Boardman CX Owners Thread

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

If you are swapping the tyres or fixing a puncture, check the rim tape.

Good call.

When I swapped the CX tyres for Gatorskins I found that the rim tape on one of my wheels had been twisted when built. Consequently it doesn't lie completely flat and leaves a spoke hole ever-so slightly exposed. Not had a problem yet but your post reminds me to pick-up some new tape before I do.

Best regards

meanredspider

cookdn wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

If you are swapping the tyres or fixing a puncture, check the rim tape.

Good call.

When I swapped the CX tyres for Gatorskins I found that the rim tape on one of my wheels had been twisted when built. Consequently it doesn't lie completely flat and leaves a spoke hole ever-so slightly exposed. Not had a problem yet but your post reminds me to pick-up some new tape before I do.

Best regards

Use a sticky tape like Velox. I bought the plastic sort (Continental) for 700c wheels and it didn't fit which rather surprised me. Velox was fine.

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

Use a sticky tape like Velox. I bought the plastic sort (Continental) for 700c wheels and it didn't fit which rather surprised me. Velox was fine.

Thanks for that.

Velox Rim Tape Cloth

It is available in four widths, the wider two probably being for MTB wheels. I would guess 17mm for the Ritchey rims on the CX, can you remember what width you used?

Best regards

meanredspider

cookdn wrote:

It is available in four widths, the wider two probably being for MTB wheels. I would guess 17mm for the Ritchey rims on the CX, can you remember what width you used?

Hmm - no - the Wiggle order confirmation states

Velox Rim Tape Narrow (Road)

It seems to be doing the job.

Roadtart

Just lifted my Boardman Pro CX (2009-10 model) off the garage wall hangers, ready for riding this winter, and haven't had any problems with the build, bottom bracket, or any other component since I purchased it. It's totally bomb-proof and a pleasure to ride. The only things I've had to replace was a bottle cage bolt (how that came loose I'll never know), the brake pads (do this every year), tyres (through cuts and 2 punctures), and the bar tape is Specialized Roubaix (use Cinelli bar gels beneath the top grip only, not on the drops).

I have upgraded a few bits though:
Wheels are currently Shimano RS30s with Conti GP 4-Season 28s, but I'll be changing these to Strada's excellent Velocity A23s for extra rim width and Challenge Parigi Roubaix 27s (the supplied Mavic CXP22's have the original Ritchey Excavader 35s back on them, but I was running these with the Conti's for a while)
Saddle is now a Ritchey WCS Biomax (same the rest of the cockpit - bar, stem and seatpost)
Pedals are Shimano 105's SPD - SL (may change these to Speedplay Chromoly black)
Added a fork mounted front straddle cable hanger (in place of the headset mounted one)
Upgraded the brakes from the original Tektro ones to Avid Shorty Ultimates (awesome, but expensive)
Re-wired all brake and gear cabling to Gore Ride-on (again, a bit pricey)
Removed the Tektro top brake levers that were fitted originally (don't need them)
Changed the chainset / cranks to SRAM Rival 172.5mm to match the levers (now runs on a 50/36T chainset instead of the FSA Gossamer CX specific rings it came with)
I use a Cateye Strada Double wireless computer on it (rather than the Garmin 500 I have on my other bikes)

And....following a bike-fit, I had the steerer cut down to reduce the need for spacers above the bars. I have just a 10mm carbon spacer below the bar

I love my WINTER Boardman and hope for many more years, and miles, of pleasure from it.

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

Hmm - no - the Wiggle order confirmation states

Velox Rim Tape Narrow (Road)

It seems to be doing the job.

Thanks for checking.

It is either a Wiggle order or stripping a tyre and tube off to measure the current tape. I've got a five day road/MTB trip with friends to the Lake District starting Friday, hopefully I won't be next seeing the rim tape half-way up Honister or something similar :-).

Best regards

meanredspider

If you can wait until tonight, I still have the old tape in my garage I think. I also have another roll of Velox for when I do the other wheel - both of which I can measure.

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

If you can wait until tonight, I still have the old tape in my garage I think. I also have another roll of Velox for when I do the other wheel - both of which I can measure.

If you don't mind that will be great.

Hopefully I can pick some up on Saturday AM as there is only so long you can hold-off one of my friends from going gear shopping. His passion for gear shopping is only equalled by his passion for all things carbon.

meanredspider

The stuff that was on there was 16mm plastic. The Velox I used was 17mm. HTH

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

The stuff that was on there was 16mm plastic. The Velox I used was 17mm. HTH

Thanks for that, my guess was spot on. (had to Google HTH though :?)

meanredspider

Halfords customer services are just unreal!

I complained about the way I was treated by the store manager and who do they pass it to to investigate & respond - that's right: the store manager.

After weeks of unresponsiness and platitudes, I then write to complain to the customer service manager about the useless customer service rep. Who do they get to respond? Yup - the rep. I ask to escalate - the rep tells me that this is Halfords final word.

Is it surprising that Halfords are useless and their staff don't give a toss?

cookdn

meanredspider wrote:

Halfords customer services are just unreal!

I complained about the way I was treated by the store manager and who do they pass it to to investigate & respond - that's right: the store manager.

