Originally Posted by
Snuffleupagus
No mention of the brakes eh?
Don't race RRs or crits on cantilever brakes. The stopping power and modulation is not adequate. Aside from somewhat screwy handling from cross geometry (slow steering, higher center of gravity) you'll need to replace the brakes to be safe. That however doesn't have to be expensive. Some 105 brakes will work just fine, and can be had on eBay on the cheap.
I don't know about that.
Cantilevers stop me just fine, and work well enough for crit racing. I've raced on my 'cross bike before and it worked well – I would prefer to have raced on a road bike, but when you're poor, you do what you gotta do.
EDIT: I know I shouldn't have to say this, but I switched out my tires for 23C road slicks when I race my CX bike on the road. I also put on a longer stem to get me a little lower on the bike.