Ten starter cyclo-cross bikes
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Boardman CX Team £899
The Boardman CX Team is a disc brake equipped, fully UCI legal cyclo-cross race bike, that could also be used for the daily commute or to do some light touring work, as well as blasting around muddy fields.
The CX Team has an alloy frame – with asymmetric chainstays and BB30 no less – and full carbon fork, which will help keep the weight down on those carrying sections.
Disc brakes mean this bike is bang up to date and a mixture of SRAM, Microshift, FSA and Boardman own brand components help keep the price and weight down. Ritchey rubber on Ritchey rims and hubs by Formula complete the wheel package.
The CX team comes in at just under £900, which is a good price for a well specced bike and, as with a lot of Boardman products, raises the bar pretty high for the competition.
Norco Threshold A3 Disc £700
If you are not into mountain biking you may not have heard of Norco before, but they have been around for 50 years, and with that off-road pedigree plus the fact they hail form British Columbia in Canada, we can assume they know something about mud!
The Norco Threshold A3 claims to be a dedicated cyclo-cross race bike, but like most of the machines at this price point it also comes equipped with rack and mudguard fittings, so you can still use it as a do-it-all bike.
The A3 has an alloy frame and fork, with the top tube being neatly pierced by the seat tube then continuing into one piece rear triangle. The A3 uses Hayes CX-5 mechanical discs, which as well as stopping you, look good in a shiny, ‘old school’ way.
The A3 comes with Shimano’s Sora groupset and unbranded hubs on no-name rims, both of which beg to be upgraded. The Sora groupset has a cyclocross friendly 46-36 chainset, which may be a bit too low for the road, but is just right for cyclo-cross.
The frame has concealed cabling runs, which should help keep some of the mud out and avoid any snagging when carrying the bike. The frame has some pretty industrial looking welds on it but as they’ll soon be covered in mud, this shouldn’t be an issue!
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[…] mtbs. I’ve put together a list of what I think are some good first time ‘cross bikes on CycleTechReview, which show the kind of bikes a lot of people were […]