D-Fuzz

I am looking to buy a bike to commute to work with and am looking for some advice. My commute is approximately 10 miles each, so it nothing too daunting. The majority of my biking will be to work, some longer rides on weekends, pulling a trailer with my kids in it...mostly pavement with the odd dirt trail. I like a hybrid as an option because of the similarities to my mountainbike. However, I am intrigued by a cyclocross bike and I like the additional hand positions available with the bars. The shop I will be shopping at has no problem letting me try the bikes out, but it is hard to get a feel even after an hour of riding. So, I'd like to hear some opinions and preferences from people who have owned their bikes for a while.

LanceMach

I'll give you MY opinion for free (and it's worth every cent!).

I have a road bike and a mountain bike. I got the road bike (a steel Bianchi) a little over a year ago because I wanted to get back into riding. Love it!

About 6 months after I got the Bianchi, I found a great steel Gary Fisher on eBay and turned it into my commuter. I absolutely loved it - until it got stolen!!

When I started looking for a replacement, I went for another steel mountain bike. Part of it is the fact that steel is "old and funky" and I like the idea of being different. However, for my commute, I'm fairly relaxed and just enjoying the ride and the mountain bike (with some skinny tires - I have the Forté Fast City ST/K from Performance) is more comfortable for me. On the road bike, I'm not as relaxed: I'm on a mission (at least a little faster than my commute).

Anyway, I do like the idea of a cross bike, but, for me, the commuter will probably always be some funky old steel jalopy!

Want your money back now?

PS I did eventually find my stolen bike - on Craigslist (the guy wanted about 4 times what I paid for it!).

MrCjolsen

Cyclocross. You'll be glad you did.

D-Fuzz

What is it about a cyclocross that you like?

Many years ago, when I was in university, I used to ride my mountain bike year round, mainly because I couldn't afford insurance for my car. I liked the way my mountain bike handled in the winter with all the snow and ice, and it was great in the summer because I did lots off-road riding. Now however, I will strictly be a fair-weather commuter, meaning only from mid-March to the end of November, no more snow and ice. I want something that is comfortable, maneuverable, reasonably light and safe to ride in traffic. Does the riding position on a cyclocross allow you to adequately see what's going on around you?

RonH

+1

I bought my cyclocross commuter 3 years ago this month. Click the link in my signature to see it.
I went the cyclocross route because it is built for rough use. Have you ever watched a cyclocross race? Any bike that can take that kind of punishment will take on crappy city streets with no problem. And it has the comfort of and handles much like a road bike.

martianone

MTN, road, cyclocross ?
Not sure it matters as much as how well it fits you and your level of comfort with it.
I commute with a recumbent in good weather and a cyclocross bike (CX) on poor weather
days. The CX is a good balance between road and MTN, the frame will handle loads and
rough roads well. A broad range of tire, components, riding position of a CX make it a
highly flexible pragmatic choice for commuting.

BarracksSi

That's the main thing that I don't like about my road bike. I enjoy riding it enough that I sometimes wish it had better tire clearance so that I could take it more places.

mandovoodoo

I would think that much depends on the kind of terrain and traffic. I commute on country roads with fairly steep grades, little traffic, great scenery. I'm using a riser bar cyclo bike. Essentially road geometry, nimble enough, carries weight well. Highly upright position for me, but I'm a road rider.

I've driven a number of hybrids. I don't find them as comfortable for me. I can see why some would like them, but they mostly seem to have mountain bike tire sizes and be a little laid back.

A cyclo bike is designed to go distances fairly fast over mixed terrain.

A hybrid seems to be designed to poke along.

I poke along by my standards, but I get the impression the average person off the street would last about 2 minutes at my commuting pace!

But I've got the cross frame with the riser bars. Seems a reasonable compromise. I might go to bull horn bars. I don't need drops for commuting!

MTB geometry seems more relaxed than required, optimized for low speed handling, with excess shock handling capability (shocks, super beefy joints). Adequate, but optimized for something other than mixed road riding.

But if you're commuting on a mix of good roads, bad roads, and trails . . . .

D-Fuzz

I live on the prairies so my commuting is flat. The worst thing I have to worry about is potholes and train tracks. As far as speed goes, I am not out to set any land speed records, but I am not out for a leisurely ride in the park either. On days off, I'd like to load my kids in the bike trailer and go ride for a few hours. I have done it with my mountain bike, but it is slow going and not all that comfortable over the long haul. Hopefully my next bike will change that.

