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.
Kathy Sarvary’s Campy/Shimano Spin Arts – 2013 (Verona)
© Cyclocross Magazine
Tanya Bettis’ Campagnolo-equipped bike was not the first we have profiled at Nationals. Kathy Sarvary won the 2013 Women’s 55-59 Masters title on a Campy-equipped Spin Arts steel bike built by Tom Stevens, the same builder who created Paul Curley’s unique machine.
Sarvary used a hacked drivetrain, mating a 9-speed Shimano cassette to a 10-speed Campagnolo shifter. Even though the cable is clamped in the normal position and she did not appear to use a converter or modified spacer kit, the unconventional pairing worked well enough to take her to a win. We’ve written about such mix-and-match drivetrains, but typically involving Campy shifters and Shimano rear derailleurs and sometimes including much-maligned Rapid Rise, as featured on our popular Cheap Bike project.
See the full profile of Kathy Sarvary’s 2013 Nationals-winning bike here.
