Boardman CX Owners Thread

newtonuk

I've just ordered a new 2014 CX Team to use as my commuting/winter bike... Looking forward to it.

CXrider

Hi Guys/Gals,

Picking up my 2014 Team CX tomorrow.
I plan to do some longer runs on the road so my immediate intention is to put on some road tyres. I keep reading about gatorskins 25mm so I will happily go with the flow and get some in.

However, my issue is changing over. I will probably do a canal towpath or light trail with my kids at the weekend but during the week and weekend mornings, with my mates, i will be wishing to cane it on the road.
I therefore need to be able to quickly swap over to road tyres and the back again.

My first thought is to get an extra standard Team CX wheelset with the skins on so all I have to do is swap the wheels over and I assume fiddle with the gears and brakes a bit? At least, with the exact same wheels it will have the same basis parameters so fiddling will be down to a minimum.

Is this a good way forward? I am almost new to this and haven't changed a wheel or tyre for two decades.
I just want to make it easy for myself.

The alternative is just swapping tyres out each time, of course.. cheaper and not much slower.

If anybody has changed wheels already and doesn't want their old ones then please let me know and I will likely buy them.

fret

The wheels may be different between old and 2014 models.
I have the OEM and Kinesis for mine with the same reasoning as yourself with weekend riding. Tyres take 5-10 mins to swap over. My spare wheels will more than likely be up for sale shortly when I get some new ones.

Or get some cheap wheels, I had some from graham weigh for £80.00 which were fine for off road. Adjusting the brakes took a few minutes, the gears took no adjustemnt at all.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Fit-d ... 1519wt_860

Alternatively, the road tyres will cope fine on canal paths, just keep them inflated to 100psi. Before MTB's were invented we used to zap around the woods on normal road tyres, often slicks and just put up with them sliding.

newtonuk

I'll hopefully find out tomorrow evening, but can anybody tell me where the mudguard mounts are on the fork on the 2014 model please? I can't see them anywhere in the promotional shots.

fret

"Fully mudguard and rear rack compatible"
Can't see them clearly in the pics, but no doubt still come out of the same Thai factory as before. They appear to be just behind the Q/R as a fatter part of the dropout

apreading

They may not be in the promotional shots - I seem to recall the review for the hybrid or CX on bikeradar said they had a pre-release model that didnt have the mounts on the fork - but were assured by boardman that the retail ones would. It could be as simple as that.

Jamboness

They'll do. It's only the centre of the handlebars that are "oversized".
I have some spare in my shed, I think they are even the OEM Boardman ones as well. You're welcome to them if that helps.

That's very nice of you fret but I shant put you out. I'll go grab a couple on ebay somewhere. Cheers! I'll keep my tyres at 100-110psi from now on. What track pump you use? I'm thinking of getting the Topeak Joe Blow Sport II.

At the moment I just have a hand pump with no PSI reader so it's likely my own fault I got a puncture. I did have the tyres pumped as much as I could though!

apreading

Joe Blow is the standard - never heard a bad word said about them and many mechanics/bike shops use them.

Jamboness

Nice - there's lots of different ones. Any recommendations?

fret

£19.99 from LIDL and I've had it for about 5 years now. If it dies then there are plenty out there.
Halfrauds ones are rebranded topeak or suchlike.

newtonuk

apreading wrote:

They may not be in the promotional shots - I seem to recall the review for the hybrid or CX on bikeradar said they had a pre-release model that didnt have the mounts on the fork - but were assured by boardman that the retail ones would. It could be as simple as that.

There are no mudguard mounts on the fork! The kid at Halfords recommended Crud Road Racers!

However, I left my CX at Halfords as the bike had a crack on the seat post/seat stay/top tube joint. The display model had the same fault!



Very disappointed.

Jamboness

Next Question! (I'm sure you're all getting fed up with me now):

Need to get some Mudguards for Winter. Looks like the SKS Chromoplastic Mudguard Set is the best for our bike. If I have 700cx25mm Gatorskins, what size of mudguards I need? 700 x 35mm?

Many thanks in advance.

CXrider

My first trip on my new bike!

viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12944721

newtonuk

Excellent, what size did you get and what height are you? It'd help me greatly.

fret

newtonuk wrote:

There are no mudguard mounts on the fork! The kid at Halfords recommended Crud Road Racers!

Rubbish!!!! Crud Roads won't fit.

Jamboness wrote:

Need to get some Mudguards for Winter. Looks like the SKS Chromoplastic Mudguard Set is the best for our bike. If I have 700cx25mm Gatorskins, what size of mudguards I need? 700 x 35mm?

35's will suit it just fine. I use 35's with 28's and also the OEM Excavaders.

newtonuk

So after three attempts at getting me a Boardman CX Team 2014, Halfords Head Office have acknowledged that they have an issue with quality control with the CX Team bikes and they have frequent reports of the frame showing a crack at the junction between the seat post, seat stays and top tube.

My local Halfords don't know how long this will take to resolve, but they are unable to offer me a CX Team at this moment in time.

Jamboness

35's will suit it just fine. I use 35's with 28's and also the OEM Excavaders.

