Boardman CX Owners Thread

meanredspider

As per another thread and Essex Commuter's idea, here's a quick thread for Boardman CX riders to record their thoughts and experiences. I've stuck some 25c Gatorskins on mine and I'm going to take it for its first commute today. It'll be interesting to see how the times compare with my Cayo on exactly these tyres. As it was built by Halfords (it was the display model) I've checked it over and now decided to take the plunge. Wish me luck...

meanredspider

Err well - that didn't go as well as I'd hoped! :roll: :roll: :roll:

Fortunately I made it - but only just. A few hundred yards out from the office, the BB bearing(s) failed (or certainly seem to have done) - after just 15 miles. Ironically, one of the reasons I took the Boardman today was because I'm in the middle of replacving the BB on the Focus Cayo - though that had lasted several thousand miles...

Halfords, helpfully, have nobody to fix it today so it looks as if I'm going to have to thumb a lift home. I'm waiting for a call back from the manager because I'm deeply unimpressed that they can do nothing - not even lend me a bike.

Other than that, I was generally pretty happy. I averaged 18.7mph in conditions I'd expect the full-carbon Cayo to do in 19.7+mph (on the same 25c Gatorskins) so it's definitely slower and I worked pretty hard.

The SRAM Apex shifters took some getting used to after the 105s. That said, I liked the up-shift - very swift. The downshift is a bit cumbersome but I like the fact that you can double-shift. My hands would be pretty tired in a stop-start city commute though. Talking of hand, the handlebars aren't the most comfortable. The hood covers of the Apex shifters have a cheap feel to them but the cable-free aspect is nice. I hardly used the suicide levers and wonder if I'm going to find them unnecessary - albeit seemingly a good idea.

The frame is fine - it didn't feel as agile as the Cayo but certainly felt robust. The saddle is OK - maybe a bit on the soft side and, with no cut-out, rubbed on places that aren't used to being rubbed - but, as yet, with no immediate ill-effects. I will however, be changing it.

The brakes were very positive. I'd half hoped for a very wet ride to give them a proper test. They still need to bed-in I'm guessing and they need a bit of fine adjustment as they were touching overso slightly.

So - apart from the obvious disappointment of the failure - it's a very positive experience. It is a big shame that Halfords are the agents

el_presidente

the bottom bracket bearings failed?? what were the symptoms? Sounds highly unlikely on a new bike. Maybe they just hadn't installed the BB correctly

meanredspider

el_presidente wrote:

the bottom bracket bearings failed?? what were the symptoms? Sounds highly unlikely on a new bike. Maybe they just hadn't installed the BB correctly

Clicking from the bearing as you turn the crank in either direction. I did a 3-day bearing mounting and maintenance course at SKF many years ago. Most failures of bearing are down to incorrect mounting

jonathan914

I have had the same issue with mine,it started clicking after about 7 miles.I removed the crank when I got to work put loads of grease on the shaft and re fitted.So far its been fine .A mate at work has a cx and another has a team road bike and both of them have also had the same problem,we have no idea what makes the noise the bearings don't feel rough to turn on there own the only thing we know is that greasing the shaft part of the crank stops the noise.

essex-commuter

Well I've had mine about 8 weeks now and put 1450 miles on it.

I found the front Microshift mech spring far too stiff for comfortable shifting so I've changed it for a 105 that only cost me a tenner from Chain Reaction. Shifting is much improved now.

I upgraded the Avid BB5 brakes to BB7's, sold the BB5's on Ebay so the total upgrade cost was £60, plus I have a spare set of rotors for the future. Braking is excellent and adjustment of the 7's is much easier than the 5's as you can dial the pads in from both sides. More choice of pads now too when I come to replace them.

I run a Durano Plus on the front and a Marathon Plus on the rear. I have a rack fitted (narrow one, just 3cm wide) and mudguards (SKS). Due to the massive clearances I had to make brackets to bring the guards closer to the wheel, they are a perfect fit now and actually look very good. I had to bend the front stay around the calliper so that it cleared it, the stay was long enough to do this.

