The Scott Addict CX10 is a super-light cyclocross racer, with the complete bike weighing 7.73kg in size 54. How did it cope with life out in the fields?
The Addict CX10 gives a top-notch ride and is light enough for good acceleration and effective carrying. It's well specified with a host of carbon components and its single ring groupset. But it's very expensive.
Reasons to buy
+
Very light
+
Responsive frameset
+
Single ring shifting simplifies mechanicals
+
Good braking
+
Reasons to avoid
-
Expensive for a cyclocross bike
-
No active compliance features in frame
-
Narrow rims
-
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.
Scott relaunched the Addict CX last year, claiming that the 1280g combined weight of the frame and fork made it the lightest cyclocross frameset on the market. It’s racked up some results too, with Hope Factory Racing riding the Addict frame this year.
The CX10 is the top spec Addict with an all-carbon components list – and a price tag to match.
There's plenty of clearance at the rear
Frame
The Addict CX frameset is designed with plenty of clearance fore and aft, including behind the bottom bracket, where sideways space can be tight on some frames due to the constraints of the shell width. But the wide PF86 bottom bracket means this isn’t an issue and provides wide bearing placement for pedalling efficiency. The chainstays also have sloped top edges to encourage any mud which does settle on them to roll off.
The frame has flattened sections to the top tube and the front of the head tube to make carrying more comfortable. Cables are routed internally and there’s a port for a dropper post, while a chain guard attached to the front mech hanger helps to reduce the risk of chain drop.
Scott has decked out the Addict CX10 almost exclusively in carbon. So there are carbon bars and stem, a 27.2mm carbon seatpost and Scott’s Fabric-like Syncros saddle.
Watch: buyer's guide to cyclocross bikes
Wheels too are carbon and come from Syncros, with a 12x100mm thru-axle at front and 12x142mm at the rear. They have a quite deep 38mm section, are tubeless ready and come with Schwalbe X-One 33mm Tubeless Easy tyres. Scott quotes a weight of 1500g for the wheelset and they come with DT Swiss spokes and star ratchet freehub. Although essentially a road wheel, they work fine for cross.
SRAM Force 1 rear mech is designed to assist chain retention
But with a narrow 16mm internal rim section, when setting up the tyres tubeless I found that I had to tape the valve stem to get a seal, as there was not quite enough space between the tyre beads to seat the valve. Once this was sorted, the tyres sealed using just a track pump: they’re a tight fit on the Syncros rims, making them a struggle to get off and on.
The gearing and brakes are SRAM Force 1 with a 42 tooth chainring and 11-36 cassette offering a wide enough gear range for steep banks and longer off-road excursions. The Force hydraulic disc brakes are also very effective.
Single ring set-up includes a chain guide
Ride
I was at first a little nervous about taking such a delicate-feeling machine off-road. But my confidence has grown as I’ve ridden the Addict CX over increasingly technical terrain. With a low overall weight and carbon wheels, it spins up fast and is easy to manoeuvre over and around obstacles. It’s less fragile than it appears.
Addict CX10 has SRAM Force flat mount hydraulic brakes
Setting up tubeless paid dividends too, as an early spate of punctures was not repeated. The tyres are effective off-road, although there’s a tendency to clog in muddier conditions.
SRAM’s Force 1 groupset is its top single ring offering. With carbon crank arms it looks smart and the combination of the wide-narrow teeth on the chainring and the clutched rear derailleur meant that chain slap or chain loss were never an issue. Scott’s plastic chain catcher did rub the chain in the lowest gear though and there’s limited scope to adjust it.
>>> Is it the end for cantilever brakes?
Scott's saddle has a bonded structure with a plastic base
In summary
The Addict CX feels like an out-and-out race bike: there’s enough compliance built into the frame and carbon components to soften the ride somewhat, but it’s still more jolting over bumpy terrain than some of its rivals. However, the gently sloping top tube does help smooth the ride, as it allows plenty of extension of the skinny carbon seatpost.
Handling and agility are spot-on for racing, with a fast, direct feel and that light weight is evident on steeper climbs and when shouldering over obstacles while the SRAM Force 1 mechanicals provide assured shifting and stopping.
Addict CX10 has Syncros carbon rims and Schwalbe tubeless-ready tyres
But the light weight and high spec come with a price tag to match and all but the cyclocross fanatic or sponsored rider are likely to think twice about spending close to £5000 on a machine to be ridden through mud.
Forego the carbon add-ons and single ring groupset and you could get two of the next-down Addict CX20 for the same price – and give your pit crew something to do during races cleaning the second bike.
Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
'Lance has helped me a lot in recent years' - Armstrong offered to pay for Bradley Wiggins' therapy
No one who buys these electric bikes is planning to pedal very much
Big Ride Challenge monthly targets
