Boardman CX Owners Thread

tincaman

How Far is too Far wrote:

I would be very interested in what you think of the TRP HY RD.

Can Westbrooks order then in no problem? I could not find any HY Rd and was about to go ahead with Spyres, but for the extra I would rather have the HY RD's if they are less bother once fitted.

Just got an email, order dispatched today

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/trp-hy-rd-hydraulic-mechanical-front-or-rear-disc-brake-silver-p233469

fret

Another puncture today!! Again caused by the rim tape moving on the OEM wheels. I'll be glad when my new wheels finally arrive. In the meantime I have fitted some wider rim tape as I had realised I had used some old road bike stuff I had lying around.

antsmithmk

What wheels have you ordered?

Russvphoto

Hi,
I've just purchased a 2013 CX Team after reading most of the pages in this forum. I found it in Halfords Chichester sale at 20% off plus an extra 10% for British cycling,
I changed the tyres for gatorskins 25mm for road use and enjoyed a 52 mile ride round Petersfield & Chichester at the weekend, need to try a bit of bridleway riding with the nobblies back on it. I've removed the extra brake levers as I found I didn't use them on my old Specialized Tricross that I've now sold.
Just wanted to say what a great group this is & how much info I learned from it.
I tried adjusting the rear disc brake but it appears a little spongy in use & not very powerful, the front is great.

bigmul

How much work involved in removing the suicide levers?

antsmithmk

The brakes will need constant fiddling!!! My cables have stretched recently, had mine since October. On to the fettling thread....!

Russvphoto

bigmul wrote:

How much work involved in removing the suicide levers?

It's quite easy to remove the suicide levers, you'll just need a new rear cable housing to replace the 2 that you take off. You maybe able to use the original inner cable, I didn't as it was a bit kinked so wouldn't thread through the new inner smoothly.

newtonuk

Russvphoto wrote:

bigmul wrote:

How much work involved in removing the suicide levers?

It's quite easy to remove the suicide levers, you'll just need a new rear cable housing to replace the 2 that you take off. You maybe able to use the original inner cable, I didn't as it was a bit kinked so wouldn't thread through the new inner smoothly.

Do you need to re-wrap the bar tape?

Russvphoto

newtonuk wrote:

Russvphoto wrote:

bigmul wrote:

How much work involved in removing the suicide levers?

It's quite easy to remove the suicide levers, you'll just need a new rear cable housing to replace the 2 that you take off. You maybe able to use the original inner cable, I didn't as it was a bit kinked so wouldn't thread through the new inner smoothly.

Do you need to re-wrap the bar tape?

Ah yes forgot about that point, I just peeled it back to the brake lever hoods & used insulating tape to secure the cables to the bars & then re wrapped the bar tape.

tincaman

tincaman wrote:

TRP Hy/Rd on order for the front, will let you know how it compares to the current BB7 I am running

Hy/Rd fitted to the front, much easier to fit and adjust than the BB7, also no problems with the mudguard stays, will give it a go this afternoon weather permitting

fret

MMmm, new underwear please...............................


Yet ANOTHER puncture today. And guess what? Caused by the ridiculous design of the OEM offset spokes, despite fitting a wider rim tape. Luckily I was about 1/4 mile from work so walked the rest of the way with a very heavy and uncomfortable bike on my shoulder. :evil:
I wonder if the ridiculous design was one reason they changed to Mavic rims?

Hurry up and arrive, wheels.

EKE_38BPM

fret wrote:

...walked the rest of the way with a very heavy and uncomfortable bike on my shoulder...

Why were you carrying your bike?

fret

If you push a bike for a long distance then the wheel bumps every rotation at the valve and after a while the tube starts to bunch up making the bump worse and can result in a knackered tube.
Hence carry the bike.

apreading

fret wrote:

MMmm, new underwear please...............................


Yet ANOTHER puncture today. And guess what? Caused by the ridiculous design of the OEM offset spokes, despite fitting a wider rim tape. Luckily I was about 1/4 mile from work so walked the rest of the way with a very heavy and uncomfortable bike on my shoulder. :evil:
I wonder if the ridiculous design was one reason they changed to Mavic rims?

Hurry up and arrive, wheels.