Frame looks fantastic with the smooth welds, paint quality appears excellent. SRAM takes a bit of getting used to (my other bikes are Campag Record) but it works well, I still forget which lever / button to push when I change to another bike!

Compact chainset and a mega-range cassette give me ratios that I could climb a wall with. When the cassette needs renewing I will probably go for an 11-26 or something a bit less aggressive as it's not needed for the hills I need to ride.

The only major issue I've had is with the Ritchey wheels. 4 weeks in I broke a spoke which I had to replace en-route as I was quite a distance from home. The shop only had silver (the Ritchey spokes are black) but I wasn't too worried. Yesterday I broke another spoke 15 miles from home. Took it into Halfords Basildon and got wonderful service, under warranty. Their mechanic is a cyclist, we spoke all the time he was doing my wheel. He had the proper black spokes and asked if I wanted him to replace the silver one as well to which I answered yes. I gave the guy a fiver for doing it for me, he said any other problems with the bike bring it back and he will sort it. That's made me happy.

Overall very happy with the bike. This morning at 5.50am I had a puncture in the week old Marathon Plus, but that's another story!


Mark

mezza77

Figured I should delurk for this thread, got mine about 3 weeks ago, first ride was down the Downs Link from Guildford to Shoreham and back. It ate up the rough track far easier than my sister on her Boardman Mtb and I am sure it was more comfortable. It flew up the only couple of hills on the journey and was generally a lot more fun than riding my Road bike, though I am a MTB rider who flirts with road riding just for commuting.

Checking it over after the ride I think I may have an issue with the bb install as well, I can see a bent and twisted ring between the crank and the bb. Need to take it back to get it looked at.

meanredspider

To give Halfords their due (and after kicking up a fuss I should add) they've brought in a mechanic to look at it. The symptoms are very similar (though worse) to my failed Cayo BB -,and that definitely is the bearing. The clicking is just getting worse and worse too - I can't think there's any much else in the BB.

EC - really interested in your upgrades. The BB7s are on promo at the moment and I noticed the difference in pads and adjustments when I looked at the on-line manual. I just don't know if Halfords/Boardman would get funny about it - though it sounds like you aren't having issues.

Agree entirely about the gearing. My worse climb is on my route home so I'll wait to pass comment but, with my journey being as hilly as just about anybody's, I certainly can't see anybody needing shorter gearing.

Anybody that has a recommendation for mudguards to fit 35 tyres, I'd be interested.

Still feeling the discomfort in my hands.

fenboy369

Does it have BB30? I have just taken a Road Team bike back to them after 7 sets of bearings, two chainsets and two frames failed to stop the creaking. The mechanic told me that they are having massive problems with the 2011 bikes BB30's. Three more people at work who got team road bikes on the C2W scheme all have the same problem.
Looks like the bottom bracket shells are slightly too big to me alowing a little movement in one area of the bearing outer shell. It was also always the same position it was creaking (6 till 9 oclock, looking at the drive side crank) so seems possible that they have a dodgy batch of BB30 shells.

meanredspider

It is BB30 I think - mine is "fixed" - apparently the bearing was assembled dry so the bearing was FUBAR'd. Replaced and greased. Seemingly OK.

Dealing with Halfords was a total nightmare though - ass and elbow. After 2 hours of waiting for a job that was to take just "45 minutes" I discovered that the mechanic didn't even know he was supposed to be doing it. I'll spare you all the other details. The manager eventually apologised and offered me a choice of accessory as a goodwill gesture. I said I needed some mudguards which he agreed to. It seems, though, that they don't actually stock mudguards that fit....

bails87

Problems reported on the MTB side of the forum with the BB30 bearings too. Someone found them to be bone dry, so took them apart and greased them, someone else has bought enduro bearings to replace the standard ones, which has solved the problems that several greases/rebuilds couldn't.

meanredspider

bails87 wrote:

someone else has bought enduro bearings to replace the standard ones, which has solved the problems that several greases/rebuilds couldn't.

