SSCX Only!

It's a two bladed sword - u don't want low trail on the #deathwish downhill segments on some of the UCI tracks we saw the Pro riders bomb this season, we also wont enjoy the low trail in the deep sandpits. But if you aren't doing those things, you can make the forest&greenfield your velodrome with your trackish trail setup with less forgiveness.

• there is a dark horse we seldom mention; weight distribution for & -aft & the way trail adds to the equation. [and dynamic weight distribution, check out Parbo Cielo setup for maximum dynamic weight distribution].
  
  

The perfect cx bike doesn't exists, but you can choose which areas it will perform better than the OffThePeg cx bike, but the choices comes with a let down on other areas.

Life is what you make it, make out <3

Other disadvantage is that if you do end up disliking how it handle in scenario Thuekr described, you'll need a 40mm raked fork to increase the trail (55mm approx) to make it a little less unstable.

Hence why I second the recommendation of a 73.5 head angle.

Also it depends on the forks rake (I can not find exact data online and haven't measured it yet). I am not settled on exactly 74 degrees. But I want it steeper than off the peg frames. Maybe I will do a specific thread...

Not perfect but it's a start;

http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/trailcalc.php

or adding a fork with longer a-c to soften up the headtube angle - consequences for bb drop is embedded.

Kinesis Pure CX come to mind (405mm a-c and 45mm rake), a full 10mm longer than standard.

steeper seat tube may be necessary (74).

Just to add to the confusion I ride 73deg headtube and 50mm rake = 54mm trail.
Adding to that I have a very forward facing weight distribution and not too dynamic a position. In my training group I am known to be great at cornering and thats partly because my steering is very responsive and gives great feedback. However I sometimes I have trouble getting power down out of very slippy corners because of missing weight on the rear wheel. I can also get a bit hairy when riding down 25% slopes having so much weight on the front. However the extremely muddy and technically sections in danish races is a rarity. For reference: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t31/1484011_10202804866272592_1897250763_o.jpg

I did try Hulsroys previous setup and it felt like there was very little weight on the front. Yet it felt a bit like a truck. Slow steering and very little feedback. When you rode it you rarely corrected your steering which sort of indicate that you can't feel whats going on.

So like Thue said. Two bladed sword.

Just to add to the confusion I ride 73deg headtube and 50mm rake = 54mm trail.
Adding to that I have a very forward facing weight distribution and not too dynamic a position. In my training group I am known to be great at cornering and thats partly because my steering is very responsive and gives great feedback. However I sometimes I have trouble getting power down out of very slippy corners because of missing weight on the rear wheel.

This is very interesting, so to compensate the lack of weight on the front wheel with the lower trail, you pushed your saddle forward to put more body weight on the handlebar despite the slight increase in discomfort, that make a lots of sense and I can see why you liked it (I can emphasised with you on that as my road bike have 35mm trail).

It also got me thinking about a different way of doing this, by having the top tube shorter than your usual fit, says 2cm shorter, thus required a longer stem (130-140mm) to compensate without sacrificing weight on the rear wheel as your saddle will be on top/behind it rather than in the front.

While it won't have as much weight on the front as your current method, it's a lots more than a "normal" set-up with a 110-120mm stem, the longer stem will give a slower steering feel (but does not make it actually slower), with the low trail fork, you'll still be able to corner with effectively.

The disadvantage is that being a tall bloke as you are, it's not easy to get a smaller frame with a massive stack to compensate.

You just gave me some idea about building a very specific CX bicycle with the method I've described above, might be hard for me as it would mean I got to find a frame with a 51cm top tube (and I'm 6") than my usual 53cm, needle in a fucking haystack indeed.

It also got me thinking about a different way of doing this, by having the top tube shorter than your usual fit, says 2cm shorter, thus required a longer stem (130-140mm) to compensate without sacrificing weight on the rear wheel as your saddle will be on top/behind it rather than in the front.

My thoughts has circled around this for the last couple of month, ha!

• but more in a roadbike setup, partially because toe-overlap isn't so fun in cx.
  

The toe overlap actually can be remedy with a slacker headtube (72) and a fork with around 55mm rake, that also maintain almost identical wheel flop to the 73/50mm combo, it also mean that it's doable with smaller frame having slacker headtube angle should you wish to experiment this with cyclocross.

Of course the main problem is finding a carbon fork with that much rake other than steel.

a lot of great thoughts here. All will be taking in to consideration when I start building it.

Interesting concept there Scoble. A shorter wheelbase would futher emphasise the quick handling i tighter situations.

I'm trying to think of downsides and as long as you can avoid toe overlap you probably only have to be content with a slightly more sloppy feeling cockpit when sprinting out of corners.

