Would you race your CX bike on the road?

[FastforaSlowGuy]

In the stable today is a CAAD9 that I race and my pride-and-joy Seven. With a new baby in the house I'm taking a fresh look at what and how I ride. I think it will be several years before I do another full road season. But even when my fitness stinks, and I get gassed by guys on fat bikes, CX is fun. So I'm thinking of selling the race bike and buying a proper CX machine. I love the CAAD, so this makes me sad.

Apart from sadness, my other hesitation is what to do if I were to jump into a road race/crit. I'm hesitant to race the Seven because it violates don't race what you can't replace. That means I'd be racing my CX bike. Conceptually that seems fine (I'd be getting a canti bike, so no disc issues). But I've heard that a proper CX frame gets weird taking corners at road speed (more trail maybe?). I'm not asking it to be perfect, but if it would suck if like to know what I'm getting myself into. Keeping expectations reasonable etc.

Anyone have thoughts?


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[sandyrs]

I would race a CX bike in a crit if and only if it fit pretty much like a road bike and handled pretty much like a road bike. This is true of some CX bikes, not true of others. My current CX bike has geo oriented toward low speed cornering- I would not take it to a crit because high speed cornering feels less stable than it does on my road bike. My last CX bike put more of my weight over the front wheel than was ideal for CX racing, but it handled wonderfully on the road compared to my current ride.

[sandyrs]

Oh, and gearing could be an issue. 46-36 sucks in a crit, as does a single ring, though you could make it work if you don't mind sometimes being in a less than ideal gear for a given speed (ie cadence slightly above or below most comfortable).

[Auk]

Get a second crankset with a 39/53, it'll take you 2-3 minutes to swap the whole works out and the gearing question is solved.

The handling of a cx bike vs. road bike is only odd when you first switch over. After a few rides, it'll disappear under you. Get your contact point numbers down on paper from the road to cx and hang them on the wall, mimic them and change over to them when the need arises. This could be a simple as removing spacers or adding a longer stem (or both) to be where you normally are on the road. You'll be fine on the cx doing any road stuff.

[tiretrax]

How about a CAAD 10 CX bike?

I think it would be highly dependent on the frameset, so I would check with the maker to see what they say. A forumite has a Vamoots and a Psychlo-X. I asked him if they felt the same on the road, and he said mostly yes.

Which Seven do you have? Would it make a good crit bike?

[shovelhd]

Plenty of guys that race CX show up at crits in August on their CX bike with road wheels. I watched a Junior win a crit on one.

[Peter P.]

I wouldn't sweat the geometry differences. There are plenty of road bikes with geometries close enough to 'cross bikes that it's really irrelevant. A centimeter or 2 in chainstay length and a degree or so in head angle isn't going to mean handling problems in the peloton. Unless you're COMPETITIVE in the final sprint most of the time, it's not an issue. Fitness will trump all.

The only changes you may need are road specific wheels as the lighter rims and tires will accelerate faster, and road-sized chainrings.

And oh yeah; you'll have to deal with the grumblings behind your back when your competitors piss and moan that you beat them on a 'cross bike.

[false_Aest]

I've done it.
Others have done it.

Some have won.
Some have lost.

The smaller c-dale sizes have less than optimal trail numbers but they still work (things get better around the 54cm).

[bcroslin]

I ride my CX bike on the training rides in Aug to get accustomed to how it handles and I've even made a break and gotten away before with 46/34 gearing.

I agree with tiretrax - look into a CAADX. The head tube and wheelbase is little longer but otherwise it's pretty similar. I bet you'd get used to it pretty quickly. I wouldn't hesitate to race one in a crit. I'm looking at a Slate for CX season and as an all-arounder but if I can't get my hands on one by Sept I'm going to pick up a CAADX because it's close in geometry to my EVO.

[JayBay]

Hey Eric - I raced my Crux in a crit last fall and had no issues with it. It's actually a much better handling bike for fast, aggressive riding than my Serotta. If I had to have only one drop-bar bike it would definitely be a CX bike.

But I'll take mine with disc brakes ;)

[srsoltis]

I would worry more about the canti brakes than the geometry. A fast downhill with a sharp corner isn't fun when everyone else is braking later than you.

[nooneline]

I wouldn't. My fit is very different, and the handling is very different. My CX bike is made (and fit) for low-speed steering, not high-speed cornering, and I would be very uncomfortable on it in a crit. YMMV. We don't all share the same concerns.

[carpediemracing]

In the P123 race yesterday there was a guy on a canti bike. He seemed to be fine.

Not sure of CX geometry or your frame in particular but I used to race on a slacker HT angle bike, as some of the factory-spec smaller bikes had 70.5 deg HT angles. When I finally got on a 73 deg HTA bike it was a massive difference. I much, much prefer the 73 deg HTA, with a 43mm rake fork, in other words the set up for many regular frames.

I haven't tried a high BB frame set, except mtb. Cannondale used to make a high BB and regular BB frame, at one point I had one of each. Massive difference in BB height, something like 2 inches, and I grabbed the lower BB bike all the time, even though I was in CT/NewEngland which is where the high BB bike would be ideal.

