Hi there,

Can anyone see any problems with transfering parts from the boardman to the soul. The seat-post is ok and the headtube is larger on the boardman than the soul so no problem there.

Will be happy with 100mm travel for now but does anyone know if possible to increase travel on the reba’s.

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtbht/ht_team.html

Many thanks, Jim.

you will need a new head set as the one on the boardman is integrated and the cotic only takes a standard head set

Why not ride the Boardman and see how much you’ll like it?

Everything should fit, bar the headset as stated and you’ll more than likely need new cables/outers for the gears

Hey, thanks for the heads up face-plant. Will add that cost to budget.

Hey houns, have ridden a boardman and it is great, but have always wanted a soul and am looking for the most cost effective way of building one.

Hey steve, see these are the things I keep forgetting to budget for!

Thanks guys, Jim.

I’m assuming you’re getting the Boardman via C2W – although perhaps you’d better not asnwer that.

Anyway, have you thought about getting the Boardman FS for £1k – which seems to come with a 120mm Reba w/maxle that would suit your Soul v well – and not too much compromise on the rest of the kit.

You’d get a lot more back selling the frame, and you could use some of that to buy some nicer bits and a headset.

Can you tell I’ve thought about this before?

and then either give them 25% of the original cost of the bike back or try and explain why your bike has morphed into a steel hardtail

Hi chakaping, Good spot on the FS. Looks like I would be in almost same place after selling frame as I would be with the ht but with a much more appropriate fork. I can see you have put much thought into this!

Will be doing this with my own funds, not part of the c2w scheme and doesnt look like ever will be, so all with my own moolah!

Thanks again , Jim.

We can do you a Cane Creek S1 headset installed with the frame for £25. If the boardman headset is a Cane Creek of higher spec (S2 or above) you could even swap the better bearings into the S1 cups. You’ll need to get some 28.6mm shims for the front mech, but any shop will have hundreds lying around as they come free with all mechs and only steel frames use 28.6mm tubes on MTB. That boardman will be 31.8 or 34.9. Only other thing I’d budget for is a stem swap. Those bikes look to have quite reachy stems, and you’d probably not want anything longer than an 80mm on the Soul.

Hey Cy, thanks for the info, a reply from the man himself just makes me want to do this more than ever! I will definately go with your suggestion on the headset. Shims shouldn’t be a problem to source as you say and I have a 90mm stem I can try at first, being around 5’11” on a medium, and then take it from there.

I noticed that your preference is further towards 100mm on the forks. I think I would be happy with that for my purposes. May even keep the boardman frame to build up a winter hack!

Thanks again, Jim.

They are nice…

IMGP3282 by jh_buchanan, on Flickr

Is it really cheaper to buy a Boardman and a Soul Frame than just source the components from the cheaper online places?

All Merlin

Forks £260
SLX group set & MT15 wheels £480
Raceface bar stem post £50

=£790

tyres grips seat pedals to get…

you will most likely need a new seatclamp unless cotics come with one: aluminum frames have thicker seat-tube ‘walls’ for a given seatpost diameter.

The margins are quite close. The boardman had a 10% discount recently which made it all the more enticing. The forks in merlin even have a 10% discount at the checkout!

Decisions have to be made one way or the other. Oh the joy of it!

p.s. the soul comes with a hope qr.