What I have always loved about Mountain Biking is the immersion into the woods; the sense of solitude that comes in the wilderness that is lost entirely in the convenience and hustle of the cities I’ve always lived in. What I always hated about Mountain Biking is that my mountain bike never feels enough like my road bike.
I was but a budding Velominatus when I discovered Cyclocross, and from the start it seemed like an incredible sport that offered all kinds of opportunity. My dad came home from a trip to Europe with an aluminum ALAN under his arm and from that moment on I was hooked on the idea of a road bike that could go off and have fun in the dirt. At the time, CX bikes were a rarity in the US market; the closest thing I’d seen to a CX bike at that time were John Tomac’s bitchin’ drop bar mountain bikes and the frankenstein Bontrager MTB that a buddy converted into some sort of zombie with a touring bike’s fork and 700c front wheel mounted on the rig and a 26 inch rear wheel with a weird skinny tire.
Nevertheless, my limited budget historically poured into the road bikes where my heart has always been rooted and a CX bike always seemed to fall just into the s-1 range of Rule #12 compliance; whether s in this case happened to be my pursuit of the sensation of rhythm, harmony, and flight to be found only on smooth tarmac or, currently, the chair of the Budget and Planning Committee – on which I hold an influential but non-controlling vote.
But Fate, the Velominati Community, and @Cyclops’ lifelong dream to learn to braze a bike frame changed all that one day last January when a box appeared on my doorstep containing a custom-made steel Cyclocross frame. The dust was blown off the brain cogs which get remarkably little use these days, and Il Progetto for my CX bike started in earnest. Marko took up the role of Graveur Sensei and PNW CX Legend Josh Liberles of Veloforma took up the role of CX Sensei. Parts were shuffled from bike to bike, various components were aggregated from odd corners to fill in the gaps and make substitutions where necessary, and slowly but surely the Nederaap came to life.
My old Dura Ace 7700 nine-speed group-san was immediately selected as the ideal mud-clearing drivetrain; somehow Campagnolo seems much better suited to the civility offered by the road (even in Rule #9 conditions) than the neanderthal environment of Cyclocross. In the Velominatus Budgetatus conditions we find ourselves in, this meant the Record 10 group was moved from the TSX to the rain bike, and the TSX the current target of Progetto Old-School and has donned downtube shifters and lies in wait for some period-appropriate brakes. Old wheels were repurposed from the commuter bike (which now temporarily lies in wait of new bits and pieces) and a secret project for new racing wheels for the CX-V waits to bear fruit. (Some of you who are paying attention may already be onto the source of these wheels.)
All this was done with the knowledge that @Cyclops, however obsessive-compulsive, built this frame in a spare bedroom and my expectations were set accordingly. This would be be a rideable frame that held a huge amount of sentimental value and would be fun to take out to the local races and inelegantly beat people with and say things like, “Yeah, this bike was built by a crazy person. And I beat you with it. And I suck at Cyclocross. Feeling good about that?”
But last week, as the last part for the build arrived (a pair of top-mount brake levers which I understand will cost me massive Look Pro points which I hope to make up for with Not Crashing As Often As I Otherwise Would points) I put the thing together and took it for a spin.
First pedal stroke, hey this feels OK. Next pedal stroke, yeah, this is not bad at all. A few hundred meters later, I realized I felt like I was riding one of my bikes. I half expected the frame to fall apart first with the introduction of my hefty arse and second with the unleashing of my considerable artillery, but this bike doesn’t just ride like a home-made bike, it rides like a real professional, great bike. Emboldened, I collected my kit and headed out to the local park to play around and see how it faired on its native terrain.
Riding it down to the park and the singletrack that is strewn throughout it, I was compelled to determine if it could survive some manner of trauma. Armed with my incompetence as a Cyclocrosser, I had no alternative but to crash-test the frame by bunny-hopping a curb at about 45kph. My plan worked flawlessly; I jumped at an oblique angle, went a little short, landed the back wheel sideways on the curb and became the lead character in my own stop-action animation film as I dumped hip-first into the cement sidewalk like a sack of potatoes. Ancillary observation: I’m amazed at how resilient the V-Kit is, this being my first crash in it.
Test completed and satisfied that the frame was unharmed despite crashing hard enough to require some serious wheel-truing upon my return home, I headed into the singletrack with the confidence that the frame was both smarter and stronger that I am. You can’t put a price on that kind of knowledge.
