Cyclocross Bicycles, or, The Problem of Basing Your Line-up on Racing

Cyclocross bicycles are a very versitile breed. Shaped very much like a road bike, albeit with more room for mud and with slacker angles, they are efficient on the road and are more than capable of off road jaunts. Most can handle tires as wide as 38 to 40mm, and, with road bike wheels, will happily run the narrowest of road tires. The brakes are usually cantilever, though some are coming with discs or disc ready. They truely are ready for about anything. Here's an example:

A week ago a buddy of mine "T" -- not Mr. T, just T -- and I wanted to scope out a throughway connecting the forest we normally ride in, with an adjacent valley. The reason for this was to a) ride something we haven't ridden before and b) to see what the terrain is since this throughway is near the beginning of the route a group of us have mapped to the coast 70-75 miles away. Well, once in this adjacent valley we'd need to get home and we wanted to make a loop out of it. T has a Bianchi Axis 'cross bike (similar to this one, but with a double chainring set up),
and I've got my beloved Cannondale 'Cross Disc. Since most of the ride was on gravel access roads with 9 miles, or so, of pavement, we left the mountain bikes home. I mean, who needs 5" of travel for gravel roads?

So, this ended up being an excellent opportunity to try out some different types of terrain on the 'cross bikes. We ended up puting in nearly 40 miles on everything from mud, to asphalt, to gravel roads with small agregate, gravel roads with very large agregate, even some minor singletrack. I used the Geax new Mezcal cross tire, 700x34C, and loved it. I'll have a full review of the tire soon on GearReview.com.

Because of their dual nature, Cyclocross bikes can be used for exploring --as we did in the story above --, light touring, commuting, club rides, trail riding... you name it. The problem, though, is the majority of nice 'cross bikes are made for one thing: Cyclocross Racing. This isn't bad, in and of itself, but the 'cross season is short and the bike are useful even after the last race of the year is run. But by basing the bike solely on racing keeps the more useful bits off of the bike. For example, disc brakes. I love them. I ride in the wet weather, on road and off, for half of the year. With disc brakes I have all the stopping power I need all the time. And yes, I do know how to adjust cantilever brakes so that they have plenty of power... when the rims are dry. Another thing that is often left off is eyelets for racks and/or fenders. I have fender mounts on my Cannondale, but no rack eyelets. Not a big deal for me, since I don't normally run a rack anyway, but it would be nice to have the option.

I think that more manufacturers should follow Trek and Specialized. The Propad has everything you'd need for a weekend touring bike and is a very raceable bike. The Specialized Tri-Cross is an excellent race bike, but also features full rack and fender mounts.
In fact, Specialized has even coined a term to help describe this: Freeroad. (No, I don't like the term either, but there it is.) This is what they say about it, "Whether it's a preference for variety, or a valued lack of limitations, the new generation of Freeroad riders find their motivation in a multiplicity of terrains, conditions, and environments. From paved road, to dirt road, to no road at all, the wide array of settings allows a wide array of rider motivations: urban / transportation, adventure riding / touring, and even cyclo-cross racing." Frankly, whatever they want to call it, this sums up Cyclocross bikes pretty well.