Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Well that was ace. The plan to ride more and drive less means a road/forest loop can take in lots of local woods. Bit to far to ride to on MTB, not enough in there to drive. Or so I thought – found 10k of Singletrack today in one wood, and there is LOADS more.

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

First impressions of the bike are very good. Adequately brisk on the road, stiff but very comfortable off-road, amazing fun in singletrack, rolls over stuff really well if you’re brave and I’m loving the discs.

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Halfords did their normal stella job. Max tyre pressure is 75psi so they went for an aggregate 150; that’s 90 in the front,60 in the back. Plus the Headset was loose and brakes rubbing. Those tyre pressures make a huge difference as well – 60 was nasty off road on wet roots and slippy mud but 50(ish) felt significantly better.

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Other things I’ve learned
– CX bikes steer quickly. It’s like riding a spaniel!
– I cannot navigate to save my life. Ended up getting completely lost and finding my way home by homing in on the M50!
– There’s some great tracks in our local woods if you’re prepared to explore. CX bikes are ace for that, fireroad for a bit, see an interesting track, dive down it. Can never be bothered on MTB.
– Descending on the tops using suicide levers is horrible. Hoods are great, drops are MENTAL!
– Glad I went for a Medium after one emergency exit had me running with the bike beneath me. That extra standover saved the wedding vegetables!

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Found a nice rutted field to finish on as well:

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

It was a lot muddier than it looked (below) once I’d got back.

Boardman CX – First ride by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

I never really got the hang of solo road riding. Enjoy it with a mate, but I’m a mountain biker really. So this feels like a very happy medium. Looking forward to some early morning/evening blasts without having to faff with the car/trailer.

Had some good advice from here as well, so cheers 🙂

CX bikes steer quickly. It’s like riding a spaniel!

😛

Quality.

Oh, and yer bottle cage is upside down…

Looks good, that’s exactly what I like using my CX bike for, although mines canti which are makes things interesting in the thick mud.

good aren’t they 😉

get some speed and carve those corners in the drops (its ace)

so much more capable than people think

I can ride 90% of my local Pennine stuff on my cx bike.

on a mtb I feel I’m sat on top plugging away at the pedals. on the cx bike I feel like I’m in it spinning with no loss of power.

good stuff

Oh yeah it is. Was a bit rushed heading out. Ended up using my camelbak anyway 😉 I had a (very old) Kona Jake for commuting which I took off road ONCE. On Canti’s as well. I’m just not man enough to use trees to brake!

I’m giving my local OS map a damn good perusal at the moment. Planning something bonkers for a warm spring day.

CX bike are brilliant.

Descending on the tops using suicide levers is
horrible

interesting. I find the complete opposite. assuming of course you mean chicken or sissy levers of course…

Handsome bike.

If I have to ride mainly on the road I like to use a cx bike. Like you I can’t resist sidetracks, and road is boring IMO.

descending on the hoods is scary as hell – get in the drop and ass back 😉

road is boring IMO.

I completely disagree 😛 maybe your not fast enough 😉

I’m another dithering about a Boardman CX
That seat post height looks spot on for the frame – what’s your inside leg?

suicide levers

er?

suicide levers were manual leavers for mechs before cable pull shifters were invented.

Anyway glad you like it, very nice looking those Boardman’s

I just didn’t like the position with my hands on the bars, felt like riding 500mm 1993 bars again 😉 Just felt more secure on the hoods, but having a long body and short legs, I’m a bit upright otherwise.

Not that I was ever going that fast. Still sore with a cracked rib. Other excuses are available. Rode the bit in the second pic 4 times going quicker and quicker, nearly hit a tree. Decided to move on!

I’m 5ft11 in old money AS, but stumpy in the leg. About 31 and a bit. So large frame gave me absolutely no standover. Boardman’s have quite a long TT but still is at least 20mm shorter than my (boardman) road bike.

Suicide levers— dunno always called them that. Someone must have told me first. Anyway whatever they are called, did not like first time off road. Could change 😉

The flaw in those bikes are the downtube cables. Any decent amount of carrying will pull all the hair out of your forearm and knack the paint quickly…

inline brakes?

“chicken leavers” are what I’ve heard them called before, but whatever works.

“on a mtb I feel I’m sat on top plugging away at the pedals. on the cx bike I feel like I’m in it spinning with no loss of power.”

Your on the wrong mtb then !

Where abouts are these woods?

A giggle aren’t they. I have about 15 miles of wooded singletrack 5 mins down the road. It’s a blast.

I shall apply for some kind of Government Grant to chair a “committee for the naming of secondary brake levers”. If successful, you’re all in 🙂

Woods are near Ledbury in Herefordshire. Used to ride there a bit but monster logging a couple of years ago destroyed the trails I knew. It seems there is about 90% of the forest I failed to explore. Local teenagers are building a few tracks as well. Quite close to the car park. I have a feeling I know how that’s going to end 😉

My CX should be getting hung up after my first foray into racing (well, riding round with a number on). But there are some cheeky looking footpaths near me (as well as small woods and a quarry), which would make a nice summer time post-work fun loop.

I just didn’t like the position with my hands on
the bars, felt like riding 500mm 1993 bars again

yeah I can see where you’re coming from on that but for me at least my arms aren’t actually in a very different position widthwise to when I’m on the hoods or drops. I do find it quite noticeable that I’m relatively faster on technical stuff on my cx compared to.people who don’t have chicken levers so either I’m a CX riding god or chicken levers have something going for them 😉

When I’ve ridden a few more trails, I’ll try it back to back. It is a bit odd as I assumed that’d feel “safest” coming from the MTB, but it didn’t feel nice at all. I wanted another 150mm either side 🙂

Cross bikes are brilliant. If I could only have one bike it would be my Tricross. Nice story.

