UKC

Help please!
Trying to decide whether my next stead will be a cyclecrosser or a hybrid. Im looking for a good do it all sort of bike, mainly commuting with a bit of weekend touring and cycle path jaunts, nowt to much gnarly off road stuff. I've got a mtb for that! Ive currently got a road bike and would prefer comfort over out and out speed but don't want a slow bike. I had a shot of my mates Giant TCX crosser and it was pretty nice. Cant make my mind up though! Seen some nice Charge bikes for good money as well in both crosser and hybrid so its making the decision even harder! The Charge bikes seem to get decent reviews, anyone any experience with them? Are the steel frames as heavy as they sound?

Thanks
Big D

In reply to bigdelboy:

Try and ride both for a couple of miles up and down some nice hills and see what you think. I had a go of a friends 'hybrid' doing laps of Richmond Park and I honestly don't know what the point of them is. They look all slick and black and everything but very limited. I'd go CX'er - more riding positions, better geometry, more versatile bike which you can put slicks on for the commute or knobbly off road tyres on and probably eat most single track in the U.K. on it if you are that way inclined.

D

In reply to Dauphin:
Cheers - I have tried the crosser and did like it, a lot comfier than my road bike for sure. I've had a brief go of a hybrid as well and it kinda felt like a big wheeled mtb which wasn't bad just didn't seem as fast if that makes sense, more kind of sit up and beg position as well, again very comfy and would be better for touring i'd reckon.

In reply to bigdelboy: I have a Boardman CX now, but had a Felt hybrid for about five year before and did something like 10,000 kms on it. Both cost about the same amount. So the CX is definitely a bit faster (same tyres, same route) I reckon just because of the aero dynamic position - maybe 2 or 3 kmph faster for the same effort? CX races are also a lot of fun if you have a local not too serious series you can join.

Something in favour of the hybrid though, mine had better brakes - hydraulic discs, the CX has cable discs which are frankly a hassle and don't work as well. The best brakes is obviously important for urban riding. If you are coming from MTBs also, the flat bar position is familiar and you'll find it easy to move the bike around on rough ground. I've also started doing some bikepacking, and strapping gear to the flat handlebars is much easier than on the drop bars of the CX.

Both are really practical bikes; CX is kinda trendy now I suppose, but I wouldn't write of a modern well designed hybrid - but don't get one with suspension I reckon. If you need suspension you should be on your MTB!

In reply to TobyA: Yeah I agree with everything you say! There is definitely plus points for both, just need to way them up for my type of riding. Im kinda swaying more towards the hybrid side of things - better touring, better brakes!, comfier for longer journeys. I could live with the loss of speed for only 2-3 kph. The CX's do look very nice though! How can I convince my better that I need both?? My MTB is a Boardman and Ive been very impressed with it. How it is still in once piece after the thrashing I give it is testament to a how well its put together!

In reply to bigdelboy:

How can a hybrid be better for touring? Long day in the saddle carrying weight holding just one position? Heavier, slower all round, unenjoyable descents...limited off road potential.
Maybe it's just me.

D

In reply to Dauphin:


On my hybrid I put a pair of these ergo grips which give you something like mini bar ends. Just by adding them I found it gave me plenty of variation in my hand positions and all day rides were fine. I guess the frame fit etc. is probably just as important too. Having said that, I did 90 kms on my road bike yesterday afternoon and was thinking I must ride on my hoods for something like 95% of the time, so perhaps I'm just lazy and don't move my hand positions around much!

It's probably not too important to many others but I've found that on my CX bike, the classic bikepacking set up of strapping a dry bag to your bars means that it's tricky both to use the secondary brakes and ride with your hands on the flat bit of the bars. Again I ride mainly on the drops so its no biggy for me, but a flat bar makes this easier perhaps showing that bikepacking mainly came from an MTB back ground - with my hyrbid I found a cheap bar bag worked well with a dry bag under it. This won't fit on my CX so I needed some rethinking on my packing.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE_s2G00_2M/Ubed8GAOEgI/AAAAAAAAGXE/hRCYBbURMHs/s...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L_p1jJPzdwI/TbXRXMzHh0I/AAAAAAAAEK4/63Vh7rvvDIQ/s...

In reply to TobyA:

I can see what you mean about the bar bag - personally I've never used them, I don't like anything at the front - including panniers which seem about as attractive as caravanning; why take the kitchen sink when you want to get away from it all? Thinking about one of these frame bags from Alpkit for the next trip.

D

In reply to Dauphin:

Just got mine! https://twitter.com/TobyinHelsinki/status/370204819749093376/photo/1 Haven't done a trip with it yet.

In reply to TobyA:

Did you get the divider thingy? How does that work, does it split it laterally or top & bottom?

D

In reply to TobyA: Nice! I've seen these though means re working the bottle cages. Nice looking bike though. With regards the ergo grips, I spoke to a guy who had them on his mtb for a recent mtb marathon and they look ace for touring. He had special gloves made by the same folk with were made specifically for use with the grips and bar ends. Will definitely be getting them if I go down the hybrid route.

In reply to Dauphin:


Nope, went for as cheap as possible!

In reply to Dauphin:

Depends on the exact type of hybrid. Personally I went for hybrid rather than CX partially because at the time the CX bikes were rarer and less well specced and partially because for the type of commuting I was doing i preferred the flat bar layout with decent brakes.
if I wasnt dealing with lots of heavy, slow traffic might chose differently next time round.

In reply to dissonance:
My commute will not be in any major traffic at all. Mainly country B roads so fairly hilly and quiet ish roads. Would definitely like disc brakes for through the winter. Not heard great things about cable discs but having never tried them I dunno how good or bad they are. My mates crosser brakes are shocking though ( canti's )

In reply to bigdelboy:


Why not look at a touring bike? Won't be as fashionable as a CX though. Well at least not this year. Who knows what the industry will push next year?

In reply to bigdelboy: There are a couple of bikes worth a look designed for precisely the kind of use you're talking about: one is the genesis Croix de Fer; the other is the Salsa Vaya.

I've got a Vaya and love it for it's comfortable, predictable ride, ability to take gurt big tyres, disc brakes and 'definitely not a tour wannabe' style

In reply to softlad:

I covet the Croix de Fer, which has Avid BB7 brakes rather than the BB5s, which I don't much like. However, I saw on their blog that they are experimenting with hydraulics - that would be the clincher.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:
I bought it 3 months or so back and very happy with it. Put some 25mm tires and not a bad road bike

In reply to bigdelboy:

Go cyclocross! I don't really get the point of hybrids, they are not that versitile, will be slower, less riding positions, crap decender and very limited off road. My friend has a genesis steel frame cyclocross thing and its an amazing bike!

Alex

In reply to bigdelboy:

The guys at 18Bikes keep trying to sell me a Genesis Vapour CX (better all round than the CdF in their view). Am resisting cos the bars are the wrong shape

A Cotic RoadRat could be another bikes for you to consider. or an Orange RX1

In reply to a13x:

I think its a bit silly saying this as hybrid is such a catchall term. There are plenty of "hybrids" which are basically CX bikes with flat bars, or mtbs with out suspension etc. I think they can be super versatile.

In reply to TobyA: yeah...... A better way to phrase it is 'cyclocross bikes are the best hybrids'!

In reply to Papillon:

Agreed!