Boardman CX Owners Thread

bails87

You have to bend the stay around the brake caliper, easy enough to do with a pair of pliers, Other than that, nothing that springs to mind as being a problem.

But if you're about to set off for work one morning don't look at the bolts on the end of the stays and think "hmmm, they look a bit corroded from the salt on the roads, I'll put a bit of WD40 on them to stop them getting any worse" because they'll hae undone themselves and dropped off after about a mile :oops:

cookdn

bails87 wrote:

You have to bend the stay around the brake caliper, easy enough to do with a pair of pliers, Other than that, nothing that springs to mind as being a problem.

Cool 8). Bending the stays round the front BB5 caliper was a given so if that is the only complication then it should be a fairly straight forward job (famous last words and all that). I'll let you know how I get on.

bails87 wrote:

But if you're about to set off for work one morning don't look at the bolts on the end of the stays and think "hmmm, they look a bit corroded from the salt on the roads, I'll put a bit of WD40 on them to stop them getting any worse" because they'll hae undone themselves and dropped off after about a mile :oops:

Whoops... Not the sort of spare you would carry either. How many did you lose before you realised?

bails87

Think I lost one, the rest were just really loose, I was riding along trying to figure out what the rattling noise was I got a pack of replacements pretty cheap from somewhere online though, so no great loss, and I've got plenty of spares now.

rockymerlin

Hi, i'm really happy with my cx team, however whilst trying to install my sks chromoplastics I noticed none of the bolts fit either the rear or front fork.

Could anyone please tell me the eyelet size on the frame and fork and or the bolts size supplied with the sks p45's

Much appreciated

Sam

bails87

The bolts at the bottom of the forks and at the seatstay/chainstay junction are m4 IIRC.

buccal

I see the Cxpro is finally available in the uk:

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/cx/cx_pro.html

Worth the premium over the Team?

meanredspider

Since it's no lighter, it really just comes down to the better chainset and better (BB7) brakes.

FJJ

RRP is £1,499 :shock:

That's a lot of extra £££

NWLondoner

This is on my shortlist for my commuter.

Can it take the schwalbe 38mm Snow Stud tye or the 35mm marathon winters and if so would their still be clearance for mudguards?

How is the handling of this bike in icy conditions? i did read that a more upright bike is better in icy conditions but this does have the suicide brake levers so that would give a more upright position. Although is there enough room for a front light and lef flasher with these levers in place?

cookdn

NWLondoner wrote:

I did read that a more upright bike is better in icy conditions but this does have the suicide brake levers so that would give a more upright position. Although is there enough room for a front light and led flasher with these levers in place?

Just...



I had to move the right brake lever outwards by a few mm to allow space for my MJ-808 clone. However I suspect when the either the brake cables or bar tape need replacement then the suicide levers will get removed as I hardly use them.

Best regards
David

bails87

It'll take 35mm winters and mudguards, don't know about the 38s. I had a light between the cross levers and the stem.

reformedfatty

+1 to the ranks, large cx team being ordered on cyclescheme. Were the BB issues on these a fitting issue or a problem with the part?

fingers crossed for getting on ok with the shifters. campy on my ribble winter. Looking forward to a compact chainset for the hills!

cookdn

reformedfatty wrote:

+1 to the ranks, large cx team being ordered on cyclescheme. Were the BB issues on these a fitting issue or a problem with the part?

Fitting - specifically lubrication.

reformedfatty wrote:

fingers crossed for getting on ok with the shifters. campy on my ribble winter.

The shifters are fine. The only problem I have very occasionally is going for the double-tap to select a bigger sprocket going uphill and not pushing the lever far enough in one motion so that it drops to a smaller sprocket instead.

reformedfatty wrote:

Looking forward to a compact chainset for the hills!

Don't forget you have 11-32 on the back as well as 50-34 on the front. A massive (if not a little jumpy) range, nearly 1:1 when you have 32 and 34 engaged back and front. When I get round to it I am going to swap the rear cassette for a 11-28 for normal day-to-day use.

