Faster bike or tyres (Fury/Boardman Comp) HT

Egbert

Hi Guys,

I currently have Continental Speedking 2.1 tyres on my Boardman Comp, and tbh im thinking that for road use they are seriously dragging.

What makes this slightly strange is that i have been riding a Carrera Fury with Continental Speedking 2.3 tyres and they/the bike feels sooo much faster, despite the much large tyres.

So is the Fury honestly a faster bike (or more suited to me) or as i would think should be the case the Boardman is quicker. So opinions on bikes (which tyre is faster) etc would be really appreciated to a new MTB'er

Thanks
Egbert

theotherjake

I have a new Boardman Pro and ditched the speed kings straight away as they are just rubbish. I use my bike for commuting so need two sets of tyres. First off I bought a set of continental sport contacts 26x1.6 and they are fantastic for my commute into London, they also come with tubes so thats a bonus.

Then I got a set of maxxis high rollers for my weekend trail centre visits!!

Egbert

Ok i've re-read my original post and i guess it doesnt make a whole lot of sense >.<

Ive been riding a Carrera Fury for 3 weeks and it has Speedking 2.3 tyres, i now havea Boardman Comp with Speedking 2.1 tyres the bizarre thing is i appear to be much faster on the Fury than the Comp despite the Boardman having slimmer tyres and a (on paper) much faster spec.

So are the 2.1 tyres inferior or is the Comp somehow slower/not suited to me (18" frame and i'm 5' 5")

hairy_boy

what size frame is the fury your riding ?

pte1643

Egbert wrote:

(18" frame and i'm 5' 5")

:shock: Crikey, you must have long legs.

I'm 5-5 and I couldn't get away with an 18" frame.

The Rookie

Is the fury shorter geared giving the impression you are riding faster when you aren't?

WTB 26x1.3" Slickasaurus here, really motors on the road!

Simon

Egbert

pte1643 wrote:

Egbert wrote:

(18" frame and i'm 5' 5")

:shock: Crikey, you must have long legs.

I'm 5-5 and I couldn't get away with an 18" frame.

Both the Fury and the Comp are 18" frames, i dunno what it is but its driving me nuts now, its so much harder to go fast and drains my energy so much quicker on the comp

bdigital

I would have thought the boardman would feel faster.

Have you got both the bikes set up the same/correctly? Seat height and the psi in the tyres could be the difference.

Egbert

The Beginner wrote:

Is the fury shorter geared giving the impression you are riding faster when you aren't?

WTB 26x1.3" Slickasaurus here, really motors on the road!

Simon

Hi Simon, that may well be the case but being a complete beginner i really wouldn't know.

The fury felt a complete joy to ride and i always felt i could go fatser if i tried, whereas the Comp feels harder from the get go and drains my legs in seconds, another thing is that i can go from 5 (to easy) to 6 (to hard) on the rear cogs nothing feels quite right

I know the bike could need setting up but this difference is so evident to me and so frustrating, i've gone from loving to be on the bike to almost dreading it.

CFS

Have you checked that the brakes aren't dragging or that the wheel hubs are turning freely?

Egbert

CFS wrote:

Have you checked that the brakes aren't dragging or that the wheel hubs are turning freely?

Both wheels appear to spin freely and there is no noticable noise from the brakes.

i have a very gradual slope to work on part of my journey the reason i mention this is that i never even noticed it before i got the comp now i feel like i should just get off and walk.

Northwind

It could still be the tyres but it seems like a really dramatic difference tbh. Just because the name's the same doesn't mean the tyre is.

Could it be riding position? It's as much psychology as anything else but sometimes it can make a big difference, I changed the bars on my commuter and it added 20% to my time to work immediately because it just didn't feel urgent any more

On paper the Boardman ought to feel faster, it's a little lighter but there shouldn't be much difference really.

The Rookie

Count the teeth on the front and rear gears you use on that hill on the fury and then on the Boardman, calaculate the ratio (front divided by rear), a bigger number means you are travelling faster for the same pedaling speed, if in fact you are going ,much faster on the boardman it would explain why it feels harder!

A quick glance at Halfords specs shows the Boradman has a 44t large front wheel, 42t is more common (doesn't say what the fury has) so you are either trying to go 4.5% faster or turning thr cranks 4.5% slower at the same speed, have you tried using a higher (numerical) gear at the rear on the middle ring at the front to get you an overall gear between the 5th/6th you are using now?

Have you checked the saddle height, when commuting if my saddle is too low it feels really hard work.

Simon

Egbert

The Beginner wrote:

Count the teeth on the front and rear gears you use on that hill on the fury and then on the Boardman, calaculate the ratio (front divided by rear), a bigger number means you are travelling faster for the same pedaling speed, if in fact you are going ,much faster on the boardman it would explain why it feels harder!

A quick glance at Halfords specs shows the Boradman has a 44t large front wheel, 42t is more common (doesn't say what the fury has) so you are either trying to go 4.5% faster or turning thr cranks 4.5% slower at the same speed, have you tried using a higher (numerical) gear at the rear on the middle ring at the front to get you an overall gear between the 5th/6th you are using now?

Have you checked the saddle height, when commuting if my saddle is too low it feels really hard work.

Simon

Wow thats an awesome post thanks Simon, sadly i dont have the Fury to check the teeth.

I'm starting to have a terrible feeling that my frame size is totally wrong and that i should of gotten a small instead of a medium (thw fury at 18" felt fine though"

When i straddle the frame my landing gear is actually resting on the bar, which would seem to be wrong (hehe hours of reading forums ftw)

baba123

you could lock out the fork and add an extra 10-20 psi as this will mean less of the tyre is on the road and so you will go faster as you will have less drag

hbrashaw

pte1643 wrote:

Egbert wrote:

(18" frame and i'm 5' 5")

:shock: Crikey, you must have long legs.

