I have an old Klein Quantum, i think it is about 8 years old. I have a tri bike and a new road bike. I wouldn’t get much if i sold the Klein so i am thinking about converting it to a cyclocross bike. What would i need to do. Currently the bike has 8-Speed Shimano 600, w/STI & Carbon Kestrel fork. The wheels are Mavic Reflex clincher for the front with an ultegra hub and a Mavic CXP rear with Ultegra hub.
Thanks,
Mark
The hardest part of doing this is getting a larger tire to fit in the frame.
Pure cyclocross bikes have cantilever brakes and lots of room for big tires. Most cyclocross tires are a minimum of 30. You MIGHT be able to find some 28’s but it will be a stretch.
You may want to put a different step on it to help with control and comfort. You’ll want spd style pedals and shoes for dismounting and running.
You will want to change the gearing, possibly even going with a single front chainring. Otherwise, change the big ring to something smaller and the small ring you can leave alone or also go smaller. Lots of cross folks ride with compact cranks.
Your main concern is going to be fitting tires in the frame and fork. If you can’t do that, you’re SOL. I’m a Tufo fan and their tires run close to the claimed size. Many are far wider then they claim. I’m guessing you’ll need to go with 28mm unless you can find something more narrow.
Gearing is next on the list. If you have a 53/39 up front, change the big ring to a 44,46, or 48 - depends on how strong you are. On the back, a 12-27 will work, but I’m not sure how easy that is to find in 8-speed these days. Depending on how much you want to spend, you might think about an upgrade. Careful, though, you can buy a full cx bike for less than 1K, so it’s really not worth spending too much.
Third is the pedal/shoe system. Time’s are sort of the defacto brand, but Crank Bros. have come on strong in the last two years. IMHO, Crank Bros take too much effort to release but, admittedly, I haven’t tried the candy’s, and so don’t know if the cleat has changed. Shimano SPD’s work fine in dry conditions, as do Speedplay Frogs. Neither of the latter two work particularly well when caked with mud &/or wet grass. When dismounting and remounting, speed is the key - you don’t have time to clear the cleats in a race. Shoes are a personal preference - just don’t go too stiff as you’ll have to run in them. I like my Sidi’s.
So, you think the welds and the materials on that Klein will hold up off road? I have no idea, personally, but it seems to me that a bike designed for the road might not be up to the abuse of off-road riding.
Were I you, I would either make this in to a dedicated trainer bike, or sell it on Craigs List. You can pick up an entry level Bianchi cross bike for less than $1K.
Lots of people try it this way before buying a cx bike. I agree, however, that it shouldn’t be used as such for too long. If you try and like it, you’ll want a cx bike anyway. It’s a cheap way to try it out.
Just put my two Felts together for the upcoming season - it’s a very well made frame. For about $1500, you get a very nice complete cx bike from them with Ultegra and Truvativ components. I purchased them frame only, and built them up with campy. SoCal schedule was just posted!
I don’t think that a twitchy crit. bike is a good choice for a cross conversion.Too many obstacles on a Klein.
Cullen
if you get a cheap ass 'cross fork off of ebay you can fit a nice fat tire on that rascal for the front, where it counts. get some canti brakes for the fork while you are at it. bonus here is that the longer 'cross fork will also slacken the head angle a bit, and raise the bars some. you may want to get a slightly shorter and up-angled stem, maybe not. run a 27 mm vittoria in the rear, it will fit fine ( excel has them). the road brake will be adequate in the rear. total cost est around 100 - 125 bucks. it will be fine. all 'cross bikes used to be converted something or others, save for maybe some lone freak with a high buck guerciotti or something. your klein modified a bit will be a great 'crosser.
I tried it once, but as the others wrote ,big tire to frame fit is the clinker , also threaded fork can snap off at the weak threaded area , but looks like you have a carbon threadless fork, I am guessing. I would look for a hybrid bike frame ,to start with.
perhaps you have or could borrow a cheap-ass mountain bike? run it rigid, with narrow tires. otherwise, other posters have already stated the major complications with a road bike. another possible one is that if the course is muddy, your caliper brakes will not have enough stopping power. if the course is dry (like they are in SE Michigan), you’ll be OK if you can squeeze the tire in.
A klein is a tough 'cross conversion. They tend to run pretty tight in the rear triangle, so you will be very limited in what tires you can run. Internal cable routing is not great for cross, and obviously you can’t add cantis on to the frame. I wouldn’t worry too much about the geometry, though; cross bikes are pretty tight and steep these days.
If you think even for a second that you will stick with cross, don’t pump money into a “conversion.” Go out to a 'cross clinic or practice session (or 2, or 3…) on your road bike, and if you like it, figure out a way to buy a 'cross bike. Or use a mountain bike.
There are many used cross bikes available (heck, I have a couple for sale myself,) and you can probably get a 'cross bike for not much more than you would spend incrementally piecing together a makeshift rig. The cheapest POS cross bike you can buy is going to be better than any roadbike conversion you come up with.
I lead the cross clinics in Seattle, and out of 500 + riders I personally coached this season, I can count on one hand the number of riders who used conversion bikes. I think all but 1 or 2 of those finagled a cross rig of some sort by seasons end (lots of people used mountain bikes.)
Big thumbs down on the Vittoria tire recomendation. They are a stopgap at best - they MIGHT fit on your bike, in which case you can use them to check out cross (on your roadbike) to see if you like it. Trying to race on them would be incredibly frustrating. Especially for a beginner, watching people ride around you while you pick yourself up off the grass because your tires suck is no fun - and make no mistake about it, the Vittorias do suck (I remember paying insane money for Clement tires, hand carried over from Europe, just so I wouldn’t have to ride Vittorias, which were all that was available back in the day. Wiejak schooled everyone at nat’s one year in part because he had Dugast 38’s and most of the field were stuck with crap…) The Ritchey semi-slicks are yards ahead of the Vittorias, and they will fit on your bike if the Vittorias will ( If anyone really wants some of the icky Vittorias, I am pretty sure I have a couple of pair in the storage shed…)
The parts spec on your bike sounds just fine. You could switch most of it over to a cross frame with no problem. All you would need would be new brakes and tires (probably…)
Pedal choice for cross is pretty much personal preference, with the exception being that I do not know of a single high-caliber cross rider that has been able to make Frogs work for cross. They are pretty much the only good mtn. bike system that does not convert well. The vast majority of world-class cross riders (read as: european) use Shimano pedals. Time has been the favorite in the US for several years, but many Elite US riders have switched to Crank Bros. I am currently using the Crank Bros Candy SL pedals, and I would buy them if they didn’t give them to me. I prefer them to the Atac pedals, but ymmv.