Gear - Part 2

Beena while but here it is:

Part 2 – The Mountain Bike

We were taking my road frame to the local bike shop to have the bottom bracket taken out and replaced when somewhere along the high street my dad had an idea. He offered me some money towards a mountain bike as an incentive for my exams. Happily I agreed and the very minute we got home I started looking for potential bikes within my expected budget.

As it turns out, my dad and I were thinking different things – come August, I picked up my results and was chuffed to find that the budget I had expected was correct. Dad however, was less chuffed. Suddenly my bike budget was a little larger than he was expecting! Anyway, two days later we were touring round the local bike shops looking for my next bike.

After a many hours of internet research and visits to several different shops I had made my decision. Brand was less important and for the money the bike I had selected gave me the best spec for what I needed. I'd chosen the Boardman HT Comp. Hardtail; 120mm travel SR Suntour Fork, SRAM X5 groupset and Elixir 1 Brakes. Not particularly flash components, in fact somewhat distinctly bottom end but they were the bottom end of very good product lines. The fork was more of a gamble – I really wanted air over coil but getting a half decent groupset on other bikes as well as an air fork was stretching the budget a little too much.

Here she is

White bike looks damn fine in the snow...

Another angle - Budget forks aren't bad!

Still in original spec (apart from pedals) and I'm very happy with how everything has worked and lasted. Only tweaks have been cables bedding in, brakes pads needing adjusting and controls re-ordering. For was easy to set to a good pressure - when I got the bike it was stupidly firm, a quick tap on the valve set it straight to 22% sag - a value I've been pretty happy with so far.

Spec:

Fork: Suntour Epicon LOD, Air, 120mm, damping adjust, lock out

Shifters: SRAM X5

Front Mech: SRAM X5

Rear Mech: SRAM X5

Brakes: Avid Elixir 1

Chainset: FSA Alpha Drive 44x32x22T

Cassette: SRAM PG950

Chain: KMC Z99

Bottom Bracket: FSA Powerdrive

Rims: Alex DP20

Hubs: Formula Disc (Apparently – they're unbranded)

Tyres: Continental MTN King 2.2

Handlebars: cboardman

Stem: cboardman

Headset: FSA integrated

Seatpost: cboardman

Saddle: cboardman

Nothing needs upgrading straight away but I'm considering a double chainset, an inline post and new saddle and new grips. Big upgrades for the future (read: when I can afford them) are obviously the wheels and fork. I'd probably go for 100mm (bit more xc and less bulky, would also lower the from end, racy!) and the wheels will definitely be much stiffer and hopefully lighter. In an ideal world I'd have gone a model or two up but I love the bike I have and love riding it. I’m hoping for a good first race season so I can properly ride the bike to its (my) limits!

Happy riding,

Kim

Links:

Boardman Bikes