I'm thinking under $2K is more than enough, realistically $1K to 1.5K but I've seen some nice custom frames that are around $1.5K , :eek: .

Then the other day I was looking at nice TI CX bikes. :shocked: Over $2.5 for the frame!

So really, how much have you put into your Cyclocross? How high are you willing to go?

Any pictures of you and your CX in action?

Thanks in advance.

I picked up a Giant TCX last season for ~$1500. This was my first season of 'cross so I didn't want to spend much more than that. It does the job and leaves room for expansion. Next thing on the wish list is some lighter wheels. Weighs in just under 20 lbs.

Drivetrain - 10-speed 105
Bars - Salsa short-n-shallow w/ Salsa stem
Brakes - Avid 4's
Crank - FSA Gossamer Cross
Wheels - CXP-22's (kinda porky)
Seatpost - Alien carbon
Saddle - Arione
Tires - Mimo's

Here's a pic from the last Chicross series.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/Sheesh_photo/Montrose%2012-3-06/CrossPics-Montrose12-3-06044.jpg

Here's a pic from the last Chicross series.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/Sheesh_photo/Montrose%2012-3-06/CrossPics-Montrose12-3-06044.jpg

Damn, that look fun BUT cooooold. Thanks.

I buy used.

I picked up my first bike (Redline Conquest Pro) for about $500. Two years later I bought a Merckx Alu Cross for $1500. It had Velomax Circuit wheels which I sold and then bought tubies (the deal was a wash financially which was cool). I've since replaced the Redline frame with essentially the same frame in a size larger.

It also seems that I spend about $400-$500 on cross equipment -- replacing busted stuff, buing new tires, upgrading something here and there, replacing chains.

If I had money to spend, I'd get a pair of custom steel frames with SRAM Rival stuff.

Damn, that look fun BUT cooooold. Thanks.
That day was unbelievably cold. It was a high of about 10 degrees. I was out there all day helping out, and by the end of the day I really couldn't feel my fingers or toes, but it was a ton of fun!!

That day was unbelievably cold. It was a high of about 10 degrees. ... and by the end of the day I really couldn't feel my fingers or toes, but it was a ton of fun!!

Too cold for my So. Cal life. Its about 69 degrees today and I have light swearer on.

on how seriously you take the sport. IE: cross is the only racing I do. I don't road race or MTB race, so I like to put most of my $ on my cross bike. I just got a new Orbea frame and fork, I run 9 speed DA, ksyrium tubular wheels with Challenge tires. So, I'd say my set up is a little more than 2k. I also have a set of training wheels, DA Hubs, OP rims with Michelin sprint tires.

I don't mind buying second hand, and actually most of my DA stuff is second hand except for the shifters. My brakes are second hand, Avid Shorty 6, I added ti bolts, and they are as light as I need.

But remember, this is the only cycling disipline I compete in. I try to do every race in the series and train only for cross....

Between trolling eBay and Craig's List for a couple of months and my own left over parts, I was able to pull together a '01 Jamis Nova frame, Dura Ace shifters, 12-27 cassette and cranks with 105 front and rear derailleurs. I added some decent no-name wheels and tires I already had and an old Specialized seat - all tolled it came in for around $350.

I am very pleased. When I inevitably crash next fall in some race, I will be bummed because the frame's paint is in great shape. But at $350, I won't be holding back because I might crash and damage my four figure investment.

I have a '06 Cannondale Optimo. I replaced shifters, derailleurs, cranks with used Dura ace, new fizik arione seat, and I'm working on getting easton ec70 stem and seat post. After all that I might break $1k. It's a light fast bike that does what I need it to do and well worth the money.

I'd say if you're serious about racing and have $2k to spend, spend half on the bike and the other half on training. $1k in training will get you exponentially faster then a $1k in bike.

I have a 2004 Lemond Poprad which I bought new for $900. I upgraded to a straight blade steel fork, swapped out the crank when I broke it, replaced the stock Avid pads with KoolStops, swapped out the saddle, and put on narrower bars. I also have two spare wheelsets so I can just swap wheels rather than change tires.

I guess I probably have about $1500 invested in the bike. I don't spend anything on it now except for regular maintenance items (chains, cables, barwrap, tubes, tires).

If you're buying the bike to race, spend enough to get a good bike but not so much you'll be riding tentatively. If you're buying it as an all-purpose ride, spend as much as you need to make yourself happy (without breaking your budget, of course).

