What would you do?

[indysteel]

What crank and brakes come standard on the 2013 bike?

[Owlie]

What crank and brakes come standard on the 2013 bike?

Crank is a Rotor compact double. The brakes might actually be Ultegra; if not, they're Oval.

[indysteel]

Granted, the mechanic in your shop likely has more experience on how well these components work, but I would suggest not swapping anything out until you see how the components perform. Otherwise, you may be just spending more money unnecessarily. And with brakes, I'd suggest swapping out the pads first if you're not happy with the Oval's stopping power. You'd be suprised how much of a difference good brake pads, e.g., Swiss Stop and Kool Stop, can make.

[Owlie]

Granted, the mechanic in your shop likely has more experience on how well these components work, but I would suggest not swapping anything out until you see how the components perform. Otherwise, you may be just spending more money unnecessarily. And with brakes, I'd suggest swapping out the pads first if you're not happy with the Oval's stopping power. You'd be suprised how much of a difference good brake pads, e.g., Swiss Stop and Kool Stop, can make.

The brakes I'm not so worried about. I'm using Tektros right now, and my bike is a mishmash of Shimano (shifters and derailleurs), SRAM (chain and cassette) and FSA (crankset) components. So it's not a huge deal to not have brakes that match unless there's an issue with performance. As far as the crankset goes, one guy at my workplace loves it and another hates it.

However, new dilemma: New road bike vs. CX bike. The roadie would probably be the 2013 version of Bike 2 or a Supersix (if I can afford it). The CX bike is in the vein of the Surly Crosscheck. It's not a performance-oriented CX bike--it's designed as a do-anything steel bike, with road parts (Apex) and low gearing, and disc brakes. It's a fairly relaxed geometry bike. I like the versatility of the CX bike (off-road riding!), but BF is concerned that I won't like riding off-road (he doesn't, and I'd like to ride with people when doing that sort of thing) and I'll have bought a bike that isn't what I want in a road bike. The other option, I suppose, is the "performance" CX bike (Spec Tricross or Crux, C'dale SuperX, etc), but that seems like a bit of a waste if I'm not actually competing.
Help?

[indysteel]

What kind of off-road riding are we talking about? You mentioned mountain biking earlier in the year, which is why I'm asking.

[Owlie]

I'd like to try mountain biking, but I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to a mountain bike. Also, those things get expensive fast, and what I'm looking for (a hardtail 29er) is generally a bit more expensive because they're so popular (according to my boss).

I'm looking at gravel/dirt roads right now. I guess "off-pavement" might be a better description.

[SFLiz]

Owlie, I feel like I'm not qualified to respond since mostly everyone has more experience than I. I do find your question raises a tough dilemma because I myself love CX bikes but I think you have to examine closely what you are searching for in your next bike. Although a CX is the one bike that can cross over the lines on both ends of road and trails, seems like if you really are hankering for a new nicer road bike (which I get a strong sense is the case from your posts), the CX would not satisfy this desire since it's going to feel slower and less responsive in steering if you use it for road too. Do you plan on riding fire roads, singletrack; and if so, do you think you'll do it often? A CX bike will work for singletrack but it's going to be tough working uphill and I'm sure even more so coming down. I have a mountain bike and a road myself. Have you test rode the CX bike yet on roads? Are you concerned with gaining speed when you're on a road bike? If so, you most likely will feel the difference between the CX and road. Especially climbing!

CXs are great middle ground bikes but it won't satisfy your desire for a nice road bike. If you are still going to primarily bike on road and want a new road bike, I suspect you'll find the CX bike might not satisfy you when you are on road. It really comes down to trying to predict how much more light trail riding you will adopt. You're basically going to be compromising either way since when you ride on gravel/dirt trails on a road, it'll be suboptimal/ downright uncomfortable ride; conversely when you ride on road with a CX it will be suboptimal. If you decide to ride increasingly "gravelier" trails, then you won't want to take a road at all. In that respect alone, you're prob better off with CX over new road bike. If you didn't want a new road bike so badly, I'd say a CX is always nice to have. If weight is not a concern, go CX. Hmm, tough decision since you're not sure if you'll want to ride trails much.