Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

i am sick of black red white.

There's always Vaz?

Green was a custom job for singletrack bike mag

This^

Sorry to mislead. Its an amazing frameset for 449 note F+F+HS. I'm supposed to be looking at more functional options TBH.

Standard BB though?

I don't give a fiddlers curse what the published weight is, on my scales it hits 10.5kg, with quite a lot of new parts on it.

Hillbilly decided to weight my CdF at Brixton Cycles tonight, it have clip and strap pedals, front rack, front and rear light.

Topped at 10.8kg (24lbs).

Right, that's the gauntlet thrown down then Scoble- if you want a weight competition then a weight competition you shall have.

Do your worst.

Bontrager Jones XR 29er 1.8" (46mm). Light, with low tread. I've seen plenty of reports of folk running them tubeless. So combin them with some Stans crest rims, and run them at a nice low PSI.

Would half the rotating weight of your set-up, reduce punctures, and enhance grip. Probably a touch slower on tarmac though.

Could be a good future option but the Land Cruisers are pretty puncture resistant (I seem to live in a very puncture area with sharp bits of flint so put puncture resistance high on list) 'light' MTB tyres tend to puncture about once a week when I used them years ago and tubeless wouldn't stop those sorts of punctures I'm guessing?
I also ride 50% on the road so at the moment am happy with the combination I have. Surprisingly the weight doesn't make as much difference as I thought it would.

Could be a good future option but the Land Cruisers are pretty puncture resistant (I seem to live in a very puncture area with sharp bits of flint so put puncture resistance high on list) 'light' MTB tyres tend to puncture about once a week when I used them years ago and tubeless wouldn't stop those sorts of punctures I'm guessing?
I also ride 50% on the road so at the moment am happy with the combination I have. Surprisingly the weight doesn't make as much difference as I thought it would.

You can add glitter etc to your tubeless brew, to aid the sealing of bigger punctures.

But I'm not massively convinced this would work for you TBH.

I ride alpine terrain, with pretty smooth rocks. The pine needles are what plague me.

A) Nothing grips 3" deep ares semi decomposed pine needles.
B) Sooner or later one will work its way into your tyre.

Running 2.55" tyres, at low PSI, and tubeless, helps massively on both counts.

CXers, what's the best mechanical disc you can get? Avid Road BB7?

Or is there's other MTB disc brakes that'd work perfectly with the Problem Solver Travel Agent?

Tektro and TRP offer mechanical disks now.

They might be worth checking.

CXers, what's the best mechanical disc you can get? Avid Road BB7?

Or is there's other MTB disc brakes that'd work perfectly with the Problem Solver Travel Agent?

Define 'best'. I think I prefer the BB5 I have because it doesn't have the bat-shit crazy grabby power of the BB7. It feels like a well adjusted road caliper, rather than an MTB hydraulic disc.

But that might just be down to the different pads, or the bit of standard cable housing I have compressing. It's all voodoo.

Oh, and, no idea about the Travel Agent thing. Doesn't that convert the pull to V-brake pull? In which case, you could maybe try the MTB version of the BB5 or something, just for the lols.

There's Travel Agents for road disc now, Dammit have it previously on his lardy Boardman, make it felt like a conventional caliper brakes.

I don't know what it is about my BB5, but it's pretty bad, will have to look at the set-up again.

Tektro and TRP offer mechanical disks now.

They might be worth checking.

I can't see any offering from them regarding mechanical road disc.

Tektro and TRP offer mechanical disks now.

They might be worth checking.

I have some Tektros in the post. It was a lazy and money saving chioce TBH, as mine come with the extra long cable I need.

Still, they sound OK. It'll be interesting to see how the stop 160Kg of bike, passengers, and cargo.

I have some Tektro

I don't know what it is about my BB5, but it's pretty bad, will have to look at the set-up again.

Meh, just chuck them then and replace with BB7s, and sort out the cable housing whilst you are at it - should be high quality full length compressionless.

I have some Quad 4s I don't use if anyone wants them. They're pretty much rip-off BB5s.

The new Tektros I had in mind are called Lyra, although they do something called Aquila too. I've tried Lyras on a Focus and they seemed very good. They look smaller/lighter/more road-bike-like than BB7s.

The TRPs I've only seen on the Donhau built Rapha Continental bike. Don't know anything about them I'm afraid.

I have one of the Shimano Disc calipers kicking around. It came off my Airnimal. It was fine, a bit squealy though. BB7 is more powerful, BB5 is quieter with better modulation.

BB7 plus Travel Agent should be good.

End up having to face my caliper mount, was a little off, not a nice feeling.

More fun with disc brakes - chap running Tektro Parabox gets complete brake failure on long decent - probably boiled the fluid or glazed the pads. Not that this stuff is anything new, but it's worth baring in mind.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/02/14/road-bike-disc-brakes-are-coming-but-will-they-work/

That has been posted on every single thread on the internet about disc brakes for road bikes. True FACT!

Guess I was late to the party then :)

I did read that, it also worth pointing out that he changed the rotor instead of the original TRP one.

Interesting stuff, I'd not read it before.

My Hope setup seems to be working well so far- both discs are 160mm, and the calipers are from their XC range I believe.

I'd rather they don't fail on a big descent.

Changed the BB5 for a BB7, now the grinding sound disappear completely.

felt pretty weak, I reckon I need to bedded in the pads, does the same happen to you too Neil?

Interesting stuff, I'd not read it before.

My Hope setup seems to be working well so far- both discs are 160mm, and the calipers are from their XC range I believe.

I'd rather they don't fail on a big descent.

Don't drag your brakes using a prototype system with weight weenie discs and you should be fine.

Oh.