[Closed] Which one would you choose & why please (CX)

Looking at the pics, FSA must have made a killing selling chainsets!

Without checking the specs, whichever one isn't BB30 (so definitely not the cannondale)

IMO the Cannondale and the Giant are just ugly.

The Kona concerns me though - looks like they have cut the steerer to the minimum? - so no option to add spacers for more comfort.

On a non-race cross bike I like the bars set at or slightly below saddle height which would rule out the Kona for me. I hope this is just a marketing pic and the ones in the shops have a longer steerer.

The cross light seems to have a flattened top tube, which makes carrying easier. It also looks like it has rack mounts. It gets rated quite highly be people on here. And its just a nicer looking bike than the others.

Looking at the pics, FSA must have made a killing selling chainsets!

I always assume FSA is what they fit when getting bikes down to a price point!

If they all feel the same on the test ride then whichever you can get the best deal on, in terms of price and groupset?

Sometimes buying a local bike you've been able to test ride is much better than one of the web that might seem slightly better on paper.

Or the Kona 😈

The Kinesis or the Kona for me - the others are a bit bland. These two look good!

Agree that the riding position on the Kona looks a bit aggressive (TT anyone?) although of course stems should always be slammed...

I love my Kona Jake the Snake... and this year's model looks fantastic. Lucky you if you get one 🙂

Not sure the SLR1 is worth the extra over the SLR2.

So in summary, wait to see what Rose and Canyon are offering after Eurobike.

😛

Giant isn't available in UK?
Cannondale has hydraulic disks

I'm in a similar boat - waiting to see what Rose do with the Cross Pro DX.

Really interested in weight. Buying mine to replace a cheaper road bike, but with ability for paths etc. Needs to be better on road than my 10kg Genesis

Rose ones get down to 8ish kg and you can upgrade wheels etc for not much more.... Hoping they move to 11 speed 105 or Rival with hydraulic brakes.

Was expecting an announcement at Eurobike

What hydro brakes has the cannondale got?

What hydro brakes has the cannondale got?

[url= https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products/sram-rival-22-hydraulic-disc-brakeset ]SRAM Rival.[/url]

The cannondale at least has hydro disks, one the one hand that's no cables to get gunked/rusted on crappy winter roads, on the other hand they're SRAM brakes.

Shimano seem to have dropped a bollok on this, loads of this year bikes marketing shots have the 105 hydro brakes on them, but nothing in the shops for the cross season!

Think i'll stick with my canti or mini v for now, maybe next year, cant wait for some cheap light hydro brakes for the CX.

Probably the crosslight out of that lot but im biased as have the crosslight 5t.

This looks interesting.......

2015 Raleigh RX PRO:

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I've plumped for the Jake the Snake-should have it next week fingers crossed. I've seen some pics with spacers-I think the stems only been slammed in promo pics. Admit other bikes look like better value but I got at a discount so happy enough. Was a bit put off Giant by proprietary seatpost and availabilty. Also looked at Kinesis but couldn't find one in stock as complete build, although I didn't try too hard.

The rose is going 11spd 105 for 2015 (emailed them). Not going bolt through though, staying qr front and rear. Price staying same I think

I'm a bit biased having a Pro6 but I have to say that if I were to choose between the ones above I'd probably go for the Cannondale. Having tried both, I much prefer hydraulic disc brakes to cable discs.

I've got an older model (yeah and lower spec!) Cannondale and those rear stays make for a lovely ride. Geometry is great too. .. however.. bb30 is shit and out of your list I'd choose the Kinesis.. (and that Raleigh is grim!)

MrPottatoHead:

Did you try the Kona before you bought it?

The size chart I looked at suggested id need a 63cm frame! 😕

Where is the geometry of the cx bikes on rose site?

I doesn't come up on rose site on mobile or tablet. Need to be on a desktop then click on 'frame' on the tabs and it comes up

Ah I see thats me scuppered I dont have a real computer 🙁

Nope 😳

I'm taking a punt on 53cm frame which 'should' be about right for me. The shop I'm getting it from is pretty pokey and doesn't carry much stock or demo bikes so having to take a chance really.

I had an 07 Snake in that superb lumo green colour, great bike but harsh for type of riding OP is doing. That slammed front would hurt me touring and pootling. I sold it last year and bought a Croix De Fer which is better in just about every way for me. The 2015 CDF is even better...

Kinesis is still showing as 10 speed 105 on the web site but assume that will change soon ?

Have you looked at the Pinnacle Arkose 3 - [url= http://road.cc/content/news/127425-pinnacle-launch-updated-arkose-and-dolomite-2015 ]http://road.cc/content/news/127425-pinnacle-launch-updated-arkose-and-dolomite-2015[/url]

Did Rose say if they were going for hydraulic brakes too? I'm not really fussed about the number of cogs.
Be interested to see if they go for SRAM Rival too - it's a light groupset. Or even offer CX1...

When I chose - it was between a CDF or the Kinesis - I chose Kinesis.
Principally because it was much lighter & ticked all the boxes ,plus I liked the colours. I bought the frame and built it up , 105 & hope fanboi style. In two years I've battered mine,if i kill the frame I'll get another Pro6.

Thanks all so far.

That Kona I accidentally deleted:

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Mmmm.......

If you ain't racing it, get the relaxed one with guard mounts. They all look pretty much the same, but if I had to choose (for me to own) it'd be the Giant.
But you're not me and ride differently.. 😀

Same boat here, I'd plump for the Kona out of the selection, I was hoping canyon or rose would realease a bolt through version this year but it's not looking good so far

Flip the stem on that kona and I'd have it 🙂

The last Kona Jake I picked up felt like it was made from lead, but that was quite a while ago, I hope they've got lighter.

