Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

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

I used mine with SRAM's lever (S900) work perfectly well too.

Just got home- honestly, if you have a Boardman CX change the stem- so much stiffer, no creaking, I feel like I can trust the front end a lot more.

Did I mention the creaking is gone?

It's gone.

Any advice on suitable stem, Dammit? I have to get an 8 or 9cm stem as the reach is a bit long on the medium, so it seems like a sensible time to upgrade.

I got a Thomson X4, cheap from the classifieds here.

Cool. I'm watching Pistoffski's thread in classified hoping he's found something similar down the back of the sofa.

Bang, here it is;

More here.

Do want. Already started selling stuff to get the pennies in my sram piggy bank.

Looks like a nice hood shape for off-roading on drop bars too.

Hmmmm....slightly fugly. But not that bad :)

I await the reviews...

.

^ Wut?

went on a rant about hydro calipers being pointless then scrolled down saw the part about 140/160 rotors and reeled my neck back in and STFU :)

Hmmmm....slightly fugly. But not that bad :)

I await the reviews...

compared to the gun sling hood of Shimano, it's definitely better.

Is that 2012 Dura Ace you've got there Ed?

^ No nonsense - like.

Set it up for touring this morning - mud guards are a pain in the ass. Please excuse my crappy fitting.

Needs spacers

You may need to put a couple washer on the chainstay bridge to push the mudguard toward the tyres so the back end won't be that close to the tyres.

Yeah those guards are a bit of a bodge - pinched them from another bike, not sure they are meant to take 28c. May have to look for something else. Will test it next week then take a rain check.

Some thoughts from using the CAADX as a light tourer having cycled the C2C:

i) It works. Felt sure footed and still quite nippy with about 12kg of stuff split between two panniers and running 28c Top Contacts. Despite my crappy fitting the 'guards worked well. Running gear put up with some abuse - plenty of mud, salt and crap on the official sustrans route and the stock 105 kit put up with it.

ii) Toe overlap! Need to be careful when making U turns or 'tacking' up steep inclines. Probably not a problem with bigger frames than my 52cm.

iii) Cyclocross chainsets - 36 46 - what are they good for? Not touring, I think. 36-28 felt a little aggressive for the Pennines - will probably swap the CX chainset out for a compact.

Finally: Canti brakes - not a complete disaster. Actually quite liked them by the end, they never upset the bike and are good for scrubbing off speed on long descents. Power seemed consistent and there was plenty of modulation despite some atrocious weather.

All in all then: quite happy with it.

In other news- I thought I had escaped the widely reported "knackered BB" issue with my Boardman.

Oh no, no I haven't.

"Click BANG" on ever other pedal stroke now.

I seem to have the same problem but it's intermittent. LHS BB issues a popping noise every stroke until you back off the power. Seems to depend on the weather. Same (shit) FSA chainset as the boardman I think. Has about 1200 miles on it now, and quite a few actually racing CX so I guess I can forgive it a bit.

Yep, it is LHS, and generally when out of the saddle, probably about the same mileage also.

Think mine's going in the bin anyway. I won't mourn it. Can't believe that if you want to actually buy a Gossamer they retail for about £200.

Tempted to replace the lot with Rival or Force.

Hollowgram Si Sl going onto mine, if my experimental eBay cloaking device works.