How many of you out there cyclocross? I am thinking of buying a cross bike but did not know if it is real limited when riding trails. Other than real deep ruts or soft dirt can a cross bike ride on moutain biking trails?
I cyclocross. I use my cross bike as my road bike and as my cross race bike.
I have used my cross bike on trails - it can be done and is fun. But, I have more fun using my hardtail MTB when riding trails. using a cross bike really sharpens you ability to pick a line, ride using your whole body as suspension, etc.
If I coulld only own one bike it would be cross bike with several sets of tires or wheels.
David K
I would say that soft dirt is less of a problem than rough/rocky terrain. Cross races often have sections with lots of mud, and the skinny tires will sink in then bite on the bottom. It may be a bit more of a drag than floating over the top with a big fat MTB tire, but it doesn’t really cause a problem. The skinny tires do not protect the rim on really rocky trails, so you are more likely to pinch flat or tweak the rim in those situations. If the trails you are looking at only have limited rocky sections then you are probably fine. If the trails you ride on are relatively smooth, then the cross bike can actually be faster than the MTB.
CX rocks! Wish it were a year-round sport…
Look at this video and you’ll see what CX bike were made for. (16MB file warning)
http://www.hanskellner.com/videos/2004/10/2004CCCXRace1.wmv
My CX bike isn’t much fun on technical singletrack (too much vibration)…but loads of fun on fast singletrack.
Hilly/forest single-track trails are a lot more enjoyable on a hardtail MTB.
Get a hardtail w/ suspension-adjustment/blocking and you can race CICLOCROSS w/o problems!
P.S. I love my CX bike (use it as comuter, roadbike and I race cross on it) but I’d never take it up on mountain trails
I Cross and oh it hurts. The MTB would have a better range of terrain, but that’s when you get off and run. I will go specific for cross in late summer as I was not anerobic able enough last year. You also can get some fairly wide tires and make that cross bike go many places.
Depends on the type of trails you’re riding, and the gearing you’ll need to ride them. Obviously, you’ll be sans suspension - at least any real suspension, so if you don’t mind getting bumped around a bit more, you’ll be fine. Bigger tires can help, and getting the psi right is also a must. Either way, you’ll learn to use your body to soak up the bumps, which isn’t a bad thing.
As far as gearing, you can put a triple up front, or you can use some large cogs in back and go compact. As someone already noted, you’ll be faster running at some point anyway.
I like riding my cross bike on fire roads, double track, and some single track as long as it’s not too technical. Cross racing is as fun as it gets - you’ll kill yourself, but there’ll be a smile on your face afterward. Hope that helps.
I race cross… I still like my mtn bike off road though. like everyone else said, just packed down dirt trails in the woods, cross bike would be fine, but we have a lot of rocks and such, and your body gets so beat up on a cross bike with those. Great for technical stuff and speed, but still like the mtn bike better for off road
I currently have a huge case of bike lust for this beauty here:
I am seriously thinking this could double as my road/commuting bike. I can get rid of the 80’s Fuji doing that job right now. But I get to choose, new bike or IM Japan.