CX Machine

FINALLY!!! It's finished!!! My new toy is done...this is my CX machine from this day forward.

Last year I raced CX on my MTB, and people were like why are you racing on your MTB??? I had a few reasons.

1. It's the only bike I had to race CX on.

2. I don't like being like everybody else!!

3. The fact that I was on an MTB lining up with a bunch of CX bikes added a little pressure to the CX riders to not get beat by the MTB'er and a little more motivation for me to beat those guys...it made it a ton more fun for me!!

Towards the end of my stint racing last year my competitive side had me borrow a CX bike and that's all it took for me to decide to build a CX machine. At that time I didn't know what I was going to build or buy...so after a little thought I came up with the idea that a 29er frame and fork would be the way to go.

There are few reasons for this decision. The first is if I decide to race MTB again next season, there are a couple of races that a hardtail would be better to race than my dually so all I would need is a suspension fork as opposed to a complete bike...hence the riser bar...I don't think a road bar affords an advantage in CX anyway...

The other reason is I wanted disc brakes, more specifically hydraulic disc brakes, and the frames I was looking at had disc tabs but also had canti bosses and looked like ass!!! I'm sure I could have purchased a frame that was disc only, but that would have cost twice as much, definitely more than I wanted to spend...the final reason was cost...I wanted to build this machine for the least amount possible. I could have spent less but I certainly could have spent a ton more.

As it stands, I was pretty close to my target number and I think I spec'd it well. To walk out of a shop with a comparably spec'd bike would mean you spent at least $2500.00 duckets and I managed to complete this build at under half of that!! The complete bike weighs in at a tick over 20 pounds. Not bad compared to the 25.5 pound MTB I raced on last year and a bit heavier than the high dollar CX rigs that are out there, but remember, it's a 29er MTB frame and fork.

There you go now you know.

By the way...DON'T GET BEAT BY THE MTB'ER!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

E

Cyclocross....HURRY THE F**K UP!!!!

What's up peeps?!?! It's early on a day off and I'm BORED!! I'm sure the 10's of you that read this are like what the hell is this gonna be about!!!

Anyway...I've had my powertap since April and I've been training with it and doing specific workouts since May with a couple of goals in mind, one of which has come to pass, the state MTB race and the other is on the horizon, which I can assure you I will write about when it had passed. Basically all the training I've been doing is geared towards CX season...I'm about to go CRAZY from it!!! C'MON CYCLOCROSS!!!

Hopefully my rickety old ass will hold up to the abuse I'm about to put it through this CX season and I make it to December without too much breakdown...in me. I've decided that my first race will be at Manions. I've not done this one but have been to watch it the last few years and thought I should give it a go. I briefly considered doing the Hermann cross but decided against it, no particular reason other than I'm not feelin it, maybe next year.

As most of you know I contested the majority of the cx events on my MTB, the last 2 races were on a CX bike...which leveled the playing field significantly. That being said, I did have a couple of good results on my MTB, which made me happy, because I beat some pretty good CX riders, which probably didn't make them happy!! With this in mind I decided to build a CX machine for this season, and as of now I'm down to getting the wheels built and putting this carbon fiber rocket together. This will have to wait another week, because I'm headed to Crested Butte this weekend to ride in the back-country for a week!!!!!!

The frame and fork I bought is not a CX frame and fork but a 29er. It's the pic at the top, and it's a Chinese carbon frame and fork...I have to say, for $460.00 to my front door, it looks kick ass, and I couldn't buy ANYTHING that was name brand carbon for under a $1000.00, I also wanted to complete this build as close to a thousand as I could. I haven't totaled it up yet but I'm right at that or maybe a little more. Gotta love eBay!!

The main reason behind this is there are a few MTB races out there that I would race on a hardtail, very few!! So going this route, I basically get 2 bikes in one, all I will have to do is buy a suspension fork and tires and it will be a 29er MTB.

Another reason is I wanted my CX machine to have disc brakes, I know there are CX frames that are disc compatible but the have canti brake bosses on them and they are ugly, the newest disc CX machines cost too much, besides that I will have a flat bar with hydraulic brakes...WOOOOHOOOOooooo!!!! Good stoppers on my CX machine!!

It should be pretty light, 20 pounds or less. This will be a huge improvement over my beloved fully suspended MTB that tips the scales at 25...I'm all giddy just thinkin about it!!! TEEHEE!!!

E