Cyclocross all-arounder or N+1 with road bike?

[hozn]

I would say that generally you’re not “paying extra” for the CX features. In fact, cyclocross bikes seem typically cheaper. Maybe that’s just an impression based on the prevalence of stock at entry-level pricepoint since they tend to get treated pretty rough.

I can’t remember if this came up in the earlier thread, but I would strongly recommend looking at Nashbar bikes and other online retailers.
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/SubCategory_10053_10052_202613_-1_202326_202339

While a little bit of a budget stretch their $1200 Famous Maker w/ Ultegra is a fantastic deal. And at $1500 you can get a carbon frame. Hard to beat that.

Also consider bikesdirect.com. I’ve known several people to buy from them (and bought my road frame from them). Again, some fantastic value — and lots of under $1k options, though I would say that $1200 is a pretty good price point.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/road_bikes.htm

Probably want to check out pricepoint.com too.

These bikes tend to come almost completely assembled, so you don’t really have to have any special mechanical skills to put them together. Just a hex wrench set.

[ebubar]

If it makes a difference to anyone, i’m thinking to wait until the fall to get potential deals on last years model.

[PotomacCyclist]

You can also browse through the online catalogs of all the local bike stores. Some stores list many of their bikes online, including special deals and clearance items. They will often have summer-end clearance sales, but you may also be able to find a good deal before the fall. I would bookmark all of the websites into a separate folder and check them every week or two.

This might not turn up anything. Or you might just get lucky and find a bike in your size/fit that suits your needs. I did this a few years ago when I was shopping for a triathlon bike (my first bike as an adult). I happened to stumble upon a deal for an aluminum-frame Felt tri bike at 35 percent off the list price. It was a new bike, but it was the previous year’s model. This was during the summer, so it wasn’t part of a fall clearance sale.

As for Sora parts, I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I’ve never had a bike with a Sora group myself.

[jopamora]

Not sure if this has been brought up yet. What about the Torker Interurban? I stopped by Silver Cycles last week and they had 4 in stock.

[dasgeh]

With a limited budget, why not focus on used?

We’ve been building up the bike arsenal, and I’ll say I’m loving having a fast road bike & a “ready to ride without thinking about it” bike. For the commute, I’d still want a rack, but you could do a seat post rack of an Arkel rack (just got one, haven’t tried it out yet). I’m a +1 for the N+1 route.

[Amalitza]

I’m interested in people’s answers to this.

I have the n+1 set-up you’re describing. A hybrid I’ve had for several years and a road bike I bought used a year ago. I’ve been toying with the idea of going +1 more with a cyclocross bike, but I’m not sure if I would really be adding much functionality or just overlapping what I already have.

If you’re curious about my experience– first of all, I don’t commute (in general, or until recently, we’ll get to that later), so ymm certainly vary on that account. Most of my riding is recreational/fitness, a minority for transportation. The road bike is a lot more fun to ride than the hybrid, and in general more comfortable over longer distances, but it’s totally not practical for any kind of utilitarian purpose where you might want to carry something with you. The hybrid is great for short trips with a trunk bag or panniers. It’s perfectly comfortable over short distances, is happy to carry a load, has nice granny gears for climbing with said load, etc. But if I want to ride for fun or exercise, the part where you lean forward to pedal hard is uncomfortable and not sustainable for more than half a minute or so. Now, I’ve seen other people riding hybrids perfectly upright pedaling like mad (and blowing me away in the process) so I know it can be done, but that is not comfortable for me, at all. I do have a suspicion that my bike might be a tad too big for me, which might make a difference there, though I’m not really sure about that.

So, between the two, I have a fast, fun recreational bike and a practical, useful grocery-getter-short-distance-transportation bike.

What I do not have is something that is fun and comfortable over longer distances that also has some kind of carrying capacity. (Carrying a backpack is just not going to happen, ugh.) The commuting thing I mentioned earlier. Ok, I have commuted, three round trips, 33 miles one way. I used the road bike for 2-1/2 of those, and the hybrid for the last leg. Riding the road bike meant I carried basically nothing with me. Brought lunch/clothes/purse/etc to work in car on day 1, left everything there overnight while riding the bike home and back again in the am. Riding the hybrid meant when I got a nice stretch of open road, I couldn’t just lean into the drops and go. I was surprised to find I was about 1-1/2mph slower on the hybrid– I think relative speeds for similar efforts are actually a lot closer than that between the two bikes, I just can’t place myself in a comfortable posture for sustained harder effort on the hybrid, if that makes sense?

I also wonder if a cross bike would give me better off-pavement capability. I have ridden the hybrid on dirt and gravel a couple of times, and the bike doesn’t seem to mind it but I feel pretty beat up afterwards. Maybe I just need to put wider/lower pressure tires on the hybrid for that kind of ride, get a seat-post rack for the road bike for when I want to carry some stuff on it, and don’t need another bike at all. (until i want to learn mountain biking of course…)

Oh, there are definite benefits of having more than one bike. If bike one is in the shop, bike two is still available for riding. If your hand suddenly stops working in a specific way that won’t allow you to shift bike two, bike one with a different handlebar set-up works just fine. (this would be the explanation for the hybrid making the final 1/2 commute, btw).

