycle

RobFowl wrote: »

Make it Lenny, Alek and Robs Cyclocross party..

Please Mods

Go on go on go on go on go on

MOD VOICE: The temptation to change the title too
"RobFowl was not invited to Lenny, Alek and Robs Cyclocross party"
is strong :pac:

coach22

Looking at buying a cross bike. Don't think i I can stretch budget to hydraulic disc brakes. Which would be better then, mechanical discs or cantis? I'd use the bike for commuting on as well.

Lusk_Doyle

RobFowl wrote: »

Make it Lenny, Alek and Robs Cyclocross party..

Please Mods

Go on go on go on go on go on

Shutup or they will change it to something about a campervan!

nak

coach22 wrote: »

Looking at buying a cross bike. Don't think i I can stretch budget to hydraulic disc brakes. Which would be better then, mechanical discs or cantis? I'd use the bike for commuting on as well.

Mechanical discs are way better than cantis.

coach22

okay cheers for that. should help me with the search!

cdaly_

^^^
Avid BB7s should do the trick...

DirkVoodoo

Personally I think I could live without discs. Ok, wet weather braking, riding on an out of true rim, rim wear, etc. are all great, but I've found them more useful commuting!

Having said that, I'm selling a bike with TRP spyre mechanical discs on the cycling adverts sub-forum.

Taxuser1

few questions as a newbie in this thread.

Is it possible to get a course-worthy, lightweight and durable cx for under a grand with all the add-ons necessary for training and racing.

is there a dedicated Used cyclocross section anywhere that someone can point me to? irish/UK magazines buy and sell ? There isn't much on adverts or done deal.

can road carbon wheels (boras) take the bigger CX tyres - i see some pictures with very decent wheels out there, I wasn't sure if they were specialised for CX only.

is there a separate license required outside of a racing license? as a newbie cx wannabe, but experienced roadie, would it be expected to go directly to the higher level ?

Alek

can road carbon wheels (boras) take the bigger CX tyres

They will, but I wouldn't sacrifice Boras to mud. You brake a lot initially in CX and rims can wear out very quickly as far as I understand.

Use your winter/training wheels or whatever comes with the CX bike for the starters.

as a newbie cx wannabe, but experienced roadie, would it be expected to go directly to the higher level ?

I'd say: give it a go in the B race in Rathfarnham, if you find yourself in the top 10, go for the A race next time.

nak

Taxuser1 wrote: »

few questions as a newbie in this thread.

can road carbon wheels (boras) take the bigger CX tyres - i see some pictures with very decent wheels out there, I wasn't sure if they were specialised for CX only.

is there a separate license required outside of a racing license? as a newbie cx wannabe, but experienced roadie, would it be expected to go directly to the higher level ?

You can use road wheels, I have tubs and clinchers and they're both road wheels.

Race licence covers everything from limited competition up.

If you win a B race you get an automatic upgrade. Up to you what category you enter, but generally anyone A1-A3 on the road would do the A race. I know people who race A and don't do any other form of racing the rest of the season who can finish top 20.

Alek

Nice bargain for a CX bike at the moment here: http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/end-of-line-bikes/boardman-cx-team-bike-2014

A bit on a heavy side, but otherwise you can't blame it. Good brakes - Avid BB7 as far as I can see.

Taxuser1

i'm trying to make this as cheap as remotely possible. I have 50% of a groupset I want to put onto a CX frame and use road wheels I already have. I've no idea what a good CX frame second hand might be and what to look out for. Any advice ?

RobFowl

Lenny, Alek and Robs Cyclocross party

Go on, Go on, Go on, Go on

onthefringe

Taxuser1 wrote: »

i'm trying to make this as cheap as remotely possible. I have 50% of a groupset I want to put onto a CX frame and use road wheels I already have. I've no idea what a good CX frame second hand might be and what to look out for. Any advice ?

to use the road wheels you have...then your going Cantilever brakes...which when set up well are more than adequate

cx frames easy to find on ebay..
also dolan do a great alu frame..
as does paul milnes cycles and Ribble in uk..
depends what you wana spend but you can start with any of the bove for around €250 new for an alu frame and about €1000 for carbon..

nows the time to buy as when it comes closer to the season they tend to get a bit scarcer secondhand

its not expensive to get going if you have a few bits and the bikes are fun and to be honest the most versatile bike youll ever own..
you can train, race, commute, tour and generally do any tootling you need on them..

one thing to watch is sizing and geometry..
seat angles tend to be steeper...so even though top tube length might be the same as your road machine will appear shorter..
same for head tubes..

Miklos

I'd love to give this mudplugging lark a go but not sure I can stretch to a proper bike at present. Is anyone out there competing on singlespeed?

Maybe competing isn't the right word.. Taking part!

A Pompino seems like a decent shout for a ready to go singlespeed CX.

CramCycle

NickWray wrote: »

I'd love to give this mudplugging lark a go but not sure I can stretch to a proper bike at present. Is anyone out there competing on singlespeed?

Maybe competing isn't the right word.. Taking part!

A Pompino seems like a decent shout for a ready to go singlespeed CX.

There are definitely a few SS being used, although not common. I think someone from here was using a Pompino.

fat bloke

onthefringe wrote: »

the most versatile bike youll ever own..
you can train, race, commute, tour and generally do any tootling you need on them..
..

Definitely one of the best things about them, you can distill a shed load of bikes down to one. I keep my good bike for Sunday best and whatever road racing I do, and my cx bike does cx, winter/summer/wet weather/workhorse training, bit of commuting, turbo etc.

One thing I did was bought a new tiagra (52:36) road chainset to swop over outside of the cx season cos the original cx (36:46) stayed to get a bit silly cadence-wise for the faster road spins.

If you're going set one bike that many tasks then it's worth buying a decent one. I was lucky to get a good deal on a carbon focus mares and it's decently light.