I finally finished putting my new CX bike together yesterday and decided to go out for a spin.
I took some camera gear with me to try and capture it before I trashed it’s shiny newness.

I know it’s just a Halfrauds special, but I like it.

Non-standard bits are: Seatpost, Stem, Wheels, Rotors.

Photography info:
Off-camera Vivitar 285HV flash on full power, variable distance, stood on gorillapod. Cactus V2 triggers. Canon 40D with Canon 50mm f/1.8. Shot on a cloudy day around noon.

Location was the local outdoor skatepark which made a surprisingly good backdrop. Then on to local woods.

This was the first time I’d tried doing anything with remote flash outdoors. I was surprised at how easily the flash overpowered the daylight and created a ‘studio’ look.

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New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

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New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

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New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

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(no flash on this one)

New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

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New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

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This was taken with the iPhone 4

New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

Cheers!
Alex

Nice photos, and bike, have one myself and am happy.

A question, why did you change the rotors and wheels?

Only gimps on here who think they know about bikes don’t like Boardman bikes

Jolly nice (pics and bike)

Really nice. The CX is the nicest of the entire Boardman range, IMO.

Really, really stupid question – what is supporting the bike in the first two pics? I assume there was something propping it up that was then photoshopped out?

Really very good photos, that first one could easily be a Boardman product shot!

Nice bike too. Perfect for winter 😀

Bream – Member
A question, why did you change the rotors and wheels?

Long story. It didn’t come with wheels.
It arrived in the shop with ruined wheels. They wouldn’t sell it. So they ordered replacements. The replacements that arrived were 26″ commuting wheels. They gave up and sold it to me with the 26″ wheels for £625. A proper bargain, although I overspent a bit on the wheels bringing the total back in line with he original price. (I’ll be putting the Mavic/Deore wheels for sale on here after Christmas)

To be honest, the Boardman bikes are nice, but Halfords are pretty poor. I had to re-adjust pretty much everything on the bike (although it could be argued that they didn’t bother because it was discounted).

The rotors were just an extravagance! as were the Thomson bits. Just a couple of bits of personalisations.

ashfanman – Member
Really, really stupid question – what is supporting the bike in the first two pics? I assume there was something propping it up that was then photoshopped out?

Yep – a stick – hidden in some photos by the bike, photoshoped out in others.

Yep – a stick – hidden in some photos by the bike, photoshoped out in others.

the reflection is stll there… 😉

Nice photo’s, nice bike, now get it dirty

neilforrow – Member
the reflection is stll there…

Damn – tried a ninja edit, but now I’m on the free flickr account it wont let me 🙁

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New cyclocross bike by tryingtimes, on Flickr

BTW – I’ve never owned a drop-bar bike before. I rotated the bars (moving the levers would have been a faff) until I was happy with the hood angle. Obviously the drops are now a little sloped.

Is this ok. It looks a little extreme compared to some I’ve seen, but is there any reason this is bad? Is it just personal preference? I’ve only been on the drops once, and it felt fine (although my back felt very different to my mountain bikes).

Cheers

Did they bend the seatpost when they trashed the wheels? 😉

Agree about Halfords, they were nice enough but the entire bike needed adjusting/setting up when I got it home and during the first rides.

BTW – how do you find the brake callipers, do you get annoying disc rub after a while that need constant tweaking?

I set them up from scratch using this method here:
http://www.ecovelo.info/2011/04/15/a-foolproof-method-for-adjusting-avid-bb5-disc-brakes/

I haven’t ridden enough to notice anything change yet, although a friend ditched his quite quickly for the hope v-twin kit.

One thing I always do with every disc pad I get is do a few long downhill runs and get them really really hot. I did 3 laps of my local steep hill on this one.

Hmmm – I’ve just got the bike out for a rainy ride, and decided that it doesn’t look anywhere near as nice in the flesh as it does in my photos!

That’s what you get for being in marketing, I guess 🙂

Have you sorted your bars out yet?

They’re just as the photos. Looks a little odd I admit.
Comfy though. Do you have any recommendations?

Rotate them forwards so the bottom is level with the ground.

I’d guess they are uncomfortable at the moment in the drops?

And climbing steep stuff out of the saddle must also feel a bit odd?

Oh I dunno, Trebon seems to get on OK with his bars rotated back.

Nice, now leave the camera at home and go woooooohoooooo

Oh I dunno, Trebon seems to get on OK with his bars rotated back.

Don’t know who he his, guess he has double jointed wrists though. And he’s about 7 foot tall?

Although, I guess the only steep hills you encounter whilst riding cx are taken on foot.

Nice mate!

Cheers Wookster!

davidtaylforth – Member

Rotate them forwards so the bottom is level with the ground.

I’d guess they are uncomfortable at the moment in the drops?

And climbing steep stuff out of the saddle must also feel a bit odd?
I’ll be honest, nothing feels odd. But I’m happy to experiment based on ‘best practice’.

As mentioned above, this is my first bike with drop bars.