got this badboy last week, first time ive logged any where close to 20 mile rides. should get me into shape. hahaha!!!! first thing will be brakes on the inside grip position, and tires that will grab the socal dry dirt. (any recommendations?)
Nice! I just finished building my cross bike about a week ago and have been having a blast with it. Was weird at first trashing around a "road bike" since I always babied my (real) road bike but after you get past the idea of it, it is a blast to ride! I'm currently running Michelin Cyclocross Jet just because I got them for "free" with my used frameset. I haven't tried many other cross tires so I can't really compare but they seem ok. They're smooth on the pavement, smooth on the dirt, has enough grip, and even rode decently on sand. Kenda actually makes small block 8 in a 700c for cross use that I'm planning on trying since I'm used to Specialized Fastrax which have somewhat similar thread patterns. BTW, are you running tubulars or clinchers?
Wow look at that rear derailleur. Can we say cross shifting? I have the stock bontrager on the front and a Kenda on the rear. You are really not going to railing any corners in the dirt of these bikes, so tire preference hasn't been a big deal. These bikes are so much fun to climb on in the dirt. Enjoy.
It's a 1x9 setup (Salsa Crossing Guard and 3rd Eye) so I have the chain as tension as possible to prevent the chain from failing off.
i was looking at the mich jet tires... they look like they would work well, also i was looking at the ones that have a diamond tread pattern in the middle and turning lugs on the outside. i did a 26 mile ride from my buddies house up mountain, to baldy road, into the claremont wilderness, then single track to the top of marshal canyon down to the road, and back to his house in upland ridiculously fun coming down single track with super thin tires that dont let you control your bike. and im not sure what tubulars, and clinchers are.... but my tires take a tube:?: but these are some of the tires i was looking at.
im pretty happy with my maxxis cx tires, tubulars are glue on tires, clincers are a normal tire and tube
Cross is great. Realistically, most mtb trails can be ridden and faster on a cross bike. I worked with a team in colorado that routinely hit the local mtb trails in the middle of our training rides. Guys riding along with 4 & 5 inches of travel, and then a group of a dozen lycra-clad yahoos come flying through on what look like road bikes. Pretty funny looking. ...don't jump so well tho. go ahead, ask me how I know...
This may sound stupid but I love my cross bike because to me it's made to be beat up. My mountain bike is also my race bike with pretty expensive components so I shy away from beating on it too too much. My road bike is totally babied with carbon goodies including wheels. But my CX bike is a totally different story, i built it with left over parts from my road bike mostly and I seriously ride it HARD and in conditions (rain) that I wouldn't ride my other two bikes. Plus I barely ever wash my cx bike and when I do, I just hose it off and rode around the block once or twice to dry it.
Was just at the shop today working on my 'Crosser. It is a SS custom built frame, and is seeing some wear but I feel the same way. No way should it be seeing trails like RockIt, Joplin and Rattlesnake but I love riding it so much. I figure I can get the frame dents fixed and new powder coat for just a fraction of hat a new frame would cost and in the meantime it brings so much joy! Afterall, isn't a bike meant to be ridden???
Sweet bike, Gil. :bang: On my Jake the Snake I'm running Kenda Small Block 8; front and rear. They are great on the trails and on the road, too, but may wear fast if you constantly road ride with them. I've heard good things with Schwalbe Rocket Ron CX and the famous Schwalbe Racing Ralph. They also have the new Smart Sam CX which could be a very good training tire. You should think of racing your 'cross bike. Check out the Socal prestige series at socalcross.org. :wave:
That's hilarious!! I would love to see the looks on those MTbikers faces. I'm sure they jump just fine, it's the landing that might give a problem here and there Nice bike, it makes me want to take my $100 steel Masi and just put some heftier tires on it. Are you guys running stouter rims?
the stock rims that came with my bike are the bontrager ssr wheelset. i have no clue about road rims so i cant say if they are heavy duty or not. i just cant get over how fast it feels in the dirt. i love it, coming down a trail just sketch as can be. so fun.
As long as you're not running any strongly/oddly krazy light wheels you should be fine w/ ANY road wheels for the most part. I'm running Neuvation R28 wheels which are more or less Ksyium knock offs. Most pro riders will race on Zipp 303/404 wheels. Tubulars are perfered (for less pressures) but clinchers will work (I'm using these).
Gil, I recently built up my own CX bike, but set it up with a riser bar. My frame is a Soma Double Cross. My question was about your current wheel set. I'm also using the Bontrager SSR wheels and was told by a few folks that they may not be strong enough for CX. Have you had any issues with your wheels? I would mainly ride the Fullerton Loop with this bike. Do you think it will be ok to do so?
ive never ridden the fullerton loop, but i took it down marshall canyon from the calremont wilderness.... did fine with all the stream crossings and dodging horse poop. after the ride i checked the spokes and they are still all nice and tight.
Monster Cross I had pretty good luck with the Ritchey SpeedMax. roll nice and hook up good .. and best of all they are cheap!!. im coming off a cyclocross rig myseff that i used for commuting and mtn trails. But i had a desire to fit even bigger tires, run a drop bar, and have more of a sloping top tube. So this is what i came up with... the best of both worlds...the small block eight is not a bad rolling tire on the street and hooks up quite nicely in the dirt.
