Boardman CX Owners Thread

jonmorgan

Hi guys, could someone tell me how many links the 2012 team cx KMC chain has? Need to get a new chain but don't get home till later on in the week, would be nice to have the chain waiting when i get back.Cheers

Russvphoto

Had a great ride today, first off road round Havant thicket. (mostly gravel tracks but some mud & water) then off for a road ride with a friend to Hambledon, Corhampton Down & Portsdown hill. In Hambledon we tackled Speltham hill which is 1 in 3.2 or 17% uphill, luckily its only about 400m or so long. 73km's in total. Very enjoyable in dry weather too.

newtonuk

fret wrote:

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.

Fret, when you say this month's, do you mean March (this month), April's (which I am sure is out now) or May's (which wouldn't surprise me if that was out already)?

Cheers!

Russvphoto

newtonuk wrote:

fret wrote:

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.

Fret, when you say this month's, do you mean March (this month), April's (which I am sure is out now) or May's (which wouldn't surprise me if that was out already)?

Cheers!

Its in the May edition.

fret

jonmorgan wrote:

Hi guys, could someone tell me how many links the 2012 team cx KMC chain has? Need to get a new chain but don't get home till later on in the week, would be nice to have the chain waiting when i get back.Cheers

Mine has 114 links, which includes the joint.

jonmorgan

Thanks Fret, much appreciated.

fret

Not a problem, my bike is always at work so I don't have to make a special trip to check these things.
I measured it against the old chain when it wore out and it has the same number of links.
I'm sure I bought a normal KMC chain and cut it to length, it was around 122 links.

fret

That's it, I am now "Officially VERY OLD" and celebrated with a 13 mile ride to work this morning along the seafront by Farlington Marshes, leaving at just gone 6.00am. Little wind, sun out and just cool enough to really enjoy it. A mist over Portsmouth shrouding everything (Which is the best way to view the dump ) aPart from the incinerator.
Shame the ride ended and I had to come to work.

Russvphoto

Happy Birthday Fret, hope your work day was good & the ride home pleasant.
Catching me up hey?

bob7896

Hello All,
I need a replacement freehub for my 2012 Boardman CX. The local bike shop says its a special part and only comes from Halfords, but I have contacted them, and they aren't sure which is the correct part. They recommend taking the full wheel into the local Halford shop so they can try to identify it. I am suspious about how much help they would be so I thought I would draw on the collective experience and knowledge here.
Has anyone replaced the freehub with a part from some one other than Halfords?
The bike is out of warranty, so I can't try that.

davem399

Bob7896 wrote:

Hello All,
I need a replacement freehub for my 2012 Boardman CX. The local bike shop says its a special part and only comes from Halfords, but I have contacted them, and they aren't sure which is the correct part. They recommend taking the full wheel into the local Halford shop so they can try to identify it. I am suspious about how much help they would be so I thought I would draw on the collective experience and knowledge here.
Has anyone replaced the freehub with a part from some one other than Halfords?
The bike is out of warranty, so I can't try that.

I got a new freehub for my 2012 CX from Halfords using part no. 124100. I found the part number from Bike Radar forums via Google.
I asked Harry Rowland (lives in the next road) if he could source one but he told me it is not easy for him to get spares for Formula hubs and he directed me back to Halfords. Harry has since built me a set of wheels based on XT hubs and Mavic rims so getting them repaired if necessary shouldn't be a problem.

Mr W

DaveM399 wrote:

Bob7896 wrote:

Hello All,
I need a replacement freehub for my 2012 Boardman CX. The local bike shop says its a special part and only comes from Halfords, but I have contacted them, and they aren't sure which is the correct part. They recommend taking the full wheel into the local Halford shop so they can try to identify it. I am suspious about how much help they would be so I thought I would draw on the collective experience and knowledge here.
Has anyone replaced the freehub with a part from some one other than Halfords?
The bike is out of warranty, so I can't try that.

I got a new freehub for my 2012 CX from Halfords using part no. 124100. I found the part number from Bike Radar forums via Google.
I asked Harry Rowland (lives in the next road) if he could source one but he told me it is not easy for him to get spares for Formula hubs and he directed me back to Halfords. Harry has since built me a set of wheels based on XT hubs and Mavic rims so getting them repaired if necessary shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, mine is a 2012 CX and I replaced mine with part 124100 as above. £24.99 from halfords and it came with the relevant hex key.

heez29

As above. 124100. Just need an 8mm allen key to use with the 11mm adaptor.

fret

How long is the warranty? I bet it is far more than a year under the SOGA. :twisted:

Back to cycling to work in the dark this morning, but only for a week or so. Bike still feels good and will hopefully fully serviced over Easter.

Rustler

It is so good to have found this thread. I have a Boardman CX Team 2014 that I got through the C2W scheme last October, my first bike had the paint cracking issue, then I realised it had no front guard mounting holes but I have managed to fit the SKS guards off my previous bike.

The first bottom bracket lasted 800 miles before the creaking started and was replaced under warranty at 900, the second is now starting to go after 430 miles. When I had the first one replaced my local Halfords wrote on the receipt that bearings are expected to fail after a certain mileage, well in my book thousands of miles is acceptable, not hundreds, I had a £199 Carrera Subway before this, rode it for 18 months and never had an issue.

I got the bike to commute on to save money, but if I have to replace BBs this frequently I may as well buy a cheap car!!

