Boardman CX Owners Thread

fret

Lovely day down here, sun, very little wind.
Bit of frost around first thing and even ice on the puddles in the local thickets. Nice ride, even though I got filthy and the bike now resembles a lump of mud with wheels.. Plenty of other mad idiots on all types of bike on the roads and trails, which was nice to see.
I only did 25 miles, but that's the first real ride of the year and much of it on gravel and mud which is hard work. well pleased with myself and now I must get the hose out.

heez29

It's a 107mm length.

Russvphoto

fret wrote:

Lovely day down here, sun, very little wind.
Bit of frost around first thing and even ice on the puddles in the local thickets. Nice ride, even though I got filthy and the bike now resembles a lump of mud with wheels.. Plenty of other mad idiots on all types of bike on the roads and trails, which was nice to see.
I only did 25 miles, but that's the first real ride of the year and much of it on gravel and mud which is hard work. well pleased with myself and now I must get the hose out.

Sounds like a great ride Fret, truly was great weather for a change.

40 miles this morning with me having 2 real punctures & one of my mates ripping his gear hanger off when a stick flicked into his spokes, we made his Bianchi into a single speed with help of a passing cyclist who had remembered his chain tool (mine being in the seat pack on one of my other bikes) .I must buy another as insurance.

antsmithmk

Just took the tank out for a near 40km spin in the lanes west of MK. Started out about half 4, so rode through sunset to return in darkness. These really are magical times to ride, the birds singing to roost, the warm sun on your face and the hint of spring all around, daffs about to flower, later in the ride the smell of wood burning.... And the best result of all...








The Mrs had made me a huge pile of sausage and mash to return home to as a suprise! God I love cycling!!!!

michaelede

Okay gents very quick question (and after reviewing a good number of pages pretty sure I know the answer) Long story short my Boardman hybrid was written off and the insurance have coughed up £750 in Halfords vouchers. I fancy a Boardman CX and the local shop reckon they can get hold of one of last years Team CX's in X-large (I am 188cm (6'2"ish) and 86cm inside leg (34") and 93kg). Do I go for this years or last years model? Only thing I am not looking forward to is going from hydraulic disks on the hybrid to cable discs on the CX!

Thanks in advance

fret

Last years' and get some goodies thrown in as you are doing them a favour by taking obsolete stock.

michaelede

Ta, one last question (for the moment anyway) was the BB issue (lack of grease) sorted in the end or do I need to badger them to check it still? Last years Team is going to come it at £750 and they have already said they will accept the BC 10% off voucher, so feeling decidedly happy at the moment. No doubt something will sour it along the way but for now happy

Russvphoto

michaelede wrote:

Ta, one last question (for the moment anyway) was the BB issue (lack of grease) sorted in the end or do I need to badger them to check it still? Last years Team is going to come it at £750 and they have already said they will accept the BC 10% off voucher, so feeling decidedly happy at the moment. No doubt something will sour it along the way but for now happy

You should be able to get last years Team CX for £719 + the BC 10% discount, I did a few weeks back. They were still selling at this price last week.

fret

Get them to slap a load of grease in the BB. Water ingress is what killed mine in the end

bikes`n`guns

Dazza Doom wrote:

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

BB UN55 Shimano. Not much else about. The Shimano should do the job though.

especially now that the water can get out of the frame

What size? Didnt think they did a 103mm UN55.

Hmm interesting point. I can only assume they used a UN55 compatible length, but will have to check, 107mm would fit as well I reckon but will ask and post the reply

mudcovered

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

bigmul wrote:

Just read a comment on Wiggle...

Well obviously my 5700 FD didn't get the memo, it's working perfectly with an Apex shifter!

The cable pull difference between the two must be pretty minimal (if there actually is one). I've been using a 5600 FD with 5700 levers (another forbidden combo according to Shimano) on my Kona for a long while now. Only shift problems I've ever had is when I'd not clamped the cable tight enough and it slipped.

Mike

fret

I think it's more to do with the brakes than gears as the newer calipers have a different ratio.

I tried my new wheels today, they certainly spin up to speed quicker but still hard to tell if overall speed has improved because of the wind we still have. Works scales say just under 9kg with the 28's fitted, but I'm sure it should be lighter.

fret

And, being really sad I have just added up the amount that I have lost by fitting new farkles to the bike.
OEM parts removed. 4793g
New parts fitted. 3527g
Weight loss 1266g, so the guess of 8750g was very good. Now, apart from my waist, where can I lose another 250g?

