Boardman CX Owners Thread

newtonuk

Got the brakes dialled in today, I don't know what I did differently, but they seem fine.

fret

My CX pro came with 11-27 as standard, which not being superhuman, made it a challenge to get up really steep / technical stuff. I may well go the WiFli route next year.

I forgot you had the CX Pro. Mine is now at that spec, or even more with RED shifters. I'm selling the rear mech if anyone is interested. £30.00 ONO

I only have experience with old style SORA and whilst agricultural compared to 15 and Ultegra, the feel is exactly the same as the SRAM APEX. I assume that SORA is now the old TIAGRA in a way as the top-of-the-range technology gradually filters down and Tiagra 9 speed had better reviews than the first 10 speed version.
I see the CX COMP has LYRA brakes fitted, which are pretty useless by all accounts on the reviews I have read. Upgrade to Shimano, BB5 or BB7 at the first opportunity.

friedpizzainbatter

I got mine yesterday. Nice looking bike, am quite pleased with it. Usual Halfords setup, one of the stem bolts hadn't been tightened, brakes rubbing quite badly. Pointed it out to the guy at the service desk who tried tweaking them but looked out a bit of his depth. Let him off with 'I expect they just need to bed in', he looked relieved. I'm getting the suicide levers taken off anyway.

newtonuk wrote:

Hi Simon, I've just fitted a set of SKS Chromoplastic P45 guards to my 2014 Team with 28mm Gator Hardshells. I'm using these on the fork legs to provide a mounting eyelet just above the disc bracket:

http://bit.ly/1iNjO00

I've secured these with an additional zip tie around them as well. Seems to have done the trick so far (well, today at least).

You'll need a single M5 x 60 bolt as well, as the ones supplied with the Chromoplastics are not long enough for the fork crown.

Hi newtonuk, I don't suppose you'd post pics or describe how you did this. I got the ties trying to figure out the best way :oops:

newtonuk

Hi fried, does this help?

Caller

I've been looking at the Boardman CX bikes today and in a bit undecided between the Comp and the Team.

I've got a set of BB7 brakes that will be fitted to whichever bike I go for so apart from the brakes, is the Team worth the extra £300 over the Comp?

I might use the CX as a replacement for my road bike for commuting and I fancy trying one or two CX races as they look like good fun.

Would the Comp be up to it?

friedpizzainbatter

newtonuk wrote:

Hi fried, does this help?

That does help a lot. Thanks!!!

fret

Caller wrote:

I've been looking at the Boardman CX bikes today and in a bit undecided between the Comp and the Team.

I've got a set of BB7 brakes that will be fitted to whichever bike I go for so apart from the brakes, is the Team worth the extra £300 over the Comp?

I might use the CX as a replacement for my road bike for commuting and I fancy trying one or two CX races as they look like good fun.

Would the Comp be up to it?

It all depends upon how you look at it.

The cheaper bike has cheaper components which are cheaper to replace when they wear out in the grime and grit of winter.
The more expensive bike has better components which work better and generally last longer.
Most running gear, cassette, chain, chainrings & cables, will probably need replacing annually or bi-annually anyway, but from 8 years of commuting experience, the more expensive cassettes and cranks do last longer.

The new bike is completely new as it no longer has a BB30 and the forks are different. Obviously done to keep costs down in the light of the ever increasing competition and the PF30 may not have the awful problems of the BB30.

Personally, I'd go for the CHEAPER COMP and then spec it up as the Bottom Bracket is the traditional type and far, far better than BB30 (in my opinion and experience from use) I would never use another BB30 bike for commuting. A BB30 needs attention, I've already replaced mine after 7 months, yet a normal English Thread BB will last years with little servicing.

See here for an explanation, which I totally agree with. http://waltworks.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01 ... ughts.html

Caller

Thanks for the info there.

I'm not sure if I'm just lucky but I've never had any issues with the PF30 BB on my mountain bike so hopefully that would be the same on a CX bike.
My main concern is whether or not I'd miss the road bike if I replaced it with a CX. I only really do a small amount of proper road rides, the majority of the time the road bike is used for commuting or turbo/roller duties in the winter. I can't imagine that I would lose out on much running a CX bike with road tyres on compared to my proper road bike.