As for the top-mount levers which I’m sure to be berated for, I’ll make you a deal. As long as I’m too inexperienced to know better and as long as you can’t crush Katie Compton, I’ll happily disregard your advice. As soon as one of those two factors changes, I’m all ears. And for those of you planning the “Cyclocross is about minimalism” argument, I expect you to post photos of your single speed CX rig to support your case; anyone making this claim and riding a rig with gears will be disregarded wholesale as a poseur.
Footnote:
This frame was built as a first attempt at what @Cyclops plans to become his own frame-building company. At the time of building, the company lacked a brand, but he has since settled on Deacon Bikes and he will be opening his doors to business for the 2013 season. Thanks @Cyclops, this thing is amazingly awesome.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/CX-V/”/]
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View Comments
@ChrisO
Ya. I started noticing these stickers that said 26.2 or 13.1. I thought they were references to bible verses or something (on a side note, people in Portland like stickers on their cars, myself included). Turns out they refer to running a marathon or half marathon. And I see them fucking everywhere now. So I went ahead and ordered that 0.0 sticker today.
@scaler911
Well I did a 96 once - off road - when we were training for it we used to use mountain bike route suggestions as running courses. Tangential to CX frames I know and I wouldn't put that sort of sticker on my motor.
@scaler911
@ChrisO
I've even seen a few now that say 226.3 or whatever (I think I added up the right distances) for Ironman.
@frank That CX bike reminds me of Gulf Gasoline -- in a good way! Classic color scheme!
@mouse, @brett
Impressive that both of you can beat Katie. Nice work!
But seriously, they've come in handy several times already, though I'm given to understand the kind of technical rooted descentes with 1 meter drop-offs is not common on a CX course, so in race conditions I can see where they might not be very handy.
@mouse - useless weight? Seriously? I have let farts rip that weigh more than those things, not to mention the bike is made of STEEL, she's not exactly a lightweight princess. That's the most weight-weenie-hipster-lame thing I've heard since...oh, well before you were born!
@brett
That top photo just looks sooooooo cool to my eye...Riding off road these days, it seems like the trails are all cut a lot wider etc; the single track I used to ride and race was through dense forest and just barely wide enough for the bars - riders would catch their bar-ends on the underbrush all the time and superman off the trail. In that context, narrow bars made loads of sense. Back then, a dedicated MTB trail never existed, they were converted/shared horse trails or motocross trails or hiking trails...including the crazy climbing you had to do in that context.
But these days it seems wider and the course is graded for a mountainbike - including the climbs which have nice sweeping switchbacks. Also, with the suspension people are riding, it seems like everyone rides right over any obstacles and not around it like we used to on the old school stuff - in that case wide bars lend less risk and lost more stability.
But I'm with @gaswepass on the weirdness of it; the 29er I borrowed last summer was nearly impossible to climb on technical terrain with; the wide bars were weird when pulling hard on them and the high bars meant the wheel was coming off constantly. All skills to learn to control that, but there is always give and take.
Buck - I can give the first two questions a go. I raced last year on 42/38 front, 12-26 rear. That was fine for me on the courses in central NC. I'm not a He-Man but do tend to push a big gear more than spin.
I've never had the top brakes on my cx bike, just the SRAM Force set-up, therefore I can't so they aren't nice, but I've been just fine on my FSA SLK cantilever brakes without any top levers.
Definitely get that bike back out and running. Even if you don't do any racing it's awesome to have a cross bike - rain days, commuting, light trails, etc.
And heck, if you are going to be down near West Point for long, there has to be TONS of riding along the river, in the state parks (Harriman is really close, right?), etc in that area that would be GREAT fall/winter riding on a cross bike. The grit and salt on the roads gets to be a bit much, aside from the temperature, ice and snow in NY.
@Ron
Thanks! That was my feeling for the first two questions. Put the CX chainrings that it came with back on and leave the top brake levers off.
Now to figure out how to fit it with cantilever brakes so I can run my HED wheels!
Hopefully I will be living here for at least five years. The road riding is mindblowingly awesome!!! So gorgeous and soooo hilly! I am just loving it!
@brett
Whatever came stock on my giant 29er hardtail. But I also rented a 29er spesh epic full susp, and felt the same thing. There may be an ergonomic advantage in the loose stuff for going way wide, but boy. IDK, when one combines technical terrain w/ wild stuff i find it sends a tremendous amount of torque my way. Then just demo'd a pivot 26er on real trail (pure coincidence they were there) and thought, wow! that is nice control. Doesnt roll as fast thru, but felt more controlled. So I agree that 650b could be huge if it all delivers on both fronts.