My ride now with a few upgrades

lillywhite79

Hi

I’m fairly new to the scene but really loving getting out on my bike so far, been to Swinley Forest a few times and round the local parks and Canal Towpaths, nothing major just yet but hope to travel up to Coed Llandegla and / or Afan soon, can’t wait

Anyway here’s a few pics of my Boardman Pro, I posted pictures of this when it was brand new and all standard but I’ve made a few changes/upgrades where I thought it would benefit me the most. I know these are not everyones cup of tea and some people hate them but I love mine and it has taken anything I can through at it with no problems so far!

I swapped the saddle for a WTB Rocket V saddle. The standard one was way too hard, I tried to get on with it but it just wasn’t happening. I went with the WTB saddle because it was fairly cheap, doesn’t weigh much more than the Original saddle, and I had one on my previous bike a Kona Cinder Cone so I knew it would be comfortable.

I replaced the stock Alloy Wellgo's with Wellgo MG1's in white. Not only lighter but the pins give me tons more grip, my feet stay planted most of the time now which is a bonus. I was surprised at how much lighter these are compared to the standard ones that came on the bike.

I’ve also added a QR seat post lever (Exotic), some Gusset Lock on grips, and a set of Ritchey WCS Bar ends. I find my hands and wrists sometimes begin to feel numb after a couple of hours of staying in the same position and having these has cured this .

I was planning to upgrade the bars, stem & seat post to Ritchey WCS or Carbon kit but I will wait until I’ve lost a few pounds myself & I can cover greater distances and improve my riding skills before I spend anymore lol. The bike is pretty light as it is and all in all I’m happy with it for now. I do need to get some better tyres on it soon though, any suggestions for good all round tyres that will fit?

Cheers!









And yes it does get properly filthy!

getonyourbike

tyres should have been one of the first things to upgrade imo. Maxxis Advantage are good all round from everything for from rocks, to woodland and everything inbetween

chrisjnr19

Sweet looking ride mate,
getonyourbike... no, My advice would be schwalbe Nobby Nic White at the front and Racing Ralph White at the back, On-One are selling them for like £20 a tyres, which is a bargain reduced from £45, I am planning to put these on my Pro FS and they look absolutely great

Hope it helps

lillywhite79

Cheers for the advice

I did consider the Maxxis Advantage (thanks getonyourbike) but I have purchased some new tyres from On One, went for a pair of Schwalbe Albert 2.1 with the all important white stripe 8) They were £20 for the pair delivered, bargain! First impressions are very good, they grip much better than the Conti's and are surprisingly good at rolling along on tarmac too, been out most nights after work just putting in a few laps round where I live to try and get my fitness up I know they are not as light as Nobby Nics or Ralphs but to be honest Im not really bothered, I dont think they are much heavier than the Contis they have replaced and seem like a good tyre for the price.

Ive also swapped the riser bar out for a Truvativ Stylo World cup flat bar in white, this suits the type of riding Im doing at the moment. Im waiting for a Ritchey WCS stem in white to turn up, then maybe a matching seatpost and light weight saddle (If I can find one that doesnt sacrifise comfort too much). Might think about upgrading the hubs at some point too, then Im done with bling / upgrades

Just loving getting out now the weather is better, the bike flies, not sure of its weight but its feeling seriouisly light now

Cheers

kaytronika

I like that a lot.

You put a flat bar on and then ditched the bar ends? I've been riding a 90s bike with bar ends on for the last month and am really enjoying them when climbing.

lillywhite79

Well spotted Kaytronika!!

Yeah, didnt want to remove the bar ends but had too really. The flat bars are 580mm, think the risers were more like 700mm. Because the bar ends were Ritchey ones they were angled inwards, meaning they take up more room on the ends of the bars forcing everything else inwards too far. If you see where the coloured stripes are on the bars, the gear shifters and brake levers were going in well across these with the bar ends fitted. The installation stuff that came with the bars said this is dangerous, the controls should never go on or inboard of the stripes - so I didnt want to risk it! :?