Does anyone use their CX with road tyres and find much difference between that and a road bike?

fret

I use mine as a commuter and as it's only 8.5kgs or so with 23mm road tyres fitted it can hold it's own on sportives and general road riding. Whilst I am not young or particularly fast, there are not many bikes that I meet that can lose me.
Currently it is fitted with 28mm for winter, but come spring then the 23 or 25mm Gatorskin tyres will be fitted once again. I use the 23 gatorskins in winter for the road bike on the rare occasion it goes out. 25mm tyres are better for comfort and fit for the wider rims.

The geometry is as near as dammit the same as my Ribble carbon road bike at 7.5kg (Or is it 7kg now?) Whilst you can tell the weight difference, the time taken to commute is about 2 or 3 minutes different over 9 miles, so it's not that much different. Like you, I hardly ever use it and am considering selling it and getting a carbon CX bike weighing 7.5-8kgs with different sets of wheels for when the occasion takes itself to do whatever I want to use the bike for, if that makes sense.
CX bikes really are do-it-all unless you opt for an out and out race bike that can't take mudguards ora rack for example.

Caller

Good to know, fret.
It sounds like the CX would tick all the boxes for me as roadbike, commuter, off-road bike and something for a bit of fun on the local trails and bridleways.
With the 10% BC discount it's a pretty good price as well.

mechanism

The unmodified CX Comp is 11.5kg which is quite a lump to be dragging up the hills compared to a 7kg road bike. However I think that's OK especially for £600 (-10%) and I'm probably going to go for one as a winter, touring, offroad, commuting etc bike.

At 5'10" or 178cm does a medium sound right? I'll be trying one later today.

fret

I'm 5ft 9 and the medium is fine as the reach is about 15mm longer than my road bike, so it should be fine for you.

newtonuk

I'm about 5' 11" and I found the Large to be more comfortable, but Halfords did swap the Large stem to one from a Medium. I do find the reach to be a bit more of a stretch than my Cannondale road bike though, even though the measurements are all within a couple of mm of each other.

I concluded that the hoods on the SRAM shifters must be longer in reach than the Shimano ones on my 'dale and they do indeed seem to be about 5mm longer.

fret

I think a 100mm stem would be better than a 110 for me.

mechanism

Reach-wise the medium felt right so here it is pre mudguards etc:



The brakes were fairly unimpressive on the ride home so I think I'll be upgrading them.

fret

Discs need to be bedded in before they work properly.

tomilinski1

Picked up my 2014 team last night (its going to be a commuter/winter bike)

first thing to do was to tighten the headset as it had loads of play in it! (not sure how much there should be with the bb5s though?)

fitting some bluemels mudguards - with reflective stripe - they look nice
still to work out the bodge to get the front on (probably a zip tie special)

getting rid of the second set of brake levers has been started - annoyingly the bar tape just rips to pieces when you take it off so I can't just reuse it as I have done countless times in the past. The cable routing was awful with the second set of levers, so much so that the rear brake wasn't taking the slack up!

pics to follow

the_prophet

Just a tip on the headset, I had the same issue with mine when i picked it up. no amount of tightening would sort it either and i eventually broke the star nut.

after some investigation, i stripped it all down and found the bearings had no grease what so ever around them, so packed them out rebuilt, new star nut and job done.

mechanism

fret wrote:

Discs need to be bedded in before they work properly.

You're right, I should probably give them a bit of time.

tomilinski1

Thanks the_prophet - I will have a look as I have tightened it to the max and its still rocking.
virtually all the bolts I have found have no grease on them!

newtonuk

160 miles on my 2014 CX Team and the bottom bracket is creaking like an angry frog! I also have the headset issue, so I'll strip it down and check the grease this weekend.

fret

One issue may be the steerer has not been cut down enough, or the insert is moving. Both easy remedies. Either cut the steerer or fit another 5mm spacer. Tighten the insert in the forks as well as it's often loose to start with.

