Ten starter cyclo-cross bikes

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As the evenings draw in and the weather worsens, roadies thoughts would traditionally turn to cyclo-cross, but with the advent of the mountain bike in the 80’s, cyclo-cross became the weird family member, locked in the attic and rarely spoken about.

Photo by Richard Hurd

All that has changed now with cycling’s current renaissance, and it was only a matter of time before the ugly duckling was let out of it’s box, to mix metaphors. Judging by my own experience here in the South-east of England and of the London Cross League in particular, numbers are on the up with fields of 100+ in the races.

As with road bikes, the choice in cyclo-cross bikes is astounding, with most road marques also producing a couple of cyclocross frames. Many ‘cross frames are also being sold as the ultimate “do it all” bike with knobbly tyres for the weekend races, replaced by slicks and mudguards for winter road training and commuting. You can even fit panniers to many of them and go touring should you choose, further helped by the position which is usually a little higher and more “open” than a road racing bike, to help with off-road handling, but is not so radical as to prevent you from finding your usual road set-up.

You will need to make your own choice about which end of the cyclocross racer through to do-it-all bike spectrum you want to buy into. Look for double chainrings running less than 50 teeth and plenty of mud clearance if you want to race, whereas triple chainrings and pannier eyelets may be preferable for touring. The choice is yours.

In this article we are looking at the sub-£1000 category, working on the assumption that this will not be your main bike but maybe represents your first foray into, or perhaps like me, you’re making a return to cyclo-cross.

If you live in the UK, under-£1000 also makes these complete bikes eligible for the excellent tax saving Cycle to Work scheme, if you choose to take advantage of that.

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