CX bikes steer quickly. It’s like riding a spaniel!

That made me laugh out loud.

That looks like a brilliant ride! I’m debating between getting a starting road bike or a corss bike and seeing these pics makes me lean heavily to cross 😀

Nice pics – I have a new CX Team waiting at home for me that I’m dying to get back and ride now!

It is a bit odd as I assumed that’d feel “safest” coming from the MTB, but it didn’t feel nice at all. I wanted another 150mm either side

Exactly how I felt. Once I’d got comfortable with riding & braking on the drops/hoods I got rid of the chicken levers.

That looks like a brilliant ride! I’m debating between getting a starting road bike or a corss bike and seeing these pics makes me lean heavily to cross

I would. you can always get a full-on carbon roadie and start wearing all lycra later on if you still feel the need!

enigmas – if it’s any help, while I love ‘proper’ road bikes my cx has done a lot of road miles including sportives and with some position adjustments (and proper road tyres) I doubt it’s significantly slower than my good road bike though the road bike does feel racier.

I find the chicken levers come into their own if riding long techy descents. On the hoods my hands will start to cramp up from braking after 3 or 4 mins and on the steep stuff the drops are just too low for me, so a few seconds relief on the tops makes all the difference……however, by that stage I am seriously wondering wtf I an doing on that route on the cx bike when I have 2 mtb’s at home 😆

Nice! When ever anyone asks ‘Why CX’ we now just need to point them to this thread 🙂

Wow, lots of interest.. cross is the new slack or something! Just a few thoughts on the points made.

-Cable Routing: I’m never going to race, it’s not a big issue for me. I’ve heard a few people say it’s a bit naff, but it’s no biggie when compared to everything else going for it – most of that everything being price!

– Sizing: If you fancy one of these, definitely try them for size. So glad I didn’t go for the Large (Road bike is large and that’s the same brand). Halfords – for all their other foibles – were good enough to dig me both a M and a L out to try.

– 4 minute techy descents: Crikey. Having hand cramp would be the least of my worries. Those being. Sheer, Naked and Terror. Most of my riding will be linking up local woods and riding with my soon to be 11 year old daughter whose is fully islabike’d up. She complains it’s unfair I have suspension so now we’re equal!

– Road bikes: Do like my road bike. There I’ve said it now. But if it was a cross bike that can do both or a road bike that can just do road.. it’d be a cross bike 😉

I shall carry on taking pictures then of lovely forest singletrack then should I? 🙂

Good post!

The plan to ride more and drive less means a road/forest loop can take in lots of local woods. Bit to far to ride to on MTB, not enough in there to drive. Or so I thought – found 10k of Singletrack today in one wood, and there is LOADS more.

This is why CX (or simple old-school XC) bikes are so good.. There’s often more on our doorsteps than we think..

On the bike / cable routing, I like DT cables if its a CX bike for cross-over riding and not racing. Less outer to get all draggy after a few wet rides. I know it divides opinion and not wanting to derail things.. under the BB (or enclosed) gets my vote tho.

Glad you like the Boardman Alex 😀

The medium fits ok then? The large was definitely too big I guess?

I love CX bikes, and love my Boardman. I have MTB routes, road routes, and CX routes that would be impossible on a road bike and boring as hell on a MTB. On the ‘cross bike they’re superb.

Another pic of mine : 😉

A_g that bartape still needs attending to 😀

Guys, hows the bb30 bb baring up so far? Any complaints?

fenred – I’m still not convinced that yellow bar tape won’t look OTT. Might consider some yellow hoods though…. 😉

My BB30 was clicking a bit after the second ride. I couldn’t face darkening Halfords’ doors again so I bought a Park BB30 tool and whipped the bearing races out, cleaned them up and greased them (they were pretty dry), and since then (only about 40 miles admittedly) no unusual noises.

The large was definitely too large. In one extremely important measurement 😉 It thought I’d be into the spares drawer straight away for a longer stem on the M but I’m going to hang on for a bit as it didn’t feel too short riding today.

BB30.. there was some grease oozing out of it. I’m keeping an eye on it.

I should have just written this (from Gilo) and saved 40 posts “I love CX bikes, and love my Boardman. I have MTB routes, road routes, and CX routes that would be impossible on a road bike and boring as hell on a MTB. On the ‘cross bike they’re superb.”

😉

More nonsense, same pics: http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=2591

A_k’ ygm…..

Alex, lovely bike….keep posting results 😀

Riding cross bikes on woody singletrack, hanging onto the drops, carving lines by thought alone and remembering to breathe is, of course, a splendid way to spend your time

Amen to that

Btw I got Halfords to give me my bike in the box and built it up myself. I trust my mechanicing skills far more than any Halfords monkey (to be fair the kids in the shop were ok and trying to give a good service, just hamstrung by shocking systems, and a lack of processes or training).

The gromitty little fella on the bikehut desk tried spinning the wheels and when they didn’t really move explained “the grease is probably cold, we can take a look if you like”.

I felt neither of us would have received much satisfaction from that, so took it as it was. He did try and sell me some additional servicing which I felt was ambitious 😉

But no worries, they had one in stock, insisted on building it for me and had it ready when they said it would be.

Cracking stuff. ‘cross exploring is great.