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Shopping for 1st cyclocross bike

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Cyclocross and Gravelbiking (Recreational) This has to be the most physically intense sport ever invented. It's high speed bicycle racing on a short off road course or riding the off pavement rides on gravel like : "Unbound Gravel". We also have a dedicated Racing forum for the Cyclocross Hard Core Racers.

Shopping for 1st cyclocross bike

Old 11-07-18, 02:40 PM
  #1  
tiras25
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Shopping for 1st cyclocross bike

There's a new out there as a 'gravel biking'? What's the difference?

I like Cannondales and own Synapse f105 disk. Like to stay with Cannondale on cross but open to others as well. Like to stay within same price range. Below $1500 or $2000.

Looking into Cannondale a SuperX and Ibis the Hakka MX. Any opinions please?

Thank you!!
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Old 11-07-18, 02:59 PM
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Slate
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Old 11-07-18, 03:40 PM
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CX can take smaller tires and has more aggressive geometry
Gravel can take bigger tires and it's more relaxed

Most CX bikes can only take up a 35c tire max because the UCI limit for CX racing is 33 now.

Unless you are care for racing geometry and will be racing cross I would go for a "gravel" bike as they are more versatile. Cannondale makes 2 gravel bikes, the Slate and the Topstone. The Topstone is well within your price range.
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Old 11-07-18, 03:49 PM
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nevermind,

Apparently it was to be a shopping thread,
when I lived in SF any races were needing a car.. I could not afford one..

they were far away.. like in santa cruz..







....

Last edited by fietsbob; 11-08-18 at 04:39 PM.
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Old 11-07-18, 05:05 PM
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Gravel bikes are going to be more endurance focused, CX more like a road bike or a crit bike.

I wrote more in a thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocros...vel-bikes.html

but basically
Cross bikes: Quicker handling at the cost of stability.
Dynamically, a cross bike would be more agile, designed to be ridden more aggressively, accelerates and climbs a little faster, could corner harder/sharper (requiring more care on sweeping loose turns), less worry about pedal strike.


Gravel bikes tend to be more stable in loose terrain, and fast descents, a bit easier and more comfortable to ride, require a little more intention on turn-in (swinging wide too wide on very tight turns) and a generally more relaxed demeanor.

Cross can pull some high G-s in corners, where a gravel bike can to a loose sweeping turn without washing out.
Some older cross bikes are stiff and possibly twitchy and have limited tire clearance.

These days a good cross bike will be compliant, stable at speed, and take 40mm tires. The gravel trend has had its influence.

I love the Specialiized Crux, and Canyon Inflite. (both are available in Carbon or Aluminum).
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Old 11-07-18, 05:20 PM
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Originally Posted by chas58
Gravel bikes are going to be more endurance focused, CX more like a road bike or a crit bike.

I wrote more in a thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocros...vel-bikes.html

but basically


Some older cross bikes are stiff and possibly twitchy and have limited tire clearance.

These days a good cross bike will be compliant, stable at speed, and take 40mm tires. The gravel trend has had its influence.

I love the Specialiized Crux, and Canyon Inflite. (both are available in Carbon or Aluminum).
I wonder if the tire width trend will continue seeing as UCI is now 33mm max width. I mean if anything manufacturers will just shoehorn CX into a very specific tire clearance and gravel handle the rest. That way they can sell more bikes.
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Old 11-07-18, 05:33 PM
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Also the new Grail AL has a good build kit for $1900 with Rival 1x 10-42 if you care to look at gravel.

The Inflite AL SLX 8.0 is also a nice bike for $1500 right now with a cool paint scheme.
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Old 11-08-18, 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by gus6464
I wonder if the tire width trend will continue seeing as UCI is now 33mm max width. I mean if anything manufacturers will just shoehorn CX into a very specific tire clearance and gravel handle the rest. That way they can sell more bikes.
Possibly. I read that companies like Specialized are making cross bikes more race specific. AFAIK, that means no fender or rack mounts. What I see is longer top tubes (with shorter stem), more tire clearance, more emphasis on compliance (unlike 5 years ago where they were super stiff). The increased tire clearance is touted as being “mud friendly” Shoot, I can put a 60mm (650b) tire on my front fork. That is a LOT of mud clearance with a 33mm tire, lol. Most of us “normal” people just run what ya brung at CX (even mountain bikes), and don’t pay much attention to the 33mm limit.



Originally Posted by gus6464
Also the new Grail AL has a good build kit for $1900 with Rival 1x 10-42 if you care to look at gravel.
The Inflite AL SLX 8.0 is also a nice bike for $1500 right now with a cool paint scheme.
Is that the old inflite? The new one looks pretty nice too:

https://road.cc/content/review/24877...al-slx-60-race

But, the carbon inflite is $800 off!!!! Dang!
​​​​​​​
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Old 11-08-18, 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by tiras25
Like to stay within same price range. Below $1500 or $2000.

Looking into Cannondale a SuperX and Ibis the Hakka MX. Any opinions please?

Thank you!!
Canyon Inflite is $800 off. That is a pro level race bike (~7.9kg) for around $2.5k. A Specialized Crux like that would be about $5000.
https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road/inflite
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Old 11-09-18, 01:36 PM
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Start shopping around. The summer season is over so not a lot of bike are being sold now so you might be able to find a marked down bike somewhere...

Are you going to race CX? If yes, then get a CX. If not then what are your priorities? I got a CX due to its handling. I like a quick handling bike I can also use on the road. I felt like the gravel bike was a bit more relaxed and somewhat "slower". With that in mind a quick tire change and you got a road/light gravel go anywhere fun bike. Might want to look for a carbon frame though. They are pretty nice riding. My $0.02...
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Old 11-10-18, 08:33 AM
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Go to your LBS and see what they have and try them out. Also check Nashbar/Performance Bike currently. I think they both have 20%-22% off total price including most bikes..
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Old 11-12-18, 07:51 AM
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I can't recommend the Giant TCX enough. Cross bike with huge tire clearance. Getting into a carbon TCX isn't bad either. There are good sales right now on the 2018 TCX Advanced SX's. You could probably find one sub $2000.
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Old 11-12-18, 02:16 PM
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Unless you will be racing on UCI events a gravel bike might be your best bet. They are more versatile. Unless you have to have the racy CX geometry for some reason.
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Old 11-13-18, 02:35 PM
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Originally Posted by gus6464
Unless you will be racing on UCI events a gravel bike might be your best bet. They are more versatile. Unless you have to have the racy CX geometry for some reason.
GCN just did a gravel vs cyclocross bike comparo (using canyon bikes). Gravel easily won.

Still, I need an agile bike, so I need racy CX geometry. The pop on acceleration, and the ability to carve hard turns make biking fun for me. For those that like to spend 4+ hours in the saddle, more of an endurance design (i.e. Gravel) is going to be a lot more comfortable.
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Old 11-14-18, 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by chas58
GCN just did a gravel vs cyclocross bike comparo (using canyon bikes). Gravel easily won.
I feel like in that video larger tires won. Not the actual bikes. The better comparison would be to have the same tires on the two bikes. I know that CX bikes have smaller clearance for tires and at some point the CX bike will be restricted on tire clearance before the gravel bike, but most CX bikes can clear 40mm tires.
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Old 11-14-18, 04:10 PM
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True in General - but on those specific bikes there is little if any difference in tire clearance. You can only go so wide using road components and a 2x compatible frame (unless you get funky with the chainstay (dropping it, using plates, etc)). Canyon made a conscious decision not to go extra wide on the Grail frame, in order to hit their design targets.

Many modern CX designs can take 40mm, and they have huge mud clearance at 33mm
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