[maxknee]

hey i am new to the world of cyclocross.
i am building up a cross check and want to go the single speed route.

can you recommend cranksets, wheels, and gearing.

Thanks

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[JimmyMack]

On gearing. Remeber you will eventually be riding terrain that is very short and VERY steep, so your gearing should account for this. 42x17 might be a good starting point. 42x19 might actuually be better. SS riding is all about spinning like mad to get to the next up hill grunt. If its really hilly in your area 39x17 or 39x17.

It's an ss. It won matter what cranks you have once your legs and lungs are fighting for 02. It's gonna get really really scratched, so go cheap.

[maxknee]

what about wheelsets?
what is a good crank length? what about bottom bracket?

[JimmyMack]

Decide on your hubs. What chainline do these hubs require? 42mm? 52mm? this is very important factor in deciding a crank and BB combo.

Hubs laced to open pros will be a fairly light, strong wheel, that is serviceable. This will make for a long lasting wheel set.

If your required chainline is 42mm, the score some sugino RD or sugino XD cranks and a matching BB. Nothin fancy about these cranks at all. They are just solid. They look good scratched up too.

[maxknee]

what about salsa delgado rims?

[shapelike]

They're good, but unless you're really heavy or beat the living crap out of your bikes, they're a bit hefty/gratuitous.

[maxknee]

i was thinking along the lines of making this somewhat of a mtn bike as well

[JimmyMack]

Cross bikes don't work all that great when the terrain gets really really rocky. Rocky meaning, you avoid a large rock only to hit another one 5 feet later. If you plan on riding this type of terrain with your cross bike it's going to be a constant battle against pinch flats or something worse like dented rims. I gave my local MTB series a shot last year on the cross bike, and gave up due to the afore mentioned problems.

There is something about mavic rims that all the other comapnaies are trying to copy. Open pros build really well and last a long time. I'm sure there are some folks out there that run open pros on their 29" MTB. I'd poke around on that subject as see what you come up with.

[maxknee]

what is the biggest tire the open pros can handle?

[isotopesope]

i know a few people who use open pro's for 29" wheels without problems. however, one person i know was running low pressure with them on 2.3 29" tires with the stan's tubless conversion and rolled the front tire off the rim! but they should handle large cross tires no problem. fwiw, i run delgato's on my ss 29" and think they're great rims. i like that they're machined and eyeleted and tough and relatively light. i think you'd be fine with them as 'cross rims.

[endform]

I would suggest getting a wheelset with a cassette hub and just putting a cog with some spacers on it. That way you can get pretty much perfect chainline on any crank without much hassle. It's not like people are folding their dished cross wheels so I don't think strength is much of an issue in the dish vs. nondish dept.

My favorite combo for clincher wheels are an open pro (black of course), black alloy nipples and dt revolution spokes laced to whatever nice hub.

[maxknee]

surly hubs?