Vintage Cyclocross
 

School me here, folks. I hardly ever see any mention of vintage cyclocross - ask anyone in my city and five years ago is vintage to them! Not long ago I acquired a Bernard Carre frame set which is, most likely, a CX frame. My best guess is that this frame probably dates to the early 70's, but that's only a guess. I was riding in the 70's but never heard of cyclocross until much later. My impression was that cross was a thing in Europe but hadn't really made an impression over here until later. I've got the Carre built up for riding using parts I have on hand, but I'm kind of interested in knowing more about how this cross bike would have been built up back in the day. Questions:

1. Gearing - Presuming this bike got raced in France or Belgium or one of the other locales where CX was popular, what five speed cog might have been used? More specifically, how low would the cog gearing have been?

2. Chain rings - I know that 46/36 is a popular starting point today. Has anything changed? Would a similar combination have been used in 1975?

3. Components - Aside from cantis, what component mix would've been a popular choice for cross BITD?

I'm hoping one of you guys that are as long in the tooth as I am might've been around the CX scene back then.

My recollection of boom era cyclocross is that there were a lot of converted road bicycles. Consequently, side-pull and centre-pull calipers actually outnumbered true cyclocross bicycles with cantilevers. Single chainrings were more popular than doubles. Most competitors ran chaninrings at or close to the minimum, so around 42T. Rear maximum cog size depended on the course but again most ran at or close to the maximum of the rear derailleur (i.e. 24-28T). Preferably, you used bar end shift levers, as opposed to down tube shift levers. Most riders used their heavier road training wheels equipped with cylocross tubulars. All the popular companies offered a version with a heavy chevron or studded tread. The Clement Campestre and Grifo were the most popular in my region.