Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

Thanks Ed.

What colour tyres should I use for racing in the mud?
Would really value your input here.

Red is faster, and help you avoid the tree.

Perfect. All red or red and black?

Red and black looks more sporty, therefore faster, go for some of them.

All you need now is an expert on tyre pressures....

No, full red or nothing.

Best tyres for CX;

Wow, they look super fast, I change my mind. Red or dead!

I would imagine in this situation, you'd want as much air in them as possible on the narrowest tyre.

OK, I think the discussion about discs up-thread has swayed me (sorry Andy). So, I have the typical C2W decisions to make... £1k budget, bike for daily/commuter/winter/light touring duties - I'd like to feel confident on gravel/bridleways etc but I'm unlikely to do any racing and certainly not seriously. Obvs. eyelets and clearance for mudguards are important. OTP... pretty standard stuff.

Currently my top option is the new Genesis CdF 20, but it's a bit over budget at £1200 and will leave me scrabbling around to buy mtb shoes, pedals, guards etc. I like the idea of removing the FD and replacing the otp chainset with Alfine cranks to get a 1x10 setup, also I can vaguely see dynamo hubs on the horizon for next winter.

Other bikes I've looked at are the CAADX 105 which looks nice but I'm not so convinced would be great for touring and the Plug 4 which seems well specced but fails to excite me.

What are the main pros and cons between those bikes and is there anything else I should consider? Unfortunately the the shops round here only seem to have the CAADX in stock so not much opportunity to go for test rides.

What are the main pros and cons between those bikes

Pro: they are cheap

Con: they are cheap

Focus mares AX Commuter seems to fit the bill. And with the newer Tiagra shifters it's pretty good looking too. I haven't ridden one though so it might be shite, but having seen one in the flesh the other day I have to say it looks like a lot more than £850 worth of bike. With the extra £150 you could get new tyres, saddle that suits and shoes and pedals too

Is that your photo? It's in one of the LBSs near me, and they also offer a C2W discount with my employer. The only CX bike they had in last time I looked was the crux but I'll go have another look.

^My GF has that bike. It's quite heavy.

no, it's not my photo, just the only one online i could find with the new shifters

Great race frame available over at singletrackworld now (not mine, but these are very highly regarded aluminium frames).

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-spooky-supertouch-cross-frameset-535mm-tt?replies=2#post-7492270

Are Spooky no more?, they seem to not have a website or much else.
That one's my size, if only I had spare cash!

Frank the Welder still builds (and will build a replica) but Spooky are no more. When I emailed with him a few months ago I think he still had some Spooky road frames left over in his workshop, but no cross frames

Bloody shame.

Sscx alu frames.
Slate?
Any others?

Pinnacle Arkose, Cinelli Mash, 8Bar Tflsberg

Edit: I assume you mean State, not Slate, right?

That's the fella...

Spooky were great back in the day, had one of their Metalhead hardtail frames... why did I get rid of it!!! Didn't know they did cross frames though.

I also had a Metalhead

Saw this at LBS last week. £999 = Sram Rival1 + hydraulic disc

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/products/845-cx-team.html

10kg is pretty reasonable too.