[VecchioJo]

oooooh, i’m a Spithandle Lane
oooooh, i’m a Spithandle Lane fan too 🙂

raced CX at Herne Hill today, why have i never been before, what a lovely place, and brutally fun course

[VecchioJo]

i have a pair of the old
i have a pair of the old Rapha Cross 3/4 bibs (with the orange highlights) and they’re holding up really well after quite some abuse both racing and ‘just riding about’ in all sorts of weathers and muds.

whether you think £150 is worth it for a pair of 3/4s is entirely subjective though

[VecchioJo]

as above, just fit the
as above, just fit the biggest rubber you can fit in the frame, i’ve ridden the Kew -> Weybridge section of the path and you’d be fine on fat road rubber, a bit jarred but fine, maybe find some tyres with a bit of puncture protection just in case

[VecchioJo]

and like the face shaving
and like the face shaving with or against the nap of the hair can make a big difference to the two-day prickles, as can the condition of the blade, and the shaving-foam, if you used any

[VecchioJo]

the easiest things to get
the easiest things to get would be some [url=http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?vertical=Cycling&catref=BRT0305]in-line cable-adjusters[/url], you can fit them anywhere you chose on a brake outer, probably the most useful thing i’ve ever fitted to a ‘cross bike, it says they’re for gear-cable use but they work just fine with brakes

[VecchioJo]

you shouldn’t need new
you shouldn’t need new cables, you can trim the existing ones to fit and the canti brakes should come with a straddle-cable and a yolk, you will need to get a cable-hanger for the front and rear though

[VecchioJo]

i’d be tempted to move to
i’d be tempted to move to cantis ([url=http://road.cc/content/review/14473-tektro-cr720-quartz-series-cantilevers]these[/url] are pretty good), more rim->pad clearance, better feel and mudguard friendly

[VecchioJo]

i’d ask for some carbon forks
i’d ask for some carbon forks on the cheap 🙂

[VecchioJo]

Yay! Enjoy.
Yay! Enjoy.

[VecchioJo]

i’d say that the Focus is
i’d say that the Focus is more suited to the ‘road riding’ aspect with ‘cross racing’ later, although the gap on the 50/34 chainset might be a bit of pain, after changing between front rings it can lead to frantic rear shifts to keep a similar cadence going, whereas the triple on the Spec. might be one chainring too many for what you need.

i’ve ridden both a Focus (Cross Expert) and a Spec. (Singlecross), the Focus handled almost like a road bike but with knobbly tyres and was definitely knife sharp off-road, the Spec. was more manageable, almost boring in comparison

[VecchioJo]

consider also what you want
consider also what you want to use the bike for, with its triple chainset, cankle fork and more relaxed stance the Spec. will be more, shall we say, versatile, the Focus has a more racey stance, you can probably guess that by its looks, although they both have mudguard/rack mounts for that kind of thing

if it was me i’d go for the Focus because it’s better specced and i’m a racey kinda guy

[VecchioJo]

and at it sometimes, for
and at it sometimes, for making me cry
it’s [url=http://road.cc/content/blog/10286-make-it-so]a good bike[/url] and ready to race out the box if you swap the front chainring for something you can get up hills on

the Felt Breed is very nice, and last years Specialized Tricross Single if you can find one is cheap and cheerful if you don’t mind keeping an eye on all the bearings, the Surly Crosscheck can be singlespeeded as it has semi-horizontal dropouts, and lets not forget the classic, nay, iconic On-One Pompino

getting more exotic or hard to find there’s the Voodoo Wazoo, Spot Black, the Van Dessel “Country Road Bob” and then there’s always Speedvagen..

i’m sure i’ve forgotten some, but if you want one that you can buy tomorrow and ride at the weekend and is stonking good value as well then get the Genesis Day One

[VecchioJo]

the amount of adjustment you
the amount of adjustment you get with these really isn’t that great, enough to compensate for a wearing brake pad but certainly not enough to noticeably affect the mechanical advantage of the brake IMO

[VecchioJo]

the picture you saw on here
the picture you saw on here was probably the brake on the fancy Colnago CX bike, this one in fact…

i can’t remember what brakes were on it, they may have even been custom bodged, which isn’t too hard with some Frogleggs, a cable-adjuster and a tool for drilling and threading apparently.

the cantis that i know of with the built-in adjusters that you can buy off the shelf are the more spendy of the TRPs and the Kore Race+ brakes (the Kores came on my Major One, and they’re really rather good brakes actually, but hard to track down to buy separately), although to be honest it’s just as easy to put an in-line cable adjuster somewhere on the brake cable, and it’s cheaper, if not as cool.

[VecchioJo]

it’s all chamois, or slightly
it’s all chamois, or slightly uncomfortable jeans time 🙂

[Author]

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