Bars, 35g, QR? I have some new ones at 86g from the new wheels, but I don't know if they are any better than the excellent Shimano ones I have fitted. Shimano skewers have INTERNAL cams and are far better than any EXTERNAL one with the plastic cups.
I can also lose around 70g on a saddle and 40 on a handlebar stem, so we're getting there but my saddle is uber comfy.

michaelede

Decided that the microshift front mech will have to go and have found somewhere selling the Sram Red 2012 Front mech 34.9 Clamp for £50. Will it play nicely with the rest of the kit on a 2012 team? or should I just go for the Force?
Thanks in advance.

fret

The cage is Titanium I believe and not as durable as Force or Rival.
Many racers prefer the Force because of this.
Worth it for the bling factor hough.

apreading

The red is supposed to be really flimsy, but if you want one you can get braze on a Merlin for £40 and a band on Wiggle for around £8. I read such bad things that I decided to give it a miss and go for a 105 5600 from Ebay though.

michaelede

Not overly bothered by the bling factor, just read such bad things in this thread that I figured I might as well bin it from the word go. As most of the criticism seemed to be aimed at the microshift mech rather than the shifter it seemed to make sense to head for the top of the tree if it worked.
As I should have some vouchers left over I can get the force from Halfords for £40ish (i.e. for no extra cash as I have £750 of vouchers)
Will the shimano front mech work with the SRAM doubletaps then? Not really interested in changing the whole groupset over, especially as at some point I want to switch to hydraulic discs.

fret

It should work, as others have said, but I would just fit a Rival item or Force as there isn't much of a difference in weight etc. and possibly even the Apex
Make sure the Force is the old 10 speed just in case though, but I've used 9 speed with 10 speed Shimano sets before, so it may be OK.

I have a Force on mine simply as it was the right price at the right time and it certainly works far better than the Microshit. And then I got the rest of the groupset :oops:
I can't say I notice much difference if any between the rear Apex and Force mechs either.

apreading

I suppose if you have vouchers left over, but you cant argue with the value of the 105 at £18 here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360845986293

relik

Has anyone replaced the cartridge bearings in the OEM FSA headset? 2012 Team. I'm struggling to find information online about the correct size replacements.

Out in the elements over the winter brown fluid started leaking from the top of the head tube. I've had the fork out and give everything a good clean, but the cartridge at the top of the headset still feels a bit rough.

LBS said they have a tool to measure the bearings, but no spares in stock and they'd have to phone around. Just thought I'd check in here before taking it in.

fret

The bearing sizes should be on the bearing.

relik

Thanks, fret. I'll have a closer look.

mudcovered

fret wrote:

I think it's more to do with the brakes than gears as the newer calipers have a different ratio.

Aha. That would explain why I had to retune my brakes after fitting them.

Mike

Russvphoto

Hi
I'm starting to think that maybe I should have bought a Medium size instead of a Large, does anyone have a Medium that they think maybe a bit small for them fancy an exchange.
Mine's a 2013 Team, purchased 21st Jan this year.

antsmithmk

Mine comes up a little large on me. I have a 56 spesh and a 56 Boardman and the Boardman comes up larger imo

fret

The top tube is quite long on the CX.

michaelede

Looks like I'll be picking mine up tomorrow night (2012/2013 model)

What width rim tape do the standard wheels for the 2013 need?

TIA

fret

18-622

tkmaxxx

Well after riding my 2014 cx for a while now , i find the interrupter leavers work ok on the brakes... but require a hard 'pull' the main levers seem to only scrub off a little speed and are hardly going to stop me in a hurry... is it worth swapping them out for bb7's? ive done as much adjustment as my skill has been able to... so perhaps they are just pants and need swapping ?

fret

Did you bed the brakes in? That seems to be the main problem with discs, especially if coming from a hydraulic braked bike with the extra power or well set up rim brakes.
For example. My BB5's on the CX are better than the BB7's on the Planet-X, but only because they aren't yet bedded in as I don't use my brakes that much really. The same with the cantilever brakes on my old CX9.
They did go "off" after about 8 month's use and I fitted new pads, which didn't cure the lack of brakes initially until a week or so of use when they were back to brick wall effectiveness and still aren't perfect in the wet.