I think I bought one 'crosser new at full price, an '00 Bianchi Axis, which was maybe a tad over $1300. The others I got at closeout prices, from eBay or the RBR classifieds, or traded for them. It's nearly impossible to put a price on most of the bikes, because I built them up or modified them using parts out of my stash or stuff that got swapped over from another bike. Frankenbiking rules!

As far as how high I would go on price--well, I think I've already gone there.

For 1000-1500€ ( 1300-2000$? ) you can get a fine bike which is o.k. for most of the recreational bikers, i.e. like me who is riding his bikes only on sunday morning. For racers, maybe you should invest a little bit more, depending on the individual ambitions.

You can call me an idiot, but i spent for each of my two custom cc-bikes about 6000€ ( 8000$?, seems a little bit too much........but i don't know if the prices between U.S. and Europe are comparable).

J.

2 Bikes, 7 sets of wheels (4 Tub, 3 Clincher), spare parts, etc....

I bought mine used for $525. I bought a 2nd set of wheels for road riding afterwards. This summed up the cheap stuff. Now, comes the replacements for things that get destoyed or worn out:
front & back wheels
a few sets of cables
numerous brake pads
a few sets of tires (over the years trying something new at times & now I have mismatched sets of tires...)
handlebars
bar tape
saddles
brake levers
2nd computer
chaninrings
cassettes
chains

Everything except the frame & fork basically!

Me too. I bought a used Trek XO1 for $160. I had the wheels, seat, post, stem, derailer, cassettes and crank. Just bought tires and brakes. All told, less than $400. just purchased a used Empella bonfire for $550. I'll sell the Trek and minimize my cost. Then I'll win Zank's CX bike:)

To never add it up. I think the government calls it "Executive Priveledge" or "Plausible Deniabilty"!

To never add it up. I think the government calls it "Executive Priveledge" or "Plausible Deniabilty"!

I call it denial. works for me.

I call it denial. works for me.

Yeah, yeah, I'm so darn fast no one wants to ride with me! :D

I'm brand new to riding a CX bike. I just bought a '06 Kona JTS on closeout for $900. It's bone stock right now. I plan to use it as a do-it-all ride and see if I can get in shape to try at least one Chicago Cup race this Fall.

Yeah, yeah, I'm so darn fast no one wants to ride with me! :D
I probably have about $2500 into my custom curtlo cross bike and three wheelsets, one cheap $40 wheelset from the bike swap for general ridding and crossracing, a $600 king openpro set for road ridding and feeling fast on the road, and the wheelset from my old road bike, big heavy specialized commuter tires cheap rx100 hubs and velocity deep road v rims, heavy but tough, and much lighter but still heavy if I put regular cross tires or roadtires on it.
His frame price is up to $825-I paid $690 for the frame about 3 years ago but still cheap for custom and worth it. I said hi to Doug Curtis last month at the bike expo and got his new price list for frames and build kits. $825 for a frame, $235 for a custom steel fork and 1088 for a rival parts kit would come to $2148, Dam good deal, just talk to him and swap cross rings on and swap the road brakes for pauls-better to do it at the point of sale- and probably cheaper also. A ultegra 10kit would be $1138, and a 105 10speed kit would be $943, the other parts in his build kit examples are also very good parts- wheels-etc. I haven't talked to him about wait times since I have one of his cross bike, but mine took about 3 months or so and he was a couple weeks off on his due date late. I hear he's busy now but you should get a killer cross bike before cross season, hopefully and worth the wait. Just check his web site and give him a call to talk if interested. You can also pay it off durring the wait period-sweet.
If you don't want to go custom or pay that much then go used, I saw a sweet waterford cross bike with second gen xtr cranks and mostly nice ultegra(I believe) other parts for $1600 on the RBR classifieds 2 or 3 months ago.

I also just bought a Kona JTS 2007 for 1000.00 pure stock neon green.

I'm a huge kona fan and ride a custom kona king kikapu MTB. I did not like the color and had not considered the bike until I got wind of the price.

Before this purchase I was set on buying the Surly Cross check complete due to the extreme possibilities it offers for an awsome price, but you could do the F&F and build you perfect bike for $1500 easy, or buy the complete for $940 and swap/sell the cheap parts for ones you prefer.

The Surly CC in misty mountain grey(white) is damn cool.

M

I cant say much here- got my Vicious on the 'bay complete for $1000, bought a new BB, rings, chain, pedals and a seat that fits my rear...about $1300 when all said and done. Probably would have cost $3500 or so to build, though.

