Boardman CX Owners Thread

newtonuk

I've suffered with cable rub on mine as well, my riding buddy had the previous model and also suffered. Saying that I've had the problem on a 3k Scott mountain bike as well, so it's not isolated to the CX.

If you want to hear saddle squeak have a listen to my mates Giant Defy Composite 0 :-) At least he doesn't have to buy a bell :-)

To be fair to Halfords, the cable rub issue isn't their fault, cable routing is down to the bike design.

Took me three bikes to get a good one as well :-) All with the same quality control issue that should never have left the factory.

fret

Squeaks and craks are a nightmare to find. They never seem to be where the noise comes from as the frame amplifies them.
Over the years I've had:-
Handlebars moving in the stem
Seatposts moving
Rear wheels moving
Front wheels moving
Bottom Bracket bearing (BB30 and the old taper square type)
Loose cranks (as above)
Loose sprocket bolts
Loose saddle.
Loose cleats.
Creaky soles of cycling shoes.

You just have to eliminate them one at a time.
The only one I can't cure is my knee

Russvphoto

Lots of bike frames get cable rub, just fit some helicopter tape patches underneath the affected areas. its easily found on Ebay, is transparent, easy to fit & quite cheap. I bought mine from http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/tape2gosales & am very pleased with the results.

fret

Why are people dripping about cable rub? It's always happened. Just do as Russ says, or even some insulation tape.
It may not look pretty, but it works.

I fitted the 23mm tyres to those rather nice new wheels I have yesterday and resigned the 28's to the shed. The bike is transformed! It's completely different, accelerates quicker, turns quicker and the morning commute was cut by quite a few minutes, despite carrying a rucksack this morning. The chap I bought them off said they made his average quicker and he is right.
Whoever doubts that lighter wheels and tyres make a difference seriously needs to try them before they say anything.
When the 23's wear out I will fit 25's, but am doubtful I will go back to 28's as there is little advantage to be had on the road. I can only see dual purpose type tyres being the alternative as then you can go off road as well without fear of wearing out the knobblies on tarmac.

koontz

Fret what new wheels did you get and what is the weight difference compared to the OEM ones that came with the bike?.

bob7896

Is anyone able to measure the inner and outer brake cable lengths for me please?

Thanks

Hello All, I have the older style Boardman 2010-12 in large.
Its time to replace my rear brake cable, and probably front while i am at it. So a question for everyone. Can I buy a standard Jagwire kit, or do i need to buy something special because of the longer cable runs?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/jagwire-racer-b ... oad-bikes/
I haven't got access to my bike for a week, so could some one measure the cable lengths for the front and rear brakes for me please?
Has any replaced their brake cables and changed the cable length/routing? I know sometimes this can improve braking and wanted to know others experience.
Great to have this forum for advice on these bikes, such a shame Boardman are tied in with Halfords and their newer CX model is a lower spec and I think looks worse.
Thanks

fret

Ryde Pulse Disc road rims with Novatec hubs, Sapim Laser spokes. 1400g and £425.00.
They will only take 23 & 25mm tyres really, but I have been using the 28's with no adverse effects over the last month. Being 30mm deep aero will help greatly too. I'm looking forward to the ride home as it only took 29 minutes to do the 9 miles this morning and I was wearing a dirty gert f-off rucksack and winter hi-viz jacket. I had no following wind, very little wind overall which helped a great deal :oops: Going home normally takes around 35 mins or more as I have to climb a long hill and contend with traffic which isn't there at 06:30

I'm now saving for lighter off road wheels around the 14-1500g mark.

FRONT brake cable OUTER is approx. 90cm and the inner will need to be around 110-120cm to cover the ends
REAR brake cable OUTER is approx. 160cm and the inner will need to be 200cm I guess
The extra long Jagwire racer kit is designed for Cyclocross disc braked bikes. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/jagwire-kit-ext ... brakegear/
Any decent bike shop can sell it my the metre, both inner and outer.

newtonuk

I received an interesting email from Boardman / Halfords this morning. It appears that a replacement fork is being spec'd for the CX Team and is currently under testing/approval. Once it's signed off it will be incorporated into the next available production run, with additional items being made available for existing owners to be swapped under warranty.

