Current Projects chat and miscellany

Except his was built buy the same guy who built/builds Rotrax frames. ;)

Also the bike is likely to stay on one piece unlike my shoddy bike bodging skills :D.

I'd start with the frame as when i worked in Halfords every single Boardman road frame i got hold of was a good 15-30mm out of alignment in the rear triangle.

I'd like to know more too.

I'm saving for my 1st modern roadbike, and I'm pretty sold on the entry level Boardman just on value really. The reviews have been pretty amazing and the one I rode was way nicer than a Bianchi for the same money* (I hate Sora)*.

Any tricks for quickly checking alignment in the shop?

nah, i love the ratio
yes, i do feel that my knees are shattered after every ride and its a bit hard to cycle into the wind...but i love the top end speeds with this ratio either way and i hardly stop on the route of my daily commute

another thing with high gear ratio - when need to stop quickly you are putting shitloads of pressure on the cranks and chainring - that's how i slightly twisted my one (i know it sounds mad, but that's my experience) :{)

50x15 is about 10GI more than what i run :)
but i suppose thats alright for track. Why 165's though? surely bigger gear, longer cranks

not enough clearance between front wheel and downtube plus i don't want to swap for straight forks plus have no monies for a new crankset.... i ride in london not on the track :{)

I'd like to know more too.

I'm saving for my 1st modern roadbike, and I'm pretty sold on the entry level Boardman just on value really. The reviews have been pretty amazing and the one I rode was way nicer than a Bianchi for the same money* (I hate Sora)*.

Any tricks for quickly checking alignment in the shop?

String. something to do with string. I think you tie it round one dropout, wrap it round the head tube, then hold it tight round the other, and then look at the string in relation to the seat tube. An equal gap between the string and the tube on each side means the alignment is good.

Or something?

just bought this to exchange for the diamant for £120. It's apparently a Peugeot

does it look authentic or like a conversion?

531 ftw!

Genuine. Came from the Manchester Velo I think.
I know the guy who sold it to you - lives just down the road from me

String. something to do with string. I think you tie it round one dropout, wrap it round the head tube, then hold it tight round the other, and then look at the string in relation to the seat tube. An equal gap between the string and the tube on each side means the alignment is good.

Or something?

Cheers asm. That'd work.

Can't wait to see the faces in Halfords when I try this!

what's the fascination with 531, i know it's nice and all but it's been superceded by better stuff.

531 wtf.

531 is awesome.

ask dogs

531 is awesome.

531 is 'sick'

[in commas due to me being ironic] :)

String. something to do with string. I think you tie it round one dropout, wrap it round the head tube, then hold it tight round the other, and then look at the string in relation to the seat tube. An equal gap between the string and the tube on each side means the alignment is good.

Or something?

Yeah, this would work fine...but best to use a tape measure to measure the gap between the string and the seat tube. Although this isn't a perfectly exact method, it's more than good enough!

Or, ask if they have one of these in their workshop...a park frame alignment gauge:
(Although, i wouldn't get my hopes up for any branch of halfords having one of these?!)

The most obvious sign of the misalignment on the boardmans was that if you looked at the drive train from above, the chainrings were in line with the small end of the cassette whereas they should be in line with the middle.
This meant that even in the small ring if you shifted above like halfway up the block at the back the chainline was horrendous and it was nigh on impossible to keep the chain on the front rings if you were at the top of the block at the back.
Does that make sense?

I think they're more in the BANGBANGSTICK {hammer} PIONTYPOKER {allenkey} TURNEYPOLE {spanner} territory if i'm honest.

I think they're more in the BANGBANGSTICK {hammer} PIONTYPOKER {allenkey} TURNEYPOLE {spanner} territory if i'm honest.

Kinda what i was thinking, but i'm not going to speculate. Ahem.

The most obvious sign of the misalignment on the boardmans was that if you looked at the drive train from above, the chainrings were in line with the small end of the cassette whereas they should be in line with the middle.
This meant that even in the small ring if you shifted above like halfway up the block at the back the chainline was horrendous and it was nigh on impossible to keep the chain on the front rings if you were at the top of the block at the back.
Does that make sense?

Was this the case on the majority of frames?

I've been looking at the Road Comp (the base model - alu frame). I'm prepared to basically rebuild the thing as soon as it leaves the shop too. I've heard stories.

:-/

I think the basic comp may actually have been the only model which didnt seem to suffer from this, we sold quite a lot of the team (i think, the middle one anyway) and had pretty much every single one back with drivetrain problems because of the alignment.
To be honest, none of the boardmans ever really struck me as being fantastic bikes. They are a mish mash of component brands and i think that aggravated the alignment issues. There was problems with the whole range like disc brake calipers being too chunky and fouling on spokes etc.
Don't be fooled by the Boardman brand either, these are just (slightly) upmarket halfords bikes.

what does chris have to say about all this?!

edit: actually, probably 'HA HA HAAAA! MONEY'...

String. something to do with string. I think you tie it round one dropout, wrap it round the head tube, then hold it tight round the other, and then look at the string in relation to the seat tube. An equal gap between the string and the tube on each side means the alignment is good.

Or something?

An equal length between headtube an dropout is good as well

Cheers asm. That'd work.

Can't wait to see the faces in Halfords when I try this!

Take a tape measure with you, or better still, watch their faces when you ask to borrow one.

what does chris have to say about all this?!

edit: actually, probably 'HA HA HAAAA! MONEY'...

I hope he got paid a fuck lot of money to ruin his name by letting hellfrauds put it on those bikes.

Canalbike™ project... Or maybe just another polo bike, this frame's better suited to taking a beating than the PizzaBike™... Many thanks to Edmundro for it... :]

hey guys, pretty new to the forum. just hoping to get an idea what you guys think of my wheels, and what components are shitty.

components:
frame: windsor "the hour" track.
crankset: sugino messenger 44T
front wheel: machined red deep v with Goldtec hub
back wheel: white H plus son with Goldtec hub.

fixed/fixed set-up with 15T and 17T Dura-Ace sprockets. 

tyres: gran compe ss kevlar green
chain: green KMC
brake : Tektro R530
random pedals and riser bars.
the rest are stock, but am upgrading slowly 'cause i'm broke as hell.
any comments would be appreciated.

here's the pic. it didn't attach last time.

i'd change the fork, but it looks nice!

not a big fan of green but looks nice!

Cor Blimey