Originally Posted by bikerBen
I've been riding my beater mt bike to commute, and was all set to buy a Kona Dew Deluxe as a replacement, when I rode my good road bike and realized how much I "need the speed" (name the movie!) and how much the beater really sucks. My road bike is usually spec'd for Triathlon (FF SP, Aero bars, Aero drink, etc.) so I don't want to ride it on a regular basis.
I'm thinking a cross bike would be faster than the Dew Luxe but better for commuting than a road bike. I'm looking at the Kona Jake, and some used Redlines. What are your thoughts? I hear people usually use a smaller frame for X than road. I'm 5'9"+ and my road is a 52 (I could probabaly be on a 54 but I like the handling of the samller frame) should I stay with a 52 for X or go smaller? The Dew has Disc brakes but the Jake does not. A big trade off there? Any X bikes/frames that have Disc capability? Any other X bike recommendations? Should I stay with the Dew? Thanks!
I agree with what others have said. I've been using a Trek X01 cross bike for commuting for the last several years (although lately I've been using my Rivendell Quickbeam most of the time) and it works great. It doesn't give-up much speed to a road bike but it's much more durable if you need to hop a curb or go overland. If your road bike is already on the small side, I'd suggest that you get a cross bike that fits about the same. There are cross bikes out there that are equipped with disk brakes. I know Cannondale offers one, I'm sure there are others too. I don't know if there's really a serious advantage to disks. I've never owned a bike that has them.