No timings confirmed yet but hopefully this will be done before the start of the next rainy season :-)

Russvphoto

Bob,

I had to buy a rear inner cable for my Cx and the guy in Hargroves in Southampton said it was a standard length. He was right when I got it home. Made by clarke I think. I replace the outer after getting rid of the additional brake levers and just bought 2m of it & had a little bit left over.
I didn't find any way of changing the routing for the better though.

arthur_scrimshaw

Russvphoto wrote:

Bob,

I had to buy a rear inner cable for my Cx and the guy in Hargroves in Southampton said it was a standard length. He was right when I got it home. Made by clarke I think. I replace the outer after getting rid of the additional brake levers and just bought 2m of it & had a little bit left over.
I didn't find any way of changing the routing for the better though.

I did the same recently, that rear cable routing is poor at the calliper end, The curve is just too tight around the chain stay, I don't think it matters if you route it either side and the angle that it enters the calliper leaves it open to the ingress of muck and water. I did change the gear cable routing to reduce the tightness of the curve around the headtube and then recrossed the exposed cables on the main tube. Can't tell if this has improved the shifting as I fitted new cables and converted to 105 so nothing is left of the original setup.

fret

33 mins for the ride home today and my average speed has gone up by over 1 mph, so I hope it's not a one off and a fluke. Time will tell, but the whole bike felt easier to ride up Portsdown Hill.
There's a slight headwind tomorrow morning, so we'll keep an eye on times.

I weighed the bike today with only the mudguards, bottle cage, computer, pedals and a cable tied front light and after subtracting the weight of those and the bar top levers came up with the magic figure of 8,545g. Take off the two light brackets and pump holder and there's a sub 8.5kg bike, which is good, with around another 200-250g to be lost quite easily if I so decide to do so on 'bars, stem, brakes and saddle (can't see me changing my saddle though).
Around a further 120-150g can be lost on tyres and 50g or so on tubes.
Is it possible to get the bike below the magic 8 Kilos? I reckon so.

It's actually lighter than my carbon bike and I reckon it's still the best all rounder you can buy.

fret

A slight headwind/crosswind this morning and although it seemed harder than yesterday I was 2 minutes quicker. Average is still up. Personal best so far is 24 minutes for the 9 miles with a following wind and that was about 4 years ago.
It's odd that I didn't think that fitting the 28's made any difference after last summer on the 23's, but going back has seen a significant difference, unless it is all in my mind. Time will tell as I will have to fit the 28's again :oops: when I get my next set of wheels as they are the only spares I have but will be changed to 25's at the earliest opportunity.

Did I say how good the bike is?

Russvphoto

24 mins for 9 miles, were you doing 60mph down Portsdown hill Fret?
Sounds like those wheels were an excellent purchase.

fret

The best I have recorded was 51mph on an old steel framed Raleigh with proper man sized cranks.
The 24 mins was on my old Boardman Team alloy bike from memory.

Kimble

hi guys, has anyone had any problems with the freehub on the rear wheel (where else?) on 2010-12 team CX? mine has just siezed up and is effectively a fixie hub now :-(

also the uppermost jockey wheel has bitten the bullet and eaten its bearings on the apex derailleur.

The bike is 10 months old so will Halfords do both under warranty?

P.S. bike is well maintained and well used, circa 2k miles done since purchase. i.e. far too soon for these problems.

fret

I've read of another free-hub going on here.
The bike is under warranty, Halfords must inspect and repair/replace under the Sale Of Goods Act 1979 (As Amended) as unfit for purpose for starters. Don't be fobbed off with "It's up to you to sort it with Boardman" as that is breaking the law.
I haven't heard of Apex problems, mine lasted around 4K before I upgraded with no problems.

Kimble

Cheers Fret. in fairness to Halfords, the Eastgate (Bristol) branch is usually pretty good to deal with. they did an excellent 6 week service and are usually good to replace / repair parts on my other boardman (FS Pro). this si the first time I'm having problems with the CX.