[Greenbelt]

With the CX bikes, you have an awful lot of flexibility — you can set it up for touring with a rack and fenders and smoother tires, or for C&O style touring with rack and knobby CX tires, or for pure road if you take the rack and fenders off and put on slicks.

With a road bike, you have to check if it has clearance for fenders (most don’t) and eyelets for mounting a rack (most don’t) if you want to take it touring or use it as a back up commuter.

However, if your current commuter also handles all your touring needs, one new road bike in your range (barely) would be the Felt F85? Its a fast bike with a racy geometry, seems especially popular with triathloners on tight budget or weekenders who want to keep up with high-speed training rides without spending a ton.

-Jeff

[ebubar]

I’m a bit lucky in that I don’t really need to worry about carrying stuff on my commute. Seat bag for tubes, tire levers and multitool and a frame mounted pump are all I need. I have a nice locked lab that only I can access for storage.

The Torker certainly looks nice and that price is slamming! Maybe a test ride is in order, especially since i’m close to Silver Spring!

I’m looking at used and online. I’d be more inclined to go with an online bike over used (though i’d really like to support a LBS). I think I could dial-in my own fit and they might be the best option for my decreased budget. $1K is stretching it (summer paycut AND down to a single income household) making the Volpe at 1299 REALLY painful to swallow.

I’m recalling some KILLER deals last fall on 2011/2012 models, so this might be my best bet, and I’ll always have Bikes Direct or Nashbar to fall back on.

[KS1G]

My commuter is a Castro Valley (similar frame, made as a 1×9 but with some creative use of cable housing and a clamp-on stop made it into a 2×9), which is similar to the Volpe frame. Mine is a mix of ebay (frame, fork), stuff I had (much of the drivetrain, wheels), and catching a few sales. Pluses: Easily accomodates fenders, racks, studded tires (winter), 35mm tires (with the fenders, maybe wider w/o). Classic Bianchi celeste color (that counts for a lot!) Fast enough for commuting, easy-moderate group rides, centuries (if not too concerned with pace), at least light touring. Minuses: signficantly heavier and slower than my nice road bike. Canti brakes are OK but don’t stop as well as my road calipers – could be choice of brake (cheap), the mechanic (me), or I need to try mini-v’s. If I could only own one bike, this would probably be it.

Since I own > 1, I am very happy to have the Bianchi for loaded commutes, errands, and messy weather, and a nice road bike for weekends, spirited group rides, centuries, and nice weather (or poor plannin!) commutes (w backpack). Crudbuster fenders fit, and max usable tire size is 25mm, so barely OK for short stretches of gravel but not something I’d want to spend doing for much of a ride.

I’d call all the local shops and let them know you’re looking – they may have something or can at least keep their eyes open for you. The MABRA list often has roadies upgrading to a better ride (especially as the road season wraps up in a few months). If handy mechanically (or have a friend who’ll help) and you have much of the spare bits available, finding a frame you can build up may save some money. Groups – I’d avoid Sora (just because), and I’ve had excellent experience with Sram – WiFli high-capacity derailluer with a 34×32 low gear makes for a decent sit & spin up hills.

[jrenaut]

My first bike after CaBi got me riding again as an adult was a 2011 Defy 3. A great bike in a lot of ways, and I did find fenders that worked, but they were a huge pain. There’s not enough clearance for most fenders, so I got some plastic ones (I can find you the link if you end up with the bike, it’s posted in at least one of the fender discussion threads here). They worked well, but tended to rub sometimes, and I destroyed two sets in a year and a half (at $70, that can get expensive).

When that bike got hit by a u-turning cabbie on PA Ave, I bought a 2012 Bianchi Volpe. I find it a lot more comfortable, especially since I do most of my riding downtown DC where the roads are, um, imperfect. I did like the chain ring sizing up front on the Giant better, but that’s personal preference.

Then I did my first (and so far, only) century on a rented Defy 2. I love the double chain ring up front – I never ever use the smallest ring on the Volpe (and didn’t on the Defy 3). After riding the Bianchi for a while it was so light.

If you have specific questions on any of the 3 bikes, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

[ebubar]

@KS1G 57200 wrote:

My commuter is a Castro Valley (similar frame, made as a 1×9 but with some creative use of cable housing and a clamp-on stop made it into a 2×9), which is similar to the Volpe frame. Mine is a mix of ebay (frame, fork), stuff I had (much of the drivetrain, wheels), and catching a few sales. Pluses: Easily accomodates fenders, racks, studded tires (winter), 35mm tires (with the fenders, maybe wider w/o). Classic Bianchi celeste color (that counts for a lot!) Fast enough for commuting, easy-moderate group rides, centuries (if not too concerned with pace), at least light touring. Minuses: signficantly heavier and slower than my nice road bike. Canti brakes are OK but don’t stop as well as my road calipers – could be choice of brake (cheap), the mechanic (me), or I need to try mini-v’s. If I could only own one bike, this would probably be it.

