Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

Has this been mentioned? Alu frame carbon forks with 105 5600 drive train and shifting, Tektro cantis with Aksiums and Mud2 for £700 at Decathlon

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/cyclo-cross-id_8113183.html

No, and it looks a reasonable bike for the money.

That's an epic barg IMHO.

They also throw in a free bin lid behind the cassette.

Surweet. Shit frame right?

Good enough for Zipps and tubs apparently;

: /

Frame looks pretty similar to my 2010 Ridley Crossbow - biaxial ovalising and all!

Yeah I'd be very surprised if the B-twin frame was rubbish. It looks - apart from the paint which lets face it is a bit dull - very tidy.

If I was racing cross, and had a certain budget. That^^^^ B'twin looks like a spot on build. Cheap but strong alu frame, basic but well functioning gruopset, carefully selected contact points, then the best wheels + tyres I could afford.

For an everyday runaround I'd a nicer frame with disc brakes, a flashy groupset, and functional wheels.

This seems good for the Caadx with the new 9sp Sora.

I absolutely hate the front shifting on my Apex group and have had a ghost shift or two which with doubletap makes it completely impossible to work out what the fuck to do to shift. Luckily I have no need of a small ring when my big ring is only 46t

Now wondering if this was due to Charge speccing a YBN chain which has now managed to snap twice in the space of 5 days.

So a very low speed commute home today where an Ultegra chain will be installed.

I've got a KMC S10 on mine, with a Force front mech.

Over the course of the Festive 500 I (purely for research you understand) shifted between the front rings a bit, and in order to be able to execute small to large shifts the front mech had to be allowed to swing out to the extent that maybe 50% of the time it threw the chain all the way over the big ring, so it hung on the crank as I gingerly shifted it back again.

I'm sure that there must be a point in the adjustment where this won't happen, but- it never happened when I had Force/Force on the Cannondale, so I'm wondering if it is something to do with the Apex/Force combination.

Whatever, it's really annoying. I am coming to the conclusion that SRAM is best used in 1 X 10 deployments.

What about using a Shimano derailleur?

Not exactly under £1000.

http://grammo-bici.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=FR081&type=1&eq=&desc=Paru-Carbon-CX-Disc&key=it

They do a barging disc CX fork though.

^ nice, ticks all the boxes - disc, tapered steerer, PF30.

Although stripping down and rebuilding the BB30 BB on my 'dale after muddy races - which is pretty much every race at the moment - is getting a bit tiresome.

I stripped mine down on the Boardman, after giving it a thorough drenching, and the bearings were A1.

To simulate current race conditions submerge it in muddy, gritty water for an hour continuously grinding the cranks - it will be toast in no time.

I like the standard, I think it's clever...but it's not for mudfests, unless you are prepared to give it some serious love after each ride.

stripping down and rebuilding the BB30 BB on my 'dale after muddy races - which is pretty much every race at the moment - is getting a bit tiresome.

I'm in the same boat with my campag UT BB, I think it is mainly because the bearings are knackered. I will add new ones to the annual post season service.

B'Twin bikes are very good. They supplied one of the pro teams a few years ago and the current crop are the same geometry and direct copies.
Used to be made in Holland, not sure where now though.
They are cheap in the same way that Merida are as there are no middlemen to make their margin each time.

It's a shame they don't have a disc model yet.

After riding my carbon roadbike over the Christmas break I realise how good disc brakes are, even cable operated ones.
Ultegra 6700's are nowhere near as powerful and I reckon give it a year and we'll see production road bikes fitted with discs.

Talk to me about this, these are called 'Mud Disc', who knows more about these, i am looking for a cost.

^US distro website shows them as being delivered in Feb so must be new 2013 product RRP $500 but US retail $300

£410 shipped