Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Williamston, MI "Wee-um-stun"
Posts: 727
Bikes: Uh... road, mtb, tour, CX (kludged), 3spd, 'bent, tandem, folder (the fam has another, what, 8)
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
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Quoted: 147 Post(s)
Is the main thing weight? The bike I'm using now is a '76 Nishiki converted. It's fun but weighs 25 lbs with sewups.
I could see brifters being a fairly big deal, considering our turny local courses. Not so much brakes -- I recall the winner of our local races saying he only brakes once each lap. I need corner skill like he has and to lay OFF my brakes. I'm halfway there with that. I need to learn more so I can go faster thru corners.
I was really wondering how much difference an 18-lb bike might make, say, in all the reaccelerations. Never tried one. I'll have to see about that.
Anyway, if a good 'crosser tried using my 25-lb old bike would he find himself way off the back? It used to be, on the road, that "it's not about the bike." But new-era bikes really matter. You need to get into that 18-lb ballpark with aerowheels to keep up with peers of same fitness. Is the same thing true in CX? If it's just weight I can work on that. If 'fancy' wheels aren't needed, very cool! I have my fat light old sewups. I like em a lot. I didn't know how much diff a 10-yr set might make compared to my 20-yr set.
So maybe I'm just looking for a cheap light 'cross frame that flooded the market 5-10 yrs ago.
Also, maybe I'll look into this SS angle. Our local course might not need gears so much -- I notice I don't shift that much. That's a way I could shed weight. I'll probably being doing the C races, against geared riders. Then again maybe I should be shifting more, via brifters -- maybe that helps the speed.
(We have pretty popular C fields, 50 riders. At 50 I'd be among the older riders and am not a specific bike lifestylist but stay fit and am enjoying building up the skill side and so tend to finish a little better than I should. I really like looking for Secret Weapons. But I have nearly zero budget, so need to rely on generic, undervalued gear. And if I can use my old parts box, all the better. Like, I have some older Ergo brifters I could poach off another bike if they'd really help, if not, I'd rather not bother.)
Last edited by JeffOYB; 11-02-12 at 08:42 AM.