JeffS

I say it's 100% about the bars. Other than the bars (and the accompanying shifter style) there is very little practical difference between a cross bike and a hybrid.

I bought, and sold, a bunch of different bikes trying to determine what I like. Once I found a dropbar bike that worked for me (in my case, it was a Kona Jake the Snake), I almost immediately stopped riding the flatbar bikes. Not by conscious decision, just when I walked out in the garage each morning, they weren't the bikes I felt like riding.

I ride to get to a destination though. If I were doing more casual rides I would likely consider building up a more stereotypical "commuter" - something with north road bars and an internal hub.

There are a lot of people in here that don't like drop bars though - so it's hard to guesstimate what might work for you.

The only thing I'd like to leave you with, is not to assume that drop bars mean low bars and flat bars mean high(er) bars. You can fairly easily position the bars where you want with a stem and possibly bar change.

[edit] It's also worth noting that at the time I had a moving average of about 19mph on both the flatbar bike and cyclocross - so speed wasn't the deciding factor.

D-Fuzz

Forgive my ignorance when it comes to componentry, but are the derailleurs, hubs, brakes, etc. on a cyclocross based on road bike stuff or mountain bike stuff? For a cyclocross bike, I am looking at a Kona Jake or Jake the Snake. Where does Tiagra and 105 fit into the scheme of things? When I was last into bikes in a big way, XTR was king and I remember XT, LX, STX. Am I right that hybrids use more of these types of components?

jvsabas

Cyclocross! I started commuting on a beater mtn bike. Did that for about 4 1/2 years. Then, I replaced it with a Surly Crosscheck shortly after discovering that I like the low rolling resistance of 700c wheels.

I've used the Surly for almost 7 years now. In that time, I've dialed it in perfectly for my needs. I use wide drop bars with a tall Nitto stem. Bars are even with my seat for more upright position in traffic mostly riding on the hoods, but I can go to the drops for longer cruises or fast downhills. I use V-brakes with V-brake specific road levers. I use a mtn 11-34 cassette with an LX rear der and 105 triple cranks with 105 front der shifted with 9 spd Dura Ace barends. 52x11 lets me surf timed green lights on some San Francisco one way streets. 30x34 allows me to grind out >17% hills. I've used a whole range of tires from 700x23 road at 120psi to 700x38 city tires at 60psi. Lately I've been using 700x34 Panaracers at 90psi.

Overall, I like the cyclocross better than my mtn bike for commutes. It handles and accelerates better in traffic. My mtn bike feels sluggish compared to the Surly. I bought my son a hybrid a few years back. It seems better suited for a MUP crowded with skater, dog walkers, and strollers, i.e. slow and flat rides where you need to sit up and maneuver around the crowds.

tsl

I put 3800 miles on a hybrid last year. That kind of mileage is doable on a hybrid, and I thought it was a pretty good ride.

Then I bought a road bike.

The hybrid is now collecting dust in the basement while I'm on my second road bike already, one that's essentially a cyclocross bike. It's far and away more comfortable and it's effortless to maneuver in traffic. It also weights 12 pounds less than my hybrid.

CX bikes tend to be a bit more relaxed in the front end than regular road bikes which makes it a bit easier on the neck when doing shoulder checks in traffic. As for components, yes, CX bikes generally use road drivetrain groups and cantilever or V-brakes. 105 is the middle of the road component line. Conventional wisdom says to buy 105 or higher, and that 105 is the sweet spot between quality and price. Tiagra is one step down from 105, I've been perfectly satisfied with both 105 and Sora, which is one step below Tiagra.

And yes, hybrids generally use MTB components.

AndrewP

I put drop bars on my hybrid to cope with headwinds, but I find the drops (almost at seat level) more comfortable for all riding. In the spring I will be buying a cross bike, but I will have a triple on it,as my hill climbing performance sucks. If you will be hauling kids you will probably want a triple too. When you are not hauling kids a cross bike will give snappier handling than a tourer. I dont find problems watching the traffic with drop bars, and they are better for lane splitting than the wide MTB bars.

