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looking for a super versatile bike for road/varied surfaces, and long distances.

13K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  Tricker Joe 
#1 ·
not sure if this is the most appropriate forum to post in but im looking for a road/cross type bike. something that i can really haul and ride fast on across town or on longer distance road rides, and swap out the tires and ride a mix of paved, fire road, and mellow mtn bike trails if needed. id also like to be able to throw some racks on it to carry gear for multi day trips/camping.

im very new to anything non squishy mountain bike related, so far a friend told me to check out the traitor crusade which looks pretty sweet, but i really have no idea what to look for and what i need in a bike to do what i want it to do.

it would be nice if the bike could be built fairly lightweight, both to save weight when i load it up, and because a lot of the medium-longer rides ill be doing will be on some steep up and down mountain roads, so id like it to have a little of that tiny tire carbon race road bike feel, or at least not get blown away by those guys.

ive also got a singlespeed road bike on 45c tires, set up more for around town bashing and fun, so thats my go to bike when im 40 minutes from one side of town to the other or spending time in the city. i may use this new bike for a little of that but that kind of riding isnt a concern with this bike.
 
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#41 ·
can someone who understands road/cross bike geometry better than i do, take a look at the following bikes geo and tell me how it should handle, what ride characteristics it should have, and which are more road friendly and which are more cross friendly. that would be extremely helpful, i feel like ive got a decent understanding, but still learning..

http://www.traitorcycles.com/2013/Bikes_Crusade.cfm?Token={ts_2013-07-05_17:51:39}-5175b8aab9afcb6a-59227DC8-D620-7604-F444F2FB087CD6DC

Vive Le Roi - Civilian - Civilian

Salsa Cycles | Bikes | Warbird 2

All-City Cycles Macho Man Disc

Milwaukee CX Frame Builder - OX Platinum - Disc - In Stock! : • Milwaukee Bicycle Co. • Ben's Cycle

Milwaukee ROAD Bike/Frame Builder - OX Platinum Tubeset : • Milwaukee Bicycle Co. • Ben's Cycle
 
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#42 ·
Well as some of them are frame only there other things to consider like stem length, handlebar style and sizes, cranks(length), tires and wheels.. so it kind of boils down to how you end up building a frame up..Of the ones you listed I like the Salsa..but you are limited to only running up to a 700x38 size tire..so you could not go any larger than that on..it seems like it would be a solid bike to pull some road duty on as well with skinnier tires..the geo seems spot on for a nice comfortable ride compared to a road bike..

Most cross bikes are going to have the higher BB area..they will have the longer chain stays, wheelbases can depend on that a what fork you run and how much rake is in it..as someone mentioned a Road Bike like the Secteur is kind of a good compromise between the two..but no place to mount racks..I like the Salsa has it seems to tick a lot of the boxes you want.

I just finished building my Cross Check and built it more like a race bike instead of say a touring bike..the fork has very little rake in it so the wheel base is pretty short..drop bars..2x10 drive train..handles great..accelerates great..I thought it would feel twitchy but it does not..with some 700x25 slicks it scoots...nothing like my road bike because my road bike is a race bike and is meant for speed...really ant do anything else with it..

The plus is I still have the Surly Fork I can always put back on the bike...change some things like the stem..handle bars and have a totally different bike to use depending on my needs...so maybe you should build one up the way you want it and get a frame that allows you to modify things and change stuff as your needs change..

But if I was going to buy a bike from the list you have up there and based on what you wanted and looking for in a bike I would go with the Salsa..it seems perfect to double as a cross/road bike.
 
#44 ·
I've been riding a Ridley X-Fire for nearly a year. This has become my only bike (Mtn, Road, Cross, local Crits) the fork will take some 2" tires Monstercross style & 42's on the back. The 46 chainring was swapped to a 48 and I'm running a 11-27 cassette. At 19lbs running discs brakes not bad for $2700. i feel comfortable on just about everything the 1 1/2" fork has taken a ton of abuse, the bottom bracket is pretty high which is a bonus for me.
 
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