Similar position. I'm leaning towards the cannondale due to rival and hydraulics

I was leading towards the caax til i saw a superx mmm....

the Kinesis and then get a SH Hope V twin off here.
Kinesis wheels come highly rated (if they are on that model).
Any comparison of rear tyre clearance, as 35mm+ needed for fun off road (IME)

I've been looking at the same handfull of bikes, then i stumbled upon a Niner CX bike yesterday in a bike shop and well now it just has to be that one it's stunning.

I like the Cannondale & the spec is excellent.

Wonder why they felt the need to splatter 'Cannondale' all over it.......

That aside, it would probably look ok - wonder if they are just stickers that can be removed???

You must be new to Cannondale. If there is a surface without a decal, then someone's going to get fired.

🙂

truenuf. Cannondales wouldn't be Cannondales without that though. I've always quite liked them (though I've never owned one).

You can't remove them BTW 😉

they have done some pretty cool ones in the past finished in matt black with gloss black logos so they were very subtle.

Yes, new to Cannondale - as above I have always liked them, but never owned one.

Niner CX?

What's the model name & how much was it?

This one!

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The superx rival is lovely

Can i just throw this into the mix!

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This one in Fresh Mint Flavour, Price was dependant on Spec, Build etc.
Had Stans Rims amd a few nice touches,

http://www.ninerbikes.com/RLT9

My Whyte Saxon Cross does for me, I think the 2015 looks nice.

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The 2015 canyon inflite are now online (no bolt through axle)

http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/series/inflite-al.html

CX bike in my garage is a CL5T - toe overlap does my head in! But I do like it as a go ride anywhere bike. GF just bought one of these..

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2015 Canyon Inflite AL9.0:

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Quite nice that!

Anyone seen a price for the KTM Canic CXC? (the orange carbon one with Shimano hydros)

£2400

Interesting seatpost on the Canyon:

[img] [/img]

£2400

Anything else similar to beat the caadx rival spec with hydro brakes and sub 1.5k?

Pinnacle Arkose 4 - 105 and hydro discs

Pinnacle Arkose 5 - SRAM 1x11cx and hydro discs

(On road.cc)

Arkose 4 is £1250, 5 is £1450.
Guess a lot depends on the wheels -they were pretty heavy on the old Arkose right?

Ooo the akrose 5 has clutch mech and 1x11 sram. However probably too much CX focused as I'd want to use similar to OP and significant winter road mileage as well as occasionally fireroad / forest blasts.

Very few seem to be spec'ing sram. Is it rubbish for CX or something?

You may be surprised - I looked at 1x10 with a 44 chainring and 11-36 cassette and compared to my 2x setup (Current gearing 50/34 and 11-28) which has a fairly wide range (used for road and offroad, rather than CX racing), it only loses two hardest gears - arguably about 1.5.

Given that I almost never use those two top gears, even on road, that would have been pretty practical. As it turned out, I had the parts to stick with 2x more cheaply so I went with that so there's a good chance I'd change to 1x next time.

I don't know what cassettes you can use with CX11 but if you can fit an 11-40 or 11-42, say, you may well find that it has all the range you need and maybe even more.

A few pics from the Kona website.

The 1st pic suggests it comes with plenty of stem spacers to adjust front end height! 😀

Decision made.

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Literally just picked my JTS up from the shop and the photos don't do the colour justice. It's much more green in the flesh. Can confirm plenty of spacers as per pics above. Hopefully I'll get out on it later if I can get the stock pedals off-didn't think to get shop to do it and they're pedal spanner only....grrr!

I got the pedals sorted and took it for a quick shakedown ride so thought I'd share my first impressions.

I went for 53cm frame and sizing was spot on for me at 5'7. Bars could do with being a bit wider but that might be something I'll get used to.

It instantly felt pretty quick; on cycle paths and smooth bridle way I was comfortably 2mph quicker than my mtb without putting in much effort. Then I hit some bumpier ground and it became apparent how stiff the front-end was. It is bone-jarringly rigid. I've got Exotic rigids in the mtb so thought feel might be similar but this is way stiffer. 30mins in and my hands were pretty numb. I don't ride road much and never ridden cx so may get better with time or change of position. Back end was surprisingly smooth though. Overall handling was much better than I expected so pleased so far.

Brakes were pretty poor but started to bed in a bit by end of ride. Wouldn't say they had any more power than canti's at this stage.

Tyres felt good off-road but shite on it. Might be my inexperience of narrow tread but I could feel the front end wandering a lot in the bends. I'll see how I get on with them but may be first upgrade. Wheel build is also pretty poor-very slack spokes so will be getting out the spoke key before next ride.

Apart from a few niggles I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this bike but I would say so far it is definitely at the faster, racier end of the cx spectrum than the comfortable all rounder some might hope for.

It is bone-jarringly rigid. I've got Exotic rigids in the mtb so thought feel might be similar but this is way stiffer.

How much more volume/less pressure do you suppose your mtb tyres have compared to your cx ones? 🙂

Tyres felt good off-road but shite on it.

Skinny tyres with knobbles on them, at high pressure will never grip particularly well on the road.

CX bikes aren't comfortable all rounders. They're fantastic all rounders. I'm still sore from my CX ride on Sunday though as I tend to take it on mtb routes... 🙂

Glad you're happy with it though

MrPottatoHead - Which shop did you buy it from?

I've been told the 2015 isn't available yet......

Definitely having one though! 🙂

Think I might change the brakes, wheels & tyres straight away.

Almost got this Colnago but then went for Kinesis pro6 frame to build up myself.
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Shop is just a small family run one local to me called Mitchell's Cycles. They told me UK release date was 18th August so should be available everywhere now. Maybe just the size you're after that's not available yet?