2001 Specialized CX Comp

One of our customers brought us a lovely old steel Specialized frame that they’d had from new as their main commuter for many years. They had upgraded to a Sirrus X, which they’d bought from us and decided that a fitting end would be to give it to us the old bike to restore.

Although we were far from sure of the provenance, it was a good looking bike but we were still trying to identify it. Nevertheless, we decided to rebuild it.

Turned out to be a Specialized cyclocross bike, 2001 CX Comp. Really what gave it away was the very distinctive rear derailleur hanger!

And actually these derailleur hangers are readily available from multiple manufacturers, although not Specialized themselves. It suggests that in some party of the world, there are a shit load of 2001 CX Comp bikes!

Originally a dropbar commuter/touring/cyclocross bike with cantilever brakes, bar-end shifters and fittings for racks and fenders. We thought we could give it a new lease on life with a lovely metallic green paint job and a modern Tiagra drivetrain and still keep all the fittings for racks and fenders if required.

Now running a new full Tiagra groupset with some much more effective V-brakes and some snail adapters (thanks Cam Hollows), it’s a pretty sweet ride.

I went for a spin on it myself, but didn’t really get a good feel for it straight away with all the other projects going on, but a good friend was in town for a visit and wanted something to take to the recently opened rail trial. “I have just the thing!” Don, was pretty impressed with the ride quality and handling for a 20-something year old steel bike with V-brakes. Impressed enough that I thought I had better have a proper ride on it. So, I took it on the next Vintage Steel bike ride with the local club, complete with a gravel section!

Yes. A nice ride and does handle pretty well …..

When I bult this bike, I imagined it as a commuter. I actually imagined it as my uni commuter. I rode my racing bike to uni for several years and I was always terrified of losing it. Something like this that wasn’t new and wasn’t top-end, but was still a great ride would have been perfect.

In the end, one of our regular customers bought it for his son as a commuter at Canberra Uni! I love it. Perfect home.