Best regards
David

meanredspider

Yup - I swapped the CX Team I had only 105 shifters which were so much nicer and an 11-28 cassette which worked brilliantly for even my pretty hilly (by most standards) commute

fret

After 2 years of umming and ahhing I have finally done it. Picked up a Medium CX today, but had to work tonight so won't be able to commuterise it until the morrow. Previously I had a 2010 Cannondale CX9, the last model made in the USA that I picked up in May for £560 with 200 miles on it. Most comfy bike I have ridden, makes the Carbon Fibre Ribble I own feel wooden.
Anyhoo, the main reason for getting shot of the CX9 was the cantilevers. Superb once set up and changed to TRP EuroX, but not in the rain. Hardly any power at all. Once I had ridden the Ribble which has full Ultegra fitted I almost tipped over the front when yanking the anchors on after the rear wheel lifted about 18 inches!!! :shock: The people on the ride were rather impressed
It was a toss up twixt the Merida CX 4 Disc (105), Focus Mares AX 4 disc (Tiagra) or the CX. I like Shimano and have had it on all my bikes, the old 105 was superb and th enew Ultegra is awesome, so I had to go into a great deal of research for the SRAM stuff, still, it's good enough forJeremy Powers and nearly all the Tour teams.
Merida stockist wouldn't budge on £999.99
Focus is battleship grey and lesser equipped than the Merida and CX with the Tiagra. OK, I could upgrade and found one for £750.00, but no reviews at all.
Just found this thread and bought the CX after trolling through about 18 pages. Hellfrauds assure me the BB issue has been sorted and if there is a problem it takes about 25 mins to swap out. The only things I shall be changing are the saddle to my Specialized Phenom that was on the CX9 and then fitting all the SKS P35 guards I have, lights, pump, SPD's and saddle bag. The only low so far is that my pump is too long for the frame, so it will have to go on a bottle cage auxiliary mount, no hassle as I've had this on the previous road bikes that were my commuters.
Oh, I got 10% for British Cycling, but they wouldn't give another 10 compounded for NUS codes :evil: I bet they do the "Spend more than £700 and get £70 off" on Monday as well.

Hopefully that's it for new bikes!! I've got through 14 in 6 years. Now to look for lighter wheels, Shimano shifters and mechs

diliff

I just got my Boardman CX medium this weekend. Pretty happy with it, apart from a few niggles. I found that there's very little clearance between the front wheel and my feet, and occasionally my toes have clipped the tyre when turning sharply and pedalling at the same time(so really only an issue during slow manoeuvring).

Also, my front brakes were shockingly poor for disc brakes - to the point where pulling the levers as hard as I could and almost bottoming them out, it still had very little bite and came to a fairly sedate stop, certainly worse than the tektro rim brakes on my old road bike. One of the reasons I bought the CX over a road bike was the theoretically superior (theoretically because they don't allow you to properly test before taking the bike!) stopping power of discs so I took it back to the Halfords shop and twice they 'adjusted' it, although I think all they did was tighten the calipers to the point where they were rubbing slightly. Anyway, it made absolutely no difference to the stopping power, although the rear brakes were satisfactory and I could lock them up most of the time.

Anyway, I told them I wasn't happy with this kind of braking performance and they said they didn't know what else they could do as it seemed normal to them. Then they told me silly lies about how the front brake never works as well as the rear brake because most of your weight is over the back wheel (utter bullsh!t, since when you brake with the fronts, the weight shifts to the FRONT). I tried to argue the point but wasn't getting anywhere. It's not that they were rude, just lacking in knowledge. Anyway, eventually I suggested that many Boardman CX buyers ended up swapping the brakes for BB7, as BB5s were known to be inferior, and the store manager said if it would make me happy, he'd replace the front brakes with BB7 free of charge, but that they would have to order them in. I'll be taking the bike back next weekend to get this done..... Wish me luck.

meanredspider

@dilif - what size feet have you got? Are you riding with cleats? There is more clearance on a CX frame at the front ring to the ground. This puts your foot more in line with the centreline of the wheel reducing clearance.

As for brakes, what bedding-in procedure did you use? BB7s is a common upgrade - they are better. It does take a bit of effort to get the brakes bedded-in. I use the process of braking hard from about 20mph (best done downhill!) 6x (without actually stopping the wheel turning) though I notice from the Superstars pads I've just bought they recommend the same procedure except that it should be done 10-20 times until a drop of water (I guess they mean spit) sizzles on the disc. Anyhow, I was carrying this procedure out on my Volagi this morning and the improvement is dramatic. From experience, it still takes a little while for the pads to reach maximum capability.

When I had a CX Team, I found swapping the SRAM shifters and the interupter brakes for Shimano 105 shifters improved the feel. I think the Shimano levers are stiffer and there isn't that big SRAM "paddle" to get in the way either.

reformedfatty

Finally picking mine up at the weekend.. hopefully the floods will have subsided by then, otherwise it will be a proper baptising as the 4 mile detour im having to take in the car would add too much time to a cycle journey!

