[Urbanmonk]

Can anyone tell me if there is a great difference in the "geometry" in a cyclocross bike and a touring bike? Can a cross be used as a touring/road/cyclocross? Any suggestions on make? I apologize for the closely repeated question. Looking for best bang for the buck.

Urbanmonk

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[dcfordo]

The first thing that comes to my mind is that touring bikes have long chainstays so that you don't hit your heels on the panniers, and therefore sluggish handling.

[roadfix]

A CX bike would make a decent tourer but a touring bike would be lousy as a CX bike.

[MichaelW]

People do race CX using stripped down tourers. Whilst specialist expedition bikes may be a bit sluggish when unladen, a typical club touring bike works just fine. I do a lot of off road riding on mine.
The main difference for off-road riding is the bottom bracket hight. CX are high for clearance, touring are low for stability.

[late]

Hi,
yes. If you don't need a third ring, a cross bike makes a dandy all rounder.
My experience with cross bikes is very limited, but I have tried a Kona Jake the Snake, and it's a very nice bike. I recently became a big fan of Gunnar, but the frame with a decent paint job costs as much as the Jake.

[jfmckenna]

I use an old Nashbar touring bike for cross racing and it works just fine for me. Note though I don't have anything to compare it to however, I have'nt raced on anything else. It is a large 62cm steel frame so it's got a bit of weight. I took the old down tube shifters off and put a barcon for the rear and a single speed 42 up front. It used to have a triple so I just removed the inner and outter rings and replaced the mounting bolts. I dropped the front derailure down low over the ring to keep the chain on. Also the bike already had center pull brakes. Please don't think I have a big head saying this but just last week end I won 1st place in the Mens C Winter Cup cyclocross series in North Carolina on this bike so yes a touring bike will work I suppose at least on a beginners level. The good thing about this bike is that in the summer all I have to do is put all that stuff on again and she's ready to hit the road fully loaded. Makes a great commuter as well. I have heard you can go the other way w/ a cross bike but a fully loaded bike at least here in the mountains of virginia really needs the triple. So a cross bike I suspect would need a triple conversion as well as the proper braze ons for racks.

[Miyataphile]

I love old Nashbar tourer. I use to know a fella with a Nashbar 5000 tourer. Very beatiful bike. Not too shabby with the Tange 2 action tubing. Had all the necessary mounts for racks and plenty of tire clearance. He upgraded it with a Columbus chrome fork from a destroyed Bottechia frame that he ruined from one of his buddies!!!

Well, I agree with most of the posters here, touring bikes makes OK to good cross bikes while Crossbikes make good sport touring bike, but poor loaded touring bikes.