[Jeff Borisch]

I race a Giant TCX in crits and road races. It's a size small. It works well for me. I was surprised how well...

The head tube is long for a small bike, though it's not in comfort bike territory. Depending on how much drop you have on your road bike you might want a different stem for road racing. Some of the Euro brands seem to have shorter head tubes more like the CAAD10.

It has TRP 8.4 v-brakes. I've never felt braking was an issue. I'm pretty small though.

Changing from CX tires to road tires will drop the BB at least a cm. That will change the handling a bit.

It's honestly not that different from my nice road bike which happens to have slack head tube and a 50mm offset fork. It will corner as hard as I dare but always feels stable.

Try one and see. :)

[Gummee]

I wouldn't sweat the geometry differences. There are plenty of road bikes with geometries close enough to 'cross bikes that it's really irrelevant. A centimeter or 2 in chainstay length and a degree or so in head angle isn't going to mean handling problems in the peloton. Unless you're COMPETITIVE in the final sprint most of the time, it's not an issue. Fitness will trump all.

The only changes you may need are road specific wheels as the lighter rims and tires will accelerate faster, and road-sized chainrings.

And oh yeah; you'll have to deal with the grumblings behind your back when your competitors piss and moan that you beat them on a 'cross bike.
I rode a few Thursday night rides with the Reston bike club last year on my CX bike. Didn't have gearing issues till the final sprint. The only reason I had problem because I wasn't running the full 11 gears yet and was missing the small cog.

AFA gearing: you can probably make a 34-50 work. Can definitely make a 36-52 work if you have the chainstay clearance.

If I could only have one bike, it'd be a CX bike.

M

[oliver1850]

Older CAAD with Tiagra, Sora, or 6400 and GripShift on the drops. Have some fun finishing in front of people who spent 5X + on their bikes.

What size do you ride?

[asteele2]

Lindsay Bayer - http://www.pepperscycling.com/#!team-bios/c24vq - started her road racing career on a cross bike. It worked out just fine. She's about the least technically inclined person I know and never complained about braking issues.

I race on a bike with a mini-v front and also no issues there, either. If you're concerned about power, that's the way to go. TRP makes one specifically for cross.

[mg2ride]

....it violates don't race what you can't replace.

Anyone have thoughts?



F that!

"Don't own what you are not willing to race"

Race the seven!

[Uncle Jam's Army]

F that!

"Don't own what you are not willing to race"

Race the seven!

All I'd have to add to this is you should race what you should train on. If it is the Seven, then that's what you race. If you have a less expensive alternative, you should be training on that as well as racing it. This might mean your Seven becomes a show piece and what is the fun in that? I've raced bikes worth at least as much as a Seven.

I wouldn't mind racing my Strong CX/Gravel bike on the road if that is all I had. Ride what you have. Don't over think it. All that leads to is your wallet bleeding money.

In full disclosure, I currently race and train on my least expensive frame. But I've reduced my stable to the point where I only have one back up road bike and one cyclocross/gravel bike. And the back up road bike came in handy when my main steed went down with a cracked chainstay. There was a time when I only had a Crumpton custom carbon bike and I raced that thing without any concern.

[1X10]

I have trained/raced on a cross bike specifically for nearly 10 yrs...

Some years even 1x10 with a 44 up front...

Fine for SOME faster/tempo stuff but I do always find I have a limit where I am spinning out...

Geometry wise I echo what most have said and that if you are used to it then ride it...

Side note, after a few crits on the road with a cross rig, swap your wheels and hit the dirt/trails, you will enjoy the SPEED and POWER you have:):)

[BSUdude]

As others have said it's certainly possible and I've seen it done, but if you're in a situation where there's a pileup in front of you, I'd rather have caliper brakes over cantis any day when I have a half a second to either stop and avoid or crash myself.

[earlfoss]

I wouldn't have a problem using my cross bike for a road race if I was in a pinch. I don't think I'd bother using it for a criterium.

[CheshireCat]

what category will you be racing?

cat 5?
go buy a used CAAD 8 or 9. You don't need it to be light, or pretty and race your way out of the 5's without crashing (i.e. dont be reckless to win something that is worth nothing)

once you're in the 3/4 people are a lot better. I've done just about everything on my cross bike, including road rides. No races on it though. You do have to throw the bike around a lot more than a road bike to get it to turn the way you want, but it's pretty stable at speed. YMMV based on what bike you have. I have a geekhouse cx bike.

[Chris]

There's a guy around here who went from a 5 to a 2 on his cross bike.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I'm not worried about gearing. I'll chuck on my 6800 crankset, and use 53/39 on the road and just swap for CX hearing for dirt. An extra chain fit for the smaller rings and I'm done. My experience with CX bikes to date has been with high BB models. I'm seeing a lot with BB close to road height, which probably makes a huge difference. That leaves the HTA/rake/trail numbers. For short guys like me, trail is a big issue (small frames often have a LOT of trail).

Sounds worth exploring.


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