Since I own > 1, I am very happy to have the Bianchi for loaded commutes, errands, and messy weather, and a nice road bike for weekends, spirited group rides, centuries, and nice weather (or poor plannin!) commutes (w backpack). Crudbuster fenders fit, and max usable tire size is 25mm, so barely OK for short stretches of gravel but not something I’d want to spend doing for much of a ride.

I’d call all the local shops and let them know you’re looking – they may have something or can at least keep their eyes open for you. The MABRA list often has roadies upgrading to a better ride (especially as the road season wraps up in a few months). If handy mechanically (or have a friend who’ll help) and you have much of the spare bits available, finding a frame you can build up may save some money. Groups – I’d avoid Sora (just because), and I’ve had excellent experience with Sram – WiFli high-capacity derailluer with a 34×32 low gear makes for a decent sit & spin up hills.

Great info and suggestions. I’m leaning towards a Giant Defy 2 at the moment. Test rode a Defy 3 (sora components) and it was quite nice feeling. Not quite as smooth as the Volpe, but significantly lighter and felt more “get up and go”. Since this would be N+1 the nice thing is I don’t need fenders, rack or any heavy commuter stuff. I can just grab the bike and go (with a seat pack for tubes and such of course). I have ample space at work to lock stuff up and leave clothes. I can spec out the hybrid with fenders and rack for heavier commuting days and keep the road bike nice and sleek.

I’ll keep an eye on deals in the next month or two. Birthday is September so the boss might be more forgiving if I get myself something as a gift :p. I suspect I can find a good deal on a 2012 or 2013 road bike with Tiagra. Perhaps a Defy 2 with Tiagra will fall into my price range with end of season discounts.

[ebubar]

@jrenaut 57201 wrote:

My first bike after CaBi got me riding again as an adult was a 2011 Defy 3. A great bike in a lot of ways, and I did find fenders that worked, but they were a huge pain. There’s not enough clearance for most fenders, so I got some plastic ones (I can find you the link if you end up with the bike, it’s posted in at least one of the fender discussion threads here). They worked well, but tended to rub sometimes, and I destroyed two sets in a year and a half (at $70, that can get expensive).

When that bike got hit by a u-turning cabbie on PA Ave, I bought a 2012 Bianchi Volpe. I find it a lot more comfortable, especially since I do most of my riding downtown DC where the roads are, um, imperfect. I did like the chain ring sizing up front on the Giant better, but that’s personal preference.

Then I did my first (and so far, only) century on a rented Defy 2. I love the double chain ring up front – I never ever use the smallest ring on the Volpe (and didn’t on the Defy 3). After riding the Bianchi for a while it was so light.

If you have specific questions on any of the 3 bikes, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

Sounds like utility was the “big” problem with the Defy 3. I’m hoping I can avoid that by having the hybrid for hard days and the road bike for fast and fun days. The Defy 3 or 2 seem like the sweet spot. I only occasionally use the granny gear on the hybrid (41st. street), but the Defy 3 and Defy 5 I tested basically fly up hills that are troublesome on the hybrid. I think the compact double, as advised on here, would be perfectly fine. Tiagra should stem the upgrade-itis for awhile, but also make upgrading not too cost-prohibitive. 10 speed up to fancier 10 speed pieces as things wear out. 2013 Sora on the Defy 3 also ain’t too shabby with the dropping of the thumb shifting. Plus the Defy frame is surprisingly light and smooth and seemingly worth upgrading. I’ve tried comparable Specialized, Cannondale, Trek and Fuji, but the Giant felt nicer and is cheaper. Plus the shop is really close to home.

[DismalScientist]

For $1K just go nuts on a full carbon/Tiagra/105 bike: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/sprint_xiv.htm

[ebubar]

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/sprint_xiv.htm – super tempting indeed!

Why can’t I get over the online fear of Bikes Direct? Super tempted by this too: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gravity/liberty_3.htm

Seems like the Giant Defy 2 well under my budget. Even with paying a shop $100 to put the
thing together and tighten things up for me.

Argh! Bike shopping is so cruelly fun!

[hozn]

@DismalScientist 57371 wrote:

For $1K just go nuts on a full carbon/Tiagra/105 bike: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/sprint_xiv.htm

Yeah, that is a great deal. These (Motobecane) are good bikes. Check out the reviews. And bikesdirect is a food vendor, nothing to be scared of — unless you are concerned with fit, etc. Though I have seen some atrocious “sizing” done by bike stores to push inventory, so can’t say that you aren’t better of figuring that out on your own anyway.

[Author]

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