Actually you have a Planet X Carbon CX (XLS)? am thinking of putting the CX on the Bay and upgrading to the XLS on the cycle to work so the cost should be negligible. has anyone here done that? recommended? really like 105 gears and will see with Planet X if they'll spec with TRP's instead of BB7's. I have BB7's on the CX as is and am not wildly convinced by them..

fret

The Planet X won't take mudguards, apart from MTB type clip-ons and possibly SKS RaceBlades, so bear that in mind. I also wouldn't choose a carbon fibre bike for commuting as you've only got to drop it wrongly and it's history. 105 is a brilliant workhorse, much as the Apex and Rival are, but the gearshifts are so much smoother. Sram has advantages off road I think with just the one lever to operate.
The gearing of 46/36 is different to a compact obviously, I rarely use the extremes of gearing on the road anyway, but a 34t small front ring would be good for normal people. I do run out of gears on the large downhill stretch though.
BB7's are awesome compared to the BB5's now they have bedded in.
It's no lighter really than the Boardman, even with some dieting. I hope to bring it in to work one day this week to get the current weight and see what else I can do to lighten it.
I do like the XLS though and it's more race orientated than the CX like my old CX9 as I've said before.

Do what I did and have both.

newtonuk

Hi Fret, I'd be interested to read a summary of your diet plan for the CX... That weight loss is brilliant! Is it mainly around the wheelset?

fret

WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMME

Quite considerable list so far


FSA Gossamer inc BB 938g Sram Force crank inc BB 762g
Wheels 2100g Custom build Ryde 1400g
Microshit Front mech 110 Sram Force front mech 77g
Sram Apex rear mech 210g Sram Force rear mech 166g
Sram Cassette 299g Shimano Ultegra 6700 cassette 210g
Seat post 299g Bontrager XXX CF post 190g
Bars 296g Pro PLT bars 245g
Saddle 291g Specialized Phenom 143 240g
Sram Apex levers 344g Sram Red levers 280g
Excavader tyres 730g Conti Gatorskin 23mm wire 560g
Tubes 249g 23mm tubes 200g
TOTAL 5890g 4330g
SAVING 1560g

I think that's it, although the spacers on the stem are now carbon and the skewers are lighter than the OEM but only just. Further weight savings can be made easily with 'bars and stem, but that's about it now. It makes a very good road bike and is only 900g heavier than the carbon Ribble I sold earlier this year. To put it back into CX mode or light trail I have some 1500g Kinesis wheels to fit with the OEM tyres or 28's which won't make it embarrassingly heavy.
Not quite the 7600g of the Cannondale Super X Disc at £3700 though, but still very good.

coldbeer

Just finished this week. It's a great upgrade over my old CX Team (which I always thought was a good bike anyway) Given it a good thrashing around N.Yorks and Gisburn and I'm well impressed.

newtonuk

Nice, is that the 9.8?

coldbeer

Yes 9.8 Frameset with Hope/Archetype wheels, CX70 drivetrain, 3T Ergoterra bars and stem and TRP brakes

arthur_scrimshaw

coldbeer wrote:

Just finished this week. It's a great upgrade over my old CX Team (which I always thought was a good bike anyway) Given it a good thrashing around N.Yorks and Gisburn and I'm well impressed.

Oh I like that, do you do Cyclecross races?

newtonuk

coldbeer wrote:

Yes 9.8 Frameset with Hope/Archetype wheels, CX70 drivetrain, 3T Ergoterra bars and stem and TRP brakes

Very envious :P

fret

That is indeed most scrummy

coldbeer

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

coldbeer wrote:

Just finished this week. It's a great upgrade over my old CX Team (which I always thought was a good bike anyway) Given it a good thrashing around N.Yorks and Gisburn and I'm well impressed.

Oh I like that, do you do Cyclecross races?

No my racing days are over. I mostly ride forest trails and try to link them up with short sections of quiet tarmac. I'm lucky enough to live within 30 mins. of Gisburn Forest and the Pennine Bridleway and what I like about these bikes is that I can forget the car, cycle there and back and not feel like I'm dragging a bag of coal behind me.

I have 2 sets of wheels the Archetypes and a set of Stan's Crests, both on Hope hubs and discs which makes changing a snip. This winter I've had 28mm GP4S on one and a set of offroad tyres, sometimes tubeless, on the other. During the summer I'll run offroad tyres on both and get the road bike out.

bikes`n`guns

Bottom bracket replaced again today. Number 3 in 3 months

Shimano 68x107 fitted in place of the 103 which is difficult to get.

If this one fails, they will either replace the whole drive gear, or the bike.

fret

Fingers crossed.

fret

Just got in and in the post is this month's Cycling Active with a review of the current CX.
States all we know and only criticises a few items.
Good all round I say.