That said im kind of looking forward to pedalling through water over the BB

diliff

Size 8 UK / 44 EU shoes, SPD MTB cleats, with the cleats placed around the ball of the foot, not too far back. Same pedals/shoes that I used on my previous road bike without any contact with the tyres, although they were 23mm tyres, not 35mm. The thing is, I want to put mudguards on it so it doesn't really seem likely that I'd be able to avoid contact with my feet, even if I put thinner tyres on (i'm looking at 28-32mm slicks for commuting).

As for bedding in, I've probably ridden about 10 miles so far with at least 20-30 high speed brakes to gauge just how bad they were, and really there was no improvement really, the fronts are still significantly poorer than the rears. It was pouring with rain this weekend so I wasn't able to ride much more than that, but never noticed any sizzling water, or even warm discs for that matter. I guess if the brakes aren't contacting the discs properly, they also won't be heating the discs up much. It's my first time with disc brakes so I'm not sure what to look for or how to adjust them. The pads SEEM to contact the disc at a slight angle before bedding down flat (hard to tell) but I'm not sure what's normal and what's not.

meanredspider

diliff wrote:

Size 8 UK / 44 EU shoes, SPD MTB cleats, with the cleats placed around the ball of the foot, not too far back. Same pedals/shoes that I used on my previous road bike without any contact with the tyres, although they were 23mm tyres, not 35mm. The thing is, I want to put mudguards on it so it doesn't really seem likely that I'd be able to avoid contact with my feet, even if I put thinner tyres on (i'm looking at 28-32mm slicks for commuting).

As for bedding in, I've probably ridden about 10 miles so far with at least 20-30 high speed brakes to gauge just how bad they were, and really there was no improvement really, the fronts are still significantly poorer than the rears. It was pouring with rain this weekend so I wasn't able to ride much more than that, but never noticed any sizzling water, or even warm discs for that matter. I guess if the brakes aren't contacting the discs properly, they also won't be heating the discs up much. It's my first time with disc brakes so I'm not sure what to look for or how to adjust them. The pads SEEM to contact the disc at a slight angle before bedding down flat (hard to tell) but I'm not sure what's normal and what's not.

I only had slight overlap issues with size 10.5 shoes on SPDs running Marathon Winters (35mm?)

The bedding-in braking needs to be done back-to-back up to speed then almost stop then up to speed then almost stop over-and-over - the idea being to build heat (hence why doing it downhill makes sense). The bedding-in process is as much to do with longevity of the pads as effectiveness.

How are you judging the effectiveness of the front vs the rear? Possibility the pads are contaminated (with oil/grease) I suppose. Worth looking on YouTube for a set-up procedure for BB5s. Certainly there's a great one for BB7s done by Volagi. Worth getting a Torx T25 screwdriver as it makes it so much easier.

bails87

You kept mentioning that Volagi BB7 video MRS soI looked it up and followed almost the same procedure for my BB5s at the weekend. I released the cable then pushed the caliper arm until the pad hit the disc, then clamped the cable back on at that point, to replicate the 'winding in' of the outboard pad adjuster on the BB7s, then carried on the process as per the video, then released a bit of tension from the cable.

It's made a noticable difference, theres a very short 'free' stroke before the brakes bite. The feel is much more solid since I removed the inline adjusters and changed to shimano levers too.

diliff

meanredspider wrote:

I only had slight overlap issues with size 10.5 shoes on SPDs running Marathon Winters (35mm?)

The bedding-in braking needs to be done back-to-back up to speed then almost stop then up to speed then almost stop over-and-over - the idea being to build heat (hence why doing it downhill makes sense). The bedding-in process is as much to do with longevity of the pads as effectiveness.

How are you judging the effectiveness of the front vs the rear? Possibility the pads are contaminated (with oil/grease) I suppose. Worth looking on YouTube for a set-up procedure for BB5s. Certainly there's a great one for BB7s done by Volagi. Worth getting a Torx T25 screwdriver as it makes it so much easier.

Hmm, I'll probably buy the mudguards anyway and see how it goes, after all, it only happens in uncommon circumstances and not during high speed riding so unlikely to pose a huge problem if it clips occasionally.

As for bedding in, I wasn't aware this was necessary... They didn't mention anything in-store about this of course, but if I get superior brakes out of the confusion, so much the better. It could be that they contaminated the pads while setting the bike up.

