Ask any road cyclist what the worst aspect of riding is and they will undoubtedly say: One, “The Traffic” and two “Bad road surfaces and potholes”.<\/p>\n
Ask a Mountain Biker what the worst aspect of riding is and they’ll say: “Long hard slogs uphill on a heavy bike with knobbly tyres”<\/p>\n
Ask ANY cyclist what the ideal number of bikes to own is and they’ll say “n+1” – Where ‘n’ is the number of bikes currently owned.<\/p>\n
With this in mind I thought it was time for another new bike, so why not a cyclocross bike? Basically a cyclocross bike is a road bike that you can ride off road. It has drop bars and a lightweight, road style frame, along with\u00a0lightweight wheels shod with tyres that are slightly wider and with more tread on than those on a road bike.<\/p>\n
For those of us who see the glass as half full then a cyclocross bike has the best of both worlds. You can ride it like a road bike, but you can take it off-road, away from the traffic as well. The perfect steed for heading out into the hills, getting wet and muddy and covering the miles, but it’s still efficient on the road.<\/p>\n
Of course, for those who see the glass as half empty then a cyclocross bike may just be a compromise too far. With it’s wider tyres it’s never going to be as fast on the road as a pure road bike and with it’s near-road-like geometry, narrow tyres, and lack of suspension it’ll never be as competent off-road as a mountain bike. It’s an all-rounder in many aspects, so it’s a jack of all trades, but master of none. Master of none that is except of course a cyclocross course in a cyclocross race.<\/p>\n
Whichever way you look at it though if you don’t already own a cyclocross bike then buying one satisfies the n+1 equation of bike ownership so it has to be a good thing.<\/p>\n
After a bit of shopping around I decided to buy a Viner Super Prestige Cyclocross bike. I was tempted by a slightly different category of bike known as a gravel bike or an adventure bike. These are essentially cyclocross bikes with a slightly more relaxed geometry and more clearance for slightly wider tyres. They also tend to have mounts for racks and mudguards too. In the end I decided against this and went for more of a pure cyclocross bike as it might be fun to do a few cyclocross races.<\/p>\n
That said I did choose a 2×11 drivetrain rather than a 1×11 as I\u00a0thought that would give me a little more versatility from the bike. I might want to use it for racing, but it’ll also be a good bike for commuting should I want to and for longer days out exploring fire-r0ads and the Welsh hills – the wider range of gears from a 2×11 would probably come in handy.<\/p>\n
I didn’t go top of the range of course as this is a new thing for me, but I did decide that I wanted hydraulic disk brakes rather than mechanical ones and a carbon frame (I couldn’t afford Titanium). In the end I treated myself to a Viner Super Prestige with a 2×11 SRAM Rival groupset and WTB\u00a0ST i19 wheels. Here she is after a quick build and her first small 10 mile ride.<\/p>\n\n\t\t