Boardman CX Owners Thread

bigmul

Funny you should ask - I just finished off the cabling on mine today. I did the brake cables when I did the BB7's, did the gear cables today. Frankly it's a bit of a chew on, especially when you're on leave and the kids are "helping"!

The BB7's came with inline adjusters and I'd bought a pack of 2 more juse in case, which is good as I found the gear ones wouldn't come off the old outer cable housing. I also found I had to try different ferrules (sp?) to fit, as struggles with some of the jagwire ones, also there wasn't enough in the jagwire kit - presumably as they don't factor in having in-line adjusters, which essentially means you need 4 more than they give you.

I cut my outers with a Deemmel, but think it would have been easier and cleaner with proper snips.

Happy to take some pics, I don't claim mine to be the best mind!!

bigmul

Not the prettiest, but here you go...(click for bigger)

Viking2136

All looks good mate, I was on leave last week and never did it - help or not! Worst thing is im away this weekend as well so it will be next week, or a long night in the shed tomorrow! Might have to purchase some cable cutters before hand!

Viking2136

Got them all unpacked and ready to go today - too busy getting ready to go away at the weekend to fit them - random question - whats the silver shim/ring for in the skewer pack???

bigmul

Spacer for your cassette. They are 11sp compatible, put the spacer on, then cassette.

Viking2136

cheers mate - Sunday I reckon

neil_b

Hi all,

I'm planning on getting the CX comp via Cycle2work scheme next week.

My commute is not much, a 10-12 mile round trip but I have a steep hill whichever route I take. Mainly going to be road riding but I will be cutting through a park for about 1-2 miles using shingle paths. At the weekend I'm going to use the bike for recreational trips round the local park with our daughter.

I've owned a Boardman Urban comp before (now rebranded as hybrid) and although great on the raid, it was a bit flimsy for anything rougher.

I've also never ridden with drop bars before and am a little apprehensive having read conflicting opinions on best commuting bars (flat or drop).

Is the CX going to be more than I need?

Thanks

Neil

apreading

neil_b wrote:

My commute is not much, a 10-12 mile round trip but I have a steep hill whichever route I take.

No - your commute can be as long as you want it to be, just not less than 10-12 miles

CX should be a good choice - its a good choice for just about anything. Its no stronger than the Hybrid though - essentially the same bike but with drop bars (I know the geometry is slightly different and other details maybe but in terms of frame strength and ride feel its the same). The Hybrid was probably only flimsy in your mind - they take alot of punishment - perhaps you just needed to fit wider tyres and/or use lower pressures for more comfort.

neil_b

apreading wrote:

No - your commute can be as long as you want it to be, just not less than 10-12 miles

Thanks for that spreading! Haha

I think the reason I say flimsy is because I always had mtbs in the past and the setup by Halfords on the hybrid wasn't great (front wheel bent when using disc brake, etc.!).

Just my drop bar apprehension to get over now!

cheddarpaul

Morning gents, need a bit of advice on the CX as my possible new commuter as my current bike is nearing it's end of life.

I have the Mendips between me and my place of work, so a typical ride to work (18-22 miles each way) also involves a fair degree of climbing, 500ft on the way in and then 1300ft to get home.

Are these things too heavy for such rides? Also, my current pannier is rather heavy, does anyone have a suggestion for something light (without breaking the bike)?

Appreciate your thoughts

tincaman

It will be fine, my commute is 29 miles there and back and 2400ft and I managed OK

cwhitford

Thought I’d share some feedback about by CX. I bought a 2012/13 model in May last year. It seemed to have a good spec and a couple of things such as our cycle to work scheme and groupsets on my other bikes meant it was the obvious choice.

Halfords wouldn’t do test rides and the shops only had medium frames in stock. I placed an order for an XL CX Team and timed it right to get a £100 discount on a bank holiday weekend.

With hindsight I should have spent longer looking at the bike spec and checking the sizes. I’m 6’2” with long levers, this is bike number 5 and my others tend to be bigger frames. The exception is my other commuter bike which is a small frame bike that I picked up so cheap that I could say no - I love that bike but have the heights jacked way up to make it fit.

The CX was painful to get adjusted, the frame is very long when compared to my similar sized Road Bike, The stem and the seat post exaggerate this, it’s one of the few bikes where I have to set the saddle forwards more often I have the saddle pashed towards the back end of the range. The 120mm stem was the first item to go, swapped for a shorter one pinched from my Boardman MTB which improved the position a lot. The bike came with spare barrel adjusters for removing the cross brake levers, that’s a 15 minute job well worth doing.

