Boardman CX Owners Thread

Darren74

Thanks for the reply bails87. Is the juddering normal too?

bails87

My brakes do it too, but a lot less than the £500 of Avid XX brakes on a Whyte 146 i demoed

Not sure what you can do about it tbh, just make sure pads and rotors are clean.

DancesWithHi11s

No judder here ...

Try setting the brakes yourself, its normal for them to be a little odd maybe wearing in but you should be able to bed them in with about 20 hard stops.

Try setting them up yourself, you'll need to change the pads sometime and when cleaning the bike the brake dust builds in awkward places, sometimes it easier to clean if you remove and refit the caliper. Its a skill you could use.

Follow this video from setting up the CP bolts. I find it more accurate to have the bike on the floor and roll the bike back and forth while squeezing the brakes gently to hard to get an beter position on the caliper. Important that you only loosen the CP bolts to the point where they only just have play to bind with the disc with the brake lever pulled hard.

They are a tad fiddly, have some patients and repeat / refine till you get it right. Boardman should have provided BB5 documentation or guides for servicing the brakes. Ive put 2 of these together, another for a friend - neither contained brake manual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5zjUaTAQmY

DancesWithHi11s

My headset was a little loose out of the box, but was fine for tightening the headset screw.

It was subtle loose, if you picked up the bike on frame behind front fork you could feel the wheel pull with a 'tick' as u took weight off.

Loosen then re tighten the headset screw on the crown of the fork stem.

Darren74

DancesWithHi11s wrote:

My headset was a little loose out of the box.

I don't think it's the headset. That seems to be ok. I went out today and when I applied 'heavyish' front brake I didn't like the feeling or the sound. It wasn't doing it when I first got it, at least I don't recall it doing it. I'll take it back and see what they have to say.

lardboy

Could be a similar problem to this: http://www.lfgss.com/thread59962-7.html#post2257034

howards

If anyone is thinking about upgrading the Apex kit on their boardman CX give me a shout as I'm looking for an Apex group or components. Even better if you are swapping them out from new.

Cheers!

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

What are you offering for the Apex? I have been thinking about changing to 105, front mech is not apex though.

My headset was loose too, but have tightened it but still feels like some think is not right over bumps etc

essex-commuter

Has anyone serviced the Ritchey hubs yet?

I have a day off Friday and am thinking about re-greasing. I haven't looked too close at the hubs, anyone know what they are like, how easy they are to do?

Cheers.

Darren74

I haven't looked at the hubs but, further to my brake problem, Halfords checked everything was set correctly, replaced the pads and disc and the problem was still there. They replaced the wheel and the problem was solved. I think that under heavy breaking it was the hub was making the noise/vibration.

meanredspider

Still haven't seen hide-nor-hair of my rear hanger from Halfords. It must be a month since I broke the other one. The spare I got from Boardman is fine but just be aware of how long it's taking.

lardboy

I have to subscribe myself to this thread, as I've got myself one for the grand price of £688.50, thanks to the sale, British Cycling and NUS* discounts. For a bike like this, that's an incredible price.

I collected it boxed and have taken it to my LBS to get it assembled, the BB greased and the steerer bung checked. I've picked up some BB7 brakes for £60 each price matched through Evans which they'll install, along with a set of SKS Chromoplastic guards and a rack. I've got 28mm Gatorskins waiting at the the post office, which I'll pop on when I collect it on Saturday.

Hopefully having a decent mechanic do the first setup and checkover will ensure that some of the issues will be avoided, and I won't be back on here with too many strange crunching noises.

*Not a student, but they didn't ask for any proof

meanredspider

That's a great price - is that the lowest anyone's paid (at least recently)?

You should be fine once the LBS has worked on it. Hopefully you will get a good price for your BB5s

Darren74

I bought mine through C2W just before Christmas. As I run the scheme I went into one of my local stores and secured a 'deal' with them for myself and everyone else who took up on the scheme. I spent £1000 but what I received the following:

CX £999.99
Apollo Haze £139
Garmin forerunner 305 £150
Helmet £30
Rack £32
Mudguards x2 £60
Computer mount £25
Pedals £15
Saddle £30

If my calculations are correct, that brings my cx to around £519!

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Help! Bit of advice for a total bike mechanic noob!

I had a feeling something was not right at the front end (not tech terms here) where the stem meets the steerer?

Anyway the bolt at the top and going down was loose so I tightened up this and it resolved some of the problem, but the spacers are still moveable and the "disc" not a clue what this is called can be turned and feels quite loose where it meets the forks, now I checked my other bike and I cannot turn the one on that it only moves when I turn the handle bars and the spacers are really firm on the other bike!

So if you are clever enough to decipher the above, any ideas on what I should do next :-)

lardboy

Sounds like the same as the fellow on the previous page, who I pointed here, although the answer there is in relatively techie language:

lardboy wrote:

Could be a similar problem to this: http://www.lfgss.com/thread59962-7.html#post2257034

Most likely, the fork bung is loose. This is probably a bike shop job, as you will need a torque wrench to make sure that it's all tightened to the correct amount, and that there's no damage to the headset. I wouldn't take it to Halfords, I'd take it to any other LBS who will be more used to dealing with carbon fibre instead of just doing stuff up tight. It should be a 5 minute job.

In case you were wondering, the "disc" is the top cap.

bails87

Just tightening the top cap without loosening the stem bolts will do nothing, BTW.

To tighten the headset you loosen the two bolts that hold the stem onto the steerer, adjust the top cap bolt to preload the headset bearings, then tighten the stem bolts.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

bails87 wrote:

Just tightening the top cap without loosening the stem bolts will do nothing, BTW.

