Hi,

I know a junior rider in my club who is getting into cyclocross. The problem is he is on a cheap budget. He has been using his road bike the past few week-ends with cyclocross tires that just barly fit his bike. His bike is really getting scratched up and damaged. Does anyone know of any cheap, inexpensive cyclocross bikes that he could look at? or anyone who knows or or has any used 'cross bikes?

Thanks,
Cecil

Nashbar has a sale on it's cx frame for about $220 right now.

If you can find an older (70s- early 80s) road/ touring bike that fits him these tend to have better tire clearance. I think there are still 27 inch cyclocross tires out there. You might be able to find one with canti bosses but calipers might be OK for starting out.

Is there a craigslist site for your area? With CX season over some racers will be selling stuff off. I've already seen a few CX bikes show up on our site here in Portland.

I ordered a Nashbar cross frame for a winter beater the other day. I should get it Friday or Monday. I will post if it is a decent frame to get. I checked all over and the Nashbar was the cheapest and had all the features of the surly cross check.....

Like theDL said the cross season is almost over, and you will start seeing prices going down on cross bikes on E-Bay and Road Bike Review. Last year I picked up a Specialized M4 cross bike for a third of what the new price was.

I would also visit a number of LBS. they may still have 2003 or 2004 cross bikes that are deeply discounted.

If he is really trying to save money he might be able to purchase a Redline Conquest Pro frame for about $350 and built it up with parts from his road bike. Might only need to purchase brakes, if he lucky.

I ordered a Nashbar cross frame for a winter beater the other day. I should get it Friday or Monday. I will post if it is a decent frame to get. I checked all over and the Nashbar was the cheapest and had all the features of the surly cross check.....

looking forward to a report - i'm thinking about picking one up myself.

it should be here by monday, maybe tomorrow(shipped usps).....when I get it I am taking it up to the local lbs and have the owner look it over

it should be here by monday, maybe tomorrow(shipped usps).....when I get it I am taking it up to the local lbs and have the owner look it over

got my nashbar 'X' cyclocross frame on friday. Had someone that used to build frames for a living take a look at it. She said looks nice, and some of the TIG welds looked pretty good.

great!!! that is what I was thinking when I ordered it. It looks pretty nice from the photos at the link. I compared the redline cross, surly cross check, flyte cx3, and this one and all had close to the same geometry, eyelets, braze ons so at the price it was going for(it was the cheapest one), I think we got a good deal. Hope it rides well after it is built up. When you get your done, let us know.....

well not totally done, not totally made for cyclocross. XT hubs, salsa rims, BB-7 disc brakes, SS.

If you can find an older (70s- early 80s) road/ touring bike that fits him these tend to have better tire clearance. I think there are still 27 inch cyclocross tires out there. You might be able to find one with canti bosses but calipers might be OK for starting out.

In muddy cyclocross, the newer short wheelbase cyclocross bikes aren't very good. There's nowhere near enough mud clearance and the wheels get jammed in the frame really easy.

Older long wheelbase bikes with lots of clearance are in fact superior in muddy conditions than the fancy new bikes. Schwinn made a series of Japanese manufactured touring bikes in the mid to late 80's that would be perfect and if you could find one it would probably be quite cheap.

Most of these use 27" wheels but many of them can adjust down to 700c wheels. That's one of the nice things about cantilevers.

BTW, you know when you put something like this into the group you really ought to include the size. You don't know when someone may have something laying around.

Have you tried eBay? Might also look for an old hybrid and put some canti brakes, drop bars, and 'cross tires on it (I've tried it, it works). Old hybrids can be bought cheap off of eBay or at LBS. If you got everything off of eBay, I'd guess you could get on the road for less than $300. Actually, I have an old steel hybrid frame (Nishiki) I could sell him pretty cheap, with compact cranks, headset, forks, and derailleurs.

Thanks for all the help,

Someone i know had an old 'cross bike for sale that fit the kid perfectly.

I know where to look now for all the good deals ;)