But there may be a way around this I think a set of Avid matchmakers might just give me the extra space on the bars. I do miss having the bar ends fitted, might have to get hold of a pair to try it out. Or maybe install bar ends that are not angled inwards :roll:

chrisjnr19

Yessss, excellent choice,
Although that was a bit fast :P You must have been looking at getting those for a while now, although I absolutely love what you've done, I may well imitate you on my Pro FS, although I am saving up for a proper Fox RP23 rear shock as the Monarch shock is a bit fiddly...
Again, loving the look of it although my only piece of advice to you would be...............

DONT OVERDO IT! Which was a mistake that my wallet learned from my Team HT. And also do not spend too much money upgrading superficial parts, instead of things that actually improve your performance.

Little bit of advice for you

lillywhite79

Good luck with the Pro FS post some pics once done would like to see it

I know what you mean with the upgrades but wont be happy till its all white now and thats the plan, and also to save weight

The new WCS stem has arrived today, will fit it later tonight

Seen on superstar components they do lightweight xc hubs in white, reviews say every but as good as hope pro 2's but cheaper, tempted!!

chrisjnr19

Will do
Jheez, just looking at this page is making my hand want to write a shopping list (especially those hubs) , I had a look at them at Superstar, they look brilliant and a great buy (I might go for the red ones)
My colour scheme will be White/Black/Red ('cause of the forks), but the issue that I am facing is; What colour grips and pedals should I buy, White or Red?? Adivce :?:

I am not so sure about upgrading gear like, stems and handlebars; personally I will wait until one of these compnents breaks before replacing it. I can't criticise your choices though as they look great

Show us a pic when the hubs arrive and are put on...

lillywhite79

Will have to wait a bit till I have the cash for the Hubs but they are on the list

If I were you I would go with white superstar grips if you can live with cleaning them I decided on black for that very reason. I went with blue collars to match the top of the fork and planned on getting some blue hope wheel QR's but Im not sure now. Also u coould consider the Ritchey WCS Lock On grips, only £12 on ebay. I may swap my grips for some of these later on when they wear out. Regarding pedals I would say white but Im biased But a bit of red could be interesting and make yours stand out

How much would I love to swap out the fork for a WHITE one But worried you can have too much of a good thing and white everything will be too much? Trying to strike a good balance, What do you think? A Rockshox SID would definately finish this off but not sure I can justify the cost, the Reba Race is a fine fork and perfoms more than well enough for me.

Found this the other day, the new Ritchey WCS Contrail saddle... just begging for 70 of my hard earned pounds...Should look good on a Boardman Pro I reckon and looks a bit more padded than the WCS Marathon saddle





Fitted the new stem tonight, think it looks pretty slick if i do say so myself. Very lightweight, can tell the difference when comparing it with the Pro stem that has made way for this one. Seems to be a fair bit thinner too, hopefully Strong

Know what you mean about waiting for upgrades to controls. I felt the same way a few months ago but I'm impatient and thought sod it just buy it, can always keep the old kit or sell on the new later if I change my mindl. And I really wouldnt wait till the stem or bars break...especially if im going hell for leather :shock:

chrisjnr19

Yeah.. loving the stem, goes perfectly with the handlebars
I have been looking at superstar grips and while doing so, I inadvertently stumbled across a set of SS Floating rotors in a whole range of colours... you might want to consider them (I certainly am :P)
In terms of saddle, I would not vouch for the Ritchey Contrail Saddle as I think it is too expensive... I have a link somewhere here for a white Ritchey WCS Marathon Saddle at £49.99 on ebay (New). Elsewhere they are about £75. They've got a few left and, the reviews suggest it is certianly a great saddle. If you wanted the White Pro, it is £33.00
Here it is... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ritchey-Marathon-WCS-V2-Saddle-WHITE-RRP-80-/270630102681?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3f02cfa699
Personally I will plump for the safe option of a Charge Spoon in white/red, the grey one of which I have on my team, keep it cheap and cheerful
In terms of forks I really would not suggest getting a white set of forks (especially SID's as the only reason you would go for them if you were looking to save the most minimal amounts of weight, and the Reba's are not exactly heavy are they?) although if you were leaning to going to white and blue, Slik Graphics do a set of blue decals for Black rebas. http://www.slikgraphics.com/product/rockshox-reba-style-decals, or you could try the treacherous warranty voiding method of stripping and respraying the forks, then putting these black CRC decals on them. (It would work out as about £400 cheaper than buying SID's though http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=50688

