ccrnnr9

I have been wanting to get a cx bike for awhile now but until I began working at a shop the idea of getting one has been out of my range. I have a bunch of options open to me at employee prices. I enjoy road racing and time trialing but I like the idea of combining a traditional road framed bike (essentially) with the more rugged sport of cyclocross. I have already begun training for the cross season and am ready to take the plunge on the bike within the next month. I ride a cannondale caad9 with 105 as my training/road racing/riding bike. Here are my options:

600-850$ options:
Kona JTS
Cannondale cyclocross 105 compact
Felt F1x
Scott cyclocross team
redline (not familiar with the equal level model)

850$-1300$:
cannondale caad sl si
ridley line
if steel

1300$+:
moots psychlo-x
if ti

My dream ride is the moots psychlo-x but the more i think about it, it seems senseless to me to spend so much to learn on and potentially damage such a nice bike. Because I get such good discounts (about half off of retail) on most any bike, it seems to me that for 800 or less I can get a bike that would be awesome for what I need. I am looking heavily at the Felt F1x and the cannondale cyclocross 105 compact. Both come with 105 10-spd (which is what I would like to have) and are very nice and not too heavy. The felt looks great while the cannondale is ugly as sin in that hideous blue color. On the other hand, I love my caad9 and am a huge fan of cannondale. The prices on the two are very similar. Any opinions here? I am leaning towards the felt because the two both seem to be near the same value/quality for the money while the felt looks much much nicer (I don't know that I can handle riding a blue bike ). Any advice is appreciated.
~Nick

dzinehaus

go cheap as cheap as you can and see if the bug bites. if you like it upgrade our bike or your parts. I been through the gearing setup advice question myself recently. The favorites here seem to be compact double crank 9 or 10 speeds.

as for look / aesthetics... don't worry bout what it looks like cause its gonna get dirty / ugly quick. look for a paint job / bike that will be low maintenance. also for cross parts cantis over calipers (although for my cross bike i am using calipers because i have them as left over parts)

ccrnnr9

Appreciate the advice. That being said, I am down to the cannondale cyclocross 105 compact or the felt F1X. The geometries on each are quite a bit different. The felt is slightly lighter I believe and looks nicer. How much smaller of a frame do you guys typically ride for cross? I ride a 58cm CAAD9 as my road bike that has a 57.5cm top tube. The felt offers a 55cm with a 56.5cm top tube or a 57cm with a 58cm top tube (long than the caad 9!). I would think the 55cm would be perfect, it just scares me with the seat tube being so small.
~Nick