what top tube do you need? that's a place to start, some lines just won't fit you correctly.

Carbon or Alu in a rim brake bike will be discounted a lot if you can find one in your size. The redline or kona are nice bikes that came in a wide size range. I owned the carbon Felt and liked it a lot too. I ride the steel Ritchey, it's a little heavy but a neat bike that will be discounted because it's a rim brake.

The felt alu disc model is a decent bike, it weighs maybe 20 but a wheel and tire swap would help out a lot

my dream bike would have
-screw in bottom bracket
- press in headset
-rear mech cable under BB or internal, not down seatstay
- single front ring of about 44 w/ wide-narrow ring and k-edge chain guide
- RD w/ a clutch
- Hydro discs or new avid rim brakes
- 32 spoke box section tubulars with challeneg tires (fango and limus) or good tubeless setup with a tubeless specific tire
- 12 x 25 or 27 in back
- 105 level shifters and such, nothing fancy except for good hubs

If you wanted disc, maybe a trek or felt in aluminum for under 2k and a set of tubular wheels and some tires that would work for anything but mud, then use the wheels that came with the bike to run something like a PDX or Limus clincher for the mud, but try not to use them on the road when you train

I built up a generic Chinese frame with 1x11 Di2, hydro brakes, carbon tubulars for about that price. Weighs just under 17 pounds. It was a fun project.

I'm currently in a several year hiatus from tri/IM, just focusing on riding right now. The fact that this hiatus coincided with a little guy coming into the world is not a coincidence. In 2011 I bought a Specialized Crux Disc and rode/raced it a lot for three years. About a year ago I decided to upgrade to the new Trek Boone. Since I had upgraded several parts of my budget level Crux, I bought the Boone framset and am now riding a mis-mash of parts. The race rig currently looks like this:

Boone Disc frame
Sram Hydro brakes
Sram X0 type 2 RD
Race Face narrow/wide single ring
Sram Rival crankset
Cheap pair of clinchers for training
Nice pair of handbuild tubulars for racing

I have raced a LOT of CX in the past few years (20+ races per season). I'm no expert, and I don't know how interested you are in my personal opinions, but here they are (in no particular order):

1. The Boone is an AWESOME machine. I LOVE it. It's just flat out fun to ride. The isolated seatpost is NOT magic. You still feel bumps. But the frame is so stiff, and so smooth; like I said, it's just plain old fun to ride.

2. The Crux is a good bike, very capable. I put a lot of miles on mine, and it's still going strong. I kept it as a pit bike.

3. The upgrade from mechanical disc (BB7 in my case) to hydros makes a big difference. Everything people say about hydros, how they stop better, modulate better, etc, etc, it's all true.

4. I do not miss my FD at all. Switching to the 1x10 drivetrain has been very nice. I don't use any special 1x10 parts, just standard stuff, with shorter chainring bolts. I like my setup, because when I do some epic gravel rides this summer, I can just put the FD back on along with the 50/34 rings, and I'm set.

5. I ride a 42 front ring, with 12-28 in the back. Never seen a CX course that needed a smaller gear than that. 38 or 40 in the front would be fine as well. I don't know that I've ever shifted below my 15 in a race.

6. The type 2 RD is awesome, great for chain retention. I'm not sure the narrow/wide ring is even necessary.

7. We have a lot of trails around here, and I ride my CX bike year-round. I don't get it when people put a fun bike away in December and don't pull it out until September.

8. There is a lot of debate about disc vs. canti. I'm new enough to have never had a canti bike, so I can't comment.

9. The debate about clincher vs. tubular that is so heated on the road is nonexistent in CX. Tubulars are superior.

10. CX is rad. I am still totally surprised at how into it I am. Love it.

I probably have a few more thoughts, but the little guy just woke up. :)

-Colin

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I just replaced my 4yo BMC cx02 for a Alu Spec CruX
(I really wanted discs)

I spec'd an alu bike, because this is also my commuting bike, and for a daily (and how badly I ride CX) I wanted something that could take more of a pounding and still be ridable, if a little bent.

For about 3k, you could get a spec alu frameset, rival22 hyrdo and a chinese carbon clincher wheelset. I also say wrench science had a nice niner frameset as well, that could also do the job.

I am really liking the new frame, still getting used to the brakes (trp hy/rd - these wil get replaced when I replace the whole groupset with SRAM, and the 105 kit will get dropped on a road frame)

I might suggest that if you able to try it out before laying 3k down that would be a good idea...just to see if you like it/love it/hate it. If you know from you dabbling then great! I run a tight budget and started on a cheapo $700 special and never felt bad about literally beating the shit out of it on the usually muddy west coast. Technical tracks are me strong point coming from mtb and motocross but I crashed every race my first year and that alu beater never flinched! Since starting I have found that I love it and I am upgrading by scrounging parts for that few months for next season.

