Bicycling, in a recent online piece featured five trends that they think are the future of cyclocross. As a CX-lover myself, here’s what I think of their choices:

1. Belt drives.

In their write-up they say, “Throughout an entire season, our Gates CDX drivetrain ($245) proved unstoppable in mud, rain and snow, or anything else we could throw at it.”
 
Okay, but it depends on the belt drive — earlier models had problems clearing debris from the teeth on the gears and resulted in a belt that wouldn’t stay on. And their claims of only being able to run them single-speed are bunk, too — haven’t these people heard of internally-geared hubs?

2. Single-speed bikes.

Just because singlespeed has a standalone category in a lot of races doesn’t mean it’s going to take over the sport. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some singlespeed action, but for CX, I’ll take a 1×10 setup with a Paul chain keeper so that I have a more-versatile bike.

3. Disc brakes.

Yeah, I’ll pass. If you’ve read my personal blog, you know where I stand on the mechanical vs. hydraulic disc brake issue. While the discs will certainly give you more stopping power in shitty conditions than a pair of cantilevers, I would still favor cantis for their simplicity. Additionally, I’m not sure that I want to have a spinning disc brake rotor near my ear when I shoulder the bike for a run-up. For now, personally, I’ll stick with cantilevers. (Though if you insist on disc brakes for a frame I’m building you, I won’t try to dissuade you.)

4. V-brakes.

So less stopping power than discs or cantilevers, and somehow they’re the future because there’s less fork chatter? Give me a friggin’ break. If you can’t HTFU enough to deal with a little bit of chatter, maybe riding a beach cruiser around the lake is more your style? To be fair, I haven’t ridden TRP’s CX-9 brakes (and it’s not in the budget), but I do hear good things about it. Anyone at TRP want to set me straight on the matter?

5. Sealed cable housing.

You know, if cyclocross bikes were properly designed, they’d run the cables along the top tubes, which would basically negate the need for overpriced sealed-cable housings. And you know, after a season of racing and finally needing to replace your cables, would you rather spend $5 on a single cable? Or $65 on a sealed kit from Ride-On? I already pay enough to race, thanks.

Now then, with all of my opinions out there now, what’re your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? See cyclocross headed somewhere else?