[BigMike]

So, after looking at road bikes and the such, I decided I want a cross bike. Easy enough, right? Well, I called Fuji, they are sold out in my size. Jamis is also sold out in my size. So is Kona.

Giant doesnt make one, Iron Horse does not make one, GT doesn't make one.... who else makes nice cross bikes?

I work at a shop, so I was hoping to get a discount, but we only deal Giant, Fuji, GT, IH, and Jamis....

What do I do?

 

[Westy]

Jump off a 2 story building. The resulting bone crushing will make you smaller and move you down a size.

Or wait

or just get a road bike.

or just road-out a hardtail XC bike.

 

[N8 v2.0]

How about a Surly??? Do they make a cross bike?

 

[JRB]

Like N8 said. The Redline Conquest looks pretty cool too. Bianchi has a nice bikes as well. Or you could have one built like Wumpus did.

 

[jollyrodger]

Soul Cycles (ridesoul.com) has a cross bike coming out. I don't know anything about it, but I've heard good things about their other frames. Plus, they're pretty inexpensive, I think.

 

[golgiaparatus]

So, after looking at road bikes and the such, I decided I want a cross bike. Easy enough, right? Well, I called Fuji, they are sold out in my size. Jamis is also sold out in my size. So is Kona.

Giant doesnt make one, Iron Horse does not make one, GT doesn't make one.... who else makes nice cross bikes?

I work at a shop, so I was hoping to get a discount, but we only deal Giant, Fuji, GT, IH, and Jamis....

What do I do?

Moots? What about I.F.? Or even Titus? Specialized.

 

[Westy]

Salsa makes a crossbike, if you can order a Salsa skewer you should be able to order a Salsa bicicletta.

 

[Nate at RIT]

I have a Redline Conquest Pro, can't say enough good things about it. Dependable, good parts spec, comes disc compatible (hubs and mounts), and the company's great to deal with. What size are you looking for BTW?

 

[Nitromike]

K2 has the Enemy

 

[Full Trucker]

Two words: Bianchi Axis.

Tasty!

 

[Ridemonkey]

Rocky Mountain makes a nice one.

 

[Lexx D]

Two words: Bianchi Axis.

Tasty!

we had one in our shop a while back.........sweet ride!

 

[Mocha]

How about a Surly??? Do they make a cross bike?

Surly Cross Check

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Hopefully someone can chime in and help clue me in......here it goes:

Are cross bikes relatively road worthy? Meaning, if you swap tires to a road tire would it make a decent road bike?!?! The area where I would primarily ride a road/cross bike is pretty mountainous with tons of both paved and relatively smooth gravel (tar & chip, hardpacked gravel, etc) roads that inter-connect. I'm stuck between a full on road bike w/ triple or a cross bike.

 

[BigMike]

Hopefully someone can chime in and help clue me in......here it goes:

Are cross bikes relatively road worthy? Meaning, if you swap tires to a road tire would it make a decent road bike?!?! The area where I would primarily ride a road/cross bike is pretty mountainous with tons of both paved and relatively smooth gravel (tar & chip, hardpacked gravel, etc) roads that inter-connect. I'm stuck between a full on road bike w/ triple or a cross bike.

I wouldnt take a full on road bike on gravel, but thats me....



Thanks for all the great suggestions guys.... I may be able to do redline, and i'll check into Salsa. Like you said, If I can get a skewer, why not a bike?

And I'm looking for a 60-62... 58 is too small for me.

 

[BigMike]

the Redline looks sweet, but it has an aluminum fork. Not that I need to start being snobby now, but... the other bikes I was looking at had carbon forks. Am I really going to notice a differance? (and by the way, I dont trust carbon for anything off road, so I guess If i'm going to be doing singletrack on it, I dont want carbon..... )

 

[Mattoid]

We have 2 fuji crosses at performance in tysons. I say this to aid your search, i could care less where you buy it.

Go Team Performance, GO!

