Road Bike vs. Cycle Cross Bike

I was reading a self proclaimed cycling expert, I’m not an expert just opinionated, answer to a 50 year young lady, who was asking what would be a good road bike for her to start cycling after years of running. She lived in an area that had quite a few integrated bike trails with a system that incorporated cement, asphalt and very fine hard packed grave. Her Husband was an avid cyclist but she was not looking for something as expensive or performance orientated as his. She had quite a few answers which gave her some nice choices and pros and cons of the different bikes out there. A lot of people said to look at and ride a cycle cross bike, fondly known as just a cross bike. Without going into the “Experts”, who happened to be a physiologist who is a bicycle and ski boot salesman that rides 10,000 miles a year, in Michigan, all according to his profile, he did not seem to know what a cross bike was. He advised against the cross bike because “they are light mountain bike, resembling a road bike, with narrow mountain bike tires”.


Now having a cross bike myself, his description irked me to say the least. Then I started thinking, I have had a lot of riders, at rest stops, ask if my Specialized Tri-cross was a new type of hybrid. Cycle Cross bikes are not new to the USA, but are not real common place either. Cycle Cross racing has just started catching on over the last 5 years and bringing the bikes more into view of the riding public. At first look they are nothing but a road bike with a higher handlebar stem.

In reality they have some other distinct differences also. A more relaxed riding position, simplified as a shorter top bar on the frame. This lets the rider sit up a little more upright rather than in a racer aerodynamic stretched out position. The overall frame geometry is not overly extreme in any direction to make it work efficiently on any type of road and the option of wider tires lets you choose what works the best for you where you are riding. You see the heart of a Cycle Cross bike is off road mud racing. The front forks and the rear stays are a little wider spaced than a traditional road bike to clear mud build up. This gives the owner the option of high performance 700x23mm road racing tires or up to about 700x42mm with little knobby things that grip fantastically in the snow or on loose gravel. I ride on a 700x32mm with a slight tread that works well on all surfaces other than deep sand. A closer look and you may see that the front chain rings appear a little smaller that your typical road bike. They are, the typical big chain ring is a 52 tooth job that gives you some really rip roaring speed if you can get it going. A Cycle Cross bike’s big ring is usually 48 tooth which gives me a steady, with a slight decline and long flat 20-25 mph. You need to realize that I cannot keep up with my son on his flat bar road bike, but I have been known to hit a blazing 34 mph on a nice downhill. Due to they are built to race in the mud on a closed circuit track, they are built strong and durable. Strong and durable does not translate to heavy. My middle of the line Tri-cross with 32mm Specialized Armadillo tires, two water bottle cages and a under the seat tool bag and junk, wired computer with cadence weighs in at a whopping 20 lbs. The flat bar road bike my son kicks my butt on with wired computer and two bottle cages weigh in at about 30 lbs. Now on the other end of the spectrum and not even at the other end, is my son’s new Ridley Cross Fire, a high middle range Cross bike. A Full carbon fiber, frame, fork, and seat post with two imitation carbon fiber bottle cages, and a wireless computer, a disgusting 15 lbs. Please someone rich adopt me.

Bottom line, ride what you’re comfortable on but keep an open mind. If you have made a lot of modifications to your road ride whether it be a road, hybrid or flat bar bike take a test spin on a Cross bike next time you are at your favorite dealer. I believe you will find they make an extremely comfortable ride and there are even a couple of manufactures that are putting on front and rear rack mounts for serious traveling.

One last bit of advice, watch the “self proclaimed experts”. Take what you read, hear or are told from anyone, with a grain of salt or two.

Till Next Time

Ride Fast As You Can, Ride Safe, Ride Warm but Ride

“G”