Cyclocross - need input on aluminum cross frame for next year

Most likely i'll use this for cross, but if i can get something together before road season i'll use it for road racing. My road bike now is steel. I just want input on which aluminum frames are good enough to merit building up a new cross bike(already have steel masi cx bike). This is a long term thing, so i don't really need specific frames, but what to look out for in an aluminum frame.

I'm 6'3" 170lbs btw.

Something that has a little give in the rear.

I've been happy with my Guerciotti Atos, it's actually for sale.

I'm very happy with Marin Cortina, but I did get a great deal on it.

my dad did just start working at a bike shop carrying giant, salsa, trek and fisher. there's some potential. a scandium salsa would be just lovely

Are there qualities of your steal road bike or steal cross bike that you don't like that's pointing you to an aluminum cross bike to do double duty as a cross racer and a road racer?

Anyways, there are a lot of quality aluminum cross frames out there and each will have their pros and cons. Geometries will be slightly different, especially on things like head tube length and BB drop. There will other things like cable routing, and whether there are fender mounts and bottle cage bosses that some people care about too. Much of these factor into how race specific you want the bike to be, what type of courses you'll be on, and your riding style.

Have you raced enough cross to get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't? I've found that tires, gearing, and position on the bike make way more a difference then the frame...

That being said, my cross bike is primarily for racing so I wanted it to be light, stiff, and cheap. I wanted road bike-like stability over pedaling through corners, so I also wanted a standard BB height. I ended up with a Redline Conquest Team scandium frameset and it's been great. At first, I didn't like having fender mounts and bottle cage bosses, but I do like the fact that I can slap on some road wheels and use it as a winter/rain bike...though I don't think I'll want to do long rides on it...just seems weird.

I'll be rocking a Blue Competition Cycles CX6.5 Aluminum this spring.

Are there qualities of your steal road bike or steal cross bike that you don't like that's pointing you to an aluminum cross bike to do double duty as a cross racer and a road racer?

Anyways, there are a lot of quality aluminum cross frames out there and each will have their pros and cons. Geometries will be slightly different, especially on things like head tube length and BB drop. There will other things like cable routing, and whether there are fender mounts and bottle cage bosses that some people care about too. Much of these factor into how race specific you want the bike to be, what type of courses you'll be on, and your riding style.

Have you raced enough cross to get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't? I've found that tires, gearing, and position on the bike make way more a difference then the frame...

That being said, my cross bike is primarily for racing so I wanted it to be light, stiff, and cheap. I wanted road bike-like stability over pedaling through corners, so I also wanted a standard BB height. I ended up with a Redline Conquest Team scandium frameset and it's been great. At first, I didn't like having fender mounts and bottle cage bosses, but I do like the fact that I can slap on some road wheels and use it as a winter/rain bike...though I don't think I'll want to do long rides on it...just seems weird.

thanks, this a big help.

Of the ones that I am knowledgeable, Giant, Cannondale, Specialized, and Kona all make great aluminum framesets. The Kona Major Jake is a great value and the frame is an alloy for lighter weight. The Giant and Cannondale cyclocross bikes are especially beautiful. It is critical to pay attention to the geometry of the frameset. There is fairly broad variance in the geometry. Some cross framesets, i.e. Ridley are quite tall with high standover heights and a tippy feel. Other like Stevens and Specialized have a geometry that approaches that of a road bike. I have had both Ridley and Stevens, I much prefer the geometry of Stevens.

Geometry first.

Fork second. (Especially whether the frame/fork combination suffers from brake shudders - read the Leonard Zinn article and evaluate whether any of the usual cures - eg vee barkes with their lesser clearance are feasible for you if you get a shudderer.)

Cable paths third. They make a real difference to brake performance and maintenance.

There are many cyclocross racers who believe that with Gore sealed cables that dérailleur cables on the down tube are fine. The current top female ranked cyclist in the world, Katie Compton, and top ranked male cyclist in the world, Niels Albert, race on Stevens Team carbon framesets with that configuration.

Having the brakes run on top of the TT is a good idea, and I think most frames are doing that.

There are pros and cons to running the shift cables on the TT though...the RD cable routing on the TT makes a lot of sense because the cable doesn't have to take any odd turns or anything like that...the FD on the other hand... Road FD are bottom pull, so that means that running the cable over the TT will mean you will need something on the ST to turn the cable around 180 degrees to pull the FD the proper way. This can get clogged too, and even break. This makes me wonder why, with the growth of cross, there isn't a top pull road FD on the market like all those top pull mountain FD's. But seriously, I don't think it's all that important. If things get messy to the point of nothing being able to shift the FD, chances are, you're going want to be in the small ring anyways.

If you don't want to bother, just run a single ring :-)

Does the Conquest Team run the rear shift along the TT or the DT?

I think more mfr are moving to not having all 3 cables across the top tube.

Redline runs the RD cable on the TT, and the FD cable on the DT. I didn't have any problems with the RD, and since I ran a single ring, I can't comment on the FD shifting. I'm going to try a 46-38 double next season though.

There are many cyclocross racers who believe that with Gore sealed cables that dérailleur cables on the down tube are fine. The current top female ranked cyclist in the world, Katie Compton, and top ranked male cyclist in the world, Niels Albert, race on Stevens Team carbon framesets with that configuration.

these top cyclists are paid handsomely to ride these bikes and have the benefit of changing bikes each lap though. katie and niels would be winning regardless of what bike they are riding.

Redline runs the RD cable on the TT, and the FD cable on the DT. I didn't have any problems with the RD, and since I ran a single ring, I can't comment on the FD shifting. I'm going to try a 46-38 double next season though.

The cable pulley on my Bianchi became totally gunked up with mud and grass at almost every race. I can't imagine that running the cable under the BB would make that much difference in terms of performance. Granted, I rarely shifted out of the 39, but I did occasionally.

What's the thought on the 46? Faster shift the front than to climb 3 gears in the back? I'm heading the other way - thinking of just running a 39 and a 12-27 next year. If I'm spinning out a 39x12, then I will be a very happy camper indeed.

I think you'll be perfectly fine with a 39 up front and a 12-27 in the back.

I ran a 42 up front and a 12-27 in back this year, and I felt under geared many times. If I were rational, I should run a 39 or 38 up front. I don't have a real good reason to run a 46-38 other then wanting to try it. Once the racing starts, I doubt I spend much time in the 46 outside of warming up on the trainer and the actual start. Don't be surprised if I go back to single ring after the first couple of races in '10.

i was looking around and the kona major frames had a high bb. a little higher on the major one (not ruling out ss) for when i run it fixed(assuming i choose it).

My masi had 60square, 65mm bb drop, 72 hta, 72.5 sta. i'll keep that, and i want a more aggressive, race focused frame.
Looking at the aluminum masi cxr cross bike(more race focused?) only differences are shorer chainstay and wheelbase. except there's no trail measurement on my steel masi(61.5 on the cxr)

With that in mind, is there much difference between my steel masi and a race focused one?

nothing wrong with a high bb