Why don’t we do this in Melb’s? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2gwN_kDLmA
Well Melb was wet in winter before the Drought, El Nino, Globall Warming, John Howard, G W Bush, Al Gore et al
I do like the dismount. Couldn’t do that without nutting myself…personally thinking of making a fixed/ss cx bike…any hints/suggestions. My folks own a dairy farm so heaps and heaps of mud (cow shit)
probably the same reason people don’t use fixed 4X bikes.
Even plain old cyclocross would do alright in Victoria i think. I did a bit of it in Canada and it is fantastic fun. Am keen on getting something started here but alas, it is on the end of a long list of things that need/want to get done…
Just do it. I’ve got one. Fixed a regular CX bike with my old fixie wheel and a magic 44x18 gear. No tensioners or horizontal dropouts needed. I don’t race but it’s a lot of fun just riding around.
Couple of the other Sat riders are also using SS CX bikes at the moment. I’m pretty sure they’re loving it as well.
Des
i’m thinking of building one as my next fixie project.
i used to love cyclocross, so much fun.
My next project definitely. As a teen, we used to race our road bikes on the creek track between Edwardes Lake and Coburg Lake. Awesome!
I looked into On-Ones etc. Ive got an old Giant Kronos frame Abbotsford can braze on canti posts and change the drop outs for $200. Seems like a plan
But can you fit 35c CX tyres in them and still have enough mud clearance?
Des
That could be an issue, I know I used to run 28c tyres with heaps of room, 32 could be a problem. They said they can change the rear brake bridge. I was planning on getting a real CX fork of ebay.
I think the chain stays will be the more limiting factor compared to the brake bridge when it comes to tyre clearance. If you’re going to have to buy a new fork anyway, perhaps you might be better off getting a complete frameset. IRO CX frames are pretty cheap (considering the lower US$).
http://shop.irocycle.com/shop/product.php?prod=Rob%20Roy%20Frameset&productid=16208&cat=2&page=1
Cheers
Des
Des
why don’t CX bikes use disk brakes? too much mud?
how much can you thrash CX bikes? as in how offroad can you take them?
where in melb would be suitable for riding one?
i’ve got 3.5 bikes at the moment (.5 is a unicycle). I’m looking for an excuse to get another 
Coz the UCI says so.
You can buy a CX bike with discs though (eg: Cannondale)
You could get away with a CX bike on the yarra trails, up stream of the Chandler Hwy. Or anywhaere muddy I suppose.
It probably depends on the bike but I imagine you could thrash em a bit, just avoid rocky single trail etc. if the going gets tough pick the damn thing up and run
Come along to a Saturday ride and see for yourself. On a good day there’ll be three CX bikes to choose from.
about 2 yrs ago there were 2 cyclocross races held here in Vic organized by 2 different people.
one was held somewhere around Ivanhoe from memory
UCI says no for UCI sanctioned races - USCF doesn’t say no for the USCF program. Frames and forks can be fairly burly and Yank and Euro Crossers tend to try to save weight where they can…cantis are lighter a pair of disc calipers might add a pound, add rotors, disc hubs are heavier etc etc etc. I’d try to shave weight off the bike if I had to dismount and jump over shit run up a muddy hill several times in an hour with my bike on my shoulder.
There are also stories about riders being cut by rotors when there’s a bunch running up a hill, but that could be BS.
pop on over to www.roadbikereview.com and check out the cyclocross forum.