I’ve been thinking about converting one of my old road bikes(Specialized Allez Elite) to a CX bike as a test to see how much I actually like CX riding before investing in a CX-specific frame. I don’t imagine I’ll be bombing through mud pits or doing any races, just getting my feet wet on gravel paths & the like to start. I’m trying to come up with a checklist of what I’d need to turn my old roadie into a basic CX rig, here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
new shoes/cleats/pedals(the Speedplays I have seem like they’d gunk up far too easily for CX)
new tires
Maybe a new cassette to deal with different gearing?
I’m not sure about that frame, but most road bikes don’t fit 32mm+ tires that you would want for cyclocross. If the frame fits them, your road brakes probably don’t.
I would suggest picking up a used steel cyclocross frame or complete bike with cantilever brakes that you could also use for a commuter.
If you are just riding gravel, new tires 28-32mm and change cassette. A compact crank is a better setup. You should measure your road frame at the stays/fork and also at the brakes to see if it will accommodate the wider tires. Many road frames do not beyond 25mm. Once things start getting messy, you will have trouble with common road brakes (dual pivot) interfering with crud on your tires. Regarding pedals, people run Eggbeaters or Time Atacs a lot (i have the latter). For just gravel, I don’t think the Speedplays would be an issue. The concern with cross pedals is gunking up and mounting/dismounting easily.
If you are just riding gravel, new tires 28-32mm and change cassette. A compact crank is a better setup. You should measure your road frame at the stays/fork and also at the brakes to see if it will accommodate the wider tires. Many road frames do not beyond 25mm. Once things start getting messy, you will have trouble with common road brakes (dual pivot) interfering with crud on your tires. Regarding pedals, people run Eggbeaters or Time Atacs a lot (i have the latter). For just gravel, I don’t think the Speedplays would be an issue. The concern with cross pedals is gunking up and mounting/dismounting easily.
^^
This.
Like you, I didn’t want to drop $$ on a CX-specific bike until I knew I liked that kind of riding first. To set my road bike up for gravel rides I set my training wheels up with a set of 28mm tires with a light knobby tread, and an 11-32 cassette (RD needed a minor tweak to make that work, no big deal though).
Put on a spare set of Time ATACs (the really old-school kind with the composite body, which I still use on my MTB) and used my MTB shoes.
I’ve been thinking about converting one of my old road bikes(Specialized Allez Elite) to a CX bike as a test to see how much I actually like CX riding before investing in a CX-specific frame. I don’t imagine I’ll be bombing through mud pits or doing any races, just getting my feet wet on gravel paths & the like to start. I’m trying to come up with a checklist of what I’d need to turn my old roadie into a basic CX rig, here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
new shoes/cleats/pedals(the Speedplays I have seem like they’d gunk up far too easily for CX)
new tires
Maybe a new cassette to deal with different gearing?
Am I missing anything?It depends where you’re riding and in what conditions.If it’s gravel roads or dirt paths that aren’t too rocky or muddy or sandy, then just see if you can fit 28s or 32s and you’re set. Just try it.
If it’s not muddy and you’re not getting off the bike to run/walk then your road shoes and pedals are fine. Or at least I’d found SPD road pedals to be fine for riding (not walking) on dirt. I’m not sure about Speedplays.
If it’s very muddy, that bike won’t work because the mud will clog around those tires.
If the terrain is steep, you need lower gears.
If you do a lot of this, you could perhaps shorten and/or raise your stem if it’s in a good road racing position.
+1; do that as your first try - good advice. 28s are good for a lot of easy trails / dirt paths just will bog down in real sand. Don’t over invest to start.
Also, if you want to try a cross race if you do get the bug, if you have an old mtn bike, just put narrower tires and keep your bars straight (take off the extensions) and you are good to go. And some races have rental bikes - the ones here in SoCal are quite nice.
Maybe look for a used or new old stock bike? I wanted to mix up my rides w/some gravel and trails and purchased a brand new 2 year old CX bike for a decent price. It’s certainly been worth it so far plus it can serve as a winter bike here in the Northeast. I did my first CX race this weekend and was humbled to say the least. It was nice to only spend 30$ on a race and good fun but couldn’t be further from tri race biking. I got clobbered. Will definitely give it another go.
I bet you never thought 45 mins could last so long…It’s a really fun, yet exhausting, form of racing imo.
It’s totally different - one is steady state work at or sub threshold, the other is high intensity above threshold, settling down to threshold (if you are lucky) plus some fun technical bike handling.
I do find though that TT fitness is beneficial for your engine, so if you have that, you just need to then do cross specific work and you’ll do great after you get a few races in and your body adapts.
There’s a big difference between riding around on trails/gravel roads and CX racing. The best bet is to borrow someone’s CX or MTB and enter a race. You may even be able to find a bike shop that will rent a bike to you for a day. A lot of places have CX clinics that you can learn techniques and try out bikes.
I’ve seen people race on road bikes - even SS road bikes with road shoes. A lot depends on the course set-up. I enjoy riding the trails in my area (Sedona) on the CX bike but it’s not like racing.
an old touring bike is a mediocre conversion project, but your bike will not have the clearances for muddy tires. I’d borrow an MTB to try the sport or see if a shop has some demo bikes
I’ve been thinking about converting one of my old road bikes(Specialized Allez Elite) to a CX bike as a test to see how much I actually like CX riding before investing in a CX-specific frame. I don’t imagine I’ll be bombing through mud pits or doing any races, just getting my feet wet on gravel paths & the like to start. I’m trying to come up with a checklist of what I’d need to turn my old roadie into a basic CX rig, here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
new shoes/cleats/pedals(the Speedplays I have seem like they’d gunk up far too easily for CX)
new tires
Maybe a new cassette to deal with different gearing?
Am I missing anything?
I tried doing this to an old Trek 360 road bike in the early 90’s. Side pull brakes, 28c was the largest tire I could fit, conventional gearing, and the bike was HEAVY. Oh yeah, and I used clips and straps with running shoes. LOL That was the early days of STI and ergopower (had that on my road racing bike) so as a low cost attempt to keep my hands on bars, I put bar end shifters on the bike. I got my ass handed to me whenever things went uphill or if things got technical. Forget trying to remount while those pedals were bouncing around. I didn’t have a MTB then or I would have used that and it would have been much better off.
My advice is get a cross bike used and you can sell at years end if you don’t stick with it. If you do convert a road bike (don’t do it) good luck.
My friend convinced me to do back to back races…bad idea. By the fourth and final lap in each race I was passing some people and moving up because of fitness, but yeah the amount of time you spend beyond threshold was a shock at first and kind of the opposite of triathlon bike racing. Definitely a blast, and I love throwing trails and gravel roads into my road rides. Tons of sandbagging going on, the first 5 finishers in the Cat 5 race were Cat 1 and 2 road riders which was a little disheartening. I’m looking to get 4 or 5 races in before real winter kicks in up here in New England. To the OP I would say go the used cx bike route.
I was going to try and convert an old road bike but would have had to spend about as much on a fork, wheels, tires and brakes as my NOS cross bike was off ebay. So far I have only ridden on the trails. Need new shoes and pedals and to practice getting on and off quickly before I will be ready to race.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to get a CX frame now as there’s not enough clearance on the rear wheel. Ah well, it was worth a shot.