Looking for interesting cross training ideas? (Read 1649 times)

 

Good thing I don't have a mountain bike...but I am starting to seriously eyeball some 'cross bikes.  Gotta beef-up my arm muscles some, too.

i ride a cross bike and i love it. i can ride the road on the way to the trails and jump right onto the gravel, dirt, grass, or whatever surface you want. im on the trek soho 1.0 and after i switched out the bars and pedals its a great ride.

i bet you can find a fairly lightweight ride too, even without spending a fortune.

So, what is it?  I might want to go for the gusto!

Bell's Oberon...even named my bike after the stuff!

 

i ride a cross bike and i love it. i can ride the road on the way to the trails and jump right onto the gravel, dirt, grass, or whatever surface you want. im on the trek soho 1.0 and after i switched out the bars and pedals its a great ride.

 

i bet you can find a fairly lightweight ride too, even without spending a fortune.

Our roads are maybe 10% nice asphalt, 60% rough chipseal and the rest are unpaved 2-track or gravel.  There are times where I wish I'd gone cross bike to begin with, since I often have to take weird routes to avoid the roads that aren't friendly to skinny tires.  

I will likely end up with something semi-custom, since the only bikes that have smaller brake/shifter levers stock are Terry--I don't think anyone else makes WSD cross bikes....and $3k for a Terry is a bit rich for my blood.  We'll probably see if we can get a frame and then something comparable to my 105 components.  Apparently SRAM has something new that is similar.  It won't likely cost any less than a stock bike, but the full-size brake levers would likely be a bit much for my smaller hands.  I have really narrow shoulders (my road bike has 38cm width bars), too, so the unisex handlebars would be too wide.

 

That's it! You sure know your beer!  Ha! You must be from WI   I need to sharpen up!!!

Get on that, man! Heh...nah, our awesome little local bar that was smoke-free long before it became law had it on tap.  I hadn't heard of it before then.  I don't think they do anymore, though.  Demand for Oberon pretty much killed it around here.

 Have you ever had Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan? It's a little heavier and oh so good...

http://www.lazymagnolia.com/SouthernPecan.html

No, but that sounds tasty.  Next time I get down South I will have to keep my eyes open.  Looks like they don't ship/distribute too far.

 

Shimano makes a "short reach" shifter in Ultegra also for small hands. I think you should be able to get a shim set for both the 105 and Ultegra that moves the brake level closer to the bars. Just throwing that out there.

Yup, I think that's what's on my road bike (Shimano 10-speed, ST-R700 w/reach adjust).  I'd like to look at Cannondale's CAAD8 CX 5, which would be comparably equipped to my road bike, but since it's unisex it has the Shimano 105 STI brake levers.  Any idea if bike companies will typically swap-out components in-factory?  That's one reason buying the frame and then spec'ing it out with what I know works is appealing.  I hate the saddles Cannondale uses, too.  I would probably get the same saddle I have on my road bike (Specialized BG Jett).

When you're at your LBS, tell them you want the ST-R700 levers swapped out as part of the deal. All the good LBS in our area would gladly swap them over for a sale.

We're good friends with the owner of our LBS (he's the local JDRF head coach and my hubby is assistant coach.  He gave me 10% off on my bike, even though I'm not on the ride team...yet.  He's kinda like a drug-pusher, heh), so I'm sure he'd do it.  Wasn't sure if it was something ever done at the factory level.