# Cyclocross vs Hybrid



## niart (Jan 8, 2011)

So after a near decade long break from mountain biking, I now find myself back into biking, albeit in a much tamer fashion. Looking for a new workout regimen, last year I turned to biking mainly flat rails to trails for long distances several times a week. Since my existing bike is all downhill, I'm looking for a new bike more suitable for the type of riding I'm doing now.

In addition, I've also set a personal goal of biking the combined length of the C&O Canal trail and the Great Appalachian Passage, 335 miles in total. For that tour, I will be entirely self-contained aside from stops for food along the way. A bike that can provide adequate space for gear, comfortable over many hours of riding, and reliability will be important. Budget for the bike itself is $500-$1000, although I need some serious convincing to spend at the high end. I'm also budgeting about $500 or so on other equipment beyond the bike to support the tour.

After visits to my LBS, I've picked out a Gary Fisher Kaitai hybrid on one end, or a Kona Jake cyclocross. The Kona is a lot more expensive, so I'm wondering what thoughts this board has on hybrid vs. cyclocross for what I need. I've noticed that each shop carries a specific brand, so are there any other specific bikes I should be searching out?


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## Tim-H (Mar 20, 2010)

I got a cx for excercise on pavement and the flexibility to rocket on singletrack. I love my cx bike. With that said it would not be comfortable for long tours or carrying a lot of gear. I think your right to look at hybrids.

I also looked at the Kona Jake line, great bikes. I ended up with a redline conquest pro because the shop gave me a killer deal.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Have you ever done any touring? What about backpacking?

If you're going to be spending long days in the saddle, whatever long means to you, you need a bike that fits well for that. If you're going to be off pavement, you're going to want largish, well-mannered tires. How much gear do you have to take? Camping or hotels? Cooking or restaurants?

I love my Jake, but I would not recommend it for this sort of thing. The Kaitai is getting warmer, but I'm generally not a fan of hybrids. I think that the companies that make them rarely take them seriously, and they're often not that well thought out or capable.

Figure out if you want to be on drop bars or flat bars first. If you want flat bars and you can get everything you need into rear panniers and maybe some frame bags, any XC hardtail would do it, as long as it has mounts for a rack. You'll have less trouble getting a rack to fit with rim brakes, but there are options out there for fitting around discs, so it's not a huge deal. If you need front panniers... I'm not sure how many flat bar options there will be, since that's a bit unusual.

If you want to be on drop bars, get a purpose-built touring bike with a lot of clearance. Production models include the Surly Long-haul Trucker, Salsa Fargo, Casseroll, and Vaya, and the Jamis Aurora. Trek seems to have ditched the 820, their touring model, or at least they're not advertising it any more. Kona's Sutra would be a much more applicable model than the Jake. All of these bikes will have much better manners with loaded panniers than a 'cross bike, and enough room for a pretty fat 700C tire. The Fargo is marketed as a drop-bar 29er touring bike - it may even be more than you want, but you won't find yourself wishing you had room for bigger tires. The LHT is very chic right now, so finding one inexpensively is likely to be easier. A friend of mine has an Aurora Elite from a season or two ago, with the Tiagra/Deore XT drivetrain, and loves it (although I think it's kind of like an SUV for him - it's never been off-road or on tour.)

A lot of these bikes are more expensive than your pricepoint, but you might find one used or a 2010 model; some of them may fit within your price. IMO, a touring bike is a silly place to spend too much money, but an even sillier place to spend too little. You don't want something to break while you're on a remote part of a trail, and even if you're near a shop, you may be tied to their selection of parts or the time it will take them to get something in stock. Bummer.

A lot of people think that mountain bikes from the last few years before front suspension took over are the ultimate touring bike. They have room for big tires, nice long chain stays, and most will accept a rack with no drama. Getting a front rack on may be an issue, though - you'd need to find one to fit, with the appropriate mounts.

There was also a massive inventory of road touring bikes made in the 70s and 80s, so finding one shouldn't be too hard. You'll have to do your research, though, and maintenance on older bikes can be a pain.

If you're credit card touring, you can probably get away with whatever your favorite kind of bike to ride on this sort of trail is, as long as it'll accept a lightweight rack and small panniers - really anything but a strict racing bike.

Your shop can probably order any of the Salsa or Surly bikes as well as their own brands.

Nashbar does a touring frame, but you'd need to build it yourself.

Check in on the commuting forum here and the commuting/touring forum on roadbikereview.com for more.


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## niart (Jan 8, 2011)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Have you ever done any touring? What about backpacking?
> 
> If you're going to be spending long days in the saddle, whatever long means to you, you need a bike that fits well for that. If you're going to be off pavement, you're going to want largish, well-mannered tires. How much gear do you have to take? Camping or hotels? Cooking or restaurants?
> 
> ...


THANKS!!! Tons of great info in there to digest.

I have never done bikepacking before, but I do have weeklong+ backpacking experience. Last summer I was biking about 30-40 miles a day 3 days a week on an old mountain bike without gear and wasn't even close to 100% yet. I'm figuring on a pace of 60 miles a day should be fairly doable on this trail. I will be camping the entire way, but stopping for meals where I can. I haven't figured out the space requirements, but front rack is probably a requirement, probably a front pannier too.

Also can I have your phone # so my wife can scream at you when I go way overbudget on this?


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## fox1965 (Dec 21, 2010)

Salsa Fargo is a bit over your budget, but it is pretty universal. You can throw 2.3" tires on it as well as 1" road tires (I crossed the US, over 3000 miles on this bike with 28mm Conti 4Season tires). And it is an adventure MTB that takes fenders and racks both rear and front and has disc brakes. You can carry 6 water bottles on it. 2011 version can be matched with a suspension fork (80mm). If you really want to spend closer to $500 then I would check e-bay or tinker with an older MTB or a road bike with wider chain stays. To see loaded Salsa Fargo go to goingacross.com


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Now that this thread has been bumped anyway, OP, what did you end up doing?

FWIW, your longer backpacking trips are probably better preparation for bike touring than the the occasional laden trips I've done on bikes which, while bike-specific, were much shorter.


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