Newtonuk, get the shop to do it, it's their fault after all. It may be a loose crank, chainrings, or, like mine, a slightly loose rear wheel.

Ouija

As above. Loose skewers on rear wheels can cause a rhythmic clicking, similar to worn/loose bottom brackets. Though this is easy to spot as it usually manifests itself as a click that only occurs when standing up on the pedals and swaying the bike from side to side.

Headset wobble can also be down to two other things when paired with disk brakes. Thats the pads sliding back and forth slightly in the calipers when clamped to the rotor, allowing the whole bike and forks to rock back and forth slightly. The other is the bolts on the rotor itself may not be as tight as they should, allowing the wheel to turn slightly as the rotor remains static (due to the fact that the bolt holes in the rotor are slightly wider than the bolts themselves, allowing a small amount of lateral motion if the mushroom shaped head of the bolts isn't pressing firmly down on the rotor surface).

Also. On some headsets, usually caged bearing ones, they sometimes use a plastic compression ring that is slightly compressable compared to a metal one. This sometimes manifests itself as the headset/forks appearing to 'click' between two positions when you apply the front brake and push, no matter how tightly you do up the headset bolt.

fret

It took me ages to realise the bike was rocking on the front brake pads, even worse after fitting aftermarket items.
One thing is for sure though, I spend more time worrying about noises on this bike than any of the others before it. There's absolutely no reason to worry as the bike is really good, even in standard spec. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wanted a well specced do it all bike. There are similar bikes on the market for more money with poor components.

I'm really looking forward to doing the Wiggle Falling Leaves in 3 weeks time, especially in the current form it has taken.

brassnipple

Mechanism wrote:

At 5'10" or 178cm does a medium sound right? I'll be trying one later today.

I'm 5'10" and the medium is a perfect fit - the large was just too big for me.

The Boardman CX bikes S, M, L designation can be slightly misleading as they seem to size up for a given model. The medium for example is more of a 'medium-large' (or 56cm in roadie language).

Always best to try though if you can!

brassnipple

Just noticed that Boardman have announced a new CXR range in their elite series, replacing the outgoing CX Pro model that I have.

Note:-

Full carbon option :!:
Frame only option :!:
Di2 Compatible :!:

Start saving those pennies...... :P :!:

bigmul

Ordered a CX Team this week, local store called to say that it's arrived today but has the crack in the paintwork. He called all other stores and every one of theirs had the same. He then called back several hours later and offered the bike with a 10% discount. I asked about the BC discount on top, and yep can have that too - so picking up tomorrow!

fret

brassnipple wrote:

Just noticed that Boardman have announced a new CXR range in their elite series, replacing the outgoing CX Pro model that I have.

Note:-

Full carbon option :!:
Frame only option :!:
Di2 Compatible :!:

Start saving those pennies...... :P :!:

I saw that a few weeks ago. Mmmmmmm, very nice.
I'm already doing the maths involved on getting a c/f frame and converting the road bike so I have a decent cross bike as well as a commuter.
All I need are:
Frame
Wheels
Brakes
Chainset (got a 53/39 proper man one at present)

Personally, for the price they are charging, I think there are better bikes on the market.

Although the Ultegra bike is the ultimate on the market that I have seen.

brassnipple

Yes with the bling comes the price!. I'm personally happy enough with the alloy frame as I just wanted to achieve a bike that was robust, multiuse, and reasonably high spec. This know also allowed me to sell off two exotic carbon bikes to get back to a more simple and straightforward cycling existence.

I think that the new 2014 range does indicate that Boardman get the fact that they are onto a winner with the CX 'free road' type bike and I'm sure that other manufacturers won't be slow in supplying models to pad out this category in the future.

I think that's an exciting prospect as I'm totally won over with the concept of the 'free road' bike. I think this category Will evolve sharply over the next 2 to 3 years and produce some good innovation.

fret

There are already many out there, but often the same price with poorer specced groupsets & brakes. They've caught onto the fact that people commute and use bikes for more than one type of riding.
I often take thje CX out on a ride in preference to the Ribble.
Disc brakes are the way forward and the small weight disadvantage is negligible when you can make a bike weighing 6kg from top notch products.