I'm 5-5 and I couldn't get away with an 18" frame.

im 5' 2" and ride an 18!

The Rookie

Egbert wrote:

When i straddle the frame my landing gear is actually resting on the bar, which would seem to be wrong (hehe hours of reading forums ftw)

Your standover clearance isn't really relevant, my first commuter was a 22" frame (I'm 5'9" and short in the leg for that height) and I couldn't straddle it upright at all, but with the saddle forward a bit, super short stem and the saddle at the right height the pedaling position was fine.

For me the saddle should be at a height where with your foot parallel to the ground at the bottom of the stroke you're kneee should still be slightly bent, I have seen similar criteria described in many different ways, but that's how I find it easiest to describe, for and aft is more personal preferance in my opinion/experiance.

I still think the issue is most likely gearing, try the middle ring at the front and see if 7/8 gives a nicer feeling to the gearing than either 5 or 6 on the big ring.

Simon

ellsbells1973

geometry makes a big difference to how a bike will feel as well, tbh though it sounds like it is something like binding brakes the boardman should feel a bit lighter to pedal, how do the wheels compare to each other in weight as rotating mass is the big killer here i think

saracen fan

can I ask.....if the fury was so perfect for you why did you get rid of it?

not trying to ttp but am curious....

anywho it could well be the tyres, you may of had folding bead but now have wired bead so your feeling the weight more, or possibly your riding faster than you were on the fury without realising it which is why your knackered.

do you have a cycle comp?

beski

Apart from the geometry & saddle height, which will affect power/feel, are the tyres on the same way round on both bikes? being on the incorrect way could affect drag, as will tyre pressure, low pressure creating more drag

jayson

Wow 5'5" and ride an 18" frame, im 6'1" and i ride an 18" frame!! :shock:

Egbert

saracen fan wrote:

can I ask.....if the fury was so perfect for you why did you get rid of it?

not trying to ttp but am curious....

anywho it could well be the tyres, you may of had folding bead but now have wired bead so your feeling the weight more, or possibly your riding faster than you were on the fury without realising it which is why your knackered.

do you have a cycle comp?

Good question! I did/do love the Fury but lets just say i had a few problems with my bike and the upshort is i was given a new Comp as replacement (who would refuse!)

I use Bikemate GPS and i am consistantly down by 2-3 mintues on my normal morning commute, it took me nearly 4 minutes longer this morning (a little head wind) but i'm fooked lol.

Egbert

beski wrote:

Apart from the geometry & saddle height, which will affect power/feel, are the tyres on the same way round on both bikes? being on the incorrect way could affect drag, as will tyre pressure, low pressure creating more drag

The tyres feel very hard to my novice fingers, certainly no less than the 2.3's. I would of assumed that the 2.3's would be slowler seeing as they are like big footballs lol and yet they feel so much faster than the 2.1's i have on the new bike.

The only way i can describe it is effort, its taking alot more for less speed, and yet if i take the easier approach and knock it down a cog i feel like i'm spinning and not getting anywhere.

ARGHHHHHHHHH!

bennett_346

hbrashaw wrote:

pte1643 wrote:

Egbert wrote:

(18" frame and i'm 5' 5")

:shock: Crikey, you must have long legs.

I'm 5-5 and I couldn't get away with an 18" frame.

im 5' 2" and ride an 18!

:?

What bike do you have?

c00lh4nd

I read this post with interest. I too moved to a Boardman Comp HT, though not from a Fury but a cheaper Kraken and I too find the Boardman much harder to ride than the Kraken when I anticipated an easier ride due to weight reduction and (for me) an jump in the quality of parts on the bike. Like you I also have a number of small climbs but find the boardman harder and more challenging to find a good gear for the climb.

I am a hairs breath away from ditching the tyres for less "draggy" ones as what off road I do is typically on dirt paths with little mud. I was talked out of changing the tyres by Royals in Wilmslow in favour of going for higher pressure (at 60psi) but felt little difference. What pressure would be optimal for the 2.1s on this bike??

Northwind

60psi is very hard for mountain bike tyres- lots will actually roll slower at that pressure rather than higher (as they become more like a cog than a smooth rolling surface) and it'll slow you down over rocks etc (as the tyre can't deform round them- kicks you up instead of blobbing over)

Depends which Kraken you have- mine was an old one, 08 I think, and it came with Factory XCs which were disasters- slow, heavy, not grippy. Current one comes with 2.2 Mountain Kings I think, which are quite fast though still pretty poor, not much grip.

atomic fox

interesting thread as only today i have ordered the continental x king race sport for my boardman pro which came with wired bead mountain kings. according to conti-tyres uk there is a difference of 200 grams per tyre.this weight saved plus better rolling resistance is a possible solution to the problem.oh and wiggle have them £26 per tyre.

Ouija

Could just be a case of rotational weight. The Boardman may have heavier rims and the wired version of the Speed Kings. The Fury might have lighter rims and the lighter folding version of the Speed Kings. The more weight at the rims, the more sluggish a bike feels.

Edit: (whoops.. just noticed the post above saying much the same thing)

steviecapt

i,m 5ft 6ins, and my team boardman r is a 16" frame, i would say yours is a bit to big, i use shwalbe sammy sliks, they have made a big difference to the way my bike rides, they are quite light too, and no punctures either, win win ?