Hi y'all. I'm a lifelong roadie who moved to Seattle about 2 years ago and has since fallen in with a bunch of cyclocrossers who have convinced me to have a go.

My current road position has been, with the exception of a 3/4 inch hike on the bars, the same for 22 years. Earlier this year I connected with an Oregon frame builder, so I now have a custom steel bike due to arrive in the next 3 months. At the time I had no plans to go a-crossin', now I do. My first thought was to keep the custom frame as a road bike and buy a cheap cross bike instead, but my wife (who owns 4 music instruments, might I add) does not see the need for YET ANOTHER bike.

I've asked the builder about building a road/ cross hybrid, and he's pretty excited as his specialty is building do-it-all bikes. The question I'm wondering is how to approach the size fit. Should it be the same, or should we be talking about a shorter/ higher bar reach, or is BB height going to be different?

The other thing is handling characteristics. My current good bike is a Colnago so we were aiming for the similar characteristics (slower steering, stable at speed). Given I don't think I'll ever be more than a casual hack I don't think this is so much an issue, but wondered what the consensus might be.

(I know the builder will have his own opinion, which I certainly value. I'm just trying to get some ideas so I at least know how to approach a conversation about a cross build.)