Best cyclocross bike under £1000 and other CX chat

I would have thought the obvious place to start would be with their supplier. Hmmm.

You could try aiming something at https://twitter.com/#!/boardman_bikes

Good luck, anyway.

I've just emailed them, we shall see.

Cheers!

Oh and when I said obvious place to start I meant for halfords, not you. I'm guessing the employee you spoke to just didn't want to do any work.

Halfords, with a lazy incompetent in their cycling department? I can't believe it.

Process goes:

• Boardman website, which gives you customer.services@halfords.co.uk or call: 08450 579 000.
  
• Both of these options direct you to go into a branch
  
• The bloke in the cycling department has to find the manager (he was AWOL)
  
• Manager calls and says "Can't get 'em mate etc"
  
  

I tried to speak to someone at the head office level, but they were having none of it, deflected everything back to the branch.

Dammit talk to these guys:
http://www.echelon-cycles.co.uk/index.html

AFAIK they are the only non-halfords retailer for Boardman in the UK, they're also a small but proper bike shop.

I'll give them a shout, cheers Miro.

In other news: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Zoulou-Pekana-Cyclo-Cross-Disc-Rahmen-1500gr-incl-Carbon-Gabel-Steuersatz-2012-/330746276823?pt=Sport_Radsport_Fahrradteile&hash=item4d0203abd7

BSA BB though.

Columbus X-Wing from Paul Milnes or Guerciotti Lyra from Planet X?

Process goes:

• Boardman website, which gives you customer.services@halfords.co.uk or call: 08450 579 000.
  
• Both of these options direct you to go into a branch
  
• The bloke in the cycling department has to find the manager (he was AWOL)
  
• Manager calls and says "Can't get 'em mate etc"
  
  

I tried to speak to someone at the head office level, but they were having none of it, deflected everything back to the branch.

That's very bad, how would they dealt with warranty issue?

Replacing a whole bike as a warranty job is nothing unusual to them - they've been doing it regularly because a lot of the BB30 shells weren't up to scratch.

Replacing a fork due to damage in use is probably a pretty wild concept in Halfords land though. It's not like they actually expect people to ride the bikes as intended - i.e. off road.

Dammit talk to these guys:
http://www.echelon-cycles.co.uk/index.html

AFAIK they are the only non-halfords retailer for Boardman in the UK, they're also a small but proper bike shop.

Just spoke to a pleasant chap called Peter at Echelon.

Sadly there is a hard line between "performance" and "elite", and I'm on the Halfords side of that line, which Echelon cannot cross.

I'll try being polite but firm with Halfords customer service, see where that gets me.

As everyone is sure to be on the edge of their seats with regards to this, an update:

I have spoken to Customer Services, they have insisted that they can get a spare pair of forks.

However, they cannot find out how to order them, just right at the moment.

But they are sure they will, any second now.

=They are going to ring me when they work out how to perform this action, and how much it will cost.

I am not full of confidence currently.

Dammit. Sounds like the component shopping equivalent to dimming the lights, and putting a Barry white tune on. They are about to attempt to fuck you.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5493583502P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM5493583502

Not exactly cheap though.

Are the Easton ones out yet?

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/04/23/all-new-easton-ec90xd-carbon-disc-cyclocross-fork-disc-wheels-spotted-on-diamondback-rcx-pro/

The Whisky ones look nice, but for that money (and due to being a moron I expect) I'd get the Edge Composites ones.

The Easton ones look cool.

The Whisky ones look nice, but for that money (and due to being a moron I expect) I'd get the Edge Composites ones.

The Easton ones look cool.

I would have thought the price/quality ratio of the eastons would beat the Enve, Whiskey, etc.

Bigger production, and wider availability.

Can I get them delivered next week though is the question.

Sadly the Great British Summer looks better suited to the CX bike than the Road bike, so it would be good to get it back in action ASAP.

Sadly the Great British Summer looks better suited to the CX bike than the Road bike, so it would be good to get it back in action ASAP.

A big +1

I run when the weathers shite. I get a kinky kick out of it, it feels amazing to get home and shower, and my shoes dont require loads of maintainance.

This usually leads to a healthy balance. But this year, sans CX, I've rarely been cycling on the road.

Taking the 29er on a mountian climb trail tonight :)

Ah yeah - 3T now do a tapered carbon disc fork for CX. Tasty but pricey.

I like 3T stuff, but I suspect that would deserve a better frame than mine to go on.

Good excuse to start racing it I reckon.

Spoke to someone at OKR Halfords, some good news, some bad:

• They have found the forks on their system
  
• Stock level is zero, and they cannot order any more from the nominated supplier
  
• RRP is £189.99, which seems a lot
  
  

I think I'm going to look into the idea of repairing the forks.

Alternative: get a reducer headset and run a standard 1 1/8" fork? Plenty more options at reasonable prices?

Personally I'd keep pushing Halfords to get you one, £189 isn't so bad for a full crabon disc fork.

It's £30 less than the Kinesis one.

I've stacked it loads of times on the 29er, without damaging my carbon forks. Was this a particulary unlucky stack?

I've posted a picture in the Super Light Super Safe thread, I went into some bushes basically, with a bit of fence and tree thrown in for good measure.

Something (a branch/stick/angry witches finger) took a small divot out of the fork leg.

I'm tempted to ignore it, but then CF horror stories keep coming to mind...