irish pat

I ride my Ridley crossbow as my commuter bike, my cx bike, my rain bike, my early season race bike. It is a great all rounder. I use a singel ring in the race season then add on another ring for road season. I upgraded to Paul brakes, without them, I could not race the bike in crits.

umd

They work ok as road bikes but they are certainly not idea, for reasons which other people have already said. I've ridden a hilly century on mine and it wasn't as enjoyable as on my road bikes, but it certainly works.

Sawtooth

Assuming road tires have been mounted, mine seems to be just as fast as my road bike up to speeds over 25 mph...then I just suck no matter what. I actually love the geometry on the Major Jake. I have done two centuries on it (one 40/60 off/on road mix....and the MOAB century). It was fabulous for the mixed century but I bonked or something in MOAB and my Father (60-something) drug my carcass all over the desert that day. I don't think I can blame the bike.

knucklesandwich

How is that a feature of cross bikes?

tkehler

My 'cross bike WAS my road bike for several years. I had no major complaints but finally decided that I also wanted a proper road bike. (By "proper" I mean with road geometry: the lower bb, the shorter wheelbase.) Since I could afford it -- barely -- I went ahead and got a road bike too.

Now my 'cross bike has the fenders, the towing hitch thingie for the kids' trailer, and the lights on it -- all the stuff that I wouldn't put on a road bike. I think it makes sense to have a do-everything bike for commuting, bad weather, shopping trips. And a more specialized bike for whatever you do: road, mountain, what have you.

zzzwillzzz

probably fine for most but i hate the slacker steering of 'cross bikes, but then again i think the 73.5ş head angle sucks compared to my old 74ş bike

djtrackie

I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to be on the road only. The bottom bracket is significantly higher so that your center of gravity is higher. Which generally means less stability.

MrCjolsen

I recommend that anyone who is serious about riding but not into racing get a cross or touring bike. Period.

Far more versatile, far more likely to be ridden off season. That reminds me. I need to go and put the fenders on my Surly. It might rain Monday.

MrCjolsen

I've never noticed.

MONGO!

Not even remotely an issue, my Kona JTS feels very stable even on 40+mph descents

jfmckenna

Put it to you this way. Old school cyclocross bikes were merely road racing bikes with bigger tires and I'm talking on the pro level. So yeah that was a long time ago but none the less modern road frames that cannot even fit a 25c tire are ridiculous. So if you set your cross bike up as a road bike you will be riding the same type bike that Joop Zoetemelk rode

AEO

crit style road bikes seem to have a fairly high BB. CAAD9 BB is definitely higher and can be leaned over more before you get pedal strike compared to a slightly more comfort oriented road frame.

ttoastt

I've been converting my Tricross and have found that it more than does the job. I figure once I've replaced most / all of the components I'll buy a road frame and then finally make a full switch.

gearhead82

If I'm ever forced to sell a bike I would keep my Fuji Cross Pro and sell the CAAD9. I LOVE My fuji and will probably end up putting more miles on it than the Cannondale this year. It's VERY comfortable and I've been switching back and forth between the 32mm knobby-ish tires that came on it, and 25mm armadillos. Very versatile. Yes, the brakes do suck but hopefully putting some new pads on it will help a little.

joejack951

If you don't like the cantilever brakes, just mount a front disc. It's not as fast/fun as my LOOK but I can ride this every day to work and go out on a long ride afterwards without needing to switch bikes.

And yes, that's a triple with a MTB cassette and it rocks on the steep hills around here.

markhr

YES

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=368115

trek portland - https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...land/portland/

cannondale cross xr7 - https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/08/c...del-8XR7C.html

Brodie Ronin '09 - https://www.brodiebikes.com/2009/bikes/ronin.php
Brodie Ronin '08 - https://www.brodiebikes.com/2008/2008_bikes/ronin.php

rocky mountain solo cxd - https://www.bikes.com/main+en+01_102+...tml?BIKE=606#2

kona sutra - https://www.konaworld.com/08_sutra_w.htm
Kona Sutra - https://www.konaworld.com/09_sutra_en.cfm
Kona Dew Drop - https://www.konaworld.com/09_dewdrop_en.cfm

Orbea Diem Drop Disc (2009) - https://www.orbea.com/en-gb/productos...icicletas.aspx (see road bikes > fitness > diem drop disc)

focus cross disc - https://www.focusbikesuk.com/focuscyc...cross_disc.php
focus mares disc 2009 - https://www.focusbikesuk.com/focuscyc...mares_disc.php

Devinci Caribou2 (2009) - https://www.devinci.com/11628_an.html

Raleigh USA Sojourn (2009) - https://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/road/sojourn/

Rei Novara buzz road bike (2009) - https://www.rei.com/product/779985

rotwild rs1cx - https://www.rotwild.de/en/ (street bikes section)

Fixie Inc. Pureblood - https://www.cycles-for-heroes.com/bik...oss/pure-blood
fixie inc. pureblood - https://www.cycles-for-heroes.com/200...pureblood.html

Salsa la Cruz - https://www.salsacycles.com/laCruzComp08.html
Salsa Fargo - https://www.salsacycles.com/fargoComp09.html

Opus Sentiero - https://opusbike.com/site_route.php?lang=en (see 2009 bikes > road > cyclocross)

Genesis Croix de Fer - https://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/series/croix_de_fer

BikesDirect Motobecane Fantom Cross Outlaw - https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ane/outlaw.htm

Baron bicycles - https://baronbicycles.com/spec.htm

MONGO!

Same here, if I could only have one bike it would be a cross bike, it does it all.

Canti brakes are not great, if you need more braking power you could swap them for V-brakes.

Psydotek

Cantilever brakes are not underpowered if they're setup properly. I can easily lock up my wheels with my Avid Shorty 4 brakes (almost endo'd once in traffic while commuting).

The higher bottom bracket isn't found on all CX bikes either espically since clipless pedals are widely used these days.

My Giant TCR (road) and TCX (cyclocross) have very similar dimensions with the TCX having a slightly longer wheelbase, chainstays, and headtube. The longer headtube generally lends to a more upright position that can be easily (and cheaply) adjusted with a different stem.

I could easily do a long road ride on my cyclocross bike with afew minor adjustments.

Sawtooth

+1...I have had my Major Jake above 50 mph with absolutely no problem.

Sawtooth

[QUOTE=Psydotek;8538486]
The higher bottom bracket isn't found on all CX bikes either espically since clipless pedals are widely used these days.
QUOTE]

....and don't forget that bottom bracket height is not standard across all road frames either. The BB on my TCR is more than 1.5 cm higher than that of my buddy's Specialized Allez.

thirdin77

Just be advised that you may find v-brakes to require more cable travel than your road brake levers can easily give so you might end up wanting what are called Travel Agents, which can be used as "brake doublers". They require less brake lever travel to move the pads to the rims. The TA's are about $18/each plus shipping, that $40 or so may deserve to be added to consideration when considering the swap to v-brakes. Just FYI.

Al Criner

That "high" bottom bracket usually means a bottom bracket drop of 66mm or so, right? You folks with racing bikes can correct me if I am wrong but I believe your bikes commonly have a BB drop of 65 to 72 mm anyway, the same as these cross bikes. For that matter, the lowest BB drop on any modern bike is 80mm. 66 to 80 = 14mm or just over 1/2 inch. Small measurements matter on a bike but it's not like you're going to get a nose bleed when you climb on your Jake the Snake.

Brian Ratliff

During the off-'cross season, my 'cross bike is my rain bike. It doesn't handle quite as well as my race bike, but otherwise it's fine.