Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please
Moderators: robbosmans, Moderator Team
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wingguy
- Posts: 4318
- Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:43 pm
by wingguy on Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:54 pm
elviento wrote:WW conversations... :
Q1: how much does a bike matter?
A: Well, 5% at most! Maybe 1%. It's all in the legs. Pros will kick everybody's butt on a shopping cart.
Q2: can I use a CX bike for CX, gran fondo road riding?
A: What?! Are you kidding? How could you possibly use a Range Rover as a sports car?
It's the difference between quantifiable performance and subjective feeling.
Sure, a CX frame with the right tyres is going to be essentially as quick as a dedicated road frame, but will it feel the same? No.
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Rick
- Posts: 2034
- Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:30 pm
by Rick on Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:51 pm
LouisN wrote:sorry for the OT, but...
With flat bars ? What kind of organisation would let a rider with a MTB take part in criterium ..... ?
Well, it was a USA Cycling sanctioned criterium. But a small local series. I was not really being picky about handlebar regulations, and apparently the organizers weren't either. Frankly, it did not even occur to me. What did occur to me was "Damn! that guy on the mtn bike is dropping me!"
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HammerTime2
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- Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 4:43 pm
- Location: Wherever there's a mountain beckoning to be climbed
by HammerTime2 on Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:13 pm
Lance Armstrong, with or without PEDs, riding a road bike, a criterium bike, a cyclocross bike, or a mountain bike, could handily beat me in a criterium. That doesn't mean I am going to like riding a cyclocross bike on the road as much as I like riding a road bike on the road.
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shadwell
- Posts: 575
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:25 am
- Location: Gold Coast Australia
by shadwell on Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:17 pm
euro cross,frames,tend to have higher BB for ground clearance in mud and sand etc. ....historically...
US cross frames tend to have lower BB presumably suiting generally dryer,conditions....
A US cross frame would be the closer of the two to a road frame and therefore arguably better suited to your needs.... Off the shelf...
Custom you could go pretty much road sportive geometry with clearance built in and disc specific not problem....
Worth considering currently the disc brakes on cross would not last too many alpine pass descents due to heat build up.... Cross is short sharp braking from relatively low speeds with recovery between applications... Big descents require repeated extended braking and hence thermal mass.....
You mentioned sportives so I thought it prudent to mention...
If you go something interesting please post it when done...
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Wingnut
- Posts: 2196
- Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:41 am
by Wingnut on Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:52 pm
I'd go for it, stuff what anyone else thinks!
I've noticed in the market place that "Adventure" bikes are becoming more common, by this they mean a road bike that can go off on dirt roads, has extra tyre clearance and discs etc...
I want one of these...made by Calfee.
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xjbaylor
- Posts: 142
- Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:37 pm
by xjbaylor on Wed Jan 02, 2013 2:43 pm
Miller76 wrote:Seeing as no one has given real strong reasons for not pursuing this avenue, now I am starting to consider my options....
All of the options that you mentioned look good. As an earlier post mentioned, look for a cross bike with a low bottom bracket or go custom. Carl Strong builds a bike that would seem to be exactly what you are asking about.
http://www.strongframes.com/frames_&_pricing/special/Salsa also just started building the Warbird (and Warbird Ti.) Think the Moots you are looking at but for half the price.
I am strongly considering going the route that you are looking, please let us know what you end up doing.
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tymon_tm
- Posts: 3666
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by tymon_tm on Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:45 pm
Wingnut wrote:I'd go for it, stuff what anyone else thinks!
I've noticed in the market place that "Adventure" bikes are becoming more common, by this they mean a road bike that can go off on dirt roads, has extra tyre clearance and discs etc...
wow, i didn't know one needs a whole new market segment in order to take a road bike off the tarmac for a bit.. of course these wide tires make it silly to even call it a road bike per se instead of, say, CX. 99% of owners would never-ever let their bikes touch the mud, so this extra clearance and discs seems like a coffee bar deal. on the other hand, i've no issues riding my 'regular' road bikes, with regular tires on (dry) dirt roads or light terrain such as forrest paths or fields etc.
from my bike shop days i can easily recall 'ambitious amateurs' who rode their fancy MTB rigs mainly on tarmac.. guess it's down to personal preferences after all
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.
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JackWalk
- Posts: 76
- Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 10:29 am
by JackWalk on Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:36 am
Miller76 wrote:I just want to clear up a few points.....
I am not a racer, I like to ride hard and fast but have no misconceptions about my ability. I will not be using this for racing or crits etc.
The riding will consist if long group rides, Gran Fondos, some fast gravel trails and the odd fun class CX race.
There have been some great examples on this site of the very type of bike I am thinking of -
viewtopic.php?p=917558#p917558" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is probably one of my favorite examples..
Taking the racing factor away, would having something similar to the build above really reduce my enjoyment of a Gran Fondo type ride? Would it make me not enjoy the ride?
Again, I plan on having two or more sets of wheels, and the one for the Gran Fondo style rides would be something special....
Thanks again and any suggestions on alternative frames or quality wheelsets combinations?
If so then a cyclocross bike would be fine. We have many people who ride cyclocross bikes on our club training rides and manage to keep up. Even when we average 40k/mh over 50 km's
Thanks again
Ps the Range Rover analogy was more in reference to the combination of a car that is comfortable and utilitarian, but also packs punch - the friend in question owns one, it is over 500bhp and much like the comment about the mountain bike pro who turned up and embarrassed roadies at a crit, this car humiliates wanna be sports car owners... True it'll never be a Porsche 911' but it's certainly not a soccer mums station wagon
Cheers
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SalsaLover
- Posts: 431
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- Location: Zürich, Switzerland
by SalsaLover on Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:25 am
I tend to agree with both opinions here.
Indeed a Cyclocross bike is versatile and can be riden on the road with road tyres, and it will be probably good enough for on/off road.
But I feel the geometry of a road bike, is much better suitable for climbing and descending, I find the BB on my cross bike a bit too high ( it's a Ridley XNight ) the Colnago C50 handles and feels in general much better.