Chansnewbike

Hi I"m considering buying a cheap $800 Giant tcx1 cyclocross bike but I've always wanted it to be just as fast as a racing road bike (which it won't go as fast anyways). Should upgrade the gears as much as I can (Tiagra > Dura Ace)? Change to different wheels (but keep it being able to go off road and pavement) ? What would you do?

M_S

Pedal hard if you want to go fast

rbiked

slick road tires are the best upgrade but would limit you to on the road driving.. also you should want to consider clipless pedals and larger gearing in the front for a faster top speed

M_S

Okay, yeah besides the sarcasm you'll basically be 95% there (or more) if you use road racing width tires (23mm). Clipless helps too.

As far as gearing, I don't feel like I'm spinning out the 48 x 12 currently on my cross bike until around 35+ mph. In some road races on longer descents that would limit you, but a 50 x 11 should be big enough, and if memory serves that Giant already has a 50t big ring (I may be wrong).

black_box 

the tcx1 is 50/34 and 11-28. 120rpm on the crank in high gear gets you to 44mph, provided you can pedal that hard.

Psydotek

Swap the tires to skinny road tires. That's all you'll need. Well, and tubes that fit the skinny tires. Seriously, the tires alone will make like 95% of the difference. If you want to be able to go offroad easily, a second set of wheels will help so you don't have to constantly mount/dismount tires.

The stock components are more than adequate (the new Tiagra components are actually quite good).

flargle

Speed is all about, in descending importance, the engine, the tires, the wheels, and everything else.

Chansnewbike

Yeah point is, I wish I could have a 2 in 1 bike (racing + cx)

M_S

My cyclocross is my road bike. I plan on doing a few criteriums this summer.

c_m_shooter

Its all in the engine.

daoswald

Let's not forget clipless pedals. I would put it in this order:

Engine -> Tires -> Clipless pedals -> Wheels -> Handlebars -> The rest.

Elyone

Gotta love the millionaires who buy 'cheap' $800 bikes...

Took me 6 months to save up for my 'cheap' jake. (MSRP a 'cheap' $850) (Family+Kids+Life+Rent+Etc)

flargle

I took that as a given, as well as other things like having a proper fitting bike.

Upgrading shoes is a good place to spend money IMO. Upgrading pedals, on the other hand, doesn't give you as much bang-for-buck.

flargle

Save up for a bike you actually want.

Buying a bike and then upgrading it piecemeal is exactly the wrong way to spend money efficiently.

stevo

I couldnt agree less.

Cynikal 

You should remember that a CX/Touring bike will never feel as fast as a racer due to the geometry.

M_S

Cyclocross geometry isn't the same as touring geometry.

MIN 

yeah a cx bike is a race bike, by definition.

Cynikal 

Agreed, but its closer to touring than to road racing. But the real point was that a CX bike will never feel like a road racer.

You kids are tough today.

MIN 

It's true, the longer stays makes it FEEL sluggish on climbs and sprints but in reality it's just as fast.

bikeinxs

i've done a couple of crits on my cross bike (which is also my commuting bike). Wicked sluggish compared to my Marin Stelvio. The geometry that works great on dirt and mud is not so great in fast tight paved corners. It's just a different sort of ride.

Back to the original question, I wouldn't do anything other than changing the tires. If you want to make more radical changes, don't buy a cross bike in the first place.

threeflys

I have a TCX0 and put road tires on it, what a difference! No worries with the Tiagra...if you're just starting, there's now way you'll outride the Tiagra stuff. As far as a 2 in 1 bike, just get yourself an extra set of wheels to keep your cross tires mounted to and you have your dual purpose bike. Again, if you're fairly new, the difference between a crit (racing) and your cross bike won't make much of a difference. Move beyond Cat 4 and you'll start to see the benefit of a full on race bike. This is all my opinion, of course, but I think it's pretty accurate.
Chris

*Kind of makes you wonder what people did before all the different catagories of bike, you know when you just had a "bike"?*

justinb

You needn't spend a ton of money on shoes, but you should spend enough to find shoes that fit and work with your biomechanics. Nothing ruins an otherwise awesome ride the same way that foot pain does.

Same goes for saddles and bars, all the contact points.