Santaria

My in-laws decided to work with my wife and buy me a CXSS off some kid up the road from them. It is apparently an All-City Nature Boy. It's stock at the time of this posting and sitting up there waiting for UPS to ship it tomorrow.

I intend to race it so I'm looking at a few things it appears.

I'd love to run something like Williams 30X rims on it, but I don't want to rebuild a wheel. Is there a good recommendation for a set of CXSS grade machine-builts in that price range? Also, I love the FSA energy cross crankset, but that is a double. Is there a good recommendation for a light crank that can put up with cross-grade riding?

Thanks in advance,
D

UCF Eric

https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/all-ci...n-edition-3476

This is cc700's bike, ask him how he likes the cranks?

Soil_Sampler

what is wrong with this one?

cc700

uhh, that's not the stock crankset. those are carbon s900s.

i built mine up from the frame specifically because the stock build isn't optimal for racing, it's better for riding and bashing it around town... tall gearing, bolt on wheels, and bad tires for anything but bad pavement with the occasional sticky dirt patch.

it's AWESOME for around town... strong, durable, reasonably fast... very unassuming... the attractive frame paint is the only thing that will attract unwanted attention. chain ring guard prevents pants from getting caught without looking super dumb with a chain guard, clips and straps let you run fixed if you want, gearing will get you going fast even on big knobbies...

but for racing, you want to change the gearing and the tires. you shouldn't need to change much else(fit your cockpit, i hate racing on anything but the most compact of drops and it comes stock with road drops).

you shouldn't want to change much but i'd look at neuvation or mavic aksium race wheelsets and BE SURE YOU USE THE FRAME'S INTEGRATED TENSIONERS as you want quick release in a race, but you need to tension the axel so it doesn't slip. machine built wheels i assume are your option because of cost savings? if you want 32h wheels there are some good options with 105/ultegra hubs but honestly i think any reasonably strong road wheel if built right will hold up fine to cross. i race on handbuilt(by me) cxp22s or quick release handbuilt 32 spoke dp18/cheap 36h front and you can see my friend's ultegra to open pros behind me in that above crank picture.

tires are all you really NEED to get for racing, and honestly you're good with any tire of quality depending on the conditions you race in. i like speed kings, mud2, and i love my clement crusade pdx... but it's muddy here. you might want vittorias or something for dry depending on where you'll ride. if you're riding it on road, keep the stock tires.

as far as cranks, the energy doubles are fine. just gear down... if that means you want a smaller chainring then you can use the included bash guard(you'll see my surly crossing guard is too large, it's not a big deal) or just get a smaller ring and single chainring bolts.

if you want to change cranks go for it but it's not necessary. i just swapped out carbon s900 for elitas, because it's no longer race season but i can't be bothered to change the bb.

i'd be stoked, it's a great frame and I love mine. just ride yours stock unless you want to race it. my season's over here but if there are still races where you are then change the gearing and tires. or, go crazy like i did:

built with thompson, king, sram s900 cranks and levers, fsa wing compacts, avid shorty ultimates, and on a quick release wheelset with handbuilt rear... in SF for sscxwc this year:

prooftheory

Charlie, did you do the sscxwc and if so how did you do? Nice pic.

cc700

i raced c men in the morning. not the ss race, but i raced C's ss and still got 17th of 50. if i had known i was that far up i wouldn't have stopped and got off my bike twice to take my glasses off(fog!) and take a broken safety pin out of my pants pocket(sticking me in the leg) and just hardened the **** up and pushed my way into the top ten. fun course!

i yelled "cmon, use those gears!" coming out of the last corner to the guy i passed before the finish because i wanted an all out sprint and... well he must have been more tired than he looked because he didn't catch me. gave him a high five after the line. it was a great race and there was more heckling coming from on course than from off it. SF knows how to do it. plus it was rainy so i felt right at home.

my teammate won the EAW race(non-qualifyers) and took home a 55cm natureboy and chrome pack.

Soil_Sampler

oops!, my bad!

yummygooey

All this CX talk/pics lately make me want to race CX!!

M_S

- You can use a double crank. Just sell the ring(s) you don't want.
- You can use any old road wheels with a cassette cog and spacers.

On my SSCX I use heavy Surly hubs laced to Delgado Cross rims for training, and race with A23s on a Dura Ace front and Velocity rear hubs. The A23s are great for cross. I'm hooked on wide rims. If you want a set JUST for racing though you should probably get tubulars.

cc700

do it! get friends together and organize a practice. build some barriers and research course design. it goes a long way once you actually start racing for real!
by no means a necessity. clinchers with smart pressure is better than tubies with dumb pressure, and clinchers with dumb pressure is better than tubies with bad glue. i see more failures on tubies because people push the limits and roll their tire.

sure there are racers that swear on their 18psi 230tpi tubulars but tubies are expensive and you have to reglue them every season which isn't cheap. plus, are you going to have a set for wet and a set for dry? tread pattern can make a world of difference! all that money is probably better spent on different treads, or better shoes, or more beer and bacon to hand up to friends.

jdgesus 

some one say beer and bacon?!