The triple-butted X7 frame’s seamlessly smoothed tube joints still not only look like carbon, they also ride with a carbon fibre-like forgiveness that surprised us every time we swapped across from the other test bikes. The fork is surprisingly smooth too and while you don’t get thru-axles, the fact that it complies with the ISO safety standards for mountain bikes shows that it’s sufficiently tough. The tyre clearances are adequate if not amazing, but the CX does have full mudguard and four-point rear rack mounts and a BB30 press-fit bottom bracket with matching fat-axle cranks for levering you and your luggage up the hill. The super-wideratio 10-42T cassette combines with a big 44-tooth chainring to cover you for everything from off-road climbs that would require a winch to high-speed road descents. But where the CX Team really stands out for a sub-£1000 bike is that it comes with SRAM’s hydraulic Rival brakes. Not only are their tall lever hoods more secure when bouncing down rough track descents than Shimano’s new 105 hoods, but there’s no potentially palm-bruising lumps under them either.
The level of finely modulated control, precise feedback and consistent power is in a totally different league to that offered by any cable-driven disc brake and they self-adjust for worn pads too. Schwalbe’s toothy Rapid Rob tyres provide enough grip to let the brakes show the power of their 160mm discs, and provide enough traction on muddy park surfaces if you take the CX for a spot of real cyclo-cross racing. The long wheelbase, low bottom bracket and 71.5-degree head angle make it stable over slippery surfaces and you can flip its relatively short stem from aggressively heads down to a more casual cruising mode. Considering the weight of the tough Mavic-rimmed wheels, the CX isn’t bad accelerating out of corners or counting off contours uphill. The fact that it’s much cheaper than the other test bikes means you can potentially upgrade it without overstretching your wallet. Even just swapping the tyres for something smoother will boost both speed and comfort on tarmac. Our own Frankenbike and trials using wheels from our test in issue 312 show that lightweight tubeless wheels from Maxlight or Hunt could make the ride smoother still and radically improve responsiveness – and you’d still have spent less than on any of the other bikes here.
THE VERDICT
Surefooted, purposeful yet smooth all-rounder with excellent spec for the money 4.5/5
HIGHS Excellent ride and parts for the money
LOWS Inevitable extraweight of lowercost components
BUY IF You want all theadvantages ofa wide-rangesingle-ring. Transmission and hydraulic disc brakes at a bargain price
The triple-butted aluminium frame not only looks like carbon, it rides like carbon to.
Review in Cycling Plus, June 2016