Cyclocross for Touring
 

I have a chance to buy a really nice carbon fiber cyclocross bike at a bargain. I already have a road bike, a hybrid, and a mountain bike. But, I think down the road I may do some bike touring and wondered how well suited is a cyclocross for touring. Anyone use one for touring? Plusses? Minuses?

Check to see if you can attach an appropriate the front and rear rack if you are wanting to use panniers. Be sure the chainstay length gives your heels enough clearance to clear the panniers. You could use bikepacking bags, but you will need to be minimalist to fit all your gear. Using an extrawheel trailer might be an option. Many carbon fiber frames are not set up with braze ons to attach racks.

I toured with an aluminum Myata Cyclocross a long time ago and it worked well. The carbon fiber frame is probably more of an issue than the frame geometry.

Touring as in pavement or more dirt road/gravel? Question would be how big of a tire you would want/need? My current setup has 29 x 3" tires.

The other issue is gearing, it probably has a double, which depending on the specifics and what kind of load you'd carry, it could easily have too tall gearing and it would not be enjoyable, but lots of factors.

The main issue though is that it's probably not designed to carry racks and a load at both ends.
What frame is it?

It is a Nashbar carbon fiber bike. It is a double and guess it has the standard 46, 36 chainrings it came with. The cassette is 11-32? I am not sure if I would be able to attach a rack. I will say the frame is significantly heavier than my road bike which is also carbon fiber. The tires look to be 32mm.

I am planning on using on dirt, gravel and road. Someday would like to do the Katy Trail. May even ride it on a logging road or two.

in the end, it would depend on how much stuff you'd carry. There are rear racks that can go onto cf road bikes, using a skewer thingee instead of bolting to the frame.
As mentioned, frame bags are a possibility.
gearing might be ok, but then cranksets can be changed also.
lots of possibilities/options/depending on lots of factors.

I run a CX bike when I'm looking to do multi day trips at a kinda fast pace over crappier surfaces. I either run bikepacking gear or just a rear rack (axiom streamliner) and lightly packed (and small) panniers. No problems with carbon frames so far, though I'd suggest running an alloy seat post for mounting the axiom rack.

Gearing *might* be an issue, but IMHO the 46/36 front and 11-28 rear I see a lot of CX bikes come with by default isn't bad at all if you're running light. Right now my bike has 46/36 up front and 11-32 on the rear. I doubt it'll be a problem to put a derailer extender a 40t max casette and a road compact crank for an even wider range if I want to change it again.

Like stated.. If the bike can carry what you want to take and if the gears match your ability on the inclines. Some CX bikes are more adaptable to touring than others.

In my opinion... If you are strapping on 15+ pounds of stuff around the bike to support your tour, the concept of having a light nimble bike is kind of moot at that point.

buy it then trade it in for a touring bike.
would be suited more to bikepacking i reckon.

depends on the bike and your anticipated load. Seems to me if it's a light CF bike you're looking at light loads, bike packing and no panniers. Not because CF can't handle the load but that it probably doesn't have rack or eyelet fittings and it probably has groovy 24 spoke count wheels. Also, depending on the bike a cross bike was never designed to be a load carrier. I have a CrossCheck and think it would be a fine tourer but it feels whippy with a heavy rear load. I'd be inclined to set it up with front lowriders and top of rear rack load.

People show up to tour the Oregon Coast on all sorts of bikes, Even Carbon Race Bikes..

you can always tow a bike trailer with all your gear in it. (+Bike-packing bags need no racks)

Bike just has to be something you can get up the next morning and want to ride .




...

I do credit card touring on a carbon roubaix, it's really nice to ride a lighter bike all day. I had a large saddlebag and a smaller handlebar bag. I bought a tricross and am gonna try that out for another trip in September that will entail camping so I will be using lowriders and a back rack.

Lots of folks use lighter bikes and lighter loads, as you say, it must be nice.
My tricross works well with what you intend for September, depending on what load and what wheel set is on yours. The frame handles a good 40lbs reasonably well, although I was careful of my carbon fork and kept front panniers light.