Domromer

I'd had both and stuck with the cross bike. I found the cross bike could cruise at a faster speed and could still handle the crappy roads.

xcontext

Ditto. I had both and kept the cross bike.

Nachoman

I generally use a hybrid on my commute for more upright positioning, large rear rack to carry junk, wider tires to take pot holes and curbs, and lots of handlebar real estate for a bell and a couple head lights. Plus it's old and I don't mind it getting wet and dirty.

MIN 

Cross bike for the numerous hand positions. The geometry is virtually identical.

JeffS

Cyclocross is typically road-based, although you will occasionally see a mountain rear derailleur used.

Hybrids can vary. At what tends to the the lower end of the range, bikes are mountain based, with mountain components. At the expensive end of the scale, manufacturers start using some road components, like cranks.

The current road range is (from top to bottom)

- Dura-Ace
- Ultegra
- 105
- Tiagra
- Sora

I've never ridden anything lower than 105 so I couldn't say whether the JTS was worth the upgrade over the Jake.

I one point, the lower end shifters worked differently (used a thumb shifter) than the 105 and up. Someone else would have to speak to which level that was, and whether it's still the same.

M_S

Hybrids come in numerous styles, and to a lesser extent so do 'cross bikes. However, the critical difference is the handlebars: hybrids have flat or riser bars, 'cross bikes have drops.

Other than that, though, non-suspended hybrids can be very similar to cross or road bikes: similar tire clearance, and you can find both types of bikes with cantilevered or disc brakes, and in materials ranging from steel to carbon.

One point to make note of is that most Cross bikes are in the Tiagra to Ultegra component range, due to the fact that they are still pretty much a niche style. I know of only one cross bike in the Sora range (Redline Conquest Sport) now that the Kona Jake is full Tiagra. Hybrids, on the othe rhand, can be found with the lowest levels of mountain bike components. If you are on a very tight budget, I suppose this is a consideration.

"cross bikes use primarily road components, however it is not uncommon for them to have mountain bike rear derailleurs to accommodate a wider range cassette.

Tiagra is approx. deore level, and 105 is more or less LX. 105 and Tiagra (as well as Ultegra and Dura Ace) are road, whereas Deore/LX/XT/XTR are mountain.

Industrial

I've tried both cross bikes and hybrids(mountain bikes and road bikes too) on my commute and I stuck with my cross bike. The main reason was the different hand positions. I have no desire to try anything else as I'm very happy on my cross bike. The inline brake levers are really nice to have for commuting. Drops are great for those windy days. Plenty of braze ons for racks and fenders. The bike is reasonably light unloaded and reasonably compliant with 28c tires and a brooks saddle.

About components, you can mix and match road and mountain bike shimano groups as long as they are 9 speed. I believe 7700 level dura ace(1 full generation old), 6700 ultegra (1 full generation old), current 105, tiagra and sora are all 9-speed. All levels of shimano mountian bike parts are 9-speed now. I hope that doesn't confuse you more.

I use tiagra/105/XT on my cross bike and everything works out great.

M_S

^
Not quite. Modern 105 comes in both 10 and 9 speed, apparently. But otherwise, yup, good advice.

Mr. Underbridge

Actually, I believe Sora is still 8 speed. Sora, to my knowledge, also switches to smaller cogs/cranks via a button on the hood, while switching to larger is done through the integrated brifter lever. I haven't ridden Sora, but I would wonder how well that works when riding in the drops. I think the mix-and-match also doesn't work with Sora. Can you tell I don't want to ride Sora?

Mix-and-match is fine for Tiagra and above so long as you're swapping out double-compatible components with each other or triple-compatible with each other. Some of the double/triple stuff will interchange but not all of it. Obviously for a 1x9 cross bike that's irrelevant.

For what it's worth, my road bike is full Tiagra (vintage 2003) and it's pretty good. I believe the Tiagra FD is (or at least used to be) limited to 52t cranks and smaller, so one might need a 105 or Ultegra FD to put on a 53t if desired.

nowheels

I use a cross bike with a mixture of road and mtb components anymore. The last hybrid I had was a Jamis Coda... and frankly it was a real nice ride. I eventually sold it to a friend.

tate65

I love my flat bar road bike with commuter tires and front and rear pannier racks. I also use it to pull the bob when I go shopping. Gives me the hybrid comfort but speed and smoothness of the road bike geometry.