boardman cx

[david k]

i was thinking of getting a cx team but at 6'2" I was worried about sizing

i want a winter bike which may double as a tourer in the summer

are they brining out a 2015 soon?

 

[david k]

So there are no more Boardman CX Comps attm in 57.5.

I've emailed to find out timescales but the other option is to squeeze a bit more money out of my meagre budget.

Still under £1k but I've broken it down to either:
1) Canondale CaddX Tiagra or Sora (tho the former has no front eyelets apparently - this right?)
2) Merida Cyclocross 300
3) I may be able to source a Whyte Dorset for under £800
4) Or get the CX Team - again no eyelets

Thoughts?

excuse my ignorance but why do we need eyelets?

 

[david k]

It is crazy how many different ways they use!

I am not interested in seat tube length because the saddle just goes up or down to suit. The top tube is more important because there is a limit to how much I want to mess with stem length or saddle setback.

The other measurement which I look for is steerer tube (?) length. I am not terribly flexible so don't want too much of a drop to the bars. 7 cm is about my limit and that implies a tube length of about 18 cm with most frames. If the frame is too small, then shoving the saddle up gives too big a drop to the bars.

another worry for me is the drop, i like to be sat up more, particulalrly if i want long day rides or touring, can you switch the head tube thingy round to bring the bars up a bit?

 

[ColinJ]

another worry for me is the drop, i like to be sat up more, particulalrly if i want long day rides or touring, can you switch the head tube thingy round to bring the bars up a bit?

I have done that on both of my current road bikes. It makes a surprising difference. It not only raises the bars, but pulls them back a bit.

Like this ...

With the stem the normal way up it is near enough parallel to the ground. If you look closely, you will see that I have also rotated the tops of the bars back a few degrees too. If that doesn't get you comfortable, then you can always put a stem riser on the bike. (If the cables were on the short side, you might have to replace them to raise the bars significantly.)

 

[david k]

That looks great and reassuring, I have rotated my drops back on my road bike and the low position took some getting used to, i prefer a more sat up ride on my hybrid as speed is not in my mind, cycling, miles and comfort are, so id want the same comfort from a CX bike. The only other thing I prefer is braking and changing gear is the same position, with the drops depending on where your hands are there is often moving around, and the thinner position isnt as comfortable on trails as its harder to balance IMO, but maybe i would get used to that?

 

[Simontm]

i was thinking of getting a cx team but at 6'2" I was worried about sizing

i want a winter bike which may double as a tourer in the summer

are they brining out a 2015 soon?

I went on a 55 as suggested on here but noooo waaayyy at 6'2" was it big enough Online the CXTeam as a 57.5 but the CX Comp will not be delivered to the UK until 17th December and so not in the shops till round the 20th.

 

[Simontm]

excuse my ignorance but why do we need eyelets?

Want to put mudguards on front and back and a pannier rack on back. Can use zip ties etc but it's just so much easier.

 

[david k]

I went on a 55 as suggested on here but noooo waaayyy at 6'2" was it big enough Online the CXTeam as a 57.5 but the CX Comp will not be delivered to the UK until 17th December and so not in the shops till round the 20th.

thanks for reply, i only have this month to get my c2w voucher, its open just in november, maybe i could get the voucher and wait for the bike?

 

[david k]

Want to put mudguards on front and back and a pannier rack on back. Can use zip ties etc but it's just so much easier.

can you not put mudgaurds on without the eyelets? id want mudgaurds front and back and a pannier on the back also

 

[ColinJ]

can you not put mudgaurds on without the eyelets? id want mudgaurds front and back and a pannier on the back also

It's the difference between just bolting them on and bodging them on!

I don't have a problem switching between my drop-barred road bikes and my wide-barred MTB, but I have not yet vigorously ridden a drop-barred bike offroad. I have ridden my current bikes on some mild roughstuff but I was worried about damaging them or me so I rode very slowly and carefully. A CX bike would take a lot more punishment!

 

[david k]

I went on a 55 as suggested on here but noooo waaayyy at 6'2" was it big enough Online the CXTeam as a 57.5 but the CX Comp will not be delivered to the UK until 17th December and so not in the shops till round the 20th.

went into halfords and sat on a 55 and was surprised at how big it was, it would probably be fine for me but was recommened to go for the 57.5 and i agree
i couldnt believe how light it was! this will be a replacement for my carerra subway2 as a winter bike, it will be way quicker. my rides are mainly roads and paths with occasional tracks which my road bike struggles with in summer but this should be fine in all weathers

 

[david k]

It's the difference between just bolting them on and bodging them on!

I don't have a problem switching between my drop-barred road bikes and my wide-barred MTB, but I have not yet vigorously ridden a drop-barred bike offroad. I have ridden my current bikes on some mild roughstuff but I was worried about damaging them or me so I rode very slowly and carefully. A CX bike would take a lot more punishment!

i dont plan to go off road as such but i like tracks and bobbly rutty paths so this should be fine, the big tyes improve comfort on the road i suspect which is a plus

is the team worth 300 more than the comp?

 

[ColinJ]

is the team worth 300 more than the comp?

I would spend the extra £300 to get a significantly lighter bike made from better components.

You can get a better bike by spending more*** but the law of diminishing returns eventually sets in. It is a personal choice where you set the spending limit. For example - if I had the money, I would spend more than £2k on a bike, but I wouldn't spend £10k. OTOH, I would not go lower than £300 for a new bike because corners would have to be cut to meet that price point, and I would definitely prefer to spend more than £500. There are lots of nice bikes about now costing £800 - £1,000.





*** Up to a point - I don't think that a bike costing £20k would be significantly better than one costing £10k!

 

[david k]

I would spend the extra £300 to get a significantly lighter bike made from better components.

You can get a better bike by spending more*** but the law of diminishing returns eventually sets in. It is a personal choice where you set the spending limit. For example - if I had the money, I would spend more than £2k on a bike, but I wouldn't spend £10k. OTOH, I would not go lower than £300 for a new bike because corners would have to be cut to meet that price point, and I would definitely prefer to spend more than £500. There are lots of nice bikes about now costing £800 - £1,000.

*** Up to a point - I don't think that a bike costing £20k would be significantly better than one costing £10k!

i used to say the big jump is between 100 and 300, now i say its between 500 and 900 lol !!!!

the spend and save offer which knocks off £60 finishes tomorrow , there is likely to be a 10% off coming at the end of the month but do i wait? it may not happen,, and the difference is only 30 overall so think ill go for it

ill go for 900 on my C2W and get full mudgaurds put on, ill get my spd pedals off ebay much cheaper. i may get the care package, the guys at my local halfords are very good, and £40 for 3 years is worth it, ive just paid £90 for one service at a local bike shop, i wont be going back, they were just trying to get me to change everything, the first quote was £150!

 

[david k]

just found this on another forum

I had a little exchange of emails with Boardman at the beginning of March who advised that they are currently reviewing an upgraded fork for the CX which includes mudguard eyelets. They couldn't offer any sort of lead time (other than saying they're expecting to sign it off soon), but they did say that it would be available to current owners under warranty.