I was judging the effectiveness of the brakes by reaching about 20mph and seeing how sharp the brakes were (braking with just the front or just the back). The backs felt much sharper, and gave me the sensation of stopping faster even before breaking traction. The fronts simply felt very rubbery, and once I squeezed the levers past about half way, offered no additional stopping power no matter how hard I pulled on them. All I could feel was the sensation of cable stretch (in fact I can see that the brake mechanism does continue to move so it isn't actually cable stretch I don't think, it just feels rubbery like stretch). In other words, I only effectively had half the stopping power I would expect, and nothing even remotely close to being forceful enough to lift the rear up. Of course I don't WANT to flip over the handlebars, but surely a lightweight bike with disc brakes should be capable of doing so if prompted?

How 'immediate' should the sensation on the levers feel, when braking on BB5s? I know it must depend on the length of cable, quality of cable, types of lever, etc. But quality rim brakes bite down quite quickly and while they don't have a lot of absolute power, they feel responsive. These brakes (even the rear, but to a lesser extent), don't have much bite at all. It's not that I have to pull the lever particularly hard to brake, but they are not as responsive as I was expecting, and don't really start to brake hard until at half of the way down. Is this normal? If adjusted any tighter, the pads rub when rolling, so I don't think it's an issue with the cable slackness.

diliff

essex-commuter wrote:

Pictures as requested:



This shows the clearance the forks give:


This is the Tortec Velocity rack (love it!)


This the how I bridged the gap for the rear guard:


This is how I worked the front stay around the calliper:


Hope that helps.

I'm also looking at fitting the Tortec Velocity Hybrid rack to my CX and SKS mudguards, and would have loved to have seen pics of this one (I assume it's not the wider Hybrid version that you fitted though?), particularly as it sounds like a bit of extra work was involved? Essex-commuter, are you able to republish the photos? It looks like they're no longer available.

lostmertonian

I'm totally new to the site, having found this thread through Google - it's really helpful for someone as new to cycling as I am, so thank you everyone.

I've had my Boardman CX for about a month now, and am generally fairly happy with it - I'm fairly tall (6' 5") so was a bit worried that the extra large wouldn't fit perfectly, but it's been fine.

However, there are a few little niggles that I plan to raise with Halfords when it goes in for its complimentary first service. Apologies if this goes over old ground, but do any of these ring particular bells for other CX owners? As I say, I'm still learning about the technicalities of cycling...:

1. A worrying creaking / cracking sound when pressure applied to pedals, which is getting louder over time – is this likely to be the bearings issue I've read about on these pages?

2. Back brake has tendency to ‘lock’ the back wheel when trying to slow gently from high speed, causing occasional skidding down hills. This is inconvenient, but could become downright dangerous if I'm hurtling down any serious gradients.

3. The front mudguard that Halfords put on was consistently catching on the wheel, so I have now removed it – probably just coincidence that I got two front punctures in the space of two rides...

4. Occasional catching of front disc brake rotor as wheel rotates – not sure if this is because the rotor isn’t perfectly straight or if the caliper isn't perfectly aligned. (On both disc brakes, one of the bolts holding it in place were initially pretty much loose; this has now been addressed by the helpful people at Giant, where my wife gets her bike serviced.)

5. When using the centre-handlebar brake levers, using the back brake lever moves the cable forward enough to pull the front brake on as well. Again, not a major issue as yet but could become something more worrying as it effectively makes it an 'emergency handbrake' rather than a gradual slowing mechanism.

6. Chain is rattling slightly when in small-cog to small-cog, although this doesn't appear to be a major issue for performance.

Any suggestions or comments on any of these would be gratefully received, as I don't honestly trust the people at Halfords to know much more than me...

Thanks,

lostmertonian

meanredspider

Hi there & welcome. Hope we can help - here's my views:

1. Could well be especially if you can feel "grittiness" in the rotation of the pedals by hand (rear wheel off the ground).
2. You should use the rear brake sparingly most of the time (exception, IMO, is when you are very grip limited like ice or similar when you will at least stay upright using the rear brake). Most of the time the front brake will do most of the work because, when braking, most of the weight is on the front tyre and it has far far more grip than the rear.
3. Yup - take that back and get them to do it properly
4. When you say "catching" do you mean "rubbing"? It's not unusual to get some dirt in there and, because the disc is rarely ever completely true, it will rub at different points. If it's only occasional, don't worry about it.
5. Not really understanding this. The two brakes should be completely indenpendent
6. You should never really be in the the small cog to small cog position. When you're in the small ring up front you should only be using the 6-7 larger cogs at the back. In the big front ring, limit yourself to the smallest 6-7 cogs at the back. By doing what you're doing, the chain is taking an S path and wear the components quickly. As the two sets of gears overlap a lot there's no need to use that configuration.