The initial setup of the bike was changed from stock to the following
Tyres – Gator HardShell folding 700x23
SKS – narrow mudguards
Stem – Ritchy 100mm
Brakes - Removed auxiliary brake levers

I rode the bike like that through autumn and some of the winter. I got on well enough with the BB5s after some initial adjustment and research into the best way to bead them in. but my initial thoughts on the bike were these:

Ratios are not suited for road use
Freewheel is agricultural
Bike felt heavy
Still not able to get comfortable

Over the Christmas holidays I did a bit of servicing on my bikes and decided to make the CX my bad weather bike and the smaller lighter commuter bike the summer bike and save some wear and tear on some nice Campy components.

Tyres – Swapped for Continental touring tyres with tread and reflector trim (yuk)
Brakes – Santa gave me some BB7 Road callipers.

I rode the bike like that for the winter and spring but the issues above were really getting on my nerves. With the onset of better weather in the spring saw I swapped to better bike and have tried to leave the Boardman alone for most of the summer. Only using it the wettest of days and even then under duress.

With winter looming large I thought it’s about time to sort the bike once and for all as I still intend to use it for bad weather commuting and I want to enjoy riding it. I’ve now done the following upgrades

Tyres – Gator HardShell folding 700x28
Wheels – Kinesis CX CrossLight V3
Cassette – PG1070 11-28
Chain – KMC X10-EL (old one was stretched by the end of last winter)
Stem - FWE 90mm (cheap Evans own brand)
Seatpost – FWE 31.6x400 zero layback
Saddle - Charge Scoop

With the above I hope to address a number of issues. Total weight was a problem but the rolling mass left the bike feeling dead. The complete wheels, tyres, cassette and discs combo was 950grams lighter than the old items. The new wheels have a much better freehub and drive now engages instantly.

A major factor in choosing the CX was that it had SRAM gears, I have a Madone that has SRAM force so having similar shifting across bikes helps. But on the CX the standard gears are too widely separated for my type of use, I’m sure they are fine for the intended design of the bike operating off road but what I really wanted was a road bike with discs and the ratios meant that I was having to change up two, three or four cogs at a time. More Tripple Tap than Double Tap.

The new cassette has improved things a bit but I could have opted for the 11-26. The next upgrade for the gears will probably be a swap of chainrings the 34/50 creates a huge gap in the ratios. On my road bikes if I’m running out of ratios I often shift up 1 on the front and down three on the back, which gives me a seamless graduation. On the CX I’m making repeated swipes of the right lever to drop four or five cogs on the back when I shift up on the front. I think a more conventional 38/50 might work well for me in the future.

Comfort and position wise I now feel I fit the bike, the old seatpost had a huge layback on an already long frame. The new stem and post reduce the clamp to clamp distance by about 60mm. The new saddle can now be supported mid rail and I’m no longer numb after 20 minutes. The best of it is that I can now go from bike to bike without feeling much difference in fit.

One big plus point for the bike is that I’ve probably done 3000 miles on the bike and not really had any mechanical issues. I don’t ride cross but I commute through London traffic each day and want a sturdier version of a road bike, I feel I’m getting towards that. I’m going to throw the original knobblies on the standard wheels so if there’s any winter snow I can swap onto those with only minimal adjustments required.

bigmul

I've done similar things to my 2013 (current) CX Team.

However - yesterday I tried to put the original wheels back on after having setup my new BB7's for the Kinesis whels and found I had to basically set the brakes up again from scratch. Because of that, I ecided to just swap the tyres on the new wheels for commuting, and will swap back when I want to play off-road again (I don't want to use my roadie for commuting). I'll probably sell the original wheels as don't think I'll use them now.

antsmithmk

I've got two wheelsets and the disks align perfectly when swapping out wheels. Am I just lucky?

Ouija

antsmithmk wrote:

I've got two wheelsets and the disks align perfectly when swapping out wheels. Am I just lucky?

Depends on the hubs. Different hubs by different manufacturers can sit the disk one or two millimetres further in or out of the hubs you set the brakes up on.

