Have an old singlecross that was my commuter for years.
It was fine for 20/40 km but now I'm using it for training over the last year or so it's showed it's flaws in longer distances.
1 it's a touch long for me (it's a big 58cm - it's already got a 75mm stem on
2 it weighs as much as the sun (I suspect this is the forks mostly)
3 it's not particularly comfy on long days out.
I have nice wheels and finishing kit (older bonty racelight) ultegra ht2 cranks
Looking around - not wanting to go disk is throwing me issues.
Obvious first place is surly. They are much comfier and a 56 would fit me well but weigh more than dark matter ...same with the pompino.
Next place is allcity.... Can't say why but I'm just not liking them. They just have nothing nice about them to.my eye.
Anyone seen any other v brake compatible 120mm oln slot drop out cross frames ?
Alternatively ....an old school carbon canto /v brake mounted fork(seen any recently ??) And a 60mm stem might solve most of my issues.
Thoughts ?
Have you tried larger tyres? Should be able to take ~40mm, which you could run at ~65/75PSI if you are ~80Kg.
How heavy do you reckon it is? Maybe my scales were dodgy, but I always thought my old 2010 56cm Singlecross was only ~0.5Kg heavier than my old 2006 54cm Felt F5C.
Will check when I get home. It just rides heavy.
It has 28s on it ATM. I run at 80 psi
But then I have a giant propel that I run at 85psi on 25s and it's significantly comfier.
I used to run panaracer commuter tires that were even heavier and it felt even more dead. In its commuter guise it weighed 31lbs. But that was stock bar heavy tires + rack +brooks. But it was good for a 40 minute commute. Not so much fun for a 3 HR ride.
Dolan Fxe if you want something lighter. Though caliper brakes, and less tyre clearance, maybe not so comfy.
Bike-Discount.de do some alloy steerer, carbon blade, canti post Radon trekking forks. Used them to replace the stock forks on my Charge Plug which I think is a cheap copy ofthe Singlecross...
I'll take a look at them , cheers
I think the fork is half the battle.
It's got those zertz things in.
It's carbon
It is absolutely solid. Not sure what the zertz are doing.....
@13thfloormonk I'm after a lighter fork to replace the stock Pompino one, what's the tyre clearance like on that carbon fork?
Can measure for you this eve disco_stu, but it will easily swallow a 38c slick with 50mm PDW mudguards. Would probably take my 45c WTB Riddlers without guards as well.
Edit: in truth though the forks aren't spectacularly light, prob 750g ish. Didn't actually save any weight over the stock alloy blade/alloy steerer forks, although that wasn't why I bought them.
Weighed this morning.
21.5lbs which seems chubby given the spec
Does seem chubby, my Charge Plug with cheap stock wheels (2.4kg inc Whyte freewheel/tensioners/nuts) and Alivio square taper cranks is 22lb on the nose! That's with 32mm Vittoria Hyper Voyagers and PDW City mudguards too.
I've got a Charge Plug (the alloy SSCX variant, not the steel fixie), no for sale but does tick your boxes if you keep an eye out on ebay.
I doubt it's significantly lighter though, but tyre clearance is huge (for a CX bike) though, I've gone as high as 40 and there's still clearance for quite a lot more. Think it's 22lb, standard-ish except for a dynamo setup and lighter rims.
Think it’s 22lb,
To be fair the one thing I've learned about "I think it weighs" is that the almost without exception doesn't weigh that.
Be interesting to know what it actually weighs.
