Building my first CX bike, and planning on doing it on the new Ritchey Break Away Cross (when it gets delivered). Pretty much the same geometry as the Swiss, with a carbon fork of some sort, but details are a bit sketchy still.
Anyhow, since this will also be my traveling bike, I want to maintain the ability to swap pretty much nothing other than the tires and still be able to keep up with fast solo/club road rides.
Here's my parts build plan. Any comments from the CX vets here? Plus, anybody see the Break Away on the courses this past year?
Basic build: Ultegra 9 or 10 - still wavering here - probably the 10.
Crank: FSA Compact
Wheels: Use the ultegra hubs with either Mavic Open Pros or Velocity Aerohead/Aerohead OC. Bladed spokes - probably Sapim CX-Rays.
Brakes: Still debating this - was thinking XT's, but I see a lot of Cross bikes built with Avid shorties, and have seen on this forum several others mentioned. Any inputs very welcome here.
Stem/Bar: Big question here - starting with width. Do most CX'ers go for a narrow bar for clearance, or with your normal road width? I'm leaning towards the Ritchey bars - maybe OS Pro.
Saddle: I'll probably have one of the only CX bikes with a Terry Fly, but I just love that seat!
Pedals: Planning to stay with SPDs, for the simple fact that my MTB and tandem have SPDs on them and that's one less set of shoes I've got to have on hand. Don't figure LOOK pedals (on my road bike) are a hot idea in CX!
Tires: No idea. Will keep a couple road tires/tubes in the bag so I can swap them out as needed.
i have normal width bars on my cross ride(i'm no vet tho) but i think riders tend towards wider bars for better handling in muck and slow technical turns.
i've always wanted a ritchey frame. keep us posted on how it works out, especially the break away design. i think the orange looks great too.
darkmother
01-25-05, 08:03 AM
Sweet looking frame. Alway's had a soft spot in my heart for Ritchey's. Used to have a P-23 in the good old days. Thumb shifters and rigid forks...ahh.
Anyway, I'm not a cross racer or anything, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I'd go with wider bars, as opposed to narrow, give you more leverage to push a gear that is a bit too tall, and helps with my breathing. As for the 10 spd...I'd be concerned about a couple of things-but I've never used it. First off, I find compared to 7 or 8 spd, the 9 speed stuff is quite sensitive and delicate. For really muddy stuff, less gears may be more reliable. Also, I'd be concerned with excessive rear wheel dish. If the ritchey has 130 mm rear axle spacing, you are going to have to run a lot of wheel dish-and that is going to compromise wheel strength (I'm assuming that 10 spd requires more dish than 9). I have had so many problems with 9 spd wheels, even on 135 mm spacing, that now I run 8 of the 9 cogs on a 7 speed hub, to reduce dish. Works like a charm, and I can run lighter wheels. Just my .02
SAB
01-26-05, 02:27 PM
Shimano 8/9/10 speed fit on the same freehub body. Therefore, 10spd does not require any additional dish over 9 speed. The cogs are slightly closer together, and the chain is narrower.
darkmother
01-26-05, 03:31 PM
Hmm, interesting. I didn't know that. I knew 8 and 9 were the same cassette body, but I figured they couldn't possibly squeeze another cog on the 9. The trouble is, the narrower the chain and the closer the cogs, the more sensitive the whole drivetrain is to wear. I remember my old 7 speed stuff was bombproof. Even with tons of deraileur pivot slop, and dirty conditions, it worked reliably. My 9 speed stuff is far more sensitive. It will not tollerate any deviation from perfection. Not always a good feature on a cross bike. 10 speed will be even worse.
jeff williams
01-26-05, 03:59 PM
Sweet looking frame. Alway's had a soft spot in my heart for Ritchey's. Used to have a P-23 in the good old days. Thumb shifters and rigid forks...ahh.
I have the 35th Project series frame. Probably a prototype, entire Logic tubing, 140mm spaced dropouts\ tandem axle.
I guess a P-23, 22, 21 were later I think.
I paid $150, frame was never raced, stored well.
Not bad for a bike worth close to $1400 new. :roflmao:
Not many people who post here have Ritchey bikes..maybe 3?
It gets lonely.....nobody has a bike I can compare it to. :cry:
This is a pic from summer. The bikes flat black now, except the red seat tube.
I'm considering a Ritchey Niti, and I would enter racing with it.
Not on this old one, this is my everyday racer :D .
darkmother
01-27-05, 08:38 AM
Cool! I wish I had kept my P-23. It actually made a great street bike.
dessert1st
01-27-05, 04:30 PM
Building my first CX bike, and planning on doing it on the new Ritchey Break Away Cross (when it gets delivered). Pretty much the same geometry as the Swiss, with a carbon fork of some sort, but details are a bit sketchy still.