I'm going to load it up and see how I like the ride. I can't see myself packing more than 40lbs for this sort of trip. I do have another set of wheels with more spokes but I ran my credit card tour on 24 spoke lightweight road wheels. The roval wheels on the cross bike look like they might be similar in spoke count too, but I don't have many km on them so we'll see. Cross bikes are pretty versatile though.

neglected to mention that Im a lightweight, 135, so that comes into play as well.

why not just use your hybrid?
I tour a bit on an '90s Rock Hopper.
I set my son up for a light (lite?) tour on a KONA Jake the Snake: https://goo.gl/photos/kJEHaURzneL2US9b6
- small frame bag and rear rack.

I have a friend who tours on his hybrid - a GIANT... somethingorother: https://goo.gl/photos/W2h1NDnv2u1wmPNG8

Personally I don't think I'd want the rackless bike-backing setup unless I was on single track alot. Otherwise I 'think' having that loooong seat pack waggling would be annoying. And aesthetically.... well... looks weird.

hope that helps or gives some ideas.
Happy Trails!

The idea of at least trying the Hybrid for touring is not a bad idea. I think I could put a rack on it. As long as it is a short 2-3 day ride if it isn't working I would not be stuck too long with it.

What size and model tires would you'll recommend? I will be doing mostly blacktop. But, I suspect there will also be some gravel involved. I don't mind paying extra for a really good set of tires for touring.

Schawlbe Marathons are good and have a better life span compared to the other tires that I've used. For gravel, I'd get a wide tire and run them at lower pressure off pavement and higher pressure on pavement.

I'm a big fan of the 32~37mm diameter tires on 700c wheels. More dirt, more diameter is a bit safer.
My drop bar MTB uses 1 3/4in tires (44mm) on 26in wheels. I use that pavement, dirt, whatever. I don't have a tire pressure gage, so I just inflate them to about 45~50psi and leave it unless I have a flat.

I have a friend who works for CONTINENTAL, so I get a super price on those. Touring plus. No complaints. I had some Panaracer Palseas that never gave me problems. Lots of people seem to be big fans of Schwalbe.

About a year ago I was on a single night trip with a couple of friends who were BRAND NEW to touring. They had a couple of up right, 700C touring bikes. Maybe FUJI or something. 32 or 28mm tires. I took them on a mostly dirt route. We hit a longish, not very steep down hill. Really loose gravel. One of was going much faster than he should of and his front wheel washed out. UGH. An ambulance came and scooped him up. Bad scene.
I guess I'm saying know your limits. Know your gear. Error on the slow safe side.
https://goo.gl/photos/KYeLE9WhLDaG5Xh2A

I really like the short trips. One or two nights. Good stuff.
Cheers!

If I didn't already have the (heavy) Surly Disc Trucker I'd definitely try the Diamondback EXP Carbon, AFAIK only about 1/3 more cost than Nashbar Cross & has touring features like 3x9 gears, bar-end shifters & at least some sort of front & rear rack mounts. Nashbar specs don't say anything about rack mounts. EXP allows wider tires, amazingly light, quality components, what's not to like?

Do you have any suggestions for a carbon frame worthy of electronic shifting? Maybe a triple. Maybe carbon wheels. Seems like most adventure bikes have a low in the low 30's, I'm thinking probably a more traditional touring low in the low 20's. I'm old and out of shape.
Thanks for your consideration.

I would not tour in places where nobody has the same taste and budget for exotic bike components as you seem to express..

Its just Pollyanna thinking anyone in a small town will be ready to fix what broke, other than shipping your broken bike home.


save the bling for the cafe curcuit, tour on a bike that is using easy to repair common components..
Aint light, but you dont have to go fast..





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i'd recommend a trek, but must cost at least $2000.
and no platform pedals. too dangerous.
get the fork bags. for puppet storage.......... :popcorn

:roflmao:

It's not bling. It's better. Works smoother, less likely to break. Why would anything break on a good bicycle? Just as replaceable as on an inexpensive bicycle. if it ever did break. My question holds about a carbon frame & electronic components.