Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

Thanks furry.

It's one of these http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQIJUh0kLW1duovQMcMBKIM1yHeVceXNR2p2_VfCCr7HDjcTO5v

Going to try and test ride it tonight.

I seem to remember reading that MTB enthusiast from the east. bought the company out as it was going under. Kept the designs, but moved the production. This all sounds very romantic though. IMHO they still design bikes slightly outside of the box a'la Salsa, Surly et al.

Suck it and see.

Can anyone give me a strong reason not to get a Boardman CX given that I can get it for under £700 using an NUS discount and BC vouchers?

Yes, I will hate you for paying £200 less than I did.

I can live with anonymous internet hate.

NUS discount could be dodgy if they ask for proof, but the 15-20% discount on all Boardmans plus getting Halfords vouchers 10% cheaper through BC makes it a no brainer, I reckon. The only alternatives that come close are the Genesis Vapour and the P-X Kaffenback, and these are both over a grand with discs.

Lardboy are you techie enough to correct Halford's shoddy bike set-up? Think re-cabling and adjusting the disc brakes and faffing with the carbon steerer when the headset loosens up.

I'll get it delivered boxed so the local hammer hands in Halfords Brixton won't get their hands on it.

I'll probably get rid of the front mech (for anything non-Microshift), sell the cross tops and replace the BB5s with BB7s, so recabling will be part of that, then I'll take it into Brixton Cycles for a check over and to make sure that the steerer and BB are OK. This will eat up all the savings, but get me a better bike in the long run.

I don't have a problem with the front mech, what's with the hate on it?

Lardboy. Tektro new Lyra cable discs are getting good reviews. They might be a lighter alternative to BB7s.

I'll get it delivered boxed so the local hammer hands in Halfords Brixton won't get their hands on it.

Good thinking.

In keeping with the thread title, PX Uncle John SRAM Red / Apex for < £1000. Seems like a great deal. Other than the lack of disc brakes, which you don't really need, what am I missing?

Apols if re-post.

I don't have a problem with the front mech, what's with the hate on it?

I've heard reports of overly strong springs leading to stretched cables and constant fiddling. I've a few in the spares box, so it's an easy change.

Lardboy. Tektro new Lyra cable discs are getting good reviews. They might be a lighter alternative to BB7s.

I think I'll stick with BB7s. The upgrade from Shimano BR505 to BB7 on my stolen Croix de Fer was so great that I'll stick with what I know. Easy to set up and plenty of stopping power. I'll be able to use the same rotors and sell the BB5s as complete unused sets without faffing about changing rotors.

hmm... i guess upshifting does take some fair effort, I thought that was just how sram rolled... so it's the derailleur....

Apex FD takes a fair bit of effort to shift too; 5700 105 is better in this respect, but that's about the only fault I can find with Apex.

Rode my 'cross bike down some DH trails yesterday, best fun I've had in a while, lack of suspension and traction means you really have to chuck the bike about to get the best lines. Having said that I can't imagine riding that with cantilevers, I took full advantage of TRP Cx9's power, this said I now have a very wobbly front wheel...

What levers are you using the CX9s with? I'm probably swapping my EuroXs for mini Vs very soon, any benefit of the TRPs over the £15 tektro version? (apart from the pads, which will be swapped out immediately)

Shimano 105 5500 9 Speed, haven't tried the tektro version so couldn't comment however I should imagine the TRP's build quality is much better. TRP have just released a CX8.4 for SRAM and Campag'.

What levers are you using the CX9s with? I'm probably swapping my EuroXs for mini Vs very soon, any benefit of the TRPs over the £15 tektro version? (apart from the pads, which will be swapped out immediately)

I used the Tektro mini Vs for a while as they had more stopping power than canti's I had used (Tektro 720, Kore, Avid). Got fed up with rim clearance of the mini v's and bought some Cane Creek SCX5 canti levers which are the best I have used. They stop just as well as the mini V's but also allow good rim clearance. (All were used with Swisstop green pads)

I've been using CX9s with Campag levers, cable pull seems fine with them.

Urgh, cx brakes are the bane of my life at the moment, not been able to ride my Evo4 on the road at all since I got it because the braking power is non-existent. I briefly had tektro mini Vs on my old cross bike, they probably weren't set up very expertly so I was maybe a bit quick to swap them out. I'll be dropping my road wheels in to the cx frame soon, which are much truer than my cx race wheels, so hopefully the clearance thing won't be too much of a problem. If that fails I'll try SCX5s (CX8.4s don't seem to be available to buy yet), and if that's no better I'll get rid of the whole bike and buy a Pro6 with discs.

Are your CX9s good on the road Andy? Can you come to a proper stop? My euroXs/campag levers only really scrub off a bit of speed, actually being able to stop going down hill/at junctions is 50:50.

CX9's are have enough power to send you over the bars if you're not careful! However if your planning on changing wheel freqently they might be a pain as they'll need re-adjusting each time

I was doing the 3 Pimples ride with Andrey (hyperbole on here) at the end of August and we were descending down the hill from Downe towards Cudham, came around a blind corner and discovered a bin lorry blocking the entire road. We both hit the brakes hard and I came to a stop quite quickly, whereas Andrey took a little bit longer (he's got Frogleg brakes) but just managed to stop in time. Edit: this was with the CX9s.

They are okay, but that's with Swiss Stop green pads, which make a notable difference. The Avid Shorty Ultimates I have on now seem better still.

I wouldn't bother with discs yet, Campag levers and cable operated discs do not seem to work well together in my experience (and Campag disc hubs are rarer than hens teeth).

I'm running avid shorty's, set in a 45degree open, great stopping power and really quick for wheel changes

I managed to get them at trade, don't know whether I would have gone for them at retail price tho

I think I'll deffo try some sort of mini V again first. I think most of the problem with the euroXs is because my frame is so tiny that it forces the cable runs to be crap, there's no room to adjust the straddle height, and where its ended up is far away from the ideal place. If I use mini Vs I can atleast ignore the cable stops on the frame.

Yep discs would be an expensive last resort. Resigned to using shimano/SRAM if I go with that :(

If you want to borrow my CX9s for test purposes then give me a shout. They are sat in a cupboard at the moment, and will go back on the cross bike in February, when it becomes the family bike again.