Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

On-one Dirty Disco, head tube is only 0.5 degree steeper, not sure if that'll make a noticable difference, and 140mm headtube is 10mm too long.

If I can get the BMC GF02 Disc in frameset only, that'd be perfect.

^^ source?

^ so building a new bike rather than "converting" ;)

Rabobank rider tweeted pic of his new bike before heading out this yesterday morning, tweet was deleted. Road.cc now are saying frame is also something all new too.

Dat Giant.

Tech trickledown pronto plz.

The missus has ordered me that I sell my Langster and get a bike that can be used off road aswell as on the street, so look's like a Cyclocross bike its going to be.

I have been to a few shops locally which stock - Orbea, Focus, Ridley etc but one shop has offered to build a Ridley Crosswind Frame with New 105 components for £1000.

Just not sure what to do as I was liking the look of the Focus Mares AX 2.0 but this Ridley frame is damn light.... Anyone have any advice, or should I be looking at frames with Disc?

I have around a £1000 budget

^ Get discs.

I had a Ridley - brilliant bike - rubbish brakes. Tried uprated blocks on the stock cantis - still shit. Dia Compe mini Vs - even worse - infact borderline dangerous.

Final setup was Genetic mini Vs - still not great.

Sold the bike and bought a disc braked Kinesis - problem solved.

Even tho there is a weight penalty for having the disc's? I was going to have Avid Shorty's on it.

Few otp road disc wheelsets about though that aren't boat anchors without going custom or resorting to 29er builds - which have their own problems.

Not that that is a showstopper - just something to factor in.

Hmmm.... Just thrown a spanner in the mix!!

Bike is going to be used for commute and off road...

Off road can range from gravel paths to rocky mountain descents with huge drop offs. How off road are you thinking of going?

Sorry should of said, local off road is firetrails and gravel tracks, with sand etc.. no huge rocks or mountains in Sunny Suffolk.

You can get away with 35mm cx tyres on a pair of narrow road wheels - you'll be fine, probably :)

Ah now looking at the mares ax disc.. And the Crux

Just get discs - Better

Yeah but which bike

How tall are you?

I am about 6' 3"

btw if anyone is after full carbon CX disc forks with tapered steerer tube, columbus is doing one called Mud Disk; light and looks nice too. I had emailed ceeway if they have them in stock and they replied me saying yes and they are £223.95 (£10 more than kinesis CXD).

I went for CXD as they were £20 cheaper from fatbirds and has drilling and mount for a rack/mudguard and just 50 grams heavier.

Burton - is your budget strictly £1000?

Last year i was trying to get a disc CX/ Commuter together for Cyclescheme money - was very hard without compromises on groupset or wheels. I ended up blowing the budget completely and fudging the Cyclescheme paperwork.

Bought a Kinesis Tripster frame, Crest/Hope wheels/ Sram apex gears.

http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/decade/tripster

That said there are a lot more disc OTPs out there now.

Specialized looks good - but only average components.

Steel options from Charge and Planet x/ On one come in at <£1000

Whyte have a few around a grand - might be good if you're tall.

For a bit more you could get this:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-pro-dx-cross-2000-4636-611961/aid:612079

or even the new Ridley with discs!

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ridley-x-ride-1203a-105-2013/

.. also cotic x sunday bike

Properly set up cantis or mini-vs are effective enough for stopping, so you don't have to go down the disc brake route.

Cable operated discs are poor cousins to hydraulic discs and, currently, there is no decent OTP offering hydraulics. Personally I'd wait and just make do.

Mikey5000 - It would appear to stick with the £1000 budget is harder than I first had thought if I am wanting to go disc. Stevens Cyclo Cross Disc 2013 model I have found for under £1k but I love the look of the Rose bike!!

How did you fiddle it if you don't mind me asking, or PM me...

That Ridley is without disc! Even tho the picture shows it!

Not a fan of the Cotic X Sunday.

Properly set up cantis or mini-vs are effective enough for stopping, so you don't have to go down the disc brake route.

Cable operated discs are poor cousins to hydraulic discs and, currently, there is no decent OTP offering hydraulics. Personally I'd wait and just make do.

Thinking Disc based frame for future developments in this area, also like the stopping power when it comes to the commute!

But my last taste of disc brakes was the Formula R1 brake setup.

^^ For racing - rim brakes are fine but in my experience cantis (properly set up etc) were diastrous after the rims had been chewed up after a Winter's use.

All the off road grit etc destroyed the braking surface of a pair of Fulcrum 7s making wet weather commuting 'interesting'.

Conversely have been having a great time late braking in all weathers on my Tripster. Side benefit is mending punctures doesn't cover your hands in brake dust either.

Cyclocross bikes are a bit of a curate's egg. If you race then you quickly come to realise that brakes are there purely to scrub a bit of speed off, not to stop you quickly, yet the majority of cross bikes sold are never raced and are used mainly for commuting with the odd off-road ride thrown in, and braking needs are different.

It's a tricky time to be buying a cross bike, as the advancements in road disc brake technology aren't quite here yet but aren't that far away either. I've tried BB7s and thought they were utter pants, as they required near constant adjustment and even then didn't work well with Campag shifters, so I'm not so patiently waiting for an affordable hydraulic system to become available. Then I'd like it to be integrated with electronic shifting so I think my patience will be tested for at least another 18 months, if not longer.

^ why not get a disc compatible bike and wait for hydraulics to come out and then upgrade to hydraulics?
It's what I am doing