Over the years I’ve had about a half a dozen road bikes, and at least an equal number of mountain bikes. But a recent move from New York City to Michigan opened up new possibilities for me. Not only could I buy more bikes since I have a garage to fill, but there were now a far great number of options with places to ride. With the change in venues also came a change in attitude. In the past few years I’ve opted to do more road riding, and far less off-roading.
To that end I decided that my middle aged body just wasn’t up to the hard core mountain biking any longer. I’m not alone, as many of my old riding buddies have moved on as well. That said, I still like to ride through the woods and trails, especially in the fall as the colors of the leaves change. But hitting the more technical trails, riding complex single track and choosing the right line were in the past for me. I might still head out for some mountain biking, yet what I really wanted was to enjoy the road style riding but on dirt paths, fire roads and other non-technical type trails. Thus it was time to get a cyclocross bike.
For those who are unfamiliar with it, a cyclocross bike is essentially a road style bike but with off road tires and brakes. That’s obviously a simplistic explanation and no doubt someone will disagree, but they should feel free to offer a more detailed version. The fact is that cyclocross bikes can be ridden like road bikes on the road and can tackle reasonably technical off-road riding too. Just don’t call these a “hybrid,” because unlike those half-and-half bikes that did neither road or off-road well, this one has speed and handling written all over it. The truth however is that cyclocross racing is more like road races on the dirt than true mountain bike racing.
Not being as familiar with cyclocross bikes I asked around and was told to investigate Redline, a Seattle based company. A quick look at what they had to offer proved I found the brand. This was confirmed at Interbike this year in Las Vegas when I checked out their line of bikes, and compared these to the competition. Shortly after the show I made the purchase.
I went with the top of the line Redline Conquest Team (MSRP: $2800), which features a 7046 double butted alloy frame with carbon rear stays and Readline RCT Full carbon fork. The drive train is SRAM Force with Force 10 speed shifters, while the bike features TRP Euro X custom alloy brakes, Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels and Ritchey WCS Classic road handlebars.
This was my first bike to feature SRAM, but I have to say that I’m truly impressed with the smooth shifting, so much so that I would consider this for future road bikes as well. The bike just shifts extremely well, both on the up and down shifts, which comes in handy when tackling rolling hills in the woods.
Redline might be based in Seattle but it is clear the company knows the conditions around the country. Thus the Conquest Team is actually ideal for road riding in suburban and rural Michigan, where the roads could use a little work. On my Orbea road bike I often cringe as I hit sections – and I’ve destroyed two sets of road tires since the move – but the Conquest Team not only handles the bumps in the road it practically makes them feel like they’re not even there.
The biggest downside on the road is that the knobby tires clearly aren’t as efficient as road tires, so maintaining a smooth spin requires a bit more concentration and work. But because those cracks, potholes and other flaws in the roads aren’t as much of a concern it evens out. That said I’ll still put in the long miles with the Orbea, but the Redline cyclocross bike gives me new options to go where I’d never dream take my high-end road bike.
That said, off-road the bike handles very well. I’m sure that beautiful paint job will take a beating, but a bike with scratches and dings shows character and it proves you loved it enough to ride it! At least that’s what I had to tell myself as I rode the length of the Macomb Orchard Trail the first chance I got. This 27 mile trail offers a ride through numerous apple orchards and wide open spaces, past farm lands and small towns. Enjoy it while you can, because I’m sure there will be more development as people try to escape Detroit and the decaying ‘burbs. But for now this is just one of several trails that offers a scenic ride – and while it is “complete” on the map, technically it is only half done, meaning nearly 10 miles are unpaved and/or are gravel. In other words ideal for a cyclocross bike, which can handle the paved and unpaved sections equally well. In other words, this is a path I wouldn’t dream of taking my road bike, and yet a true mountain bike would be overkill on the gravel and far from fun on the paved sections.
Since the initial ride, the Conquest Team was also tested in some other off road situations, including fire roads, and actually some reasonably technical single track. In my limited testing so far it doesn’t climb as well on pavement as a road bike, but that’s to be expected given the knobby tires. On the flip side, the tires are far more narrow than mountain bike tires, while the lack of a “granny gear” make climbing off road a bit more of a challenge as well. In fact, on leafy ground the tires just don’t cut it, but here is where a few “mandatory dismounts” come in and let me do some cross training. The bike is light enough that dashing up a hill on foot is nothing to complain about.
What goes up gets to come down, and downhilling is actually a breeze, but it is going to take me to build up my nerve to do anything too technical. The tires, again because they’re a bit narrow and max out at 80 pounds of pressure, just can’t bite the trail like a mountain bike – of course this isn’t really a fair comparison, because again, cyclocross isn’t mountain biking.
The downhilling was also about the only time I missed the wide reach of a true mountain bike handlebar and lower center of gravity. But I’m complaining about the very riding that I’ve stopped enjoying anyway. So it really is a moot point. On rolling hills on double track and fire roads the bike is simply a dream. It lets me do what I wanted to do, ride my road bike in the woods. It has only been a month and I’ve put in a lot of miles.
All in all this Conquest Team made me feel like I could take on the world on the road or off.