hello,
I am thinking of getting into cyclocross and i am planning to buy a bike around christmas time. I was wondering though, on some of the bikes i've been looking at the derailleur's cable routing goes across the top tube, and on some of the other bikes, they are routed along the down tube. Do the different routings have a big impact when shouldering and such? Would the down tube routings cause a problem?
thank you.

From what i can tell, cables along the top tube are to keep them away from the mud that'll be flying off your wheel. On top of that, you'll want them on the top of the top tube so they don't get in the way when you shoulder the bike.

Top of the top tube is ideal, but in order to run all 3 cables along there, you usually need a top-pull FD (or some creative routing). Many CX bikes are equipped with standard road groups, including FD, which will be bottom pull. As such, many CX bikes will route the FD cable along the down tube. Which is okay as it's not nearly as fussy as the RD cable, which I'd definitely want to keep away from mud and crud.

Here is your problem solver: https://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo....clamwitpu.html.

Yeah, I recently found out about those. But, having the FD cable bottom routed is not such a problem for me. Not nearly as much of an issue as the RD cable would be. I'm content to leave mine as-is without adding even more crap to my seat tube. In fact, I'm thinking about going to a single chainring, eliminate the FD and chainwatcher and all of that hassle.

You have seen the light

Yeah, one too many chain drops

Not quite ready to make the leap to singlespeed only, but single chainring seems to make a lot of sense. The main thing that's holding me back is, this question came with our team's CX crew, and some of the more experienced folks (one who is a national champion) warned against losing too much high-end that might be needed for final sprints. It is a good point. So far I can't say I would have ever needed my highest gear, but I'm only racing Cs so who knows.

Do you run such a setup? What is a typical gearing setup? I'm guessing something like a 42 ring with 12-27 cassette?

I run a 43T chainring and an 11-28 8-Speed Cassette. The 43 x 11 never gets used. I admit I lost a race once because the finish was on pavement and I had to sprint with one guy who took it. But I was also running a 13x26 then. Since then I must have done 50 races and never had the same experience YMMV.

Also BTW my Pit bike is a double so if I was worried about a sprint finish I could always use that bike. I think the single ring is the way to go. Personally I wouldn't race a SS bike unless it was in the SS class.

Cool, thanks for the info. I'm running 36/46 rings with a 12-28 cassette, and I am in the 36 most of the time. Last week we had an unusually climb-intensive course and I was in the lowest combo, but I probably could have survived with 43x28. I have an old 12-32 MTB cassette that I could probably use if I really needed it. Thankfully CX doesn't usually have a lot of long + steep climbs.

Nice set up. BTW, you race a lot.

BTW, where did you find the 11-28 8 speed cassette?