Well said globalti. Something that often seems to be forgotten.

Try a cx bike – it gives a whole new (great!) perspective on riding off-road.

angeldust – Member
I’m amazed at the number of people I know that have bought houses with zero thought on car parking, and then complained about there being no where to park (not accusing OP of this, just saying, like). Important factor when choosing a house for me.

Agreed. There’s lots of very desirable areas of Bristol with lovely housing and great shops, bars etc, but an absolute nightmare for parking.

I know a fair few people who’ve paid £400k+ to live in such areas and who rarely dare to use their cars because once they’ve lost their space they know they’ll spend maybe 30 mins + driving around before finding a space 10-15 mins walk from their house. Madness.

We live in a lovely but not particularly fashionable area and have a garage and drive. Even if we didn’t, on street parking is never a problem, and we are 20-25 mins walk from the centre of town.

In no way suggesting that car ownership should overly influence your decisions in life, but I really couldn’t live somewhere where I’d be lucky to park a few streets away.

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).

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.

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 : 😉

What fenred said…….

I’ve recently fitted Jagwire cables to my ‘cross bike – nice kit (and in numerous colours too).

My two daughters are turning out well, so far. Well behaved (usually..), polite, respectful, well spoken, doing well at school.

They’re the only legacy I’ll ever leave behind….

Big Sidi fan here, like wearing your favourite slippers (if you have quite narrow feet..)

Genius 5s should be around for not much over your budget.

clubber – Member
dance on the edge of traction.

I’m liking that phrase 😀

On my motorbike probably every two years. On my mtb when I think of it or when they start to go off a bit, suggesting there’s air in the system.

Only ever used rounds for sandwiches, bread was always pieces.

(Bristol, though parents from London).

Many years ago I sat in on my own one night and drank a bottle of whisky.

Only did it the once…….

Years ago when I was staying in CD I headed West to Newton Stewart and did some riding in the Galloway forest. Not much technical stuff (lots of fire road) but nice riding nonetheless.

AlexS – I wasn’t aware that Boardmans were significantly longer than other cx bikes (havn’t compared geometries).

I like to have a very similar position on my ‘cross bike as I do on my road bikes (albeit a tad shorter reach to enable getting off the back a bit easier) and I like them quite stretched out – so my Boardman CX Team feels fine for me.

charlie the bikemonger – Member
You really don’t need discs on a cx. You have a tiny foot print and almost any brake will powerful enough to overload the footprint and lock up.

You don’t *need* them, no, and certainly not for racing. However having just got a disced-up cx bike after a good few years on a cx bike with cantis I wouldn’t go back. In the dry there’s not much in it, but as soon as there’s any mud the discs come into their own.

Not having that constant scraping noise of pads on muddy rims while you’re braking is enough of a reason to go for discs for me.

Every time I move the sofas for any reason I’m quite stunned by the general detrius under them (dust, cat fur, random kid’s toys, a pen, always a pen).

Ah well, life is far too short to worry about such mundanities.

Where are you Alex? If in / near Bristol you’re welcome to try mine.

I have only two things to say:

1) Great to hear how everyone rallied round and helped a fallen rider. Frankly, having ridden motorbikes for 30-odd years and bicycles for 20-odd years I’d expect nothing less.

2) Goddam that’s a great cleavage 😀

I have a Boardman CX Team. I’m 5’11” with a 32″ inside leg. The large (56cm) fits me spot on, but there’s not a huge amount of standover – if you have short legs the medium (54cm) with maybe longer stem and layback post may be the way to go.

Love the tattoo locations guide! 😀

bonchance – Member
Wonders where that stone wall is.

Dundry – south of Bristol. By the start of the off-road descent that drops you out above Winford.

Bazz – Member
I can’t believe you just stood there photographing while a horse ate your saddle!

I got back to my bike to find him / her chewing on my saddle! Maybe mistook it for a banana……

Nice pics.

I was out on my cx bike this morning, being in the softy South nowhere near as cold as it looks in your pics, but had a lot of wheelspin issues on ice nonetheless. I find ‘cross tyres work quite well in those conditions as being so narrow they dig in through the ice and find grip, whereas fatter MTB tyres tend to slide around on top of the ice.

I can vouch for the Boardman, only had mine a few weeks but love it. It’s very planted off road (more so than my previous ‘cross bike, a Salsa, which was superb but a bit more highly strung). I’m 5’11” with a 32″ inside leg and the large (56cm) Boardman fits me perfectly.

Boardman CX is a great bike, I love mine. May be a bit heavy to race though? (depending what level you race at…).

Mine:

I’m thinking cx for tomorrow. Fast, frozen trails, lovely.

I only caught the last 15 mins or so unfortunately, but what I did see was great TV – something of a rarity these days.

(rotors now fitted the right way round….. ahem…..)

Rotors now fitted correctly……. 😉

Yes, headlines in the local rag this week saying that she’s been bombarded with abuse by email and phone this week.

Much as I would never condone or support a mob rule mentality, I can’t help but suppress a smile at this.

Well said Farmer John.

andyl – Member
are your brake discs the right way round? Splines look like they curve the wrong way for the braking forces

Oooops, oh yeah……. 😳

Down to the cellar for some fettling before riding it at the weekend methinks…..

sefton – Member
is that a Sella Italia SLR Fibra saddle from PX?

I’ve just ordered one but the carbon rails are wider than that on my spoon and dont fit into the groves on my raceface post (looks like you have the same post though??) I’ve just bought a different post anyhow.

Yes it is. It’s not a great fit in the post clamp I must admit. I had to force the rails apart slightly to get the saddle onto the clamp and you can see daylight between the rail and clamp in places. Worries me slightly, I figure as I’m quite light I’ll get away with it, but I’m keeping a close eye on it.

roady_tony – Member
I’m thinking of those wheels for my P-X uncle john – how are you finding them? whats the min tyre width you can put on the them for roadie use?

Well only ridden them the once so far but seem fine, they’re quite light and don’t flex under my 11 stone bulk 😆

I reckon you could run 32’s on them without any problem, 30 at a push. Probably wouldn’t want to go any narrower than that.

KINGTUT – Member
Lovely.

HONCing on it?

‘fraid not Mike, didn’t get a place..

Kevevs – Member
this is interesting in that you’ve chosen to make a prominent feature of your cables, they really stand out! I never really notice cables. maybe their time has come!

It’s the first time I’ve ever even thought about using coloured cables. Using yellow cables on the Boardman looked great in my mind’s eye, luckily the reality looks pretty good too. The grey frame looks good but a tad dull with standard black cables, the yellow ones pick up the yellow highlights on the frame and make the bike stand out a lot more.

bullheart – Member
That is lovely!

Not selling your old wheels are you perchance?

Thanks!

Sorry, no. Going to stick road tyres on the Richey wheels that came with the bike so I can use it my Winter road bike as well.

fenred – Member
Lurvely, good Job well done, boardman are such good vfm. Love the colour scheme yellow cinneli bartape tho please

I did think about yellow bar tape, it may be too much yellow though. Be a bugger to keep clean too.. (says the man with white tape on one of his road bikes!)