Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

have been thinking of giving cross a go this winter to keep up racing etc. I don't really have the money buy a proper bike - so I was thinking of trying to get hold of an old rigid mountain bike and giving it a little tlc. Bad idea? I don't expect to be very competitive anyway, so weight etc doesn't really bother me.

It's not a bad idea, but in most conditions, a cross bike is much faster than a mountain bike. Plus you can use old road components on the cross bike as you wear them out and upgrade which is a bit more difficult with a mtb.

You can pick up cheap cyclocross frames and bikes fairly readily.

Ok - thanks for the advice. I have a set of wheels I could use in the cupboard and various parts etc. Would need to pick up a very cheap frame though..

and would probably have to be single speed..

How cheap is very cheap? You can easily find something fairly decent for less than £100.

Pompino then. Cheap as chips.

That's what I was thinking.

Don't over think this Dan.

quiet you. Shouldn't you be falling off a bike somewhere?

As I said to the uncoordinated one earlier this week, don't race on anything you can't afford to replace. So to begin with get a cheap bike, give it a go and then, once you're hooked, start thinking about whether you need to upgrade or not.

Or get made redundant and start a new job a week later and use some of that redundancy money to buy a bike that's 5 years ahead of it's time.

quiet you. Shouldn't you be falling off a bike somewhere?

Not today. That's next week.

I'm still looking for a GPS trace of this if anyone has one.

http://www.strava.com/activities/19662128

As I said to the uncoordinated one earlier this week, don't race on anything you can't afford to replace. So to begin with get a cheap bike, give it a go and then, once you're hooked, start thinking about whether you need to upgrade or not.

Or get made redundant and start a new job a week later and use some of that redundancy money to buy a bike that's 5 years ahead of it's time.

hm. I don't think I'm going to get hooked - I'm pretty sure track and TT's are my thing, I just want a cross bike to keep sharp over the winter and for some bridleway fun. I doubt I'll be taking it too seriously - bike will hopefully double up as a crap weather commuter too.

Sorry Dan, you will either hate 'cross and never ride it again or be hooked.

The former is known as an O'Connell.

I'm still looking for a GPS trace of this if anyone has one.

http://www.strava.com/activities/19662128

Yeahbut - I'm not a paid up Strava customer so I can't download the GPX file.

Yeahbut - I'm not a paid up Strava customer so I can't download the GPX file.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110796887#

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1237934/threePimples.gpx
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1237934/threePimples.tcx

Sorry Dan, you will either hate 'cross and never ride it again or be hooked.

I dunno - I've done a fair bit of mtb'ing in my life, I'm sure I'll like it - but doubt that I will be very good at it. Just a bit of fun hopefully.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110796887#

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1237934/threePimples.gpx
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1237934/threePimples.tcx

Aces, thanks :)

I don't want to turn this into current projects, but can someone point me in the direction of decent carbon forks for a pompino?
It'll be a couple of months down the line but I'd like to wind myself up into a frenzy of excitement and anticipation.

All this rain has got me thinking about brakes for this season.

I'm currently running TRP mini V's front and rear but would like to run a cantilever on the back. If you're interested in the same setup and are currently running canti's and would be interested in a swap PM me (I posted a classifieds thread here with a little more information).

I don't want to turn this into current projects, but can someone point me in the direction of decent carbon forks for a pompino?
It'll be a couple of months down the line but I'd like to wind myself up into a frenzy of excitement and anticipation.

I don't think you can go far wrong with Kinesis forks in terms of value for money.

Time has come to sell my race bike:

• 51cm Kinesis Evo4 (geometry)
  
• 10spd campag groupset (mostly veloce)
  
• Pro-lite bracciano wheelset with Vittoria XM pro tyres
  
• Tektro miniVs, Deda bars and stem, Ritchey WCS steapost, Charge spoon saddle
  
• Collection from Abingdon (OX14), or could bring to most Central or Wessex League 2013/14 races. PM for more details.
  
  
  

Anyone got a list of the 2013/14 London Cross League fixtures in a text file or spreadsheet etc?

Yes. But can't upload the file.

So, the tyres are being ordered this week and the Tonic is back in cross mode for the "winter". I do, however, need to get some practice in before getting competitive. Anyone else in the same spot? Or anyone more experienced fancy watching me fall off and giving me some pointers?