Good info

Salsa

mezza77 wrote:

Checking it over after the ride I think I may have an issue with the bb install as well, I can see a bent and twisted ring between the crank and the bb. Need to take it back to get it looked at.

It's a wave washer so is supposed to look like that.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fsa ... gn=froogle

meanredspider

Well, I made it home no issue. It's heavier than my Cayo (must weigh both) so the uphill bits were harder. The downhill bits (at it was raining) were more confidence-inspiring - that's what I want in the winter.

Jason82

My bottom bracked failed on my first one after a week, my second one I liked but someone liked it more and stole it. Basically I am back on my 14 year old rockhopper fs with slicks not happy. Although hopefully I will get insurance money and I think I will get a proper road bike as I never really used the CX off road and I enjoyed the speed compared to my MTB. Also I can still use the MTB as a winter hack and keep the new road bike for warmer weather.

My official verdict is nice bike fairly fast, well equipped but unless you already have a road bike or actually want to CX don't bother get a decent road bike or MTB instead.

meanredspider

Jason82 wrote:

My official verdict is nice bike fairly fast, well equipped but unless you already have a road bike or actually want to CX don't bother get a decent road bike or MTB instead.

Yup - I have a road bike but wanted something other than an MTB to stick ice tyres on that was equipped with drops and discs. We have ice for 4 months of the winter and road tyres (I've learned the hard way) are not what you want on black ice

Jason82

meanredspider wrote:

Jason82 wrote:

My official verdict is nice bike fairly fast, well equipped but unless you already have a road bike or actually want to CX don't bother get a decent road bike or MTB instead.

Yup - I have a road bike but wanted something other than an MTB to stick ice tyres on that was equipped with drops and discs. We have ice for 4 months of the winter and road tyres (I've learned the hard way) are not what you want on black ice

Harsh we only get it for four weeks if we are lucky but people with 4x4's dearn't venture out in the dangerous conditions it's pathetic.

meanredspider

Jason82 wrote:

Harsh we only get it for four weeks if we are lucky but people with 4x4's dearn't venture out in the dangerous conditions it's pathetic.

Yup - it's amazing how much longer snow and ice stays at 700 feet elevation - especially the north faces - and, because our days are so relatively short, that has a big impact too.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Sorry for the bump, long story short I "had" two bikes. One a Roubaix Comp been commuting on this spring summer, the other a 29er used for holidays, trail with kids and was going to use it in harsh weather in the winter, just didn't fancy dropping the carbon, not really bothered about getting through running gear.

29er has been stolen, so I thought about a CX, the appeal of the boardman was the chainring being a compact, but the BB30 is the big put off, seemingly problems across the board? (see what I done there?)

Would the boardman bike cope with ice, I mean really cope? Being a soft southerner I will hardly ever be able to set off knowing that ice is 75-100% of my journey and run ice tyres, but in someways it is is worse as I could come across it in an unlikely place and at speed, hence looking at a CX bikes

meanredspider

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

Would the boardman bike cope with ice, I mean really cope? Being a soft southerner I will hardly ever be able to set off knowing that ice is 75-100% of my journey and run ice tyres, but in someways it is is worse as I could come across it in an unlikely place and at speed, hence looking at a CX bikes

Not sure what the question is precisely but I will have Marathon Winter studded tyres on my CX which I know work great with ice.

BTW - weighed my CX today - 11kgs or thereabouts - a couple of kgs heavier than my all-carbon blinged Cayo (both bikes fitted with Gators)

mlang

essex-commuter wrote:

I have a rack fitted (narrow one, just 3cm wide) and mudguards (SKS). Due to the massive clearances I had to make brackets to bring the guards closer to the wheel, they are a perfect fit now and actually look very good. I had to bend the front stay around the calliper so that it cleared it, the stay was long enough to do this.

