New Bike Day: Moots Psychlo-X
The PSX is every bit the hyper-specific cross machine that I’d hoped it would be. It's also much lighter than you'd think.
The PSX is every bit the hyper-specific cross machine that I’d hoped it would be. It's also much lighter than you'd think.
I remember the exact moment I decided to buy this bike.
I was in the car with my girlfriend on the way to an upstate birthday weekend that I’d finish off at Whirlybird Cross. (Birthday weekend away vibes definitely contributed to me wanting to plop down some cash.) Our newest TBDer Mitchell mentioned that he wanted a new do-it-all Moots. A few messages later and I’d determined that it was time to get really specific with my bike choice and get the Moots Psychlo-X RSL that you see here, and sell Mitchell the Routt. Two months after that, the bike was in a box on the way to ACME for me to build it up.
So…why switch from a do-everything bike that I absolutely love to a very specific bike that I’ve never ridden before?
After spending a full season on the Routt, I can tell you that it is an excellent cross bike with a few drawbacks, none of which have to do with the way the bike feels when you’re pedaling or turning it. It has a short-ish, aggressively sloped top tube, which makes dismounting a little less good, and contributes to a small amount of toe overlap. Toe overlap is overrated as a problem, though. My main top-tube-length gripe is that I’d been running a super long stem, and 140mm doesn’t make for a good-turning cross setup. And the rear brake line routing goes along the bottom of the top tube, which makes shouldering very uncomfortable. A note: I never once noticed this during a race (adrenaline! hell of a drug.), only in practice.
There are a few really neat things about Moots’ purpose-built cyclocross bike.
After a bunch of pre-riding and 25 minutes of racing (I crashed out, being a total macho idiot, sorry Victor), I can tell you that the PSX is every bit the hyper-specific cross machine that I’d hoped it would be, and that looking at it makes me really excited to do more cross.
With an 8mm higher bottom bracket (6.1cm drop vs. 6.9) and 1 degree steeper headtube (72.5deg vs. 71.5) than my Routt, it wants to turn: fast; under power; while braking; while skidding. The Routt was fast, but never felt fast on a CX course. This thing feels super fast. Stiff, light, snappy – it’s exciting to ride. More to come when I can do a proper review.
Build Notes
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