[hucko003]

Hello All, 

I’d be very grateful for some advice. I’m looking at getting into cyclocross with plans of doing some CX sportives and probably some racing as well so need a bike that can do everything. My budget is around the £2,000 mark but can go over if the bike is worth it. In terms of frame, I would imagine aluminium would be the best to go for as I can beat it around a bit more than carbon and I’m apprehensive of falling off. I do own a carbon-framed road bike so know the difference carbon makes – if any of you think carbon would be a better option then please let me know. In terms of groupset, I really like the idea of SRAM’s new 1x but would perhaps need to play around with ratios a little bit to tune into my riding. I would be willing to consider Shimano as well and I have Shimano on my road bikes. Also do thru-axles make a big difference or are standard QR’s still ok?

Specialized Crux E5 X1

The best bike at the moment looks like the Specialized Crux E5 X1

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/crux-x1-2016-cyclocross-bike-ec120920

It has a SRAM Rival 1 groupset and is aluminium and looks pretty neat. It does use QR skewers though. 

Fuji Cross

This also looks like a good bike, but frame wise probably not as good the Specialized. It has a Force CX1 groupset which is an upgrade. However, I’ve heard bad reviews of Fuji’s in-house brand, Oval’s wheels. 

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuji/cross-11-2016-cyclocross-bike-ec120570

Norco Threshold

Stepping up to a carbon frame now, but it’s ‘mid-modulus’, so is aluminium better here? This does use thru-axles though and spec is pretty good. 

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/norco/threshold-rival-1-2016-cyclocross-bike-ec121375

Trek Boone

I own a Trek road bike and know they are very good, so perhaps the Trek is the best option with the IsoSpeed decoupler as a sort-of suspension and a 600-series OCLV carbon frame. This is over-budget though – do I need this as a first CX bike or is it overkill? I would also look at upgrading the FSA chainset and wheels here again as the Bontrager wheels that came stock on my road bike are shocking. It is also a Shimano groupset. Trek is also one of the best brands when it comes to warranties. 

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/boone-5-disc-2016-cyclocross-bike-ec121779

Trek also do some cantilever options in both their Boone and aluminium Crockett range – any thoughts?

I’d be really grateful for some advice and would be interested to hear what you think which bike would be most suitable. Thanks in advance. 

 

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