I'd be interested in seeing a picture of your bike with rack and guards installed - it's something I'm interested in doing myself.

I'm thinking of a tortec ultralight rack - did you need to get a disc specific rack? And I'm unsure of how to fit a front guard because the hole is only on one side.

I've got an acor bar extension for my front light (looks nicer than other imho).

My only issues so far are bar ends being a bit loose and getting lots of punctures on the original tyres. The walls are just so thin that anything got through, which is not great when your halfway down a gorge without a pump. So they've been replaced by some continental commuter tyres.

I've also got to revisit the front brake at sometime - it sounds as if the rotor is a tiny bit out of line.

Otherwise, I love it.

meanredspider

mlang wrote:

I've also got to revisit the front brake at sometime - it sounds as if the rotor is a tiny bit out of line.

Are you sure the wheel is fully seated?

essex-commuter

mlang wrote:

I'm thinking of a tortec ultralight rack - did you need to get a disc specific rack? And I'm unsure of how to fit a front guard because the hole is only on one side.

OK, I'll get some pictures sorted shortly. What do you mean by the hole is only on one side?

meanredspider

essex-commuter wrote:

What do you mean by the hole is only on one side?

Yup - I was wondering about that. I just received my SKS guards and can see the need to bend the stay around the caliper - but it looks relatively easy to do. Definitely holes both sides. The guards are spot-on though - so much better than the strap-on sort.

mlang

essex-commuter wrote:

OK, I'll get some pictures sorted shortly. What do you mean by the hole is only on one side?

On the fork, there's a hole at the back, but not the front (ie it doesn't go all the way through).

meanredspider

mlang wrote:

essex-commuter wrote:

OK, I'll get some pictures sorted shortly. What do you mean by the hole is only on one side?

On the fork, there's a hole at the back, but not the front (ie it doesn't go all the way through).

Ah - that's not an issue. It's threaded. You just use a screw (provided in the SKS kit) to tighten the bracket to the back of the fork.

mlang

meanredspider wrote:

Are you sure the wheel is fully seated?

I think I've put it back on properly each time, and I've loosened and reseated the brake a few times, but I still get a small rubbing noise at one place of the wheel as it turns.

I may well upgrade to BB7 or similar at some point but, rubbing aside, the braking is far better than I've had before (not having had discs before and being of a larger, tub of lard size).

meanredspider

mlang wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Are you sure the wheel is fully seated?

I think I've put it back on properly each time, and I've loosened and reseated the brake a few times, but I still get a small rubbing noise at one place of the wheel as it turns.

I may well upgrade to BB7 or similar at some point but, rubbing aside, the braking is far better than I've had before (not having had discs before and being of a larger, tub of lard size).

The reason I mention it is that I had the same issue after a bump on the road.

I upgraded the rear to BB7 (being large myself) - gives me a spare front BB5.

prawny

The discs on my MTB are always zinging. I can't be bothered to try and stop it. It might be that the rotor is slightly out of true, you can buy a tool to fix it

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BBB-DiscStraight- ... 0664194001[/img]

nickel

I've got to say trying to stop cable discs from rubbing is nigh on impossible because the pads dont automatically adjust like hydraulic brakes, before I upgraded the cable discs on my mtb I figured as long as the disc doesn't rub to the point where it actually slows the wheel down its not too much of a problem, then again I'm a lazy sod who couldn't be bothered to keep adjusting them!

essex-commuter

The rubbing disc problem is probably a slightly warped rotor. I trued mine with my hand, it's quite easy to get it straight.

Once I set up the BB7's properly they worked fantastic, and since fitting all I've had to do is wind in the adjuster on each side one notch to bring them closer to the rotor. No rubbing, perfect braking.