Katie Compton, the Beast of Bibleburg, blew everyone’s doors off at CrossVegas last night. I was reading a piece on her crazy quilt of sponsorships yesterday — Stevens frameset, Dugast rubber, Zipp wheels, bars and cranks, SRAM Red drivetrain — and scoping out all that bike jewelry got me to thinking.
Remember the good old days, when a cyclo-cross bike was a beast of burden instead of a thoroughbred?
Like a lot of us, I rode my first few cyclo-crosses on a mountain bike. My first “real” ‘cross bike was a steel Specialized Sirrus road frame that a framebuilder acquaintance in Santa Fe doctored with a torch, adding cantilever braze-ons, removing the chainstay bridge and shifting the seatstay bridge up a bit. My second was a real ’cross bike, a neon-yellow steel Pinarello with bar-end shifters, MA-40 rims and Wolber 28 Cross Extra rubber, Weinmann cantis and a Shimano 600 drivetrain straight out of the gack box like the Sirrus before it, ’cause I knew from experience that it was going to take a beating.
I got a little more disco as my skills and resources improved, stepping up to a series of Steelman framesets in Excell, Reynolds 853 and Dedacciai zero-uno, his venerable CC first of all, followed by a succession of Eurocrosses. Instead of generic Shimano cantis I stepped up to Paul’s Neo-Retro and Touring brakes. And I raced at least once with a Voodoo Loa ti’ bike sporting a one-off Marzocchi suspension fork and a pair of Zipp 530 carbon clinchers, because I got ’em for free from Andy Ording and thus wasn’t emotionally invested in their long-term viability.
But after a while I started to feel like a fat bald guy driving a Maserati in hopes of picking up chicks.
First to go were the tubies, ’cause I got sick of losing a pair every weekend to the Chatfield Reservoir goatheads. The ti’ bike went away shortly thereafter (though I held onto the oddball fork). And the Zipps went back on the time-trial bike where they belong.
My final race, in 2004, was on my Reynolds 853 Eurocross, with a clincher wheelset and no spare bike, not even spare wheels; I rode to the course from the DogHaus, and when I flatted midrace, I replaced the tube and rode back home.
If I were to stage a comeback, I’d do it on that bike. Like me, it has a ton of miles, dents, dings, scratches and scrapes, but somehow it keeps on keeping on. I wouldn’t trade it for a six-pack of Stevenses. No disrespect intended.
But still, damn. Look at this thing. I’d hang it on a wall and bow to it six times a day, maybe pray to it. But race on it?
Mad Blog Media 
In my humble opinion, way too much bling for ‘cross. I’m sure many will disagree. I’m in your corner on this one Pat.
JFC, is Katie racing in modified production, so to speak? Dem muscles look a little turbocharged.
I suppose riding the Stevens in a race is derived from the same philosophy that leads people to buy a $100k Porsche Cayenne Turbo to drive offroad or to the mall. If you can do it, flaunt it. Somehow seems excessive when my 16 year old cheap shit Ford 4×4 shod with Michelin rubber would do pretty much the same job chugging up the forest roads, and with less concern for damaging the panels.
As far as riding, I suppose if I was on the cutting edge like Katie, maybe a few tens of grams here or there on the bike matters. In my case, the few kilos of fat here or there matters more than shaving grams off the bike.
Whatever floats their boat. Or bike, I suppose. I’d prefer to bow to the wine fridge six times a day.
Props to Katie for the sano sweet ride. I wouldn’t expect anything less for the first American woman crosser to podium at Worlds.
But I’d have to agree with Patrick on the “use” of said bikes. I have had one dedicated cross bike in my life (screaming orange cro-mo Ventana). It is hanging on the wall behind me right now about ready to be shod with the Light & Motion Dual for tomorrow’s commute. I have had it for 12 years, and it started out as a true Frankenbike. Shimano cheapy stuff here, there and everywhere, Barcons with Salsa Moto Lap bars, an old Selle Italia saddle in red, and a pair of Campy deep dish aero rims.
I raced it for a few seasons, and then got serious. At which point I put it away and let it sit in a friend’s basement for 2.5 years.