After weeks of unresponsiness and platitudes, I then write to complain to the customer service manager about the useless customer service rep. Who do they get to respond? Yup - the rep. I ask to escalate - the rep tells me that this is Halfords final word.

Is it surprising that Halfords are useless and their staff don't give a toss?

This sort of broken response to customers completely p!$$£$ me off. I would send a letter to this chap and see if you get a more sensible response:



Andy Torrance
Store Operations and Logistics Director
Halfords Ltd
Icknield Street Drive
Washford West
Redditch
Worcestershire
B98 0DE

01527 517 601

It is very telling that at Halfords Management Team level nobody has a primary reponsibility for customer service and there isn't a director that has customer service listed as a secondary responsibility either.

Best regards

61Sigs

Picked my CX Team up tonight and opted to ride the 6 or so miles home. After 18 miles I decided that it really was time to go home.

After a couple of miles I got used to riding position and I must say I bloody loved it. Can’t wait to take it out on the dirt tomorrow.

The lads in Halfords in Swindon are all cyclists and seem to know what they're doing. Bike was built properly and they'd greased the BB. I'm hoping to ride it quite a bit in the next few days and I'll post any issues that I have.

One major disappointment though. Apparently “it’s” not allowed in the house and has to stay in the garage with the other bikes!

pinion

I'm thinking of buying a Boardman CX and have a few questions.

Does anyone know the maximum tyre size? 35, 38, 40?

Also, would someone be so kind as to measure the rear-spacing between the dropouts? 130mm or 135mm? I can't seem to find an answer on this one. I'm planning to use some 29er MTB wheels on occasion.

Lastly, does anyone have the stand over heights for the L and XL frames? That also seems to be missing from all the geometry charts I've seen.


Thanks for your help.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Well bought one of these, as my Marin 29er was stolen on holiday and can't really ride the trails with the kids on the road bike, plus will probably use itduring the winter

Fitted some black guards, a bottle holder, some spare light holders so I can switch lights between the bikes,I told them not to put on the handle bar levers on and Ibought a GC10 Garmin cadence so can switch the 705 as well.

So in my excitement I rode in on it this morning, the wind is back to front at the moment so not a real fair assesment. The ride in had a tail wind 53 mins would probably have been 51 or slightly less on road bike, and home was a massive 1.01 cannot remember the last one of those!

Observations, the SRAM hoods are not very comfy, the gear changing seems a bit clunky and stiff?, seat is a pile of poo, gearing is far too spread for my taste, and those BB5 are really erm yeah really everything they shouldn't be.

Nice postition on the bike and gave me a good workout, felt really rock solid no twitches and gave me lots of reassurance

So to my questions!!

1. Most important guessing I was slow mainly due to the standard tyre, so what to replace it with, I want to keep the reassurance but could give up a little comfort.

2. How easy for a non bikey repair person (me) to swap the BB5 for BB7?

3. not urgent but what smaller range cassete would bolt on without changing anything else?

I spent a lot of dosh on a lovely Roubaix last year truth be known with a few tweaks above and a spare set of rims running 23mm road tyres I reckon this CX would be the do it all bike and could live with one bike. The finish is really nice and its not that much heavier than the Roubaix with the 10% GB Cycling vouchers it really is IMO a bargain.

The single problem was travelling to Halfords that gave the right replies on the phone. (I have a mobile mech giving it the once over on Sat just in case.

bails87

I've got 25mm Gatorskins on mine, same as on my ribble. It's taken a little while but I think it's finally all set up just right, the brakes seem to have bedded in a bit too and are much more reassuring. I've put the carbon seatpost and specialized romin saddle off my road bike on my CX, which is an improvmnt over the stock saddle.

meanredspider

25c Gators on mine too until the ice comes. Spesh saddle too. I swapped the front brake for BB7 (some cheap about right now - rotors are the same if you can only find caliper) - simple to do - fittings are identical. I found the hoods uncomfortable - got used to them after a few rides though. SRAM shifting is more clunky than 105. I'm sure the rear cassette would be easy to swap. I've got quicker on mine over the month I've been using it - 1mph faster on average.

The only real issue I've had with mine since the BB bearing failed is front shifting has been inconsistent - gonna take a very close look at it at the weekend. I set it and it's fine for a week then it will start spitting the chain off the big ring.

bails87

Odd you should say that about the mech, mine seemed to be be too far out after the bearings were replaced, so maybe they weren't pushed in all the way before?!

Mine also occasionally overshifts, it always recovers itself though, I'm currently tweaking the H stop screw in by a tiny bit each ride to see if I can stop it.

61Sigs

Saddle isn't the best and I think I'll be changing mine soon, not sure what too yet.

Gear shift was clunky to start with, but is getting smoother now I've stuck some miles on it. Brakes have bedded in now and I'm quite confident in them.

I have guards, rack and panniers, but as I'm not working at the moment I've taken them off. I also bought a fenix light, which is fantastic. I also have a Cateye, but I'm struggling to find somewhere for it to go that isn't in the way.

Halfords: where shall I start? My local one isn't anything like as bad as most that I hear about and all he guys in there are cyclists, seem to know what they're on about and are keen to help.

