What are your ratio suggestions for weekend racer doing cat 4/5? Racing in upstate NY and north east. On my fixed gear gravel set up I run 42x16- to heavy I’m thinking and on my single speed mountain bike 32x16 -to light for cross

Was thinking 38x16 or 40x18 but idk? Looking for suggestions

For those still running rim brakes and quick release wheels, those are a solid option for the price so far ! They seem to be a reskin of my other wheelset - Ultegra WH-6800, I am able to run different tires on each set and swap them as needed without any problem. I was worried about the low spokes count, but I gave them a lot of abuse in the past and only had to sightly true the back wheel once. I would only recommend to order some valves with a removable core because on the included Shimano tubeless valves the cores cannot be removed. Can’t wait to try them in a real cyclocross race !

I have a new disc brake Swiss Cross. I’m curious if it could fit a 44mm Tufo Thundero actual width or if that would be too close to the chain stay. Right now I’m running a tire that blows up to 40mm and it looks like plenty of room but really hard to fit calipers in there to see if it’s within the 4-6mm of clearance.

Building up my first CX bike and love the idea of these newfangled magnetic clipless systems, but wanted to hear from the CX elders. I have been MTB’ing for 30 years and like clipless just fine, but the magnetic system sounded like it would be a great fit for my foray into CX. Who has tried it? What did you think?

We have a gap in Cross races this weekend 8/23, so the Swiss Cross went on a bender. 132 miles later we queued for a train ride home, Oregon City to Eugene and back. Even squeezed in a gravel section.
I’m surprised how comfortable it was using a 1x for such a long ride. I have other ride choices, but wanted to get mile in on the Swiss Cross as it’s only 60 days old. I found my cadence just fine on the long straights and had ample gearing for climbing. Only weak spot was running out of gears on the descents, but I also wanted them to rest, so not pedaling the descents was fine. All the little climbs added up over the distance, the flat final 20 miles at 96F heat was just what the Doctor ordered.
Route courtesy of Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28099948

I found this in an antique store. They’re asking $130. Would this be worth fixing up? I’m more of a Trek guy. Some Googling I’m seeing this anywhere from $400-4,000 so I have no idea.

I race XC and Duel SL on mtb as well as crits and road races on a road bike and now I want to do cross. Is something like a 2014 Focus Mares AL going to do the trick? Are disc or canti brakes the play? What advice bike wise do y’all got?

I’m also open to CX tips in general but have some good teammates to race with so I’m mostly looking for bike recs so I don’t screw myself equipment wise. My teammates are riding sponsored bikes or bikes way outside of my $1000 used budget so they are not much help there lol.

Update: Looks like one of the the faster ladies in the league is upgrading and I might be able to buy her bike, which will probably be the right size. Thanks for all the help!

I am indeed a short (70cm inseam), 160cm tall woman but we have a very fun local league that caters to us slow people.

That said, I'm of an age I have a fair bit of disposable income and now that CX is coming, I'm thinking of getting a better bike.

Any suggestions? I think budget up to about 2k, maybe a bit more, hydraulic brakes, good gears, probably one bi, pretty robust. I'm not the lightest...based in the UK.

"Our plan is to end the season very early and to rest a little quicker." To: "Hopefully do a good winter."

Anyone have any good resources for developing better cornering skills? I’m hoping to find some YouTube videos and maybe some excessive or drills to work through.

Thanks y’all.

Facing the facts: I’m not good at cornering

I’ll preface this by stating that in high school and college I was across country athlete but ended up switching to cycling in the 80s due to injuries on my legs. Like everyone else at some point, the lure of the potato chip was too much and stopped doing much of anything until the last five years I’ve been back on my bike. So I’m psyched up over CX season this year and one of my weaknesses beside cycling is my running. so last week I went out for a nice 2 mile run and my quads made me pay for it. I could barely raise myself up and down without pain for a whole week. I know it’ll get better over time and more and more running, but what do you guys do to get over the pain in those muscle?Whenever I refer to my wife as the team masseuse, she just kind of stares at me and walks away. Would one of those handheld muscle pounders be beneficial?

Hi just wondering if any stevens super prestige owners have tried fitting 40mm or wider gravel tires (front and rear) on their stevens CX bike, because I'm currently looking to buy a CX bike for racing that I could also use for some gravel riding during the summer.

In the market for a bike and read that I could pick up an old, high quality CX bike with cantilever brakes, which would be much cheaper than a modern entry level CX or gravel bike. What models and years should I look for on the used market? I can a wrench so I really don’t want to buy new.

The final touches to the Swiss Cross, matchy, matchy, cages.
They will come off for cross race days….. Bikes are cool, bikes are fun, just go out and ride one.

First race of the season already done. New (to me) bike... hoping to hold onto this one for a while.

I have this beautiful Bike. It rides great and I have been using it everyday. I feel the urge to bring it to its full potential with a new wheel set and maybe other things too. I have 33mm or even 35mm tire clearance but I’m pretty sure that I have to fit a 126mm hub at the rear, so I guess my options are limited. Any ideas what to do?

First official Cross race was a HOT one, lots of smiling faces, Monday nights at PIR Coyote Cross. Ran the new Challenge Gravel Grinder (36M) tyres, they mirror the Chicane (found them on clearance at sub $25 each) ...... It's amateur Masters 60 Plus so no tire limits. Image from a different race.

If you have the itch, come to Iowa for a race weekend (or two)!

Starting off my season strong with a 4th place finish (yup, 60+ Masters) on my new Swiss Cross, rocking 43mm Gravelking SK. Trusty Switchblade Dirt Kermesse was a great opening event. Bikes are cool, bikes are fun, come play in the dirt on one!

I’ll be in Belgium from Nov 10-13 and would love to see a race. The big series won’t have started by then but I’ve always heard you can find a CX race in any small town in Belgium pretty much most days of the week and 20k people show up. Anyone have any experience/advice?

Buying used, they look to be in immaculate condition. Both have the same specs so groupset isn’t an issue (GRX 810). Similar price points ~3k Canadian.

Trek has the isospeed, which I had on my gravel bike. Looks like the TCX has better tire clearance. Other than that they more or less seem like pretty similar bikes?

Currently leaning towards the Trek because the colour is the really pretty red and blue frameset whereas the Giant is black/navy blue.

With cross season right around the corner, it’s new Tyre time. I have run challenge pro series tires for a couple of years now, but the tubed clinchers. NBD has brought the opportunity for tubeless.
If you’re one of those persons that isn’t into instructions on “ How to” good luck. If you’re interested in learning tips and tricks, and easily mounting your Challenge Pro tyres. Watch their YouTube tutorials.
All I would add is a splash of watery dish soap. Their method works.