Features And Advantages Of A Cyclocross Bike
Cyclocross bikes resemble racing bicycles in many aspects such as their narrow tires, drop handlebars, and their extremely low weight. But they also resemble a mountain bicycle in certain features, like their brakes are of cantilever style, which helps in travelling on muddy roads and their knobby tread tires gives increased traction.
They are specially designed for a sport called cyclocross racing. These races consist of biking in terrains, which includes pavements, grass, steep hills, and wooded trails. There are lot of obstacles in the racing field, which require the racers to dismount from their bicycles and carry them while navigating through obstructions and again remount them. To suit these needs, a cyclocross bike is designed to be extremely light weight.
A cyclocross bike in many ways resembles a racing bike but differs in certain aspects like the brakes, knobby tires, wider clearances, and lower gears. These bikes have a rear brake cable that is attached to the top tube, which enables the racers to carry the bike on their right shoulder while negotiating obstacles. Also, many cyclocross bikes have the brakes opposite to the traditional bikes, thus making the right brake as the front brake. This is because the front brake has the majority of the bike’s stopping power, and the right brake is more often used than the left brake.
The design and the geometry of the frame have undergone many a changes throughout the history of cyclocross bikes. For instance, till 10 years back, a very high bottom bracket was very common, but nowadays cyclocross bikes come with frames that do not have high bottom brackets. Most of these bikes are equipped with chain guards and single chaining methods, which allows a tighter chain line, thus preventing the chain from coming off while moving on a tough terrain. Riders who use double chain system employ a 38-46 gearing.
Recently, single speed bikes have gained popularity because of a host of reasons such as the simplicity of use, lower initial setup and cost, ease of maintenance, and limited chances of mechanical failures in the racing course.
The sales of the cyclocross bike have witnessed a tremendous growth in the recent years, both due to the popularity of the cyclocross racing and the knowledge that they are a very effective commuting machines. cyclocross racing is a sports activity that is not just easy and cheap to enter but also an excellent means to keep yourself fit and improve your biking skills. If you do not prefer competitive biking, then you can also opt for cyclocross bikes, which are suitable for pothole strewn roads you encounter in urban life with fatter tyres, beefy frames, and powerful brakes, which you can use for general noncompetitive commuting.
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