Spoonrobot 

Part of the attraction for me is the higher BB. I prefer feeling a little higher as well as the additional pedal strike clearance. My favorite bikes have 60-65mm drop on 38/42mm tires. Relatively high today.

In the C&V sense, almost every bike brand I've looked at had their CX bike with a higher BB than their road and touring models. There might not be a consensus on CX geometry in totality, but BB height relatively higher is a good general guideline. With 770cx33 BB drop of 70mm would put the height at 274, fairly low for a C&V CX bike in my view.

The triple review here seems to indicate common design style for each style - CX, Criterium, and Road Race: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...e-special.html

Or, to phrase it another way - what are some brands and bikes to look for that have 270ish BB height designed for CX?

Classtime 

High BB on that Merckx. When my kids raced with me, I got my son a Poprad and for my shorter daughter a “smaller” Ridley. The BB was so high on that Ridley and with the level TT, the stand over height was to be ignored.

Spoonrobot 

Wow what a beauty. Just like the Pinarello posted earlier - you gotta get that built up and riding!

Classtime 

2018 Colnago CX had 68mm BBdrop.

kroozer 

What do you do with a vintage CX bike?

Spoonrobot 

No doubt BB height has gotten lower in the modern era but it isn't applicable here. I started in the C&V because those are the types of CX bikes where my interest lies. Obviously, road height BB was not much (if any) impediment to the enjoyment of cyclocross, it doesn't seem common once the niche became more developed in the late 70s/80s.

dddd

The high bottom bracket was not universal on CX bikes, was apparently there to provide for pedaling briefly with the clips pointing down, not for log-hopping.

Newer designs of course make no concessions for toe clips.

I've mostly used touring bikes for CX training mileage, done on-road and off.

Certain sport-touring bikes like the Super Course and Grand Sports bikes from Raleigh have (in my preferred 23-inch size at least) 71/73-degree geometry that is what most CX bikes and 1990's MTB's have.

I came across a pro's former bike for sale that was hard-ridden and being sold with two badly damaged rims. It turned out to be a great bike for all-around riding, at least where I don't have to leave it unattended as it's a top-end (Hi-Mod) model of Cannondale's Super-X.

Running super-light 33mm tubess semi-slick Mavic "AllRoad" tires makes it quite good for even on-road group rides. Geometry is perhaps a tad steeper than my quoted 71/73 degrees, and it's well under 18lbs due to it's super-light frame and rim brake configuration.

With the new wheels and tires I'm into this thing for only a grand:




This Fuji CX bike turned up on Craigslist having a defective, separating crankset, which I had used parts on hand to fix.

It had been on someone's trainer for most of it's life and was had for just $160 from the son of the original owner.
Geometry is slower (slacker HT), with it's generous steering flop helping me hold a line through hairpin turns on dirt trails.

The rear brake bosses were welded on in very poor alignment, such that I eventually had to replace the brake with a different brand in order to get the pads to hit the rim properly.

Spoonrobot 

Ride it around, appreciate the vintage-ness. I do most of my gravel racing/riding on modern disc brake bikes but occasionally there's a course when my vintage CX bike is a good choice and it's such an interesting and different experience I get a lot out of it that the disc bikes don't give me. I suppose I could eventually race some CX too.

My path into vintage CX started with converting a 1990/91 flat-bar Schwinn Crosscut into a dropbar bike and I liked it so much that I bought a new rim brake Panasonic CX bike and that made me really want to go back and see what the actual CX bikes from the C&V era were like.

Sure, point taken. Happy accident for me, as I like it for the log hopping aspect as well. There's a thing about the handling that gives me comfort, feeling relatively higher above the ground or something, even if it's only 10-15-20mm.

Nice bikes, Fuji made some interesting cross bikes in the 2000s and early 2010s but they didn't sell well for whatever reason.

Andy_K 

I think you mean World Lanterne Rouge.

