jonestr

If you are not adverse to selling stuff then just selling off the shifters will go a long way towards offsetting the cost of the swap. If you want to go wicked cheap just get a cross bike, sell off the brifters and use the sunrace or Falcon shifters that are not indexed. I believe both universal and rivbike carry them and they are like $10. Lots of cheap options for brake levers and bars out there so that should net you a bit of a profit overall if you sell the brifters.

Do you want to race this bike? If so I would try and work with a drop bar as they make shoulders a lot easier as they will keep the seat from hitting you in the head and keep the front wheel from wagging around if you carry properly.

If I was you I would take a look at the Raleigh RX 1.0 as it is 9spd (nothing wrong with that) has a nice frame and you could easily drop the brifters on ebay or craigslist. Again, I would try and make the drop bars work, but it is your call.

acorn_user

As has been stated, you can ride almost anything at a cross race. A guy won a VACX race last year on a Ginat SCR2 fitted with one knobbly tyre and one slick. Do check clearance for bigger tyres, and do think about the top tube. I raced on a flat bar hybrid last year, and my bike also had a cable stop where my shoulder ought to have gone. That was an issue, because it meant I had to carry the bike or run it, whereas others could shoulder the bike. I would not say that flat bars are an issue for cyclocross at all. I found I had more leverage and could manage obstacle better. It also made it easy to run v-brakes, so I had great stopping power.

acorn_user

p.s. I think this bike would actually be better suited. I would take the fenders and dynamo wheel off before actually racing it, but it uses the Volpe cross/touring frame and has better cable routing.

https://www.bianchiusa.com/09_xt_valle.html