lillywhite79

Thanks for the link to to the blue Reba decals, havent seen these before and might just get some and go with a blue and white theme, cheers for the idea mate!

Might get a pair of those floating rotors from superstar...but blue or white? Decisions decisions!

Having a change of heart and may swap back to the old pro stem and keep the controls as they are for now. Not sure if I like the all white look, think i prefer the contrast of the black stem and white bar. And dont want to stump up more for a seatpost and saddle when I really need a Camelbak and some MTB clothing etc! So I may have a 100mm wet white Ritchey WCS stem up for grabs if anyone is interested!!!

Cheers for your advice 8)

chrisjnr19

I am liking the sound of that... In terms of rotors I'd go for blue
And guess what... I've sold my Pro FS frame on eBay, to be completely honest I just don't get along with rear suspension, and got a handsome bit of cash for it,
I have now bought a Pro HT frame which is arriving next Sataurday, so (spending the day fitting all the parts) I should be posting some pics the Bank Holiday monday (in which I should take it out) after that
+ I have about £100 left over which is great, and am looking at getting some SS rotors in the coming week (red obviously) and a good old Charge Spoon in White (I was getting a bit tired of swapping the grey one over from the Team :P)
All in all a very succesful couple of weeks...

and no problem btw

lillywhite79

Did you get the rotors and the spoon saddle? Got any pics of the Pro HT built up yet?

chrisjnr19

The Spoon arrived at the beginning of june, and have since got a set of X0 shifters (only one of which has been fitted), I haven't really got any pictures of it yet as I've been at bit preoccupied selling my Team and sorting postage and stuff out.
No rotors yet, as I'm not decided on which to get yet, options atm are Hope Floating ones, SS floaters or some nice Magura ones off CRC.
Just picked the bike up from Hampshire today after a week of servicing and tinkering from some chaps up there. Forks have been raised to 120mm and had seals replaced, they checked all the home-bodging that I'd done when transferring the parts from my ol' FS and fitted some parts I'd handed them.
Ordering either some SS Nano Pedals or Wellgo B144 on Wednesday as well as some Schwalbe NN's (Finally ) and I refuse to put pics up until they're on
I've got quite a bit of extra cash after the sale of my Team the majority of which I will save, and about £200 of which I should spend in the next couple of months, Firstly on some XT cranks and then a white seatpost & stem. A new gold KMC X9 chain is pending me making a decision.

Superstar really need to get their act together with getting in some black cartriges on their Supagripa lock ons. Also some red spacers and bolt seatclamp should be ordered in the coming month. (All pointless but will look great )

Also I've decided... I'm respraying my forks white (the only problem being that I'm not gonna do it, and there are no local people that I've been able to find to do it), and getting matching decals off Slik.

Despite what it seems, I am actually lightening up the ride, (albeit slowly ) while also making it look the part. What I'd really like to do now is to get a set of Stans ZTR Crest or Flow on Pro 2's the only trouble being they're costing £349 from Merlin atm so I'll wait until they decide that they want to do them for £250 again. This is all in aid of racing mind you (I swear )

Oh, and how did you get on with selling the Pro? I saw it's not on the 'bay' anymore

lillywhite79

Thats quite a lot you have going on for the HT!

Sounds like it will be mint when finished though

Ive decided to keep my Pro, just couldnt bring myself to sell it. I had a couple of good offers for more than I was looking for but I knew I would regret selling so Im hanging on to it now

chrisjnr19

Good on yer'
Would have been sad to see another 2010 Boardman Pro owner go :P