Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

The carbon Ridley looks the biz. I'm not in any way qualified to say wether it is or not though.

What happen to all the talk of a On-one/ planet-x crabon CX....or is that disc specific?

Currently building my Crosslight CSix2 and I'll be opting for the TPR CX9 mini v's, converting to disks will be very expensive for those that choose to

Built some new CX/commuter wheels not so long ago. Used SLX centerlock hubs. look OK when run without disks on, and will soften the blow of the upgrade.

Well the EVO4 is £500 RRP, and the CSix2 is £1000 RRP, so I'd expect to be something around £650 RRP, (or about £525 in the real world).

I've got the FiveT and desperately want a lighter alu frame for racing this winter. Doesn't seem to be anything worth upgrading to though, no-one makes a light alu frame with sensible cable routing without disc tabs (don't want).

I bought a EVO4 with Scandium tubing and managed to get a price drop from CRC to 400GBP but the very next day I found a Csix2 second hand with fork for 400 so sent the EVO4 back, having looked at the EVO4 it's a very high quality frame and weights next to nothing, highly recommended

I always think the style of the kinesis frame's finishing do them an injustice.

EVO4 weighs 1440 in 51

EVO4 has still got BB cable routing, which I resent. Pro lite Piemonte ticks the boxes, but pricey and ugly as fcuk.

EVO4 has still got BB cable routing, which I resent. Pro lite Piemonte ticks the boxes, but pricey and ugly as fcuk.

If you have any way of getting one over from the US. Pedal force do a bargin carbon CX frame ($850, forks and HS extra I think). Pedal Force are basically asian OEM frame rebranders. Much like Planet-X, Ribble etc. But their road bikes get good reviews. After my reading around I was was ready to pull the trigger on a CG1 road frame. Might be worth looking into on CX forums.

http://pedalforce.com/online/product_info.php?products_id=13565&osCsid=63388eb7aa7d572b2fe9ae6b87bf516d

EVO4 has still got BB cable routing, which I resent. Pro lite Piemonte ticks the boxes, but pricey and ugly as fcuk.

It has the option for under BB or along the TT notice the ziptie cable guides on the DS seat stay

It has the option for under BB or along the TT notice the ziptie cable guides on the DS seat stay

Awesome, only ever seen them set-up under BB. Much more interested in one now, thanks for that.

Pretty much brand spanking new Cannondale CAADX CX frame and fork for the giants out there http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cannondale-CAADX-Cyclocross-Frame-/300572760747?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item45fb885aab

For reference I test rode the 58 and the 56 and would have gone for the 56, and I'm 6'2"

Right- Boardman CX Team.

This has a carbon fork which has a carbon steerer.

There is a bung in the steerer rather than a star-fangled nut into which fits the stem bolt with which one pulls the fork/stem/headset assembly together before torquing up the stem bolts.

I cannot seem to get mine to tighten sufficiently, and when I remove the top cap, it's lenticular shape seems to sit rather too closely to the bung- I suspect that what is happening is that the convex underside of the cap sits on, rather than above, the concave top of the bung, limiting the amount of clamping force that can be applied to the assembly when one torques the top bolt.

So, I (think) that I need to move the bung down in the steerer- is this a simple case of undoing it, striking it firmly with a hammer* to drive it down, and then retightening it?

Or does one have to cut the steerer down by ~2mm or so?

*One for Murtle there

So, I (think) that I need to move the bung down in the steerer- is this a simple case of undoing it, striking it firmly with a hammer* to drive it down, and then retightening it?

Or does one have to cut the steerer down by ~2mm or so?

Sounds like you just need to lower the bung.

My Hope headdoctor is tightened to the inside of the steerer, independently of the headset aduster bolt. So that I'd just loosen and lower.

A cheap Hope copy I own uses the topcap bolt to tighten it to the steerer. So would just fall.

Yours is probably a better fitting version of option 2. Which means hammer time baby.

hypno hammer.....cant...stop....looking.....

With the top cap removed you can see that the hole into which the stem cap bolt screws has hexagonal flats surrounding it at the top- i.e. a large alan key can be used to tighten it in.

This I believe is how the expanding function of the bung is effected.

So I should be able to loosen that, drop/hammer the bung down, then re-tighten it.

What sort of torque value am I going to be looking at here- 5Nm or thereabouts?

With the top cap removed you can see that the hole into which the stem cap bolt screws has hexagonal flats surrounding it at the top- i.e. a large alan key can be used to tighten it in.

This I believe is how the expanding function of the bung is effected.

So I should be able to loosen that, drop/hammer the bung down, then re-tighten it.

What sort of torque value am I going to be looking at here- 5Nm or thereabouts?

Sounds exactly like my Headdoctor. Loosen slightly, untill you can tap it dowm 1-2mm, and then retighten. I guess 5Nm would be fine. It only needs to offer enought resistance to apply preload to the headset bearings. The stem holds your bars on.

Tempted to pull it out completely, clean it and give it a good coating of carbon assembly paste, then put it all back together again.

What has happened so far is that I have loosened the stem bolts, tightened the stem top cap bolt as far as it will go, retightened the stem bolts, and then used the "apply front brake and rock" test.

The fork is visibly rocking in the bearings relative to the headtube, and there is that "clunk clunk" feel through the bars.

I dont use assembly paste on the rubber bung. I cant see it helping in this case.
The easiest ything to do is add a 1-2mm spacer.

Took it to bits outside LMNH (thanks for the coffee Mick), the bung had pulled out of the steerer ~2mm.

Undid it, pushed it back down, did everything up again=no more problem.

Now to stop my brakes from squeeling...

Now to stop my brakes from squeeling...

Teflon grease?

Do not do this^!!

What works in the car is a couple of "abrupt" stops from high speed, need to get a lot of heat into the pads to burn off the crap.

So, I'll need a really big hill...

Dammit

On the mtb i find the best way to scrub the disc brakes is to dip the bike in a muddy puddle (ensuring the discs get wet) - the silt from the mud seems to act in an abrasive fashion, clearing the discs/pads. Was shown this by tom. so blame him for the weird idea.

Does meant the bike gets muddy!

Damnit, on a hill you don't even need to stop, just hold the brake on gently and keep pedalling, it'll heat then up and help bed them in.

this looks nice

OK, given that Lynskey can't seem to supply Hotlines with small Cooper CX frames until winter I'm thinking I might buy a CAADX Ultegra as a stop gap then move the components over to the Lynskey when it comes in (apart from the crankset as the Lynskey isn't BB30, the brakes, and the wheels which I'll keep for training). I can get it for about £1100, which seems OK to me. Any thoughts, other than the CAADX is ugly as sin in red?