My first season I raced masters and 4’s (didn’t have SS class in GA yet)
I quickly learned that the masters were masters of kicking ass, crushing souls, and destroying dreams. Then they lap you.
Just race. You will be embarrassingly bad and slow.
Then race next year. You will still be embarrassingly bad and slow, but you might have a different bike or be slightly ready to go earlier in the season.
I do cross for fun, not for competition. While I would rather not be as low ranked as I am right now (I suck at “cross skills”), there’s only one way to learn, and that’s “doing it”.
Here in New England you get destroyed running single speed typically, because it’s all serious business; but if there’s a SS class, you might end up at least in the top 10 top 20… (after getting lapped three times).
the semmingly cool thing (to me) about cross is its as competitive as you make it. if you wanna chill and get beer hand ups, cool. if you wanna go fast and make barfs, cool. do both? cool.
I know everyone here likes to bag on the Surly Cross-Check these days, but I still see probably twenty or more of these bikes at every race, and the top two finishers in the SS yesterday (and likely for the rest of the year), were riding them. I know this doesn’t answer any of your questions directly, but just saying that because you can probably get your hands on a cheapish Surly that’ll get the job done well.
I also see a few people doing well on Crosschecks at every race. It’s probably the heaviest modern production CX frame, but still quite race-worthy, and better than using a MTB or an old touring frame.
The bike doesn’t make a huge difference when you’re just getting into it. I wouldn’t rip your commuter apart for this, unless it somehow inspired you to make a different bike into your commuter.
There’s still some good deals on CL right now, like this. Granted, I don’t know what your budget is, nor do I know how deep your parts bin is at the moment.
the main reason i don’t like them is because it seems like when people don’t know anything about cross bikes they buy an xcheck. it is a good bike, i even have an x check fork on my masi cross bike(hella tire clearance).
kinda like the team i’m on now. it’s a begginer team(this was my first year) and if i go to a race there’ll be 10 other people from the same team. it is cool to race with other people on the same team/bike but it gets a little annoying when there’s 5-10 others.
Cyclocross sucks. Don’t try it.
the main reason i don’t like them is because it seems like when people don’t know anything about cross bikes they buy an xcheck. it is a good bike, i even have an x check fork on my masi cross bike(hella tire clearance).
kinda like the team i’m on now. it’s a begginer team(this was my first year) and if i go to a race there’ll be 10 other people from the same team. it is cool to race with other people on the same team/bike but it gets a little annoying when there’s 5-10 others.[/quote]
Seems kind of pretentious to me.
FWIW, I used to race on a Miyata touring frame, but I was part of the drinking category.
This.
The main things you have to worry about:
- Does bike fit?
- Does bike give you all of it (and not fall apart mid race)?
- Does bike plane?
If yes, race it brah.
My favorite category.
Puritan-land doesn’t have a drinking category. 
a small price to pay for those cool square belt buckles atmo
a small price to pay for those cool square belt buckles atmo[/quote]
thanks, now i want to dress up as a turkey for a thanksgiving cross race.
a small price to pay for those cool square belt buckles atmo[/quote]
thanks, now i want to dress up as a turkey for a thanksgiving cross race.[/quote]
Are you not Canadian? I thought you were Canadian for some reason.
a small price to pay for those cool square belt buckles atmo[/quote]
thanks, now i want to dress up as a turkey for a thanksgiving cross race.[/quote]
Are you not Canadian? I thought you were Canadian for some reason.[/quote]
New England via Cambridge.
That’s almost Canadian.
cross is the dirty triathlon.
Ummm,…no.
Lulz. Well I dusted off the Redline yesterday (literally), and did a little work on it, and a tiny bit of dirt riding. I think with a smaller chainring it will be fine.