The U.S. Cyclocross Nationals are an annual occasion for the country's cyclocross community to come together, race bikes and swap stories about the sport. For cyclocross tech fans, it is also a great opportunity to check out the myriad types of bikes and builds amateur athletes from across the country are riding.
So far this season, we have gotten the opportunity to gawk at a number of Elite riders' builds, including Wout van Aert's Felt FRDx, Tobin Ortenblad's Santa Cruz Stigmata and Caroline Mani's Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, among others. However, these athletes have access to the latest and greatest, while the majority of us are forced to take a more "run what ya brung" approach.
With Nationals racing less than a week away, we wanted to take this Throwback Thursday to look at some of the unique builds from the past nine years of Cyclocross Magazine's coverage of U.S. Cyclocross Nationals. When placed against the backdrop of our profile of Jeremy Powers' SRAM eTap-equipped Focus Mares, the profiles also provide a great opportunity to see how cyclocross bikes have and have not changed over the years.
We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.
For living in the now, check out our already-growing compilation of coverage of the 2018 U.S. Cyclocross Nationals in Reno.
Zachary Schuster and Andrew Yee contributed to this throwback.
Use the slider to see each bike profile.
Dean Ferrandini’s Cannondale Frankenbike – 2015 (Austin)
Dean Ferrandini’s Masters 2015 70-74 National Championship-winning Cannondale Flash “frankenbike.” © Cyclocross Magazine
There was once a day that many of the bikes on the start line at a ’cross race were cobbled together using whatever road and mountain bike parts the racer had in their parts box. In 2015, Dean Ferrandini, a former downhill racer, took a similar approach and won the 70-74 Masters title on a Cannondale Flash mountain bike frame and rigid fork with tubeless Vittoria cyclocross tires.
Ferrandini was not the only Masters racer using a repurposed mountain bike in recent years. Marshall Gordon won the 2016 75-79 category on his only off-road capable bike, a Giant Anthem 3 from 2006, which violated several USAC equipment regulations. Without any other entrants in his category, Gordon was allowed to compete anyway. Unlike Gordon, Ferrandini’s bike was race legal, but only just. Probably scraping more than the limits of the rules, he used a 47cm handlebar.
See the full profile of Dean Ferrandini’s 2015 Nationals-winning bike here.