Except one, and he's the fool that PDI'd mine before I collected it. Stated quie categorically that he'd greased the BB before it went out. He didn't and it lasted 2 weeks! I took it back in about 1630 in the evening and the the mech that was on duty until 1700 started fixing it, called the fool in (who wasn't working that day) to face me and they both replaced it there and then. Great bit of customer service that was totally avoidable if he'd done what I'd told him in the first place.

I'm really enjoying this bike and have been out on it most days. The weather isn't going to get any beter anytime soon, so I'm keeping the current tyres for now. I'll prob get some winter tyres when things get bad and something more slick in the spring.

One issue that I have is the carbon bottle cage, it keeps working loose and is driving me nuts. I'm a clumsy git with big hands and fairly confident that I'm going to bust it soon! Expect swearing!

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I bought this bike to commute on, trail ride, safely put on rack, fit full gurads and give me some assurances that the 23mm slicked up road was not giving me in the wet.

Without a doubt the standard tyre is slowing me down both mentally and fact. BUT would a 28mm Gator be as good in the wet as the standard tyre feels? I understand that it could just be a mental thing, but it does feel really confident in wet conditions, if a little slow!

Just not sure if I would be kidding my self by slicking it up, and end up with another road bike, as oppossed to a do it all bike?

My front mech struggles to go up to the front cog, and the wheels do not spin freely due to brake rub. May follow one of the online set up guides tonight to see if I can get them non rubbing

meanredspider

I'd have thought 28mm Gators would be every bit as good as there's probably every bit as much rubber in contact with the road. I wouldn't ride trails on Gators though.

The brakes aren't difficult to set up if you approach them logically

jack_ammo

I'm glad I bought a CX instead of a Hybrid. The drop bar indeed gave me more options with regard to hand positions.

Been regularly riding it to work and so far only had one rear tire puncture which forced me to learn on how to fix it.

My ride also has a rack and sks p45 mudguard now. Thanks to the uploaded pics, it made it easier for a newbie like myself to put them on.

I also took it to Epping Forest last week. It was fun but I am not good enough to get this bike over the hill; I wish it has that extra gear of a MTB.

So far so good.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Ordered some 28mm Conti 4 Seasons will fit them tonight. Can someone offer advice? On my road bike if I spin the wheel it will free spin for what seems like ages, on the CX if I spin the wheel it will only spin a few times before rubbing to a stop. Anyone who has a CX do you your wheels freespin without stopping quickly?

I tried one way of setting up the brakes last night using the business card method, reduced the rub but lost braking. Will try the method on you tube by SRAM tonight to see if that works

Didn't take the CX today took the other bike and it was so much easier! Combo of rub and tyres on the CX I would guess.

meanredspider

I had some minor rub for the first week or so but as the pads bedded, it went. They now spin pretty freely - not that I notice it in the ride.

essex-commuter

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

Anyone who has a CX do you your wheels freespin without stopping quickly?

Mine don't rub at all, the wheels spin for an age before stopping valve down. I still say that upgrading to BB7's has made this easy.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

essex-commuter wrote:

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

Anyone who has a CX do you your wheels freespin without stopping quickly?

Mine don't rub at all, the wheels spin for an age before stopping valve down. I still say that upgrading to BB7's has made this easy.

Hmmm I hovered over the buy button for BB7 Road 160m Rotors last night, saw some on Chain Reaction for £49, but out of stock until 15th. I also caught a couple of reviews where people had the same problem setting up BB7 but cant see how that can be with dual adjusters?

What made you swap out the BB5 to BB7? Rub or performance?

BB5 work great asa brake, you have to remind yourself not to anchor on like you need to with 105 in the wet, locked the back wheel last night out of habit lol

essex-commuter

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

What made you swap out the BB5 to BB7? Rub or performance?

Easier to set up, easier to adjust. I'm finicky, I like things just right, and I ride a lot of miles. I spent about an hour trying to get the BB5's perfect and I couldn't...even following suggestions on the tinternet about using card as spacers and things like that. I bolted on the BB7's and had them working perfectly in 5 minutes. Since I fitted them I haven't touched them, they are perfect. I tried winding in each pad each side by one notch last week to see if the pads had worn enough, but they touched so I clicked them out again.

The only annoyance I have with the brakes is that they screech when applied in heavy rain...but I think most discs do that. But I still stop quickly, which fullen laden with regular brakes I didn't...and that's put the sh*ts up me on many occassion!

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Bugger, another expense lol. I am like you any rub or noise annoys the crap out of me, it has to be perfect or I know I wont ride it!

essex-commuter

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

Bugger, another expense lol. I am like you any rub or noise annoys the crap out of me, it has to be perfect or I know I wont ride it!

I can't remember exactly (it's probably further back in this thread) but after selling my BB5's on Ebay the upgrade cost me about £60....plus I sold the 5's without the rotors so I now have a spare set.

meanredspider

If you want to be a cheapskate, just fit the BB7 to the front. I've adapted to proper braking using the front most of the time and so just have the BB7 there. The BB5 provides plenty of braking capability for the rear even not optimally adjusted.