Anyhow, since this will also be my traveling bike, I want to maintain the ability to swap pretty much nothing other than the tires and still be able to keep up with fast solo/club road rides.
Here's my parts build plan. Any comments from the CX vets here? Plus, anybody see the Break Away on the courses this past year?
Basic build: Ultegra 9 or 10 - still wavering here - probably the 10.
Crank: FSA Compact
Wheels: Use the ultegra hubs with either Mavic Open Pros or Velocity Aerohead/Aerohead OC. Bladed spokes - probably Sapim CX-Rays.
Brakes: Still debating this - was thinking XT's, but I see a lot of Cross bikes built with Avid shorties, and have seen on this forum several others mentioned. Any inputs very welcome here.
Stem/Bar: Big question here - starting with width. Do most CX'ers go for a narrow bar for clearance, or with your normal road width? I'm leaning towards the Ritchey bars - maybe OS Pro.
Saddle: I'll probably have one of the only CX bikes with a Terry Fly, but I just love that seat!
Pedals: Planning to stay with SPDs, for the simple fact that my MTB and tandem have SPDs on them and that's one less set of shoes I've got to have on hand. Don't figure LOOK pedals (on my road bike) are a hot idea in CX!
Tires: No idea. Will keep a couple road tires/tubes in the bag so I can swap them out as needed.
Thanks!
Pat
Some comments:
o the Ritchey frame sure looks nice (love the orange), truly a one bike do it all approach!
o Terry saddles are nice and comfy, I plan to use a Terry Fly on my cross bike
o Shimano 8,9,10 sp uses same cassette body, so no difference in wheel dish
o talked with some cross racers who use Campy 10 sp and they stated the 10 speed works fine
o long term reliability may not be as good as 7, 8, or even 9
o 10 speed chains do seem to wear quicker
o I plan on running 10 sp on my bike (although Campy)
o Ritchey bars are nice but the sharp bends cause binding in the brake cables, brake feel is not as crisp
o Avid Shorty's (4,6,8) are okay brakes, but nothing great
o much better cross brakes made by Empella, Paul's, Spooky, even the new Shimano Canti's are good
o use Koolstop brakes pads (preferrably salmon compound)
o I'm a big fan of the Velocity Aerohead/Aerohead OC rims, I have a set which I plan on building up
o no need to run narrower bars
o if your SPD pedals are the older style and you plan to race, you may want to consider the newer ones for mud clearing... I use older Ritchey MTN pedals (SPD style) and cannot get clipped back in when it's muddy (pain in the #$@!!$)
irb_2
02-06-05, 11:32 PM
One thing to consider also is that Campy is rebuildable while shimano isn't. but if you do decide to go with shimano and are going to ride in muddy conditions from what i have heard is that 105 is wonderful and the higher(ie ultegra, dura ace) you go the shorter the life span is when its muddy.
dlbcx
02-07-05, 08:05 AM
Didn't have too much problem with 9 spd in muddy races but I used Shimano bar ends so if it got real bad, I could always drop into friction mode.
Haven't too many Ritchey's at the NorCal races. One or two guys will show up on one but I never heard any of those people complaining about the bike... .a teammate has one and he rides the heck out of the thing.
tblendell
03-30-05, 12:04 AM
have you received your ritchey breakaway cross yet? and if so how do you like it? i'm going to try one for size in a few days when the bike shop gets it in...
any thoughts on the sizing? did you go for the same size as your road bike (assuming you have one also) or did you go with a size smaller? also curious to hear other opinions on the size debate and about ritchey frames in general as there doesn't seem to be much discussion about them...
cheers!
jjones
03-30-05, 07:49 PM
I just finished building a Breakaway Cross. So far, a whopping 30 miles on it. I'm not cyclocrossing, but plan to use it as a recreational/ light touring/commuter. I hope to travel with it several times per year. Setup:
I took advantage of low prices on DA 9 speed for shifters, front derailleur, cranks.
Old XTR rear derailleur/XT cassette
Cane Creek Volos XL wheels.
It's very smooth, no creaking from the joints. So far, so good.
Jay
tblendell
03-31-05, 11:11 AM
congrats!
is your breakaway cross a size smaller than your roadbike or the same size?
also...is there an opinion about compact cranks vs. regular road cranks?
jjones
04-01-05, 08:35 PM
I'm using it as my only ride, so I tried to make it as flexible as possible. With that in mind, I put a triple on it, so I could get the big ring that isn't there on the compact road cranks. I also use a 12/34 XT cassette, so it has a huge range.
I sized it as I would a road bike, rather than being concerned with cyclocross racing issues. Right now I've got 700X23 high pressure Vredsteins on it, and it's fast. I've also got a set of Continental Top Tourings for trail riding, commuting and touring.