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Cyclocross noob seeks help...

by aKelly1305
Sun, Aug 28, 2016 23:34
8

Hi all,

I'm looking to do cyclocross this winter to keep up my fitness. I'm therefore browsing for a relatively cheap cyclocross bike that will double up for winter training. It can be new or used but ideally under £600 mark. I'm a medium frame size on my summer bike. Anyone got any tips?

Thanks

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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8 comments

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Johnnyvee | 8 years ago
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Being quite local to planet x I tried one of the Viner strada blanco and whilst it looked glorious in black and red it was a twitchy thing to ride but then I'm 6'4'' and was trying a large.  Test ride as many as you can - one will just feel better and whilst you may not be able to point to why that's probably the best to go for.. 

On the same basis I ended up with a Janis Renegade Expert and love it. 

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Jimthebikeguy.com | 8 years ago
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Agreed. The Norco stuff at evans looks great. I also looked at planet x's Viner stuff.

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Johnnyvee | 8 years ago
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I'd also check out the Norco Thresholds at Evans. I had an A1 before it got stolen out of our garage. Great bike and Evans have a few left - test ride will decide.....

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pruaga | 8 years ago
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I ride a Boardman CX Team, and it's a decent bike.  Fun to ride fast and it copes with decent amounts of gravel/mud/sand and I've done mild singletrack on it.   I've also used it with 28mm Conti GP4000 tyres on it, and it copes well enough as a 'road' bike, but the gearing is a little bit low for fast/flat rides.

Usual Halfords caveats apply, but once you get it home and tighten all the bolts and align bars etc I have had no mechanical issues in 6 months.  I didn't really like the tyres that came with it, but managed to shred one so changed them to something more suited to the terrain I ride.

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bendip | 8 years ago
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this is fair value, saw a chap on one last week, it looked really nice in it's blue, black and red colours

http://goo.gl/g18YyX

decent review of the old model too  http://goo.gl/Y1kX1C

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Jimthebikeguy.com | 8 years ago
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Failing that the sales are still on and the own-brand stuff from wiggle (eastway), chainreaction (vitus) and evans (pinnacle) are all good. Just watch the gearing - at minimum it needs to have a 36t ring and ideally a larger cassette for a beginner (11-32 maybe).

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leqin | 8 years ago
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I second the Boardman CX - had one for a few months now and it rapidly became my default go to bike and, apparantly, some bloke called Chris Boardman thinks its the best thing that Boardman Bicycles make... never heard of him and you shouldn't trust things based on hearsay.

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Jimthebikeguy.com | 8 years ago
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Boardman cx team 2016 if you can still find one at the discount price, then put it on ride to work if you can.

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