after much deliberation on what cx bike to buy i settled on the stevens prestige. my original criteria was to buy a cx bike with disk brakes and that had an aluminium frame rather than carbon since i am sure i will end up staking it and with this in mind feel metal will be better suited for me over plastic. i managed to tick the box frame wise but could not find a bike that i liked with disk brakes for my budget which was £1500 so i settled for the traditional cantilever brake set up still favoured by most.
other bikes i considered long and hard were the cube cross race pro, kona jake the snake and cinelli zydeco all of which hit the target budget wise. i am sure they are all fantastic bikes too but i am confident i made the right choice in the end. stevens has a proven track record in cyclo cross and the aluminium frame with carbon forks is said to be both stiff, responsive and at a shade under 9 kilos reasonably light.
i purchased the bike from hargroves cycles in southampton and have to give a big thanks to jeff the manager for his excellent and friendly service as well as for knocking me off a few quid so i could upgrade the wheels from the stock fulcrum 7 cx to a pair of mavic ksyrium elite. along with the fact hargroves had discounted the prestige anyway in their sales (they still have some at time of writing this) meant i managed to get the bike with the wheel upgrade for my max budget.
i also gave jeff my set up spec from a bike fit i had done at mosquito bikes in london two years ago (the diagram below is my set up). there is little doubt i am equally as inflexible now as i was two years back so am pretty sure this fit is still applicable to me. i think jeff built up the bike himself to my specifications and apart from the stem being 10mm too short (stock stem) everything else is exactly as required.
for a list of equipment featured on this bike check out the stevens website here.
2 comments:
Absolutely a beauty, nice and liking the red too, Looking forward to seeing your review! Have fun!
what's the gearing? Are you using it entirely for CX or a road training bike?
thanks Richard.
gearing is 46-36 on the front and 12-25 at the back.
i won't be using the bike entirely for cx. i may use it in poor conditions on the road too.
i rode it for 3 hours today over mud and dirt trails and have to say i have not had so much fun on a bike in a long time. recommended riding.
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