phughes

Actually you are almost correct. You are correct when you say unsprung weight affects performance more than your weight, but unsprung weight is the weight of the wheels, tubes and tires, that is all, the rest of the bike is sprung weight just as you are. Wheels can make a big difference in the feel and handling of the bike, while reducing the weight elsewhere by a pound or tow won't because, once again, it is a small percentage of the total weight of bike and rider.

bigfred 

Ridley has already been mentioned. (both carbon and alloy cx frames with slightly higher euro style BB)

Other options:

BMC GF 02 (alloy gran fondo frame)

or

Ibis Hakkalugi Disc (carbon cx frame)

Germany_chris

It does even more so because it further from the ground, your weight effects everything you do on a bike in a more exaggerated manner.

woodway

I have one of these as my daily commuter and am very happy with it. It weighs a hair under 19lbs as shown, SRAM Force drivetrain, Whiskey 7 carbon disc fork, Avid BB7 disc brakes, Mavic Open Pro rims and DT Swiss Hubs. The Tubus airy rack was expensive but wow is it strong and light. I built it myself for a shade over $3300.

himespau 

Wow, that's a nice looking bike.

chaadster

But of course that's not what he said, is it?

He said it "doesn't affect performance in the same way," which is a very different statement that yours.

brbbiking

Second that

brbbiking

Lots of good suggestions in here. Will have to take a closer look tonight.

(Btw, the weight thing was more of a nice-to-have. The real thing I was looking for was disc brake compatible, with the same awesomeness the CC frame has in terms of flexibility, etc.)

GeoKrpan

Here's one from Bikesdirect. Aluminum frame, carbon fork, hasta be lighter than a CC. At $499, you'd have plenty left to make it lighter/better. I'm riding a Gravity Zilla. The frame is light but the steel fork is not, could be replaced by a carbon one. The quality of the Zilla is excellent.

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...iberty_cxd.htm

phughes

Yep, I need more coffee.

My point is that saving a pound on the bike will make no real difference unless you loss that pound on the wheels. With a bike used for commuting a pound makes no real difference anyway since one day you may have ten pounds loaded onto it and one day you may have 20 pounds loaded onto it.

Of course I can see wanting a light bike, but it won't make any real difference in performance for the most part.

phughes

I'll third that. Nice bike.

Yalc

with 3,000 to spend, if thats just on frame, I would look at some custom options. A custom built frame can be made super light if the builder know what hes doing. Your Cross check is super overbuilt because thats how surly does it.

dynaryder

If you're not going SS/FG/IGH,BikesDirect has two very nice bikes that can be converted to disc:
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/..._pro_ti_xi.htm
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ross_ti_xi.htm

I had a Pro with discs,was my fav bike until it got stolen. Will handle about 40mm tires with fenders. My 58cm with BB7's and CC Strados wheelset was 22lbs 10oz.

woodway

Thanks I like it a lot and it's a very versatile bike. The guys at Habenero are great to work with, they were recommended to me by a friend and my experience with them was very positive.

grolby

The actual effect on performance is small, absolutely. That wasn't my point, my point was that a lighter bike will feel dramatically different (usually it takes more weight off than 1/2 lb to notice this in a major way). You can argue about it being about geometry if you want; I've ridden a zillion different bicycles of different weights and geometry, and the weight matters a lot. All things being equal, a lighter bike feels nicer to ride. A bike that is nicer to ride is one you might ride more often. A lighter bike is certainly one that is easier to deal with when you aren't actually riding it. I include wheel weight within the total bike weight, by the way, in the context of the OP there's no point in treating them separately.

I really think the backlash against the urge to reduce bike weight gets a little out of control here; why, when someone posts that they would like a lighter bike, is it necessary to resist so strongly? What's wrong with wanting something a little nicer? It's frankly weird that anyone here might need other people to also ride heavy bikes to validate their choice of bike. Frankly, who cares? I'm not going to get after anyone here to swap out their current bike for something that I would prefer or that's more similar to my bikes. The rush to condemn any desire to drop weight on the bike here is kind of pathological at times.

grolby

This is what I'm talking about. You are weirdly defensive about someone wanting to shed a little weight from their ride. You could get whiplash from your acceleration from zero to negatively-phrased assumptions about the OP's reasons for wanting a new bike.

chaadster

The way you ride, maybe.

phughes

Wow, personal insults? Sorry, you don't know me or how I ride. What I do know, is that a pound on a bike is an extremely small percentage of the overall weight of the rider and bike, and on a commuter it is usually irrelevant. I also know that weight savings is maximized when it is saved on the wheels, which is why I said it is money better spent to save weight with lighter wheels than on other parts of a bike. I have not said anything personally about the OP or you. I do not know how much he or she weighs. As long as the OP is a svelte 145 pounds, then saving weight on the bike is the only realistic way to save weight. Of course we are in a commuting forum here so I assume that things are carried on the bike. When you carry things on a bike, you add weight, sometimes more, sometimes less, the bike's weight becomes less of a factor.

Lighter wheels will make more of a difference than saving a pound on the rest of the bike. That is a fact. Of course that isn;t always a good idea since the wheels need to be durable for commuting. Now, if you don;t need any of these things, buy a lighter weight road bike and ride it when you don't need to carry as much. You will get the benefit of a lighter bike, and more sporty geometry. You could also go with a stiffer aluminum frame, which will feel better because it will better transfer power to the wheel. These are all real options that will affect a change from what the OP now has.

Thanks for your extremely helpful snide remark.

chaadster

What? You're free to be as presumptuous as you like about others and how they ride, but if someone questions you, you get all bent out of shape? It sucks being a plaster saint, doesn't it? Pfft.

nyrikki

Seeing as you live in Seattle I would highly recommend you head up and check out Rodriguez, they will make a bike with disc brakes and custom fit to you.

Having a bike that fits you properly is an amazing thing.

https://www.rodbikes.com/catalog/rain...nier-main.html

Germany_chris

It isn't the reduction in weight so much the canvas where the weight reduction is being applied. If it were not a commuter bike 10-40 ponds of crap thrown on to of the bike already I would change my answer and go into my usual comments about wheel weight.

In they 20 years since leaving skateboards and BMX's behind I've had light and heavy bikes of all different flavors and materials. Bikes that feel fast have 2 things in common they have light wheels with good tires and steeper geo with shorter stays. The poster shouldn't chase weight

If the OP really wants a faster bike he needs to look outside the universal cyclocross bike.

Germany_chris

Then I'll have a sore neck I suppose.

emveezee

If versatility of the Cross Check includes ability to haul stuff (groceries, touring, etc), then lighter may not be better. A lightweight steel or allow frame that isn't designed to carry gear will be probably be noticeably flexy compared to a Cross Check when loaded.

PennyTheDog

Raleigh makes this steel cyclocross bike with disc brakes:
https://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/stee...ross/roper-13/

I don't know anything about its weight though.

ratell

There's the Salsa Colossal https://salsacycles.com/bikes/colossal/ or if you want to be really fast the Volagi Viaje https://volagi.com/bikes/viaje-xl-shimano-105

There's also Gunnar/Waterford semi custom options https://waterfordbikes.com/w/

But as a couple of people have said if I were spending close to $3000 on a bike I'd go all the way and find a local builder to hand build exactly what I want.