Boardman Pro HT ** UPDATED **

frogstomp

21/08/2009

Out with the old.. Giant Team (c1998).. in with the new.. Boardman Pro HT.. bargain local buy off eBay..



A lot lighter but struggled with it a bit on my first ride out.. although I am a bit out of practise! Strangely seemed harder work and lots of new aches which I guess are down to the different frame geometry.. will have to have a play about with the seat and stem heights and maybe trim the bars down a bit - feel massive in comparison!

Might swap the (nearly new) Panaracers on to it too as the Speed Kings didn't seem to like loose gravel at all.. felt very agile but skittish at the same time..

In any case, I'll give it a bit more saddle time before I make any significant changes - it feels like a different kind of beast to what I'm used to so I'll let myself get used to it a bit first.

24/12/2009

An update after a few purchases:

Bars:

Ritchey Superlogic Carbon Rizers
Seatpost: Exotic Carbon Matrix II
Shifters: SRAM X0 Twist Shifters
Tyres: Panaracer Fire XC Pro / Fire Mud Pro
Saddle: WTB Laser V Pro Cro-Mo
Pedals: Wellgo D2 Smoothies
Mudguard (fr): Mucky Nutz Bender Fender
Lights (fr): MagicShine P7
Lights (re): Knog

The bars make a load of difference to how light and precise the steering is.. but you do have to watch your weight distribution to keep the nose down on climbs a bit now..

Went back to twist shifters after persevering with the triggers for a few months.. at the end of the day I just prefer them!

The Panaracers are a bit more grippy on the edges than the old SpeedKings.. did have Fire XC Pros front and back but have switched the rears to the Mud Pros for the winter as they cut through the mud to the grip so much better.

The Exotic seatpost is a great piece of kit - light and well-made - but I'll probably be switching back to the original post (or to something else!) as I stupidly didn't consider that the old one has a lay-back which the new one doesn't, making things a bit more cramped than before.





What next? Well, hopefully Father Christmas will be bringing some ODI Yeti short lockon grips.. but other than that nothing more in the pipeline.. was tempted by a heavily discounted Anthem X3 with a view to transfering the kit over and creating a lightweigh t full-suss XC but the 18" frames have now gone, although probably no bad thing!

Although the 16" frame geometry doesn't seem that far out.. :twisted:

teulk

Nice bike, my mate has the Pro and i have the Team. I didnt like the tyres at all and have since changed mine because ( gave them to my mate to replace his worn Speed Kings) 1. They seemed to wear really quickly. 2. The bike just felt really skittish and too light for my liking.

Cracking bike tho

Stoo61

Got a Team too, also have lost the Conti tyres, they were worn in no time. Replaced as you are looking to do with Panaracer, old ones from my old bike. Doing the job currently. Red though, don't look as bad as expected but I will buy Panaracers again in black.


Enjoy.

hutchweb

Have had a Pro for a year now, also off Ebay. Fabulous bike, I did fit a shorter stem though (70mm) to improve the front. Currently fitted with Conti Race Kings and is very fast and light. Ran it with Panaracer trailraker on the back last winter, and summer.

RealMan

Yeah that looks like a decent upgrade to what you had before.

supersonic

Those Giant frames weigh less than a gnat's todget.

frogstomp

supersonic wrote:

Those Giant frames weigh less than a gnat's todget.

Interesting.. weighs about 14.5kg with the current components (the CB is about 11kg).. and certainly wasn't an expensive bike from new..

supersonic

Yours could be the budget team copy - the components do look a little less. But the top end team frames of that area were a very respectible 1400g or so.

frogstomp

supersonic wrote:

Yours could be the budget team copy - the components do look a little less.

I would imagine so.. the bike was only £350 new, which I'm sure wasn't expensive even that long ago..

Anyway, off for a longer ride out tomorrow.. will take the tools and see if I can tweak the ride a bit.

frogstomp

Updated with a few spec changes..

Dhart

I bought the HT Pro a few months ago and I have to say an excellent bike. I like your upgrades - I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the X0 Twisty gears as Im considering upgrading to either X0 Triggers or Twists.

Thanks
D

frogstomp

I really like them.. but then I was used to them from my last bike.. and at £50 for the pair from Merlin they were a steal!

Check out this thread for some views..

duron1

Looks good, love the fire xc pro;s, best tyres that I have ever ridden with. Just take off the plastic disk from behind the cassette.