# Crux opinions



## AlanE (Jan 22, 2002)

Anyone have a Crux? Looking at one for winter / crappy weather use.

Thanks in advance


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## Wyker (Aug 27, 2010)

My son and I are lovin ours. He has aluminum and I have carbon. Nice For getting started racing, and a great go every where bike that is faster than our mountain bikes.


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## pdainsworth (Jun 6, 2004)

FYI, they don't have any braze-ons for racks or fenders. That may reduce the bike's utility for a winter, wet weather bike. Otherwise, I love the idea of a cross bike with Tarmac angles. That would be so fun!


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## Emilio700 (Sep 28, 2010)

AlanE said:


> Anyone have a Crux? Looking at one for winter / crappy weather use.
> 
> Thanks in advance


As in commuting or training/racing?

Just got a 61cm Pro Carbon and loving it so far. I bought it for racing/training. Raced years ago and now just getting back into it. Feels like a race bike, not a tourer, commuter or city bike. Ride is comfortable, well damped, responsive but still stiff. Not uncomfortably so but perhaps stiffer than an equivalent road bike would be with the same tires maybe. I really like the stiffness to compliance balance.

One cage, no braze ons. Ordered a Minoura strap on bottle cage boss for the seat tube for the second bottle. Stock seat is actually pretty damn good. Wide top tube is indeed comfy to carry and it's overall a very intuitive bike to lift and carry cross style.

I switched to D/A. No problem with Rival but I don't like the lack of sweep downshift for cross. Also getting a single downshift to lowest cog and not overshooting to upshift on bumpy surfaces can be tricky. I also run 180mm cranks and the D/A are the only game in town there.

Been riding it with a set of Ultegra/Open Pro road wheels with kinda hard riding Flak Jacket 23's and the stock Pave SL wheels with Captain tires in the dirt. Building a set of 38mm carbon tubs with Dugasts for racing.

Gripes?

TRP Euro-X brakes are a whisker too short/ bosses to high so they can't initially be set up to set flat on the rims. That means so-so contact until they wear in a bit. On the plus side, once the pads start to conform to the rim they have good power. I think I'll take a file to the pads to bevel them and speed up the process. Not having any bike tools any longer, I let the kids at the (very reputable) bike shop assemble it. They set the straddles too high so that hurts the power. Trimmed the excess cable so I couldn't drop the straddles. Doh. Funny how these young guys have probably never seen a properly set up cantilever, having grown up with V-Brakes and discs.:rolleyes5: Have to take it back and have them pit new cables in and let me set them up.

Bars are a good balance between stiffness and ride quality. Comfy bend. Shallow drop good for cross but I would have liked a slight ergo bend, forearm clearance. When jamming out of the saddle in the drops, the squared off bend to the drop makes it tricky to reach the STI to upshift without an awkward elbow drop. This is exacerbated by the typical high STI placement most Crux owners will adopt. I'll see if its an issue when I race and swap bars if needed.


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