Entry level CX ?

[crewjones]

My friend wants to get a cx bike for riding to work and to ride some dirt with me. I tried to convince him to go with an XC hardtail mtn bike, but he wants the cyclocross. He's thinking about an All-City. I'm not too familiar with the brand but I told him he should probably stick to a more proven frame. Any recommendations?

[Petti the Yeti]

I got a Gravity Liberty CXD from Bikes Direct about a month ago. Pretty solid bike if he knows how to properly put it together and tune it up.

Taken it on some fairly easy single track that had a few small obstacles to ride over and the only limiting factor I had with it was the thin, mostly slick tires in sandy corners. I've measured the frame and fork, and it looks like you could stuff some 29x2.1 tires into it with a small amount of clearance all around to remedy the issue I had with the tires.

I weigh 220ish, and after a few longer rides, haven't heard a squeek, groan, or pop from anything on the bike. And it has fork and frame lugs for racks, so it should make for a pretty solid commuter bike.

[crewjones]

cool,
i'll take a look at the component package on that and let him know. I can do the assembly and tune up for him.
thanks

[paleh0rse]

Budget?

[AlexCuse]

All city frames seem to be very highly regarded in this forum. Not sure how much more proven you are going to get.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[crewjones]

Ok thanks Alex. Good to know that All-City is a decent frame. His Budget is probably around $1,200. I'm going to suggest that he go with a better component group than the Gravity, since his budget allows. Oh one more big factor, He wants steel

[Petti the Yeti]

Oh yeah, if he can throw that much money at a bike, definitely go with something else.

[StuntmanMike]

Hmmm, might be hard to get steel for that budget, unless he goes lower end. The Nashbar steel CX bike is usually on sale in the 500-600 range. It seems like steel is always low end or high(er) end, I don't recall seeing any mid range priced steel bikes.

The All City is more, 1500-ish for the Macho Man, 1800 for the Macho Man disc. He cold get the Nature Boy (single speed) for around a grand, but who wants single speed?

I think I remember seeing Surly Cross Checks for around 1200-1300 on sale online, but not sure of the parts spec. IIRC they come with bar end shifters.

The Raleigh Tamland 1 looks to be interesting, and that's at 1400-1500. It's steel, with a 105 group, with disks and comes stock with 40c tires. It's marketed as a "gravel bike", but IMO it looks like it would be a great all 'rounder.

[AlexCuse]

I think masi has some steel cross bikes in the 9-1200 range but they are sora/tiagra level components (nothing wrong with that IMO). Hard to beat the cross check unless he really wants disc brakes. Not sure if they're still spec'd with bar end shifters or not.

[crewjones]

he ended up with a used custom built Lemond Poprad for around $850. I'll probably see it this weekend.

[AlexCuse]

That sounds like about the best possible outcome for him - take some pictures when you do