Brilliant, cheers.

newtonuk

They've been removed from Halford's website now!

salsa fargo

spent the last few months reading reports on cross bikes and decided to go for a boardman bike i picked up my bike on wednesday night and discoverd the back wheel was like a egg not realy round and true so complained about that and got the halfords guy to order me a new one,took the bike away and started taking the crappy brake levers off the top of the handlebars.
went and bought some road tyres and full mudgaurds on the friday after work then started to fit all the new things to my great bike must of spent a fair few hours setting it all up and fitting lights and adjusting the stem,decided to go for a quick spin around the block,it felt great and made me smile loads.

had a quick look on this forum to tell everyone how good the bike was and to post a picture but then i saw the post about the frame cracking near the seat tube/top tube junction and decided to have a look at my bike and discoverd a big crack simalair to the one pictured on here,it was about 1am last night i felt well pissed off.

just wondering how i stand with getting a refund and for all the loss of time and enjoyment from riding this weekend.matt

newtonuk

Sorry to hear that Matt. First thing though, make sure you notify your Halfords. I was talking to the store manager at my local Halfords just a while ago and he suggested that they are sourcing a number of frames to rebuild the affected bikes. I've checked 4 bikes now, all that I could find and they all had the crack.

It may be cosmetic, but it still shouldn't be happening on a brand new bike.

salsa fargo

would it be worth getting the 2012 model as thats still available in extra large,but i got the large 2014 but i have 6 inches of seatpost out the frame

newtonuk

If I was offered a last years model I would go for it, but only you can make that decision. There's a wealth of information on that model in this thread. Good luck!

fret

salsa fargo wrote:

just wondering how i stand with getting a refund and for all the loss of time and enjoyment from riding this weekend.matt

Just return it under the sale of goods act 1979 (as amended) as "not fit for purpose"
Halfords must collect it under the Act, you do not need to be out of pocket at all.
The crack may just be in the paint where the welding process has cooled, but is it worth taking the risk? I think not.

My rear wheel was also eliptical, but it's not that bad to notice when riding. It's a problem with mass produced bikes and why many get them set up by their LBS or get a different model in the first instance. Halfords should check them prior to selling them but they are just a shed, not a specialist. :evil:

From the few reports so far on the new model I wonder if Merida still make the bikes for Boardman as Merida are the second biggest bike manufacturer in the world and produce frames for Cannondale, Carrera, Trek (not 100% sure) and many other makes. The forks certainly look as if they may be different and may be sourced from a new supplier as well.
If you wonder who the biggest in the world is, then it's GIANT. Many of the frames on bikes from different companies are, in fact, the same frame, much like Citroen, Peugeot, Ford and BMW using the same 1.6 HDi engine. Saves costs.

The thing is, pound for pound there are no other CX bikes out there for the came money with a similar spec. Most have Tiagra shifters and mechs at best. The only one that compared to the CX at the time I got mine a year ago was the Merida as it has 105 as standard.
The CX STILL gets good reviews and now I have almost got mine exactly how I want it I am thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, it's almost a year old and many of the bikes I have owned have not lasted that time
The only bike I would replace it with is a Cannondale SuperX Hi-MOD Disc as it was the lightest CX bike you could buy off the shelf, Carbon frame, SRAM RED groupset etc and 7.5kg's I think. Alas it's now discontinued. They do a very nice CAADX Disc Ultegra and all for £1500 which is a bargain. Having owned a CX9 cross bike, I know what I should have perhaps waited for.

salsa fargo

what do you think to the pinacle arkoss 3 it has shimano 105 gears and avid bb7 brakes ,or the charge plug 4.

thanks for the replies im starting to feel a bit better now,just swapped all the parts back to how it was when i bought it

salsa fargo

newtonuk wrote:

If I was offered a last years model I would go for it, but only you can make that decision. There's a wealth of information on that model in this thread. Good luck!

took the bike back and got a full refund no questions asked,it was less hassle asking for my money back than it was picking the bike up lol.
i gave the guy a bit of a sob story saying id spent a couple of nights changing the tyres and fitting mudgaurds and various other things,i also said i would be getting my solicitor involved in getting some compensation back for the loss of fun and enjoyment,he soon offered me the older model for the same price of 809 pounds and he would throw in some free accesories.
would it be worth getting the older model are there any reasons not to buy the 2012 model.matt

newtonuk

Hi Matt, that sounds like a good offer! One of my local(isn) Halfords had an XL in for £949! Cheeky bar stewards!

See if you can't persuade them to throw in some pedals or something to sweeten the deal a bit more for you.

fret

I would bite their hands off at that price.
Pinnacle Arkose is a good bike by the reviews I have read. With that spec it also takes some beating.
Charge has alloy forks, so a bit of a heavy beast I bet.

apreading

For £809 - get the older model - from what I understand, it is essentially the same bike but without the quality concerns and with mounts on the front fork for proper mudguards. And a nicer colour scheme to my eye too.

welkman

Bit of a ride today on the boardman. Needs new tyres as the griffos I have on there are not good in deep mud! The XT pedals are much better than the Time ATAC they replaced.







Brakes are much better without the granny levers and the yellow cable outers made me instantly quicker

fret

It's a bit dirty!!!

I may replace the outer cables on mine as the front is getting spongy now and needs a good squeeze to get it to work properly. I may remove the top levers as well when doing so. Did it really make a lot of difference?

Just bought new front lights for it as well seeing as how it is properly dark at 06:30 when I leave for work.

Does anyone want a Carbon Fibre seatpost? 400mm CSN item, very comfy, but 330g
£25.00 inc postage.
Also an OEM one for £15.00