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@melon
for a while now ive wanted to ride some offroad jive, but i just dont get on with traditional mountain bikes. much to my suprise and joy i discovered cyclocross! i set my crappy old SS up with some 35C schwalbe CX tyres and gave it a spin. it was great, but now i want an SS bike built for the purpose. im not particually rich so lower end, but good quality parts are the name of the game.
ive basically fallen in love with this:
what are your recommendations:
frame: as much i like the look of steel and traditional geometry, i dont want a bike im routeinly getting dirty, wet, and being washed with a hosepipe rusting to death. but yet still want somthing atractive and with a horizontal TT. should i be more realistic?
brakes: the choice has got to be between V-brakes and the avid BB disks. i like the BB disks but from my limited experience i couldnt say if they are really any better than V-brakes. are they worth the effort or should i stick with good quality Vee's?
wheels: without going mad with money what are the best (strength + lightweight) rim/hub, and spoke pattern combinations for dirty offroading? do people use standard road wheels cause i have a bunch sitting around.
gear ratio: im at home on 70" on the road, but this was clearly far too high when i tried my SS, and it wasnt even muddy. what do we reckon?
im new to this jazz and ill proably have more questions, thanks for anything you can add