Not an e-bike for once (1 Viewer)

[Ridgeway]

I pretty much use my mountain bike when we go away in the van and only on occasion to I take my road bike however more and more i've been doing some mixed rides with the children as well as road and forest routes back home. After looking at the price of e-bikes and the size of my belly I decided that a "new" human powered device was needed but something that I could use almost any where, most terrains, tow the dogs in their Croozer with and some how not be a mountain bike nor a road bike

So after a bit of research I decided that a CX bike was for me and after a few weeks searching I picked up a 2nd hand (used once for 1hr) custom built CX from Germany.

Wow what a lot of fun it is. Love the road stuff on it and only marginally slower than my Scott road bike and it just east up anything off road, really amazing how capable it is. Only a few offs so far although having my Look road pedals on and road shoes doesn't help, desperately need some SPD's. But I'm looking forwards to winter for once and all those wet roads, and the mud will be just a lot of fun.....

 

[albial]

Have a look at egg beater pedals they are easier to clip in and out and she'd mud better

 

[Chipster]

Have a look at egg beater pedals they are easier to clip in and out and she'd mud better

Yes on Crank Bros pedals but I use Candy’s. They have a little more support than egg beaters. I like the float in them as I have dodgy knees. Got them on mountain and road bikes now. Need a bit more in the line of maintenance but a doddle to do. Been using them for years. Edit. Love the bike ,,!!!!,

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[Ridgeway]

Thanks guys, yes will take a look at the alternative pedal options, main criteria is that I need something that i can use with and without cleats for those occasions then I want to just use the bike around the village or when out camping. Was thinking SPD's would suit this best as the shoes used to be pretty OK for walking it, then need a suitable universal pedal as well.

 

[MattR]

I pretty much use my mountain bike when we go away in the van and only on occasion to I take my road bike however more and more i've been doing some mixed rides with the children as well as road and forest routes back home. After looking at the price of e-bikes and the size of my belly I decided that a "new" human powered device was needed but something that I could use almost any where, most terrains, tow the dogs in their Croozer with and some how not be a mountain bike nor a road bike

So after a bit of research I decided that a CX bike was for me and after a few weeks searching I picked up a 2nd hand (used once for 1hr) custom built CX from Germany.

Wow what a lot of fun it is. Love the road stuff on it and only marginally slower than my Scott road bike and it just east up anything off road, really amazing how capable it is. Only a few offs so far although having my Look road pedals on and road shoes doesn't help, desperately need some SPD's. But I'm looking forwards to winter for once and all those wet roads, and the mud will be just a lot of fun.....

View attachment 192646

How does it cope with off road stuff, including mud, sand, rocks and roots? Several friends have got them recently - they love the versatility but prefer their mtbs for heavier off road stuff.

 

[Chipster]

Ideal for disused Railway trails and gravel stuff. Plus easy to ride on the road. I wouldn't use one for Whistler mind

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[PORKSTER]

Thanks guys, yes will take a look at the alternative pedal options, main criteria is that I need something that i can use with and without cleats for those occasions then I want to just use the bike around the village or when out camping. Was thinking SPD's would suit this best as the shoes used to be pretty OK for walking it, then need a suitable universal pedal as well.

I use a Shimano spd pedal that also has a cage for same reason and a spd shoe that is flat soled Cant recall the part numbers or names of them sorry.

 

[Mikeco]

Somebody's pinched the battery.

 

[BobtheBass]

Spd shoe. You make shoes out of potatos?

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[Ridgeway]

How does it cope with off road stuff, including mud, sand, rocks and roots? Several friends have got them recently - they love the versatility but prefer their mtbs for heavier off road stuff.

Very well indeed. Yes there's some slight rolling resistance from the chunkier tyres but honestly no big deal and anyway I probably need some of that to get my fat belly down....

It corners well and overall takes lumps and bumps on the road better that my Scott road bike. One think to note is that this is my first carbon bike vs my aly framed Scott so this is perhaps I'm making a slightly unfair comparison ? (wait for the long pause and then the carbon vs aly comments)

In terms of true off road, I did some trails that I used to do on my MTB. It was slightly hairy due to the road shoe and Look pedal combo but it gave me a lot of confidence in it's abilities. Most of what I did was dirt, gravel and grass at some serious descent angles and as I passed some MTB guys that were having a rest I did get some strange looks waving my right leg in the air to keep balance. I'm no Ashton or Bromutti but I do like an odd small jump and a few hops of obstacles and with a CX it's certainly possible (the stiffness and lightness does help though) so small roots would be fine although haven't been over any as yet. The mud is a breeze but at speed I do unclip if I'm flying through downhill just in case.

