Well this thread sure went south!<br><br>
Ok, I'm no expert, I'll defer to JR but here's what I know...<br>
MY Cyclocross bike, which I bought last fall, is probably the best investment I've made in ages and I LOVE IT.<br><br>
It's a Giant OCX (OCX 1 I think) and I have the big knobby tires which will get flipped out in a month or so, once I'm done playing on the muddy trails for a while and have to get serious about tri training <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"> in which case I'll pretend to be a roadie for a little while and use skinny tires. I even shaved my legs today!! It's spring eh? Anyway, I digress.<br><br>
The only thing that will really makes it seem different than a road bike is the brakes - they're shaped different to allow mud and crap in there and the 2nd set of brakes up on top. Other than that, looks and feels like a road bike.<br><br>
If you're gonna do Cross, get different pedals though. I don't know the name of mine - lollipop or candy something I dunno, but they are different in that I have to flip my feet IN not OUT which is backwards from my tri bike. However, doing cross, it makes TOTAL sense and you get used to it pretty quick.<br><br>
The shifters on mine are somewhat goofy, in that the "front" shifter is designed for a triple but my bike is a double. So have to do the "double up" or "double back" sometimes. Minor annoyance, maybe someday i'll do something about it - but for now, no worries. It's a GREAT investment.<br><br>
I LOVE playing out on the muddy trails and such
Ok, I'm no expert, I'll defer to JR but here's what I know...<br>
MY Cyclocross bike, which I bought last fall, is probably the best investment I've made in ages and I LOVE IT.<br><br>
It's a Giant OCX (OCX 1 I think) and I have the big knobby tires which will get flipped out in a month or so, once I'm done playing on the muddy trails for a while and have to get serious about tri training <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"> in which case I'll pretend to be a roadie for a little while and use skinny tires. I even shaved my legs today!! It's spring eh? Anyway, I digress.<br><br>
The only thing that will really makes it seem different than a road bike is the brakes - they're shaped different to allow mud and crap in there and the 2nd set of brakes up on top. Other than that, looks and feels like a road bike.<br><br>
If you're gonna do Cross, get different pedals though. I don't know the name of mine - lollipop or candy something I dunno, but they are different in that I have to flip my feet IN not OUT which is backwards from my tri bike. However, doing cross, it makes TOTAL sense and you get used to it pretty quick.<br><br>
The shifters on mine are somewhat goofy, in that the "front" shifter is designed for a triple but my bike is a double. So have to do the "double up" or "double back" sometimes. Minor annoyance, maybe someday i'll do something about it - but for now, no worries. It's a GREAT investment.<br><br>
I LOVE playing out on the muddy trails and such
