2011 Boardman Pro Hardtail

bails87

FSR Si wrote:

Not as nice as the 2010 model though

which wasn't as good as the 2008 model...


Nice looking bike there Ben, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Different to your previous bikes though isn't it, have you got all grown up and sensible?

FSR Si

bails87 wrote:

FSR Si wrote:

Not as nice as the 2010 model though

which wasn't as good as the 2008 model...


Nice looking bike there Ben, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Different to your previous bikes though isn't it, have you got all grown up and sensible?

HaHa touche Si

The Northern Monkey

Yeah I guess its a "sensible" bike for once lol.

Hopefully if the GF gets a job i'll be able to afford a dh bike too though lol!

bails87

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Yeah I guess its a "sensible" bike for once lol.

Hopefully if the GF gets a job i'll be able to afford a dh bike too though lol!

I've got a job for her.....


Ah, sorry, I'll take it to the crudcatcher! :oops:

andy78

Hello mate,do you reckon the pro would be a good bike for someone who wants to take up the sport,companys just joined b2ws,feel like heads gonna explode looking at all options available before work joined scheme haha

The Northern Monkey

Its definitely a very nice bike. Seems to tick all the boxes.

Stil haven't ridden it yet though, i'm 230miles away from it

andy78

Cheers for that,had a look at it in store ,looked quality,wanted 2 check out the voodoo wanga but they didnt have it in,got good write up in mag,few people said paint chips well easy.
hope your reunited with bike soon

Squarepants

Sweet dude fair play, this should see your spinning nicely up the trails, 'tis a departure from the FS, lovely looking HT that dude. Gutted you're so far away from it, at least that chain set isn't getting covered in oil/dirt

I've gone totally the other way 36lbs, 65.5 HA and no lock out :shock: You've gone sensible - I'm having a mid life crisis and bought the bike equivalent of a monster truck

Ahhh I can't wait to ride again!

getonyourbike

Squarepants wrote:

Sweet dude fair play, this should see your spinning nicely up the trails, 'tis a departure from the FS, lovely looking HT that dude. Gutted you're so far away from it, at least that chain set isn't getting covered in oil/dirt

I've gone totally the other way 36lbs, 65.5 HA and no lock out :shock: You've gone sensible - I'm having a mid life crisis and bought the bike equivalent of a monster truck

Ahhh I can't wait to ride again!

what is this beast i hear of by the way?

The Boardman is looking sweet Northern Monkey. I think the 2011 Boardmans are great, a good speclist but then you've got decent trail geometry with XC weight.

Squarepants

getonyourbike wrote:

what is this beast i hear of by the way?

EDIT: Sorry Ben; spamming your HT thread here, getonyourbike - we'll talk soon

getonyourbike

That is beast. The Canyon Strive is very tempting at the moment for me

The Northern Monkey

Just been setting up my gears... pretty impressed with the feel of them. seem much crisper than the xo I really hated from day 1 I had on the P7/Meta.

Should be out tomorrow, really looking forward to it

Not much room in my little kitchen to get a good fettling pic lol!

JEZ 8553

Yuummm...likes nice 8)

I'm considering the Pro Carbon to be used as a Race / Light trail bike so will be interested to hear what the normal Pro is like.

sheepsteeth

if it goes anything like as good as it looks, itll be a stormer.

whats made you go to such an xc bike? i wouldn have thought it was your type of style?

The Northern Monkey

sheepsteeth wrote:

if it goes anything like as good as it looks, itll be a stormer.

whats made you go to such an xc bike? i wouldn have thought it was your type of style?

I hope so... Tis a bit slacker than your conventional xc bike i think, so should still be fun...I hope. Its crying out for a shorter stem though. Going to get a KCNC one on the way.

But more to the point, the Meta wasn't an every day bike. too heavy and climbed like a pig... rear suspension was farrrr to active on climbs, even with propedal on and on fireroad!

So the Boardman is my sensible bike for everyday duties (lol, duties) and then there will be something off the shelf coming hopefully at the end of July if my bonus comes in and the GF gets a job.

I've experimented with quite a few different bike setups over the past 3-4 years as i'm sure you know...

130mm GT Aggressor
100mm GT Zaskar
160mm NS Surge
140mm Orange P7
150mm Meta 5

and now i'm pretty much back where I started with a short/mid travel HT.
Actually... thinking about it... I got out more on the GT Aggressor than I did any of the other bikes!

I've finally learnt that 1 bike can't do it all really well (i'm sure you'll disagree with the Bionicon though!) so 2 bikes is definitely the way to go (eventually)!

sheepsteeth

well its been a journey and it takes some practice to find out what you like most.

if the trials has led you to the fact that you want 2 specific bikes then its worthwhhile and with some luck, you will be able to get the other bike in a few months and all will be sorted.

im lucky ive finally got a bike whihc is good at everythign i do, but it oesnt stop me wantign another bike!

Thewaylander

You will spin away far more easily on that monkey man

And mr pants if you believe that bike is 36pounds your having a laugh. Taz's marin was near 40 and my air Dune is 36. Bet you a penny to a pound its more like 40

Squarepants

So what you planning on getting that bounces ben? Operator?