How does the design of the spokes cause a puncture? I have done over 6000 miles on the OEM wheels on my hybrid team, havent changed rim tape and only had 1 puncture in each wheel the whole time (both simultaneously and within a week of posting on here that I had done 3000 miles without a single puncture!). Perhaps the problem is your tyres, rather than the wheels?

DM222

TimothyW wrote:

Personally, I was put off the Kaffenback because of the £100 fee you have to play with planet-x to use most cycle to work schemes, effectively raising the price up to £900 (and adding an upfront cost that could be otherwise avoided).

I hate that too - why are they allowed to do it?!
If I buy a bike from my LBS on cyclescheme (a small independant shop) I'm sure they get charged the admin fee too but they dont pass any extra costs on to the customer!

fret

apreading wrote:

fret wrote:

MMmm, new underwear please...............................


Yet ANOTHER puncture today. And guess what? Caused by the ridiculous design of the OEM offset spokes, despite fitting a wider rim tape. Luckily I was about 1/4 mile from work so walked the rest of the way with a very heavy and uncomfortable bike on my shoulder. :evil:
I wonder if the ridiculous design was one reason they changed to Mavic rims?

Hurry up and arrive, wheels.

How does the design of the spokes cause a puncture? I have done over 6000 miles on the OEM wheels on my hybrid team, havent changed rim tape and only had 1 puncture in each wheel the whole time (both simultaneously and within a week of posting on here that I had done 3000 miles without a single puncture!). Perhaps the problem is your tyres, rather than the wheels?

Tyres? I think not.

The offset spoke design and especially the poor quality OEM rim tape is a stupid idea as the tape simply cannot cover the spoke holes due to the very nature of being offset. Especially if you run at proper road pressures of 100psi and sometimes more. The rim tape moves to one side and exposes the spoke holes, even the much wider Planet X one I fitted the other day. Many others have experienced similar failures and I had problems in the first week of ownership so fitted new tape and then wheels shortly after. In order for it to work then the valve would also have to be offset.
If you read back through my recent posts you will find that the problems have only occurred since refitting the OEM wheels. I've ridden many more miles than yourself with no punctures when the Kinesis wheels were fitted and the Gatorskins have not punctured, unless stones and glass has found a miraculous way of getting to the inside/spoke side of the tube. I also had 1 last week which I thought was just the old tube splitting.
Does the Hybrid have the OCR wheels? The one putside my window here at work has Alex rims.

From Monday

Another puncture today!! Again caused by the rim tape moving on the OEM wheels. I'll be glad when my new wheels finally arrive. In the meantime I have fitted some wider rim tape as I had realised I had used some old road bike stuff I had lying around.

Lower pressures may work, but at the expense of effort.

apreading

Ah - I guess the pressure is the difference. What width tyres do you use? I run either 28s or 25s and would never run as high as 100psi - maybe you have 23s on them? I run in the 80-90psi range generally, although if I havent checked for a while it drops below that. Aside from anything else, I would HATE the ride at your pressures.

I use the calculator here: http://www.dorkypantsr.us/bike-tire-pre ... lator.html
Based on 15% drop theory from here: http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/TireDrop.pdf

Perhaps the OEM wheels should have had a tyre pressure warning - not above 100psi...

fret

Currently I am using 28mm, but have used 23mm in the summer with the Kinesis wheels with no problems. With 25mm I would never use below 10 as you run the risk of pinch punctures, especially with these rims as they are too wide really. The OEM wheels are really too wide for 28mm tyres by all accounts at 18mm, a 15mm is better. Some sites recommend 32 at least for the OEM wheels.
You need high pressures for road riding, for starters it reduces the chances of pinch punctures and even "normal" punctures I have found in the 8 years of commuting I have done.
I run at least 85psi and generally inflate them to 100 each Sunday to last me through the week.
23mm tyres I always inflate to 110-130psi. At 80kg dry I'm not overly fat for my height either, but could lose a bit to be honest.

