My First CX Bike

The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!

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Skyleth
Posts: 1083
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:59 pm
Location: Boston, MA, USA

by Skyleth

I thought I'd get in the mix by posting my cross bike. I'm new to 'cross from road racing, here's my first 'cross bike, it's lighter than I originally expected (especially for a totally random mix of parts), I could definetly see this thing getting around 18lbs (8.2kg) w/o too many changes...

Frame: 2002 Empella Bonfire 54cm
Fork: Bonfire Aluminum 1"
Stem: 3T The Stem
Bars: 3T Prima 199
Head Set: Campagnolo Record 1"
Seat Post: Oval Concepts Aluminum
Saddle: Specialized Alias 143
Wheels: Performance Advanta
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 12-25
Tires: Tufo Tubular Clincher Prestige 30
Breaks: Avid Shorty 6
Cranks: FSA Gossamar 48/38
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 9spd
Front Derailleur: Campagnolo Veloce
Shift/Break Levers: Shimano Ultegra
Pedals: Crank Brothers Eggbeater C
Chain: Sram
Other: Third Eye Chain Catcher

Total Weight: 20.2lbs (9.2kg)

It's my first cross bike and I've already got my eye on some key upgrades... carbon seatpost, better/lighter wheels, single chain ring, carbon fork (easton ec90 cross maybe?), ti eggbeaters, hehe

What is a WeightWeenie Weight for a raceable 'cross bike? I'm sure we could get pretty light w/ carbon cassettes, carbon chain rings, etc... but that's not very practical...

:-D
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My Empella Bonfire
My Empella Bonfire

canisestinvia
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:39 pm
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by canisestinvia

thats pretty. always liked that frame.

by Weenie


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simon
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Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:34 am

by simon

the weightweeniest cross bike for racing is 6,8 kg, not because below is too dangerous, but below is forbidden...i think if a cross bike is somewhere around 7,5 kg, it is rather light. last year the bike of sven nys was around 8,5 kg...still good enough to win everything

Müsing
Posts: 148
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:50 am
Location: Bonn, Germany

by Müsing

I like your Empella very much. Especially the world champ-color-stripes. I used to have one too.
Be carefull with the carbon-seatpin. It can be dangerous.

JK
Posts: 1057
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2002 7:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands - Europe

by JK

Nice bike.

What is your opinion on the Tufo Tub. Clinchers?

<Edit> OK, just checked the topic about those and found your opinion :wink: Are they still OK?

Oswald
Posts: 794
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:11 pm

by Oswald

simon wrote:the weightweeniest cross bike for racing is 6,8 kg, not because below is too dangerous, but below is forbidden...i think if a cross bike is somewhere around 7,5 kg, it is rather light. last year the bike of sven nys was around 8,5 kg...still good enough to win everything


My Ridley weighs in at 8,4kg... I could go with lighter wheels, but I like my cx wheels to be cheap...

Thx guys, for the tips regarding the vibrating front fork, I also have that problem.

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Skyleth
Posts: 1083
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:59 pm
Location: Boston, MA, USA

by Skyleth

Thanks for the comments!

JK, I still like them (Tufo T/C) did some hard cornering at pratice yesterday definetly feel confident on them on the grass

by Weenie


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