The problem with vintage CX bikes, once they stop just being road bikes, is this:


https://teamawesomecycling.bigcartel...top-won-t-stop

Except for that, they are fantastic bikes. I really want an old Ibis, if nothing else, for the rear brake hanger, which I couldn't search for by its proper name because I'm at work.



I've got a couple of CX bikes in my garage, but the oldest of them is from 2013 for the reason shown on the T-shirt above.

Classtime 

Most 70s CX bikes are “mistaken” for road bikes. https://pezcyclingnews.com/interview...clocross-king/

bikemig 

That's why I picked up a CX frame that is on the smaller end of the range of sizes I like. That won't fix the high BB but it will allow me to straddle the bike comfortably. The rest is just a learning experience (I hope). I do have the parts stashed for the bike other than wheels (unless I go tubular and maybe I should).

Choke 

I have owned this '95 Bianchi Cross Project USA since new. It was sold as a frameset and for two years only. It's fully lugged Zero Uno tubing and Reparto Corse built. It does have the old school Euro high BB and it feels a bit strange when I first get on it, but it doesn't take long for that feeling to go away. The only real downside is that the chainstays max out at around a 35mm tire, though I don't really need anything larger.

Spoonrobot 

That's a solid, tasteful build. Bianchi has so many good cx bikes from the mid-1980s-early 2000s

Classtime 

There was one of those very rare Bianchis available nearby and I got excited — but a little research determined it was the largest they made and too big for me to throw around a CX course🙁.

edit: And here for a good price and local and TOOOO LARGE
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126274843464

icemilkcoffee 

The funny thing is, the seat stays are s-shaped curved for tire clearance and look like they can take 50mm tires easy!

daverup 

This is a bike I use for gravel and mixed stuff. The frameset came from another BF member via the classifieds. It would have been sold in the late 00's by BikesDirect as the CX853. A bit too young for C&V, the frame is 853, the fork is carbon.
I am running 35mm tires, but could go a bit larger although I never measured.

dmarkun

I need it when my son and I go riding together. He has a Gary Fisher hybrid and tends to cross medians and grassy knolls.
'93 Waterford X-12 753.

Andy Antipas 

I looked for a vintage CX bike or frame for some time without success in finding something in my size for what I considered reasonable money. I wound up going with this Voodoo Wazo I bought as a frame set. I think it weighs in around 22 pounds and I use it as a gravel bike. I'm using 35mm tires. Not sure larger would fit.

cheffyjay

I've seen almost no pre-1990s cyclocross bicycles for sale over the years. What I've owned were not exactly classic, but fairly vintage:
the Pinarello--I sold this but it was lost in shipping somewhere in Arizona



Currently own this Bianchi:

tdh

I’ve got that same frame a few years back; the one with the cable guides on the lugs…currently rebuilding it. But since mine was already repainted I didn’t care about period correct parts…just built it up as a 1x. Tried mini v brakes. Didn’t work because the distance of the cantilever bosses is only 65, 55mm respectively with these old frames. I kinda collect cyclocross bikes. I say kinda because, as mentioned here already, they’re incredibly rare. Have the pinarello and two gazelles. Looking for an Empella for a while now. So far no luck. I buy mostly in Europe, though. I have folks there which I have the stuff send to before I pick it at my yearly visit…outside of Europe it is even more difficult I’d say. Also: a lot of these frames are fairly banged up and have issues. One of the rear canti bosses of my pinarello came off - rust. One more question: that pinarello can you still decipher the Columbus sticker? What tubing was used? Mine has a 27.0 inner diameter seat tube, does yours too? Sorry for being slightly off topic…

Choke 

Yep, and the fork will take larger tire too, though not a 50mm. On the other hand, it was made for CX and since the UCI limits tires to 33mm it makes sense that they didn't go to the trouble to shape the chainstays.

bikemig 

The sticker is beat up but it's Tretubi Columbus (SL or SP) with likely Aelle fork and stays. The seatpost was out of round and I had it reamed to 27.2 (also had to have the BB threads chased).

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-question.html