Boardman Pro Carbon SRAM Red

Rod11

Hi all,

Got myself a new steed a couple of weeks ago after much deliberation and contemplation. Was originally going to buy myself a new frame and switch over parts off my old bike, but Halfords had a great deal on so I couldn't really say no! Ultegra groupo with FSA energy BB30 chainset, Mavic Kyserium Equipe wheels, internal cable routing, absolutely love it! Big improvement over the Giant SCR3 I had.

I must say, I know the Boardman brand gets a lot of bad press due to it being distributed by Halfords, but my local branch (Edinburgh Straiton) were fantastic. Really helpful staff who actually seemed to know what they were talking about, and when I picked the bike up it was set up properly, no problems or worries.

Made a couple of changes and additions:

Deda Zero 1 stem
3T ergonova bars
Planet X Ti skewers
Specialized avatar saddle
Fizik mtex tape
Look keo blade pedals
Chinese carbon bottle cages
Cateye velo wireless computer

jgsi

Rather nice!
Like it

chadders81

Love it and only read good things about these.

Looks proper rapid. Emjoy.

HarryK

Nice! Can I ask where you got that cateye mount from?

Rod11

Glad you guys like it!

The cateye mount is actually a homemade job, I find it much easier to glance down and see it there than when it was on the stem. It's just made from a front reflector mount zip tied to an old computer mount that I had to adapt slightly. I can take some close ups of it if you want, was fairly easy to do if you have the right bits!

HarryK

If you could post some photos that would be good! Looks better than mounting it on the stem.

MarksMintness

That's well nice mate, with some choice additions. Looks comfortable as well.

Rod11

So I had an old computer mount very similar to this -


... And a front reflector mount that had 2 holes in it. The vertical part of the computer mount sat between the 2 holes and I put a tie wrap around the vertical part and through the 2 holes. Obviously the mount could just slide out the top, so I got another tie wrap and looped it through the hole in the bottom of the vertical part of the computer mount and around the first tie wrap and back through the hole. The size of the hole was just small enough so that the head of the tie wrap couldn't slide through.. and that's it!



I had to slightly trim the sides of the old mount to fit, but that was it! As I say, quite straight forward if you have the right parts, the hardest part was actually finding the bits to use! I knew there was a reason why I don't throw bits away haha.

Hopefully that's of some help!

Dunk_911

Nice bike. I really like those frames. A couple of years ago I made a computer mount myself for one of my bikes:



Good work

Rod11

Oh very nice! Welded to the face plate? I'd like to eventually get round to making something a bit more permanent than something zip tied together!

JohnnyV111

Yep, neatest computer mount I've seen.

Dunk_911

Jack93 wrote:

Oh very nice! Welded to the face plate? I'd like to eventually get round to making something a bit more permanent than something zip tied together!

Yes it is welded to the cap/ face plate thing. I was considering machining a new stem cap and bolting a plate to it but welding was waaay cheaper and easier!

Yours looks fine mate, I reckon that the cable ties will actually give the mount some resilience against the bumps you inevitably encounter on the road. As with mine the bolt which holds the computer bracket to the welded tab needs to be quite tight else the computer mount will spin with the bumps it encounters although I could just use a star washer and torque it correctly...

jonni3

Very nice bike, cool idea on how to mount the computer ..... Just wished I had seen it earlier in the day as I want to make one now

heez29

That'll be myself who sold it to you! Glad to know it's running sweet!

Nice changes as well, MTBr by day but I keep wanting to turn to the dark side!

Rod11

Well after a couple of months I've made a few wee changes, nothing major though.

Got a new saddle quite soon after I posted originally, absolutely love it! It is a TT saddle, but I have quite a generous saddle to bar drop so it suits me just great. Got the steerer tube cut after I sorted out my position. Also got some gold bits the other day - I know they're not everyone's cup of tea but I love them.