Just last year I resurrected it with some brifters (Tiagra 9-speed), same bars, a new WTB Pro saddle and some Mavic MA40 rims. Since I had issues with the crank clearance on the chainstays, I had those reworked and I now have an FSA Gossamer crankset. Not as Frankenbikish as it was but still my favorite bike to ride on a day to day basis.
Hey Dog–Guess its the bike not the rider now eh? Carbon Fiber is definitely the new Aluminum GAG! OMG! the new Santa Cruz,Twek, Specialed, Canonball, etc C.Fiber save almost 2 lbs. over last years Al-you-mini-um, Holy Shi#, am the only one sick to death of everyone’s new $5,000 C.F bikes? Velosnooze is just as guilty as anyone for pimping uni-multi-directional carbon bullshit, if I see anymore photos of cross sections or over-sized B.Bs or huge chainstays and mini-seatstays I…I…I don’t what I’ll do. GRRR, guess I’m just an idiot retro-grouch. Thank God for P. O’G, G.P (rivbike), and the custom frame WELDERS of the world. Call me naive but I don’t trust C.F; I have broken 2 steel frames, but I was able to ride home on the road bike, and the mountain bike I didn’t realize it was broken for a few days–no catastrophic failure. Oh man, how will I ever compete in the CX races this season on my 28 lb. Surly, maybe I should shave my legs or just stay home and watch football.
Sure and I remember last time I did RAGBRAI on my 15 year old Bridgestone RADAC, I saw all these guys on the latest wonderbikes who were just as fat and out of shape as I was, and had little idea how to ride them, but clearly had the bucks to blow. I think there is a whole market out there of empty nesters whose wives figure that the wonderbike is cheaper and less aggravation than a mistress or affair. That’s who’s buying these things. Me, I’m riding my hopped up 1991 Trek 2100 3-tube carbon road bike, hoping that it will break again. Then I can talk my wife into letting me buy a Campagnolo gruppo (for my Davidson) with the right gearing and brake/shifters that aren’t disposable.
Patrick, sorry to hear you didn’t schlep out to Interbike. I just got home from the whole sorry Vegas mess. First and hopefully last time I will ever set foot in that city. The show itself was cool, not that I got to see much of it, given that I was distro’ing brochures nine hours a day under the watchful eyes of my employers.
But Cross Vegas was fun to see up close, I’ll give you that. I don’t get to many cross events, but when I do, I always consider whether to blow the dough on yet another bike.
Hey Jon Paulos!
EXACTLY what my road bike is! Except it’s the 1991 2300 with the 600 hardware. I
love the thing, turns old chicks’ heads, and is faster than this geezer needs.
I think I need a wheel upgrade tho, jus’ cause! Been looking at O’Grady’s bud Neuvation wheels.
fyi:
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/40565
Jim Harrison in Wine Spectator
Patrick, I purchased a Spot 29er SS yesterday. Belt driven. Seeking simplicity. (and quiet)
If you’re RACING at a high level as Katie is, you need a)the lightest, most reliable bike someone will give you for free. Failing that you get b) the one you can afford to buy two or three of that comes closest to a. The rest of us use ‘cross bikes for non-racing purposes and purchase (with our own money) bikes as mentioned above by the various weighers-in. Mine’s an ancient steel LeMond Poprad set up as a bad weather bike–fenders, nice fat Challenge Paris-Roubaix clinchers and a well-used Campagnolo 9 speed Veloce triple gruppo. I take this out when it’s wet or threatening rain. So far I’ve yet to be rained on while riding this bike. REAL racers need the lightest bike they can get their hands on, if it breaks it’s easily replaced so carbon is no problem even though it makes much less sense for the rest of us non trust-fund types. But Chinese-made carbon bikes are getting cheap enough that– if you can give up the designer-name on the downtube, you can ride a 15 lb plastic bike and replace it every season or two (before it snaps in two) for not so much $$. I’ll stick to steel myself since enough extra weight is around my mid-section to make thinking of bikes less than 20 pounds kinda foolish and I’d rather keep the fillings in my teeth. Reminds me of the Italian mag CicloTurismo’s review of Campy Record a few years back. They suggested one only consider this component group AFTER one has shaved every bit of excess weight off one’s body. Can you imagine BUYCYCLING suggesting something like this? That’s just one more example of how Italy is a very different place in the world of cycling.