In my main bike, a 2006 custom ti Dean, I have about $2200 of which is about $1300-1400 for the frame. I got some great pro deals last year through a club I am a part of including race wheels. I switched over a few parts from my old frame to save some money and then bought replacement parts for my pit bike off of ebay or second hand. I paid about $1000 for my Redline (now my pit bike aka husband's cross bike when he wants to race) about 4-5 years ago.

After reading through a few of these posts, I'm thinking I paid way more for my cx than i needed to.

When I first decided to get a cx frame, it was supposed to help me pare down my collection and be my ONE bike (with 1 mt.bike), so I put on Dura-ace/Ultegra parts. But it didn't really work out that way - I still have two additional road bikes and two mt. bike. In fact, because the top tube is so high for me, it doesn't get much use at all.

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/data/roadbike/500/medium/Salsa_las_Cruces_02.jpg

Anybody want to buy it so I can get a shorter one? (Curse my short legs!)

Bummer--looks like a sweet bike. Unfortunately, short legs are the reason I didn't give the Salsa more than a brief look. Curse my Irish ancestors!

After reading through a few of these posts, I'm thinking I paid way more for my cx than i needed to.



http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/data/roadbike/500/medium/Salsa_las_Cruces_02.jpg

Anybody want to buy it so I can get a shorter one? (Curse my short legs!)

Nice bike. I really like that one. I'm sooooo close to buying a Surly.

most of my stuff was spare stuff i had sitting around (groupset at least). add in brakes, tires, a frame....it was about $250 for last year (teammate gave me a frame for $100).

for next year, it will be about $1200. new custom frame (on a team deal, thankfully), some new bits and peices that wore out, and then im figuring half the cost of my nice wheels (since they will see road race useage) or possibly a set of 'cross only tubbies.

Moots Psychlo X YBB, Alpha Q CX fork, Moots post all puchased on e-bay, about $2,300.

DA shifters, Pauls brakes, DA RD, IRD FD, FSA SLK compact crank, Mavic K-Elites, Aliante saddle, Salsa Bell Lap Pros, IRD cassette, all, if I remember, about $2,500.

Riding drops in the dirt: priceless!

...FSA SLK compact crank,...

Do you think "compact" is the way to go on a CX, or how about "triple?"

I'm in the Midwest, so a compact works fine for the conditions I ride in, and I like it because it is at least marginally lighter and simpler than a triple. If I lived in the mountains, I might have chosen differently though.

There are "cyclocross-specific" cranks available, and they are usuaaly closer ratio gearing than a normal crank. I believe the Truvativ Elita cyclocross cranks I have are 46-38. It is generally accepted that in cyclocross racing you don't really need a huge ring because you will never go fast enough to need it. If you are getting a cx bike mostly as a commuter / general-use bike, you may be better of with the wider range fo a compact. If you intend to use it as a tourer, then you might think of going triple.

There are "cyclocross-specific" cranks available, and they are usuaaly closer ratio gearing than a normal crank. I believe the Truvativ Elita cyclocross cranks I have are 46-38. It is generally accepted that in cyclocross racing you don't really need a huge ring because you will never go fast enough to need it. If you are getting a cx bike mostly as a commuter / general-use bike, you may be better of with the wider range fo a compact. If you intend to use it as a tourer, then you might think of going triple.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure whether compact or triple. Getting a Cyclocross will essentially replace my road bike. I'm thinking compact as I plan to do some fire roads and single track. AND epic group road rides.

Not if yer racing. Don't need a triple.

Well, depending on the type of singletrack you are planning (not too technical terrain that would require a stump-pulling gear), I think you are a good candidate for a 50-36 compact. Provided you get enough teeth on your cassette (12-26 or 12-27), you would have gears both for road riding and going off-road.

There is another thread going on right now about chainring size (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=90947) thatI think you would benefit from peeking at it if you want more info.

I've got road bikes with 53-39 and 50-36, and my cx at 46-38 - if I had to pick and own only one bike, it would very likely be the 50-36 with a 12-25 rear.

Bummer--looks like a sweet bike. Unfortunately, short legs are the reason I didn't give the Salsa more than a brief look. Curse my Irish ancestors!

short legs means you are built like a De Vlaemnick (brother) which as you know, THEY did pretty well in cx and the cobbled classics

Eddy Merckx said this build was ideal for Paris Roubaix, lower center of gravity.

he says Tom Boonen and Axel are the same height, Axle rides a 61 or 62 ST Boonen rides a 57 or 58

Boy, do I have a low center of gravity...especially after more than a year of downtime. It's gonna take a lot more than that to get me back to riding so I don't embarrass myself.