Originally Posted by
scrifkin
3) Unless you have a need to go offroad or put on racks (I use a backpack) then there is absolutely no need to get a cyclocross as a commuter, for the same price, they are not any more durable and slower then equivalent quailty road bikes.
You may not want racks, but you may like:
- clearance for fenders, which most newer road bikes won't have
- brakes are not caliper brakes, giving options for mounting wider tires, fenders, and not having snow gunk up the works
- Many cross bikes have interrupter brake levers; I find these great when going at low speed (such as 5mph around campus between classes weaving through a throng of students) as my hands tend to gravitate towards the tops at low speeds, so I can sit up straight and control the bike easier.
I have a second set of wheels with 23C tires for my cross bike, and it's nearly indistinguishable from a comparably set up road bike with skinny tires.
My experience with my LBS was that the shop only carried Trek cross bikes, leaving my options to the XO-1 and XO-2, both very high end and flashy bikes; not what I was looking for (and also not in stock, so I'd have to wait for him to order it); so I ended up buying online. He wasn't against CX bikes, but from his point of view the CX bikes were only for racing CX (and at the cost / setup of the two he offered, I could see why he'd get that opinion)