New bike - build advice

essjaydee

Just collected a Boardman Road Race, and the box is sat waiting to be emptied and built 8)

Wanted to assemble it myself and just thought I'd ask for any tips or hints before I get stuck in

rafletcher

Is this a carbon frame? If so, and it's yr first build I'd recommend a torque wrench. I've built several bikes, and for my forst carbon one used a torque wrench - but I found that most of the time the recommended torque was higher than I would have used without one. You'll need a good set of allne keys and possibly torx wrenches too. Some spanners (metric), screwdrivers too. Carbon assembly paste for seatpin, decent grease (lithium perhaps) for threads. Depends on just how much "building" is required :-)

sloppyschleckonds

Some people advise taking boardman/ halfords supplied bikes to your lbs for them to assemble and check over

essjaydee

It's an Ally frame and I have torque wrenches and decent tools It's more of an assembly job though tbh. Have to fit the front brake (Tektro), fit the wheels and seatpost and check the set-up of the brakes and gears.

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Some people advise taking boardman/ halfords supplied bikes to your lbs for them to assemble and check over

Read this on several threads too, and think it was aimed at those that got the bike assembled at Halfords. One of the reasons I picked it up in the box so I can do it myself

rafletcher

Well then it's a simple job. Wheels in first, then front brake, then seatpost and finally check indexing. Whatever gears u have (I assume SRAM) you can go online and download manuals on setting them up.

essjaydee

It was an easy job and all done now

All that was required to assemble was fit the seatpost, handlebars, pedals and front wheel. Had to insert front cable through the brake, secure and adjust. Front brake was already fitted to the fork, but securing bolt was a bit loose. Adjusted front and rear brakes couple of times and all seems good now. Gear (shimano) indexing seems spot on with no adjustment required yet. Checked every nut and bolt and all was secure. Just need to put some air in the tires and go for a ride, but got to take daughter out for a drive round, so it'll have to wait till later in the week or next Friday

Very well packaged and all manuals are included, so you only need minimal tools to check and assemble.

How any Halfords 'techies' could get it wrong is beyond me

Just need to sort some bottle cages, saddle bag and mudguards now.

Will post an update when I've put some miles on it 8)