There's no need to unclamp the caliper and redo it from scratch when switching wheels with BB7's, just move the pads further in or out with the two red adjustment wheels. Since i know one set of hubs moves the disk a tad further away from the wheel than the regular hubs i use i deliberately set up the caliper so that the disk sat slightly right of center on one hub, knowing that it would then sit slightly left of center on the other hub (so only a few clicks of both adjustment wheels are needed when switching wheels).

cmt

Bit of advice please if you can.

I'm looking to sell my 2013 CX (2 Months old with the remainder of the warranty), and am after a realistic value for it.

I have upgraded the brakes to Spyre SL (Carbons) and removed the suicide levers, and have swapped the tyres over to Continental 4 Seasons (Still have the originals as well). Pedal have been swapped to Shimano SPD M520.

Other than that its standard and very low miles (Approx 250 since new - just not using it)

What sort of price would i be looking at?

Cheers guys

Muzzledoctor

cmt wrote:

Bit of advice please if you can.

I'm looking to sell my 2013 CX (2 Months old with the remainder of the warranty), and am after a realistic value for it.

I have upgraded the brakes to Spyre SL (Carbons) and removed the suicide levers, and have swapped the tyres over to Continental 4 Seasons (Still have the originals as well). Pedal have been swapped to Shimano SPD M520.

Other than that its standard and very low miles (Approx 250 since new - just not using it)

What sort of price would i be looking at?

Cheers guys

CMT, I've bought and sold a few bikes in the last few years and I've found that people tend to discount the bikes a lot once they're second hand regardless of the condition, upgrades and claimed mileage. Remember also tat warranties are not transferable so unless you are offering a warranty there isn't one with Halfords / original seller.

cmt

Thanks for the reply.

The Halfords 'warranty' is via the receipt which is included so should not be a problem, but i would help with any issues.

So..... any guide on price ;-)

koontz

I would of thought around £400.00 tops, you can get the cx team for around £750.00 with various discounts so thats what I would ask for ono.

apreading

Are there no similar ones sold on ebay recently to see how much they sold for?

koontz

Why are there no disc road wheels apart from the kinesis v3 which are as rare as hens teeth?, I am in market for some road disc wheels around the £250.00 mark but apparantly no one wants to sell me any?.

bigmul

Tyres...

What are people using for commuting? Currently I've got some Conti CX Speed folding tyres on. Think they're 35mm, but winding if something like 25mm gatorskins maybe the way forward.

Anyone got experience of using GP4000's in winter?

koontz

bigmul wrote:

Tyres...

What are people using for commuting? Currently I've got some Conti CX Speed folding tyres on. Think they're 35mm, but winding if something like 25mm gatorskins maybe the way forward.

Anyone got experience of using GP4000's in winter?

If you have the 2013 cx team you will struggle to get 25mm tyres on the wheels, i have 28mm on mine and they are a bitch to get on/off.

bigmul

I've got the current model, but using Kinesis CX Disc wheels.

koontz

bigmul wrote:

I've got the current model, but using Kinesis CX Disc wheels.

Who do I have to sleep with to get these wheels?, by the way are they a big improvement on the 2014 mavics?.

antsmithmk

I got mine from highonbikes via their eBay store. They are lovely wheels...

apreading

koontz wrote:

bigmul wrote:

I've got the current model, but using Kinesis CX Disc wheels.

Who do I have to sleep with to get these wheels?, by the way are they a big improvement on the 2014 mavics?.

Anyone looking for wheels, these look like a reasonable option! viewtopic.php?f=40091&t=12983199

EKE_38BPM

cwhitford wrote:

A hell of a lot of stuff.

That is a massive amount of changes. Why didn't you just buy a bike you liked and that fit you in the first place?

dhope

EKE_38BPM wrote:

cwhitford wrote:

A hell of a lot of stuff.

That is a massive amount of changes. Why didn't you just buy a bike you liked and that fit you in the first place?

Where's the fun in that? The only thing that's original on my Tempo is the frame.

EKE_38BPM

dhope wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

cwhitford wrote:

A hell of a lot of stuff.

That is a massive amount of changes. Why didn't you just buy a bike you liked and that fit you in the first place?

Where's the fun in that? The only thing that's original on my Tempo is the frame.

I'm all for customisation/personalisation of your bike, but look at the list!
Tyres, stem, brake levers, brake calipers, wheels, cassette, stem, seat post and saddle.
And after all that, the frame still isn't the right size (which can't be changed).

The £100 saved on the initial purchase has been spent many times over, mostly not on upgrades, but on trying to get comfortable.