Hope that helps

fret

1. A worrying creaking / cracking sound when pressure applied to pedals, which is getting louder over time – is this likely to be the bearings issue I've read about on these pages?

A. There was a massive batch of faulty BB30 bearings. Take it back, it's a 25 minute job and they must repair under warranty/SOGA (sale of goods act 1979, as amended)

2. Back brake has tendency to ‘lock’ the back wheel when trying to slow gently from high speed, causing occasional skidding down hills. This is inconvenient, but could become downright dangerous if I'm hurtling down any serious gradients.

A. Due to the weight of a rider moving forward under braking (esp downhill) the rear will naturally go light. Use the Front brake more and don't worry about the rear. I rarely use back brakes on cycles or motorcycles


3. The front mudguard that Halfords put on was consistently catching on the wheel, so I have now removed it – probably just coincidence that I got two front punctures in the space of two rides...

A. The OEM tyres are useless for protection. Fit some SKS Chromoplastic Mudguards. One easy bend in the front stay sorts it. I have the P35's and they cover 28mm Gatorskins brilliantly. A small adjustment and I can use the 35mm cross tyres in mud or snow.

4. Occasional catching of front disc brake rotor as wheel rotates – not sure if this is because the rotor isn’t perfectly straight or if the caliper isn't perfectly aligned. (On both disc brakes, one of the bolts holding it in place were initially pretty much loose; this has now been addressed by the helpful people at Giant, where my wife gets her bike serviced.)

A. The discs can easily flex and the pads may not be returning correctly. It's important to keep disc brakes clean.

5. When using the centre-handlebar brake levers, using the back brake lever moves the cable forward enough to pull the front brake on as well. Again, not a major issue as yet but could become something more worrying as it effectively makes it an 'emergency handbrake' rather than a gradual slowing mechanism.

A. Incorrectly routed levers and cables.

6. Chain is rattling slightly when in small-cog to small-cog, although this doesn't appear to be a major issue for performance

A. NEVER go to full cross or extremes when using derailleurs as this wears the chain etc prematurely. There are more than enough ratios to use.

diliff

Regarding the centre brake levers in question 5, I have the same issue, but I'm not sure how they could have routed them differently to avoid it. Basically due to how close they are together, one brake cable is 'in front' of the other, meaning that when the lever pivots, the cable moves forward and touches the other cable, pushing the cable forward.

lostmertonian

Wow, a speedy response! Meanredspider, Fret - thank you both for your assistance.

I've already been told off by my long-term cycling-commuter neighbour about using small cog to small cog - I had no idea, so good to know for the future.

And it's interesting to hear that I should be using the front brake more; I'm sure that many moons ago when I first learned to ride a bike, I was told to use the back as 'default' then the front for more 'urgent' braking, presumably to stop people flying over the handlebars. However the logic you point out, especially for downhill, does make a lot of sense - I'd just not heard it before, so thanks.

I'll strike those two off my points to raise at Halfords, but will be sure hammer home the concerns around the bearings and brake cable routing.

Thanks again - much appreciated.

meanredspider

lostmertonian wrote:

And it's interesting to hear that I should be using the front brake more;.

For a really graphic description of this effect, watch some MotoGP racing - you'll basically see the riders braking for corners with their rear wheel off the ground. That's even with suspension. On a rigid-forked bike like the CX, the load imbalance, once the brakes are applied, is huge. Most disc-braked bikes have a small rear disc to try to compensate but, honestly, I only really use the rear brake when I'm worried that the front tyre will lose grip (ice, gravel, mud) and I don't want to face-plant.

Good luck with Halfrauds

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

BB7 are a big improvement, but I still get a little rotor rub, doesn't stop the sping though lie the BB5 used to. I found unbolting slightly and the centering the BB7 wit hthe eye as close as possible to the inbound pad works the best.

My one and only clipless moment was on the CX I had a habit of stopping and letting the wheel rest turned to the right with my right foot unclipped and the left ready to pump, only as the wheel straigned my left foot jammed up against it...