2015 Boardman Pro 29"

[Dare]

It has been awhile since I rode on a 29er so after my OnOne 45650b was stolen and I have finished my 1998 stumpjumper 26" it was time to move on to this frame. I bought the frame some time ago on this forum from eldridge. Great guy really nice and smooth trade!
Frame came to me well packed and protected. It is lovely, light frame and the price was just right. I liked smoothe welds and fishbone style seatstays.
It is probably going to be starting point for some future carbon frame upgrade but more about that later.

The plan is to build it to be nice and smooth XC (light trail) rider. I already have some components I want to use but for now here are some photos of frame from the ad.

 

[pencilman77]

Re:

That is a lovely looking frame, cant beat a nice back end! :shock:

 

[Joe_Rides]

Re:

That is a lovely looking frame, cant beat a nice back end! :shock:

Agreed, I wasn't aware that Boardman made such high-end looking frames. Consider me educated.

 

[Dare]

Re: Re:

That is a lovely looking frame, cant beat a nice back end! :shock:

Agreed, I wasn't aware that Boardman made such high-end looking frames. Consider me educated.

Yes, the frame is really lovely looking. I just hope it is as good on the trails...

Anyway, time for some updates;

Since I already have some parts that will be going on this bike, including XT Cranks I needed to get bottom bracket that will fit 24mm cranks and bb30 frame...so after quick search I decided on the Rotor BB.



Also while I was in the "bearings" mood I ordered headset. First I wanted to get Cane Creek, which came from ChainReaction in every wrong dimension possible, and this was after taking all measurements and talking to their "technician". So, I went back online and got myself the headset that comes with the bike, FSA C40 which fits the frame perfectly.

 

[Dare]

Next it was "forking" time! I am practical and heavy, so I needed workhorse that I know is cheap and trustworthy: RS Reba!



Also rear derailleur hanger was missing one screw and was little bit bent, and also not going with the bikes color scheme :facepalm: . I was thinking this will be PIA to find but was pleasantly surprised to find that there are a lot of options to pick from. I decided on RaceTi RD hanger in black.



Next on were wheels. I like my wheels to be light and durable (who doesn't?). My first option was new Mavic Crossmax Elite. Coming in 1700g for the wheelset and 120kg rider weight limit I thought it was good catch. It was also very important that the rear hub was convertible from 12x142 to 9x135 as this frame takes the latter and my future frame is going to probably be "newer" standard compatible.
Before ordering anything I like to look around little bit and good thing I did. On bike-discount I found this lovely very discounted wheelset made of DT swiss 240s hubs and Ryde trace 22mm rims and Sapim spokes. As I already have some experience with loveliness that are DT swiss 240s hubs my mind was made up. I think I didn't chose wrong...







Wheelset is 1545g and has 90kg rider limit. I am happy with it. I never rode on Ryde rims and cannot find a lot of positive (nor a lot of negative) comments or reviews but for this price/weight I don't think you can do much better. Also rims have this offset feature that is supposed to reduce tension difference between left and right side...don't know how it works in practice but looks interesting.

 

[Dare]

So mr. Postman delivered this lovely box of goodies to me! I quickly took few photos and tried to weigh everything I could.
WARNING. Incoming photowall!



Always been fan of XT components. I think Shimano really hit a homerun with 8000 series. Had it on many bikes and it honestly never failed me.





Never been fan of Schwalbe but I wanted to try this new "addix" formula everybody is talking about...In the end I was so frustrated with how long it took me to mount tires on these rims that I didn't take photos as I progressed through the rest of the build.



Decent weight for 29" tire!

 

[Dare]

As I have not tried geometry before I wanted to leave some adjustment room both by leaving longer steerer on the forks as well as picking cheaper options when it comes to stem, handlebars and seatpost.







I already knew which saddle suits my ass so I went for it for this build too. Fabric really does make lovely, reasonably priced saddles.

 

[Dare]

Here are some bits I knew I will be keeping for some time so I went with a little bit more expensive options.





Here it is partially assembled. Soon after this I started mounting tires and consequently stopped taking any more photos. :evil:






The bike is finished I just need to take few photos on a ride which is going to wait few days now as I hurt my back by lifting my boy up in the air...Is it some kind of unwritten rule that all dads have to have back problems?? :facepalm:

 

[bignick]

Re:

Great looking build this! I’m a proper 29er convert being tall and fancy building a hard tail 29er myself.

 

[Dare]

Re: Re:

Great looking build this! I’m a proper 29er convert being tall and fancy building a hard tail 29er myself.

Thank you very much! I like how it looks and I just wish I knew how to take better photos to represent it better here.
I cannot wait to try it on the trail. I haven't had the chance yet but will get out with it as soon as my back stops hurting this much.