Specialized Tricross

Went to a bike shop today to buy a Langster 2008 [which would be my first fixed gear bike, although I'd ride it freewheel to start with, I think...] but came across the Specialized Tricross, which took my fancy as a) it'd nice to be able to ride on towpaths etc occasionally and b) it could, I think, take a pannier.
Just wondered if anybody has an opinion about the bike. http://www.tredz.co.uk/details.aspx?cgid=&id=11879&cid=
Thanks for any thoughts.
Ben

may mate who posts on here as Nimhbus has got one.
it's shit but he likes it..

seriously, it looks the nuts for rough stuff, is light, has loads of tyre clearence and has got gears!

I wish I had gears...

Give Andy £449.99 and he'll build you a pimp daddy mack fixed gear bike.

RPM ... and [it] has got gears!

I wish I had gears...

It doesn't, though. It seems to be a new addition to the Specialized range.

photoben Give Andy £449.99 and he'll build you a pimp daddy mack fixed gear bike.

Some of that stuff does look pretty cool

benjamin1750 [quote]RPM ... and [it] has got gears!

I wish I had gears...

It doesn't, though. It seems to be a new addition to the Specialized range.[/quote]

oh yeah, they do a singlespeed one..

hmmm...actually a fixed tricross would be fucking alright..

I could handle a bit of that mmm...mm

benjamin1750 [quote]RPM ... and [it] has got gears!

I wish I had gears...

It doesn't, though. It seems to be a new addition to the Specialized range.[/quote]

It so does!

It has... lemme see... ONE gear.

...can't the standard Langster also be fitted with rack/panniers (my 2006 has all the necessary holes for a rack). The tricross does look nice for an extra 50squid......Gr8 improvement on the new 'London Wrongster' version.

Checked one out in the flesh - finish was a bit naff, and it looked a bit 'over-engineered'. Definitely in direct competition with the Pompino. I wouldn't bother unless I was spending at least 75% of the time off-road with it (and even then, I wouldn't bother).

Sure some people will love it. No problems with that.

pompinos are only £150 for frame only..

if I had the money/space for a winter bike I'd snap one up. mudguards, 28c and easy gearing.

I'm sure there's someone working in a barbers(?) on Whitecross St (by the passage to Fortune Park) who has a Pompino that's been resprayed pillar box red. It's got that wishbone seatstay arrangement. A londonfgss member...?

Looks like they just took the gears off one of their cyclocross bikes. There's one of them parked out back where I am now and it's pretty much the same (except with lots of gears and brakes etc). Could be fun for a bit of semi-offroading tho.

Well, I think I'm going to go for it.
I'll get it SS and maybe experiment over the weekend with using it fixed.
This is probably a stupid question, but:
With a geared bike, you pull the derailleur thing back to make the chain slack when you're taking off the rear wheel, but of course this isn't possible on a fixed gear... so is there some trick I need to know to take the wheel off to turn it round into fixed? I don't need to undo the chain with a chain-breaker or whatever, do I?
One of the things that's encouraged me to get a SS is the idea that I may be able to service the bike myself [gulp, I'm just rubbish at these things]. Is there a book/DVD/web resource that you can recommend to learn this stuff?
Thanks for any input.
PS: I might just buy the bike fixed rather than SS. So if I don't post anything over the coming days and you see one of those yellow accident signs somewhere between Spitalfields and Wapping, that was me... :)

Sheldon Brown and ParkTools websites are full of servicing info.

Basically, the wheel can move forward and back in the trackends on a fix so you undo the wheelnuts, move the wheel forward, throw the chain off the cog and then pull the wheel out of the track-ends. There are other configurations but you'll see these on Sheldon's site and pick 'em up over time..

See how the wheel can slide out the back of this frame, once the chain is off..

Thanks, Hippy.
Well, I bought it and it seems fun so far. They couldn't make it fixed in the time I had available to get to work, so I'll just be a wimp for a while.
For the past 6 months I've been riding a borrowed lady's Halfords bike, so it's quite an improvement...

hippy

christ, what the hell is that thing?!

I dunno but it looks good

mmmm. i want a pink bike

It's from this crazy collection: http://www.razorapple.com/2007/03/19/trackstar-x-dqm-bmx-track-bike-show/

mdja [quote]hippy

christ, what the hell is that thing?![/quote]

Barbie's gone fixed.

Hi Ben, I've been looking at fixies/SS as well lately and the Tricross was a surprising recommendation from the bike shop. I'm kinda leaning towards that atm as well.

How do you find it so far?

Does anyone know whether you can fit skinnier tyres on those rims? (28, 25 or maybe even 23??). And can you fit a 16T cog or smaller on the fixed side?

Happy cycling.

i've got the geared Tricross, as mentioned.

i've got some 28 tyres on it now, i think they could go a little skinnier.

it's a good bike, no doubt, but i'm not keen on the decals, would like to get them off. It rides very stiff and fast and light though - i'm sure the SS version is very light indeed.

nimhbus i've got the geared Tricross, as mentioned.

i've got some 28 tyres on it now, i think they could go a little skinnier.

it's a good bike, no doubt, but i'm not keen on the decals, would like to get them off. It rides very stiff and fast and light though - i'm sure the SS version is very light indeed.

I've got a geared Tricross as well and I think it's a great bike, mine has 32tyres on it but I also have a set of mavic aksium wheels with 23 tyres on them which I swap over when I'm just doing a road ride.

I thought the canti brakes were poor, i think they're tektro, so I replace hem with empella frogglegs which are better but a bit more fiddly to set up.

I too am a bit unsure on the graphics, I'd have liked something morth subtle.

Alex [quote]mdja [quote]hippy

christ, what the hell is that thing?![/quote]

Barbie's gone fixed.[/quote]

I know it's way over the top but IMHO that was a great collaboration (tho' that's not the pick of the bunch for me)... Big up to DQM, I love that store... Can't wait to visit Trackstar... Anyone on here been there? My flatmate's pickin' me up an Aerospoke from there next month... Can't effin' wait!!! :-D

nor_feest

I've got a geared Tricross as well and I think it's a great bike, mine has 32tyres on it but I also have a set of mavic aksium wheels with 23 tyres on them which I swap over when I'm just doing a road ride.

i was thinking of doing the exact same thing! do you have 2 cassettes, or do you swap that as well?

do you find the aksiums much nicer than the wheels it comes with?