Got some PX CNC brakes on order, should be coming soon, and will be selling my ultegra brakes (if you're interested PM me). Really fancy some Zipp VukaSprint bars but don't have the funds for them at the moment, also thinking of getting Alligator i-link housing (in gold!), but again that'll have to wait a bit. That's about it for now! Oh and the observant will notice my handcrafted computer mount has been switched back to the stock Cateye one, decided it looked cleaner on the stem.

BBH

Very smart build, lovely!!!!

jason78

Bike looks spot on mate
Any links to the gold bits you've added!

Rod11

Cheers guys! All the gold bits were off ebay. The jockey wheels and chainring bolts were from the same seller, the_cyclomonster, really good service, I bought them on Sunday night and they arrived on Tuesday. The bottle cage bolts were just from someone in Taiwan.
Jockey wheels - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120852772611? ... 2793wt_906
Chainring bolts - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120869897702? ... 1166wt_906
Bottle cage bolts - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200602796545? ... 193wt_1163

Was slightly worried about the chainring bolts being the same colour as the jockey wheels and bolts, as they look slightly different in the pictures, but in real life they match great.

ethanhayes

As shallow as it sounds the only reason I've not got my self a Boardman bike by now is because of their colour schemes.
But you sir, have made a beautiful job of it all! The gold bits complement the rest of the bike beautifully, without looking tacky!
Stunning job, lovely bike!

Good to see someone else who has a 'generous' drop to the bars too :P

Rod11

Yeah I do agree, at first I was a bit put off by the colour, and the original black bar tape and saddle didn't help IMO. But now I love it! Thanks for that though, means a lot!

Just got my PX brakes yesterday and switched stems to a BBB carbon wrapped one I had. Will maybe try and get some pictures up tomorrow.

Hasilpuri

Very nice bike mate, Im thinking of getting new boardman team carbon, Heard some good things about it. If you dont mind me asking how much did you initially pay for the bike? I have looked on halfords its up £1599 at the moment reduced from £1799, and top of that halfords are doing £70 off on all bikes over £700. So this one work out at £1530. Do you think that is a good price for this bike?
Thnx

Rod11

Cheers! I got it for £1549, they had £250 off at the time. I think the Boardmans are some of the best value for money bikes around, especially with the money off!

Rod11

So a few changes have taken place recently! Decided to sell the ultegra shifters and mechs whilst they were still in a good condition, and made the leap to SRAM. Don't want to start a SRAM/Shimano debate, but wow it is awesome! Shifting is better (probably also helped by the iLink housing), but the main difference I find is just the general feel of it. The up shift lever on the ultegra felt a bit light and fragile (although I'm sure it's not!) but the red lever feels solid, the brake lever too because it doesn't move to shift. Really pleased with the PlanetX CNC brakes as well, even though they're a faff to set up!

Also got to mention the bar tape, decided to try Zipp CX tape and I love it! Best tape to wrap, texture and padding are great.

declan1

Looks good. I can't decide whether you've gone OTT on the gold though!

badly_dubbed

Do like that

Colours nice

pnev

Lovely bike although you should have upgraded your wheels to carbon 40-60mm tubs before changing a perfectly good ultegra groupo

fatboyonabike

There are some great offers on sram Red Chainsets around if you where thinking of changing it.

Rod11

A sad day yesterday, probably my last ride before I sell the frameset (PM me if interested or keep an eye out on the classifieds), she's done me proud (and yes my bike is a she). Glorious weather for it though!

ed_j

I'm confused. How did you get back your chopped steerer in that last photo?

cubedean

How come you're selling up?

Looks lovely & them jockey wheels.......i'm tempted by a blue set.

Rod11

Ed J wrote:

I'm confused. How did you get back your chopped steerer in that last photo?

In the previous photo there's actually a spacer under the stem, although it doesn't look like it.

cubedean wrote:

How come you're selling up?

Looks lovely & them jockey wheels.......i'm tempted by a blue set.

Just looking for something different, a little less race orientated, and as you can see by my stem I need something with a slightly longer head tube. Those jockey wheels were great, got them from this guy (he's got an ebay shop as well) - http://www.cyclomonster.com/cart/