Quote:
Originally Posted by itrsteve
At no point did he state he was going to be riding over huge rocks and gnarly backwoods trails full of hazards. People widely under estimate the usefulness and versatility of cross bikes out of not knowing they even exist since on the surface they look like a normal road bike so it's not a category they're even aware to look for.
If he walks into a shop unsure of their intended use (like many do), he's going to get a shitty hybrid bike pushed on him that does nothing well since they always keep tons of those heaps on the floor.
A cross bike is perfect for mixed terrain, asphalt, gravel, mud... It does everything well with the right tire all the way up to rugged mountain/trail terrain (at which point there's a specific bike that only does that and only that well)
Here's a random cx race video on YouTube to showcase the versatility I speak of
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I am aware of cross bikes and have test ridden them before. There's a lot of limitations to cross bikes I am not willing to accept.
The whole point is to have a road bike geometry for something you can ride off road. But if you do go off road, you'll always run into places there it's inconvenient. Doing hours of riding on a trail with a ridged fork will beat your wrists to pieces. Also, leaning low is not where you want to be on a descent on a trail.
On the road, they are often much heavier than road bikes and lack the aerodynamics. Although cross bikes are more suited for road than off road.
I'd say the cross bike is ok but it's definitely suited more for experienced riders off road as you have to live with the compromises and work around the limitations.