Originally Posted by
SlowJoeCrow
Have you compared gearing? CX bikes typically come with 36-46 chain rings instead of the 34-50 or 39-53 found on most road bikes. This will make your CX bike seem slower because your top gears are lower. Also CX bikes tend do be designed with a bit more "give" in the frame to handle rough surfaces so they often feel "softer".
Redline makes excellent CX bikes and has a lot of history so I doubt Focus knows more than Redline.
Yeah, the Redline is a lot more comfortable even on the same wheels as the Focus. But I have it set up with a 34-50 compact, which shouldn't feel that different from the 39-53 on the Focus. I run both with 11-28 cassettes.