im looking to make my bike cyclecross ready but im short on money. Can i just put cyclecross tires on it and ride just fine?

no. youre frame is 99% not going to have enough room for the wider tires, even skinny 700 x 27 tires wont work, also road brakes wont allow that big of a tire either.

go to my blog (www.plusonelap.blogspot.com) below to check out my Schwinn CrissCross project, or scroll down to the Cyclocross Conversion thread below. I'm building up an old steel hybrid into a ultra budget ($100) cyclocross bike.

or go here to my FAQ's (theres a section about converting a road bike to a cross bike) http://plusonelap.blogspot.com/2005/09/cyclocross-frequently-asked-questions.html

take care
jeremy

Depends on what the bike is.

If it is a relatively new bike, then no, they will not fit.

CX tires will however fit on any number of my frames from the '80's, early '90's. The limiting factor on what size tires you can run is clearance under the brake calipers.

Tire clearance is you biggest issue. Mud clearance is another. In the unlikely event that you have an older bike that can clear the narrowest cross tires your caliper brakes will get caked with mud far more easily than the cantis on a cross bikes. If you want to go cheap you might want to check out the kind of conversion on Jeremy's site. Your cheapest option would be to find a 700c or 27" frame with cantis on it.

im looking to make my bike cyclecross ready but im short on money. Can i just put cyclecross tires on it and ride just fine?

It depends on the frame whether you'll have clearance or not. I started with an older road frame that would let me just barely get 32mm Ritchie Speedmax and very little clearance. So measure and see what you've got. Usually the chainstays are the narrowest point and of course hardest to measure.

Check it out and see what's possible.]


Ron