Obviously a lot of preferences vary from person to person, but keeping tyres inflated to the recommended pressures is crucial in my experience of 5000+ miles a year.
Wider tyres are supposed to be more comfortable, but I have never really noticed any difference and until the CX had always used 23mm for years with just one year and a bit with 25mm. Especially with our wonderful roads.

apreading

Horses for courses, I guess. I inflate to 85-90 and a month or two later inflate them again, unless they feel too soft when given a quick squeeze by hand before a ride. Many times if I leave it a couple of months, I find they are 60-65 when I come to do it, which is perhaps pushing my luck but in all my time cycling I have only ever had one pinch flat and that was my fault because when I squeezed the tyre before the ride I knew it was too low but rather than inflate before the ride, decided I would do it after - then at the bottom of a fast hill, I hit the mother of all potholes in the dark.

Have never run 23mm, but run 25mm and 28mm at these pressures on the OEM rims and have done so from 110kg down to my current 85kg. I do now have some handbuilts on Archetype rims but they are more or less the same internal width and current thinking among wheel builders is that this actually gives tyres from 25mm upwards a better profile than something like an Open Pro. Got the handbuilts purely to save weight - other than that, I had no problem with the OEM wheels.

I suspect that the reason why you havent noticed any difference with wider tyres is because you havent dropped your pressures properly - they are only more comfortable because they allow you to run much lower pressures for the most effective 15% tyre drop. If you run at 100psi, you wont be getting the benefit of them.

How Far is too Far

I am 80kg and run 25mm at the moment at 85psi front and 95 psi rear, no problems so far. Ihave just bough some 28mm GP4000 to try I will be trying these at 75psi front and 80 psi rear. I am after more comfort for longer rides out of these.

fret

Anything below 90 seems far too low to me unless offroad.

How Far is too Far

80psi in a 28mm is probably at least the equivalent of 100psi in a 23mm only more comfy.

relik

I'm replacing the bearings on my 2012 Team again this weekend, before installing a new Sram Force chainset. Second time in about 6000 km, so not too bad. Decided to buy the press and do it myself this time though.

Still running the Crosslight wheelset. Popped a spoke up Winter Hill, but other than that they're still fine.

After initial issues with the BB7's, I've not touched them - aside from to turn the pad in - for about 10 months.

Swapped the Apex to Rival thanks to a mate and installed a carbon seat post (FSA).

Even though I'm saving for an Ultimate CF this summer, the CX will be my go to bike for commuting and winter riding for years to come. Can't recommend it enough

By the way, did anyone find out the weight of the frame and fork alone?

fret

The OEM components added together equate to 7075g, so say 7100g.
the OEM build was 10,000g, so that's 2900g for the Frame and forks at a fair guess. I reckoned around 2-2.5kg as it is a heavy frameset, so where is the extra ?

New wheels are finished, hand built. Just got to wait for them to arrive now. 1400g the pair, lovely.

fret

Just had an email saying I should see the wheels on Friday.

relik

1400g. Nice! How much did they set you back?

Speaking of wheels, after me posting that the other day a spoke went on the Crosslights causing a slight buckle. Rear this time. The tension seemed pretty low on the disc side too. Chucked into the LBS, but I may invest in another set of wheels later in the year.

Kimble

would be interested in learning more about those 1400 gr wheel set as well. not knowing much about wheel building: I'm hoping to leave my OEM wheels as commuting wheels and buy a lighter set of clinchers to run tubeless for CX racing and general off road play...
will I have to choose my hubs carefully to ensure they have virtually the same disk placement as my OEM wheels so that I don't have to fettle with the brakes every time I change wheel sets? or can I use some thin washers to get the same effect?

Also am considering a full cable replacement on my CX. any recommendations for a suitable complete set of brake / shift, inner and outers. (apologies if I've missed earlier ones in the scarcely credible (in a good way!) 83 pages of this thread).

apreading

How many spokes on a 1400g wheelset? Not too few I hope, as this isnt recommended for disk brakes...

Muzzledoctor

Kimble, a good wheelbuilder will dish (ensure that the distance from lock-nut to be centre axis of the rim is equal on both sides) wheels properly and so the 2 wheelsets would be 100% interchangeable. I have built half a dozen of my own wheelsets and swap them on various bikes and the rear derailleur and brakess (for a non-disk reference) need little or no adjustment meaning that the wheels are correctly dished.

I am looking to build a new set for my CX using Hope Pro2 Evo, Sapim CX-Ray and H Plus Son rims.

veronese68

Hi Fret,
What are the new wheels? Will you be sticking pictures and specs up when you get them?