Cannondale CAADX Tiagra Cyclo cross bike review

Cannondale CAADX Tiagra Cyclo cross bike costing £999 is a great looking do everything bike

Cycling Weekly Verdict

I have to confess to loving this bike from the outset, and by the time I’d finished with it I was hooked. At this price, it’s everything a CX bike should be — light, comfortable and capable. The only thing that might sway you is the fact you can buy the Shimano 105 version for only £100 more, which really is brilliant value. You do lose the gorgeous blue colourway in favour of a more standard black, but it still looks great and is arguably more suited to getting covered in mud and grime. Another point worth making in terms of speccing is that the CAADX Tiagra is basically a great frame with a less great groupset hung on it, so you could happily upgrade to a more premium group in a couple of years when the Tiagra wears out. Generally it’s very hard to find fault with this bike — if you’re in the market for a grand’s worth of cross bike, the CAADX Tiagra should definitely be on your shortlist.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Looks great

  • +

    Rides great

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Be nice to have mudgaurds eyes on the forks

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

What we have here is arguably the best looking cross bike on the market, courtesy of mainstream-but-still-cool US brand Cannondale. Eschewing the shades-of-black finish that is so popular on CX machines of late, the CAADX Tiagra’s glossy dark blue with dashes of red sets it apart from the masses, while the bold Cannondale branding on down and seat tubes is confident and stylish.

With the sidewall detailing of the Schwalbe Sammy Slick tyres matched nicely to that of the semi-deep black rims, the whole bike hangs together superbly in one stylish objet d’irt, if you will.

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