Overall though I am pretty impressed with the bike and have averaged 17mph over the first 1400 miles and that is with the original knobblies, guards and a plethora of lights, if they can resolve the BB issues I may well keep it at the end of the term, if not my employer can have it.

koontz

I have had similar problems, took me 3 bikes before getting a 'decent' one, this one is also making a creaking noise, I thought it was the seat but not sure now. Am I right in that if I stand up on the pedals and there is no creaking its NOT the bb?. I do like the bike I currently have 28 mm tyres on and so it rolled better than the rob Roy's, but still sluggish going up hills due to the weight and The brakes need constant adjustment.

EKE_38BPM

koontz wrote:

I have had similar problems, took me 3 bikes before getting a 'decent' one, this one is also making a creaking noise, I thought it was the seat but not sure now. Am I right in that if I stand up on the pedals and there is no creaking its NOT the bb?. I do like the bike I currently have 28 mm tyres on and so it rolled better than the rob Roy's, but still sluggish going up hills due to the weight and The brakes need constant adjustment.

My Kaff developed a click/clunk every pedal revolution. I went to town and removed, cleaned and regreased the saddle clamp, seat post, seat post clamp, pedals, cranks, BB and chain ring bolts.

No idea what was causing the problem, but its now silent again.
Maybe you should do the same if you have the tools/time/skillz.

Rustler

I had problems setting up the brakes early on, trying stuff I found on the internet. What I do now is set the caliper up so it is parallel to the disk and wind the inboard(non moving) pad in until it is touching the disk then wind it back one click. Then adjust the piston side in until it is close but not touching, this has worked fine on my bike. You have to be careful that you are not using the piston to push the disk across to meet the non moving pad.

I too had a click after the BB was replaced and went out for a ride to diagnose and found that it stopped when I stood up. I quick squirt of GT85 at each end of the saddle rails soon stopped it, mine is a non standard saddle as I found the original too painful but I would think they are all similar.

I am going to spend some time this weekend greasing and tightening all the parts mentioned to see if it fixes my issue, if not it will go back.

I have two questions:

How do you re-grease the bearings without removing them?
Is it possible to contact Boardman bikes without going through Halfords?

newtonuk

It is, contact@boardmanbikes.com, but they'll probably direct you to Halfords Customer Services.

EKE_38BPM

Rustler wrote:

I am going to spend some time this weekend greasing and tightening all the parts mentioned to see if it fixes my issue, if not it will go back.

Don't forget the cleaning bit too. There isn't much point in greasing and tightening if there is mud and/or old grease on the threads.

Rustler wrote:

How do you re-grease the bearings without removing them?

You don't (easily). BB bearings are now considered disposable. When they fail, whip them out and replace them with new ones. I meant removing the BB cups and cleaning & regreasing the threads, not the bearings themselves.

fret

Lovely ride this morning, you could see about 50 meters!!!

Mine has now covered around 9000 mile at a guess and is OK for the creaks and odd noises. Some are very hard to find and are often completely unrelated to where you think they come from. Some are not looked for, such as the rear wheel moving, chainrings loose, crank arms loose etc.

It's still a brilliant commuter.

rubertoe

What BB/Crankset does the new Boardman come with?

koontz

newtonuk wrote:

It is, contact@boardmanbikes.com, but they'll probably direct you to Halfords Customer Services.

Who is this directed at?, are you saying even though when I am out of the saddle and there is no squeaking noise it is still the bottom bracket?, how would that work surely your putting more pressure on the cranks and the bottom bracket when your stood up?.

apreading

Every 6 months or so, I get a click/creak which I have found to be the seatpost - take it out, clean and regrease it and the noise stops. Before I knew what it was I spent a long time suspecting bottom bracket, front stem and all sorts. Now I know it is easy to sort and doesnt bother me.

If the noise stops when you are standing up then this may well be the same issue for you.

newtonuk

Rustler wrote:

Is it possible to contact Boardman bikes without going through Halfords?

Hi koontz, Rustler asked the above question, my response was directed to him.

koontz

my apologies newton didnt see the bottom of rustlers post

Viking2136

Struggling with the damn gears!

I've had my CX since Dec - Happy Xmas to me! Its a nice bike, ive changed the BB5 for a set of BB7s but still have to adjust most days which is annoying but the gears are killing me. I use it for commuting daily and for racing in the cross season,

Ive tried to adjust myself, make the mistake of taking it to Halfords and took it to my LBS today - all failed. Halfords said it was a bent derailleur - new one on same problem!

Basically when I'm changing up I have to push twice then on the way down I have to give it a real hard click which clicks but doesn't drop a gear then another very soft click makes it drop down very smoothly, does this on the way up sometimes too!

God this is so annoying to the point where Im debating putting it on ebay and buying a Cube CX with a 105 set and cantis's.

Any body have a soluttion before I sell my grey lady?

bigmul

I also have a creak - suspect seat/post. I think I also have a creak in the right hand side SPD too. I've tried putting candle wax on the pedal and clear to no avail, any other ideas on that one?

essex-commuter

New cleats

luv2ride

Hi all. Need some urgent sizing advice. Been eyeing one of these for a while and a used one has come up which I may well go for. I'm 173cm (5'8") tall with a 31" (79cm) inside leg. The one I've seen is a 2012/13 CX Team medium, but not sure if a small would be better for my size, especially if taking off-road? My road bikes are a Scott CR1 with a 545mm effective top tube, and a Tifosi CK7 with a 550mm effective top tube. Can't help thinking that the 555mm top tube of the medium Boardman may be too big?
All advice gratefully received!