I've just added the Croozer trailer hitch today and took it for a spin with Murphy in the back, 21km mainly flat through trails and forest and averaged 22kmh with a 20kg dog and a 13kg trailer.

One other aspect I like (showing how old my body feels) is the slightly more upright position. I added some headset spacer rings and also tilted the bars up a bit (ok quite a bit...) and whilst it's a killer in head winds it's so much more comfortable overall and helps with your visibility on tracks and trails. One thing I'm currently challenged with are rocks (ping pong ball sized +/-) hidden in leaves.... normally you can spot these and avoid them but currently there's so many leaves around there are some hiding and waiting to surprise you.

 

[Ridgeway]

Spd shoe. You make shoes out of potatos?

That was the launch pitch if I remember in the early 90's, Spuds you like was the marketing phrase if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Ridgeway]

Somebody's pinched the battery.

There's 3, one in each light and one in the Sigma

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[MattR]

Very well indeed. Yes there's some slight rolling resistance from the chunkier tyres but honestly no big deal and anyway I probably need some of that to get my fat belly down....

It corners well and overall takes lumps and bumps on the road better that my Scott road bike. One think to note is that this is my first carbon bike vs my aly framed Scott so this is perhaps I'm making a slightly unfair comparison ? (wait for the long pause and then the carbon vs aly comments)

In terms of true off road, I did some trails that I used to do on my MTB. It was slightly hairy due to the road shoe and Look pedal combo but it gave me a lot of confidence in it's abilities. Most of what I did was dirt, gravel and grass at some serious descent angles and as I passed some MTB guys that were having a rest I did get some strange looks waving my right leg in the air to keep balance. I'm no Ashton or Bromutti but I do like an odd small jump and a few hops of obstacles and with a CX it's certainly possible (the stiffness and lightness does help though) so small roots would be fine although haven't been over any as yet. The mud is a breeze but at speed I do unclip if I'm flying through downhill just in case.

I've just added the Croozer trailer hitch today and took it for a spin with Murphy in the back, 21km mainly flat through trails and forest and averaged 22kmh with a 20kg dog and a 13kg trailer.

One other aspect I like (showing how old my body feels) is the slightly more upright position. I added some headset spacer rings and also tilted the bars up a bit (ok quite a bit...) and whilst it's a killer in head winds it's so much more comfortable overall and helps with your visibility on tracks and trails. One thing I'm currently challenged with are rocks (ping pong ball sized +/-) hidden in leaves.... normally you can spot these and avoid them but currently there's so many leaves around there are some hiding and waiting to surprise you.

I was umming and arring whether to get a new mtb or cx bike - I was getting lots of encouragement for the latter but couldn't work out whether it would cope with the rocks etc that used to cause problems for my old mtb. My new 29 inch tyres have rolled everything so far. If I had space, I'd still be interested in a cx bike but can't accommodate another when we already have 18 bikes in our household.

 

[Chipster]

I was umming and arring whether to get a new mtb or cx bike - I was getting lots of encouragement for the latter but couldn't work out whether it would cope with the rocks etc that used to cause problems for my old mtb. My new 29 inch tyres have rolled everything so far. If I had space, I'd still be interested in a cx bike but can't accommodate another when we already have 18 bikes in our household.

Number of bikes you have is always n+1

 

[MattR]

Number of bikes you have is always n+1

I'd normally agree to rule #12 but realised that I had miss counted and we have 20 bikes in our household so need to make some space first

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[Ridgeway]

Bit more feedback on my CX experience. Since last October i've covered about 2k km on this bike and it's been an absolute pleasure. Through Autumn, Winter and Spring nearly all tracks, trails and some pretty much hard tail like routes that the bike coped with really well. It's only been in the last 3 months where i've been tackling 100km road routes that i switched over to some more sensible 28mm road tyres and that made things much easier. Did le col du la Colombier a couple of weeks back (stage 10 TDF) although had a few odd looks by the squeaky tyre boys (those on 23mm or less rubber) Must admit that i'm not a huge fan of the SRAM Apex set that is really sensitive and needs constant adjustments although does handle mud well. Having since ridden my wife hydraulic disc bike i wish mine weren't cable disc but i may have a solution for that.

So if you like mixing up your rides, taking off roads and getting away from traffic whilst still being able to cover the road KM's pretty well then i can really recommend a CX/Adventure/Gravel bike, currently my only bike in the garage after my daughters have "borrowed" my hardtail and pure road bikes.....