Having said all that I would say that a good set of tubulars will go far for you...further than frame and component choice. My only complaint is that the season is wayyy to short! Good luck!

I've been racing CX for four years now.
Disc is where to be now.
Hydro is better, and more expensive.
You will need multiple wheelsets. I still use cantis and have three tubeless wheelsets. I race in SoCal where we have little to no weather.
Non disc wheels are still way cheaper than disc.
Racing cross breaks shit.
For $3k you can get a pretty good bike. Keep multiple wheelsets in mind.
All depends upon how serious you want to be.
I use Shimano and Ultegra/105. It's cheaper when shit breaks and is much more than adequate.

Thanks everyone. There's a lot of options out there and it looks like a touch more research will be needed (and there's time out there to look around still).

Tony

I was in a similar spot last year and ordered a Fezzari Fore Cyx. They are a direct-to-consumer brand out of Utah - I got a very modern bike (carbon frame, through axles, Stans Grail tubeless wheels, SRAM Rival with hydraulic brakes) for about $3200 IIRC.

I spent 1/2 hour measuring my limbs & interstices to complete the Fezzari ordering document - it came sized with an appropriate frame, stem, bars, crank, etc.. Pretty impressive system. I live in CO and they are based in UT, so I drove over to pick it up, they are real bikers in a clean shop with a retail floor in the front. My LBS may have preferred to sell me a Focus/Ridley/Spesh - but this is a good honest US startup that I felt good supporting and I love the product. For the price, it was way more value than retail brands in shops.

I raced a 1/2 dozen CX races on it, which was a blast, but I also enjoyed taking it out on wintry days for January training rides where it felt way more confident than my road bike on snowy/icy roads. It has been a very welcome addition to the stable. I sold my track bike to make room for it on the 4 allotted hooks in my garage and have not missed it.

( I will warn interested parties - Fezzari must buy the worlds stickiest browser cookies, they pop up all over you browser for months anytime you do a search)

.

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

Love this post. Sick of people asking about cross bikes only to open the thread and the primary use is commuting :)

Go aluminum. You're going to crash. Probably a few times. If you get good enough to be held back by the weight, you're going to want to upgrade anyway. Get carbon then, and make this bike your pit bike. Rival or Force- they're going to get abused so nothing fancy. I run cantis, but race cx in Texas and it only held me back one race last season. I run carbon tubies so if it rains I'm basically screwed- terrible stopping power. Discs would be great, but I can't justify the change at this point. You might as well start there.

I'd probably go Rival on a aluminum frame and save the extra money for a nice tubular setup once I became proficient at dismounting/remounting, cornering, etc. A decent set of properly mounted tubulars is much more important than group or frame material- once you've got the basics down. I tend to think the fancy crap doesn't matter if you can stay with folks because your technique is garbage.

FWIW...2014 was my first proper year of cx racing on a cx bike: an aluminum Focus with Ultegra and Ritchey Carbon wheels with Tufo Flexus Primus 32mms. I upgraded the brakes to Avid Shorty Ultimates. Did 20 races, won 2 and have half my Cat 2 points. Not a backdoor brag- I'm just trying to reinforce that wheels and brakes are HUGE. You don't need absolute stopping power, but you've gotta be able to brake in all conditions, especially if you live somewhere it rains a lot.

Hope this helps.

I just picked up a Fuji Altamira 1.1 disc frame from CC for only $800 and it's Di2 compatible. I already had the drivetrain, etc., so upgrade costs were minimal. I've seen a few sales on the Niner RLT lately. One guy I know loves this bike and routinely rips past guys on AM rigs. Unless you live in completely flat and dry terrain, I'd recommend discs.

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

I have a friend that just recently picked up a Spec Diverge and he loves it

Trek Crocket 5 Disc. Take it on every single gravel road you see this summer, race every ccx race on it this fall/winter, wear it out, buy something else. CCX is so much more about participating than the bike.

http://www.trekbikes.com/...cyclocross/crockett/

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/...=NNR001O-BLARD-S47CM

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/...;skidn=BMB000H-BK-XS

http://www.cannondale.com/nam_en/2015/bikes/road/cyclocross/superx/superx-sram-rival-disc


http://www.trekbikes.com/...cross/boone/boone_5/

One of my favorites as you can customize the build kit to what you want, Sram Rival bring it to 2900.

http://www.vandesselcycles.com/full-tilt-boogie