boardman road pro carbon slr

koontz

I am looking at purchasing a boardman road pro slr carbon which is currently reduced from £1799 to £1535, however with my british cycling membersahip can get it down to around £1385, which seems like a great price for spec. I am waiting to see the bike in person as they have to order them in and have chosen a small which I seem to be at the upper limit for, my current bike is also a boardman cx team which is medium with a 55.5 top tube and have always felt it was a little big, they say boardmans do have big top tubes, so the small carbon pro is around 54cm top tube though a more racy frame. Also of concern is the gear ratios on my cx team its a 50/34 and 12-32 at the back. The road pro is 52/36 and 11-28 so dont have those gears for the big hills, now the bike is a LOT lighter so will this help in the hills without the need for the 30/32 gears?.

sloppyschleckonds

koontz wrote:

I am looking at purchasing a boardman road pro slr carbon which is currently reduced from £17999 to £1535,

Thats some discount

koontz

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

koontz wrote:

I am looking at purchasing a boardman road pro slr carbon which is currently reduced from £17999 to £1535,

Thats some discount

Corrected but thanks for your input :roll:

londoncommuter

koontz wrote:

now the bike is a LOT lighter so will this help in the hills without the need for the 30/32 gears?.

No idea on the specifics here but say at the extreme it's 2kg lighter you are still going to suffer going from 34/32 to 36/28. Might not be fatal but have a think about if you really need those bottom gears. Of course, everything can be swapped but just make sure you budget for it.

mason5697

londoncommuter wrote:

koontz wrote:

now the bike is a LOT lighter so will this help in the hills without the need for the 30/32 gears?.

No idea on the specifics here but say at the extreme it's 2kg lighter you are still going to suffer going from 34/32 to 36/28. Might not be fatal but have a think about if you really need those bottom gears. Of course, everything can be swapped but just make sure you budget for it.

If it helps, I went from a boardman team hybrid with 50/34 and 11/32 which I ended up on 34/32 for a good few steep hills, to a giant propel advanced pro 2 with 52/36 and 11/28. Giant is probably around 2-2.5 kg lighter.

I've not had any trouble on the hills yet. Some of them seemed a bit harder at first. But your body adapts. Then the new gears become the norm. Don't let it put you off. Just get a little fitter. Some of my strava segments on hills are still pb's from the hybrid tho. But still getting up quickly on the bigger gears.

fenix

2KG off the bike won't make up for the higher gearing.

If you do use your bottom gears - you need to get a bigger block.

mason5697

Fenix wrote:

2KG off the bike won't make up for the higher gearing.

If you do use your bottom gears - you need to get a bigger block.

Not necessarily..... I went from 50/34 and 11-32 to 52/36 and 11-28 and still manage the hills ok. Might be a little slower at first. but I reckon you adapt pretty quickly.

koontz

mason5697 wrote:

Fenix wrote:

2KG off the bike won't make up for the higher gearing.

If you do use your bottom gears - you need to get a bigger block.

Not necessarily..... I went from 50/34 and 11-32 to 52/36 and 11-28 and still manage the hills ok. Might be a little slower at first. but I reckon you adapt pretty quickly.

Thanks for the reply, I dont do any really big hills, the bigest one is like 7% for a mile or so and I only do this hill now and again, I can always get new wifli rear mech and bigger cassette, but would also need new chain, anyway looking at the bike tomorrow so will see if it fits first and take it from there.

trek_dan

Or swap the semi compact chainset to a compact chainset. Sell the semi as brand new and you'll only loose a little money, if any. Much cheaper than swapping everything else over for the sake of accommodating the bigger front ring you probably don't need.

cougie

The bottom gear shouldn't be for the big hills rather the steep ones. There are a few nasty hills round here where you'd want to be bottom gear but nothing very long.

kajjal

It is important you have realistic range of gears for your riding. An example of this is currently in mountain biking single chain ring gears are being promoted. For some this works well for others they half kill themselves uphill due to running out of gears and end up pushing or struggling.

I use 50/34 and 11-32 which gives a very good range of gears for a variety of riding.

ForumNewbie

koontz wrote:

mason5697 wrote:

Fenix wrote:

2KG off the bike won't make up for the higher gearing.

If you do use your bottom gears - you need to get a bigger block.

Not necessarily..... I went from 50/34 and 11-32 to 52/36 and 11-28 and still manage the hills ok. Might be a little slower at first. but I reckon you adapt pretty quickly.

Thanks for the reply, I dont do any really big hills, the bigest one is like 7% for a mile or so and I only do this hill now and again, I can always get new wifli rear mech and bigger cassette, but would also need new chain, anyway looking at the bike tomorrow so will see if it fits first and take it from there.

I was about to say you'll miss the lower gears on steep hills, but if 7% is your biggest incline I think you'll be okay. Did you ever use your 34/32 gear on the other bike?

koontz

OK back to the drawing board, took it for a little spin say a mile or so and it's to aggressive geometry for me. Would be OK on flattish runs but could not see myself riding for 30/40 miles on rolling terain. The bike though is probably the lightest bike I have been on and looks the dogs bollocks, but it has changed my mind about what my next bike will be, a 'endurance' carbon bike with a more relaxed position and a compact 50/34. Have canyon Improved on there delivery scedule?.