 

[bomberz1qr20]

the Redline looks sweet, but it has an aluminum fork. Not that I need to start being snobby now, but... the other bikes I was looking at had carbon forks. Am I really going to notice a differance? (and by the way, I dont trust carbon for anything off road, so I guess If i'm going to be doing singletrack on it, I dont want carbon..... )

I built a Redline for someone at our shop, I honestly wasn't too impressed. Cobby welds and cheap ass paint. JMHO

The Surly is the most adaptable bike out of all these, it will do most any road chore as well as a good cyclocross trainer. Not a race bike, mind you. (a bit heavy) It can go SS (cool) and has room for HUGE tires and fenders... It's trail-worthy for sure.


Or there is the Karate Monkey, which can do all the above and more. (Marzocchi 29" fork option is there too)

Or the SOMA Double Cross. Sweet frame.
http://www.somafab.com/frames.html

Or the Bianchi Volpe (cheap!)

Or the Lemond Poprad



Me? I'd frown on carbon fork for serious offroad use. Race? Yeah no prob, but not day-in day-out stuff.

 

[Full Trucker]

...Or the Lemond Poprad...

Oh yeah! Forgot about that bike... a friend just built one of those up and it it's like honey on a biscuit... SWEET ACTION.

 

[BigMike]

We have 2 fuji crosses at performance in tysons. I say this to aid your search, i could care less where you buy it.

Go Team Performance, GO!

You dont have a 61 that you want to transfer to store 45 do you?

we've got a 54

 

[BigMike]

The Surly looks sweet, but I'm not digging the bar end shifters. Nor the brakes. Sweet lookin frame though, and its steel

 

[DRB]

If you work at a shop, ya'll are bound to have a quality account and you can get one of these. Its light (scandium) and pretty cheap. A cyclocross build kit wouldn't be that expensive either.

 

[Ian F]

Bear in mind you don't size a cross-frame the same as a road frame. Use the top-tube measurement to compare them. If you plan to ride it on any amount of dirt, you'll want the bike a bit small.

On road bikes, the top tube and seat tube measurements are roughly equal. ON a cross bike, the top-tube is usually a couple a cm longer for better stand-over clearance.

Example: I ride a 56cm road bike, but my Indy Fab Planet Cross frame was a 52 with a 54cm top-tube. That bike was sweet in tight, technical single-track. :love:

Find a good roadie shop and have them do a fit-kit for you. Then you'll know the size frame you need along with the right stem length and post height. Paying for this is well worth the money, and you can often save money in long run by buying the right parts (stem and h-bars) the first time.

There are few things in the cycling world more painful than an ill-fitting road bike (or a x-bike mainly used on the road).

 

[BigMike]

Bear in mind you don't size a cross-frame the same as a road frame. Use the top-tube measurement to compare them. If you plan to ride it on any amount of dirt, you'll want the bike a bit small.

On road bikes, the top tube and seat tube measurements are roughly equal. ON a cross bike, the top-tube is usually a couple a cm longer for better stand-over clearance.

Example: I ride a 56cm road bike, but my Indy Fab Planet Cross frame was a 52 with a 54cm top-tube. That bike was sweet in tight, technical single-track. :love:

Find a good roadie shop and have them do a fit-kit for you. Then you'll know the size frame you need along with the right stem length and post height. Paying for this is well worth the money, and you can often save money in long run by buying the right parts (stem and h-bars) the first time.

There are few things in the cycling world more painful than an ill-fitting road bike (or a x-bike mainly used on the road).

I was going on the size road bike I would ride....

o if I would ride a 60-62 road bike, a 58 in a Cross bike would be OK? I was thinking about that possibility, but I'm sure they probably dont have 58s in stock either.

EDIT: by the way, I'm 6'3" with a 34" inseam
or, at least, thats what length my pants are... I never bothered to measure

 

[Wumpus]

My X-bike measures 56cm c-c. 6'3" Inseam 37.5"(95cm). Though, mine is custom and has a extra long HT.



btw - your pant's inseam(mine is 35") has nothing to do with the inseam used to size a bike.

 

[JRB]

If you work at a shop, ya'll are bound to have a quality account and you can get one of these. Its light (scandium) and pretty cheap. A cyclocross build kit wouldn't be that expensive either.

Yummy