Thewaylander - It's quoted as 36lbs on the CUBE website, I'm not too bothered if it's over, I'll weight it when I get it out of curiosity. I know it's going to be heavy, just means my legs will get bigger

fattrucker

CAN EVERYONE JUST PLEEAASE . . . S T O P I T !

I'm having great difficulty in resisting selling mi soul for a bloody Boardman . !

An you lot keeping buying the damn things and posting up aren't helping !

I'm sure there's a full bouncy Boardman wi my name on it somewhere ?

Jealous much ? Moi ? Never :twisted:

Brilliant bike ya got there NM betcha feel tubocharged on that compared t the Meta ?

jay12

looks pretty damn good. the boradmans have such a good spec for the price too

an xc and a fr/dh bike would be pretty good, especially when you live near a dh track, right?

just to get you thinking about the fr/dh bike you should look into a scott voltage fr as it's very adjustable, can run 100-200mm forks on the front and 135-180/190mm on the back. so you could find what you like best

The Northern Monkey

Well.. just got back from a ride round Cwmcarn and what can I say..... i'm more than impressed.

Not wanting to get too excited yet as its only the 1st ride out but.. jeeezus this thing moves!

Took a while setting it up along the 1st 1/4 of the route, played around with the brake + gear lever positions a few times and everything seems about right now.

It picks up speed and gets the power down so quickly. I had to remember to stop anticipating the pedal bob that the Meta suffered from and just get on with the pedalling.

I find it a bit easier to climb on because I can stand up. With my bad knees, I find sitting and pedalling hard graft and it does start to hurt so that was nice.

I'm going to come straight out and say it... its nowhere near as fast as the Meta on the final down hill section. I imagine i'll speed up once I get to know the limits of the Boardman, but its not going to touch the Meta for down ward speed on a rocky descent (obviously).

However, where the Boardman really shines is on the proper single track. I pedalled around bits i've never even thought of pedalling and enjoyed much more of the trail over all.

The 10 sp chainset is a godsend though. Not once did I struggle to find that "right" gear. it was just sooo smooth and effortless. I really was blown away. that might be down to not knowing what to expect, but bye bye 9sp for me!

RS reba 9mm QR forks were superb as expected. I'm not a light chap but I didn't really notice any difference in flex between them and any 20mm forks i've used with surprised me a bit.

The biggest for me was the brakes though. Like I said i'm not light at over 100kg, and was a bit dubious that 160mm disk front and back would be sufficient to stop me. But the Elixirs are stonking! They've really changed my mind about avid brakes. amazing.

So yeah, i'm pretty pleased with my purchase

Bring on the weekend

The Northern Monkey

jay12 wrote:

looks pretty damn good. the boradmans have such a good spec for the price too

an xc and a fr/dh bike would be pretty good, especially when you live near a dh track, right?

just to get you thinking about the fr/dh bike you should look into a scott voltage fr as it's very adjustable, can run 100-200mm forks on the front and 135-180/190mm on the back. so you could find what you like best

Cheers Jay

Yeah, i've spotted the Voltage... I can't have the lower spec one though as its got Domain 302 and they'd just make me depressed

The Northern Monkey

Muddy pic lol.

sheepsteeth

how did you find the sram shifting?

The Northern Monkey

A lot nicer than the XO from the P7/Meta, was very very smooth shifting.

Click - changed... click - changed. The lever movement is very light feeling too.

I think they've changed the lever position so its in a much better position. Biggest gripe with the XO was the shifter levers could never be put in a nice easy to reach place (for me anyways).

Ian43

I should be getting one of these in a few weeks as a replacement for my nicked 2010 team as this is virtually the same spec, I have just been to look at one in the shop and am not convinced get by the colour scheme but it is growing on me.

The saddle and grips would defiantly have to go if I get one though.

Squarepants

Glad to hear you enjoyed your maiden voyage dude

Very interesting write up; lots of good info there. Glad you liked the Elixirs, I had the 5s of course and found them incredible, and they shouldn't be too grabby being 160's.

I don't know much about cassettes, it sounds like the one extra cog makes all the difference? Very nice bike fella I'm a little jealous even

And the Voltage is a proper slacker fair play, that would be hella 8)

The Northern Monkey

hehe, don't worry matey, your cube will be here soon and i'll be uber jealous!!


Where did you get it btw?

I think the Voltage would be really good.... I reckon all the Operators will be gone by the time I have ££

Rich9

The Northern Monkey agree with you on the 10sp. Its just peachy 8)

My FS has got a 180 rotor on the front, but I still havent warmed to the Elixir 3's on it. Feel a bit spongy compared to the Strokers on my Cube

ilovedirt

The Northern Monkey wrote:

sheepsteeth wrote:

But more to the point, the Meta wasn't an every day bike. too heavy and climbed like a pig... rear suspension was farrrr to active on climbs, even with propedal on and on fireroad!

You think? My meta was relatively light compared to a couple of 'xc' bikes i've owned, around the 28-30lb mark i think, that's not unreasonable for a trail bike. I thought it climbed/pedaled fairly well as well... horses for courses i guess.