If you are going from a 110mm stem to a 130 you could also consider choosing a narrower handlebar to compensate for the increased radius between steerer and hand position.

My thoughts has circled around this for the last couple of month, ha!

• but more in a roadbike setup, partially because toe-overlap isn't so fun in cx.
  
  

isn't this basically the same as using a too small dentist geometry frame?

Thinking of getting a budget sscx frame,

Been narrowing down the choices to ordering from mielec, getting a nature boy, or crosscheck. Actually one other choice is getting one of those Chinese carbon frames.

All of them will cost me roughly the same as frame sets

Any input would be great!

Thanks before

Very tempted by this.

^ S'nice. Can't help but feel that caliper mount is going to be a world of pain though.

What makes you think that, Howard?

Thinking of getting a budget sscx frame,

Been narrowing down the choices to ordering from mielec, getting a nature boy, or crosscheck. Actually one other choice is getting one of those Chinese carbon frames.

All of them will cost me roughly the same as frame sets

Any input would be great!

Thanks before

Pompino should also be considered, no?

I'd go for an All City or a Surly or Pompino.
The chinese carbon frame Zdrenka uses is nice but you need an eccentric bb to run it without a chain tensioner, which is an added cost to consider.

Thanks, tenderloin
Would definitely consider the pompino if it is available here (Jakarta)

Yeah building the Chinese carbon fixed would add the cost, but a tensioner would be enough if I run it SS right?

Actually the nature boy (from the spec it's not the current model) is only available complete bike here, while the cross check I can get the 2013 frame set a bit cheaper than the current.
But building the crosscheck with similar spec will be roughly cost the same as the nature boy.

Truth be told, from purely aesthetic I would go for the nature boy :) while the mielec is considered because I think I can ask for the geo of nature boy with adding a wishbone stays which I like.

What would the price of a mielec realisticly be? Say, frame only + £99 generic carbon fork?

I think the nature boy, pompino and cross check have rather boring front end geometry. Very safe and slow. Also, no carbon fork.

If you go on the orient express you have mutible frames and geometries available. However you are looking at a price of around $500 (frame, fork, headset, shipping) + $160 eccentric BB before any import taxes. But you'll most likely end up with a build 1-2 kg lighter and stiffer. Warrenty is shit though.

you'd be looking at ~200-250 i imagine mielec nowadays with brazeons etc

What would the price of a mielec realisticly be? Say, frame only + £99 generic carbon fork?

you'd be looking at ~200-250 i imagine mielec nowadays with brazeons etc

mielec emailed me with 220 EUR, that plus the fork and shipping + tax making it around the same price with the others. although i've been looking at some cheap alloy forks.

I think the nature boy, pompino and cross check have rather boring front end geometry. Very safe and slow. Also, no carbon fork.

If you go on the orient express you have mutible frames and geometries available. However you are looking at a price of around $500 (frame, fork, headset, shipping) + $160 eccentric BB before any import taxes. But you'll most likely end up with a build 1-2 kg lighter and stiffer. Warrenty is shit though.

slow would not be much problem. i wont race this (no cx race as far as i know here) but i do imagine the ride will be more fun than my current bianchi pista that make me stick to the road.

what Chinese frame that you use zdrenka? any links on the build process post? i'm looking at the FM058 and FR601 (prefer cantis than disk)
although i may end up building an 1x9/10 if this route is chosen.

rough calculation show not much difference with the SS/fixed on final build cost if i stick with sora/tiagra group and chinese components

thanks.

Morning all,

Just about to hit the buy button on a genesis day one disc for my daily commute, (choices limited as getting through cycle2work) anyone got any thoughts or experience on these, all the reviews are good, obviously going to go give it a test, but want to check if anyone is using one and real world experience, cheers all

Test ride it and decided for yourself.

test ride tomorrow, but was just looking for real world experiences of actually day to day usage, on paper ticks all the boxes, so just hope it rides as nice as it looks

sorry for the bad iphone image: shall I continue with this build, or skip it and go back to normal?

it's a crazy idea that I had a while ago, it's a mielec triple triangle track frame paired with shortened 28" AMP suspensions forks from the 90s, and a custom hard anodized dp18 wheelset with conti cyclocross speed 700x35 tyres.

by the way, the idea behind it was a kind of mix between track and CX, meant to be used in the city but also scrambling through the woods.

go on with it, or not? still not sure about it as the angles are a bit fucked up, ST and HT are around ~71° now, instead of ~74° when it was still a track frame.
on the other hand, 71 would fit well into the cx/cross world.

let me know what you think:

sloping top tube in the wring direction and missing canti oder disc mounts = bad idea for sscx

^ok, but also consider that this build isn't really meant to be actually CX.

The simple thought behind is that the route that I'd go with it is around 10% woods and 90% city.