To tighten the headset you loosen the two bolts that hold the stem onto the steerer, adjust the top cap bolt to preload the headset bearings, then tighten the stem bolts.

Do I need a torque allen key? Or hand tight?

bails87

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

bails87 wrote:

Just tightening the top cap without loosening the stem bolts will do nothing, BTW.

To tighten the headset you loosen the two bolts that hold the stem onto the steerer, adjust the top cap bolt to preload the headset bearings, then tighten the stem bolts.

Do I need a torque allen key? Or hand tight?

I've never used a torque key, and never had a problem with tightening headsets, but......
Mind you, the top cap bolt isn't torqued to a specific level, it's more about feel isn't it?
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... ice#adjust

Package

Hello folks, time to stop lurking. Some very useful info here. Had a CX since September, very pleased. Commuter and winter trainer, guards n rack fitted, so a solid lump, but rolls nice on michy 25mm Krylion carbons. Found the 32t cassette too gappy for general stuff, so came down to a 28t, now a 26t as CRC had them in sale. Seems spot on, and forces the use of that funny little ring up front at times, rather than grinding away in the big'un and mashing the knees.

I also had a few punctures early on, found to be rim tape badly seated over off centered spoke holes, so id recommend ditching them asap, sticky cloth tape does the job nice. Brakes settled down early on, took delivery of bike in a box, but found they set up ok with some fiddling.

Im not 100% convinced on the shifters, yes solid but hand hold feels not right for me and the change is heavy. Have shimano on other cross bike but prefer campy levers, and so thinking of ditching them for campy 10's, probably needing a cable widget to keep cable travel right. Anyone any experience of doing this? I dont want to go the chew and expense of changing more than shifters, but did wonder if the mech is in part responsible for the heavy gear change, and its handy to leave on for when the 32t goes back on for manky big hills. Ill report back if i take the plunge.

Also had some problems with headset loosening, I swapped a spacer out and put on top of stem, been no bother since.

meanredspider

Having set my heart on a Volagi (though still need to get it past Mrs MRS), it got me thinking about the bike line-up I have and what I'd do. This, in turn, led me to assess the Boardman as to whether I'd keep it or not. Here's a summary of my thoughts:

- The Boardman is a great all-round commuter bike.
- In particular, the disc brakes and guards on a roadie-style set-up is great (that's why I love the Volagi so much)
- It's not the lightest bike in the world: in full commuter set up (lights, guards, Gatorskins) it's around 13kg
- With Marathon Winters, the weight problem gets worse - I'm pretty sure in that arrangement the Boardman weighs more than my Cube Reaction MTB on Ice Spiker Pros (at 14kg). It's pretty marginal which bike is better for icy/snowy conditions - the gap is much smaller than I'd hoped with the Spiker Pros being far more sure-footed in severe ice, to boot.
- Whilst I'm on the negatives, Halfords have been (worse than) hopeless.

So, I'm very happy with it for what I got it for. Faced with the possibility of a much lighter (carbon) road bike with guards & discs, I couldn't justify keeping the Boardman though as it's just not got enough advantages over the MTB for the really tough conditions. In the meantime, it's just the job for getting me through this winter.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I have been riding my road bike for the last 5 days, as the headset is fecked at the moment and not had a chance to get it to someone to sort out. The last 5 days have convinced me that it was not the answer to winter commuting and I am pretty confident it will be on eBay by this time next week. The advantages were mudguards (going to give the crudcatcher a go on the road bike) and disc brakes. To be honest a week back on the road bike and I am back used to allowing more braking distance, and if I really yank on they are effective even in the wet. So really for commuting I really only need something that stops my 'arris from getting soaked

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

http://www.bikeradar.com/gallery/articl ... %2Farticle ME LIKE its my best bike with disc brakes, but no Euro distributor :-(

meanredspider

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gallery/article/specialized-take-volagi-to-court-over-liscio-bike-32826?img=1&pn=specialized-take-volagi-to-court-over-liscio-bike&mlc=news/article ME LIKE its my best bike with disc brakes, but no Euro distributor :-(

I'm planning on getting my bro in Vancouver to source me one. Volagi are working on a UK distributor now.

jt657

Hello everyone.

I have a quick question about tyres. I like the size and utility of the standard tyres which came with my CX. However they have, as expected, proven to be more vulnerable to puncture than a balloon landing on razor-wire. I would like some puncture protection and as such have looked into Schwalbe Deltas with 'wired protection' amongst others. Does anyone have any definitive recommendations regarding puncture resistant tyres? Ideally I'd like them about the same size as the ones fitted, but the multitude of different tyre size specifications really confuses me (I'm not great with numbers).

What should I be looking for?

bails87

Schwalbe Marathon/Marathon plus and Conti Gatorskins are the usual recommendations.

I've got 25mms, but go for something a bit bigger for more comfort.

EDIT: Does anyone know the wheel weight? I haven't got any scales!

tincaman

Can't go wrong with Schwalbe Marathons, I have the Racers fitted in the 30 size which are the lightest of the Marathon range

meanredspider

bails87 wrote:

EDIT: Does anyone know the wheel weight? I haven't got any scales!

Front Wheel + 25c Gator + inner + disc + skewer + tape = 1550

Inner = 150

Gator = 250

Wheel etc = 1150g

HTH

bails87

Thanks MRS , the rotor is about 100g, qr possibly 60g (based on Deore) . So probably 1kg for the front, which means it's comfortably a 2kg wheelset.... Hmmm, very tempting to try building something lighter.

meanredspider

I also weighed

BB5 caliper = 250g including pads

105 brake caliper = 200g including pads

So the weight difference between the two systems is 50g plus the disc plus slightly longer cable (x2 obviously). I think Volagi use a number of 400g which feels about right: 300-400g