At a glance Alloy-framed, carbon-forked crosser with disc brakes and braze-ons for bottles, mudguards and rear rack. At a penny under £900, it’s an attractive option for those seeking a do-it-all bike, and no slouch for commuters either.
Tested by
Jon Adams, tester for The Bike List
Performance
Cyclocross bikes are road bikes designed to be ridden in the mud, and were once the sole preserve of the cross-racer, but their very specialist pedigree has turned out to be a bit more general-purpose than you’d expect.
Firstly, they’ve got plenty of clearance for 35 or 40mm tyres, so the extra air volume gives you more comfort than the 23mm treads of a road tyre. Secondly, to help the intended off-road handling, their geometry is a bit more relaxed, and this slightly more upright positioning makes them great for all-day epics like audaxes or sportives.
Thirdly, most cross bikes are equipped with braze-ons for mudguards and racks, so they can lug anything through any weather on a commute and can be kitted out for light touring, too.
To put it in a nutshell, if you spend more time on road than off, and your off-road excursions are more cinder tracks and canal paths than rocky drop-offs, then a crosser may be the perfect all-round bike for you.
The Team CX is the middle offering in the Boardman CX line-up, sitting between the Comp and the Pro model. It's a very nice-looking steed with its Metallic Storm Grey paint job and its black finishing kit, and the welds on the aluminium frame are so smoothly finished that they don't look like welds at all.
The whole package is light too, with our Small size tipping the scales at 9.97Kg, and the triple-butted alloy frame is complemented by a disc-only carbon fork. This not only looks the business – it's also very effective at taking the sting out of rough roads and dirt track stutter bumps. The discs themselves are Avid's BB-5 road discs, which are cable operated. They give plenty of stopping power, and are fully legal for CX racing, if that's what you want to do. The UCI recently tweaked the rules as disc brakes weren't allowed on crossers until 2010, but now they're okay, provided you use them with tyres no wider than 33mm (I know, I know…).
The SRAM Apex brake levers are supported by top bar levers, and though they're not absolutely necessary, they do make for comfortable riding if you like to cruise on the flats. The downside is they make life tricky for some barbag mounts, and take up some useful handlebar space for lights and the like, but in the main, it's nicer to have the option than not. If you don't like top bar brakes, you can remove them, but with them being fitted, at least you get the chance to evaluate them and make your mind up. Staying up the front end, the bars offer a fairly shallow drop which lets you get your head down without suffering too much in the comfort stakes, and they're padded really nicely with some top-notch, shock absorbing tape.
The cable runs for the Apex levers are internal and under the bar tape, so top-bar levers aside, this makes for a very tidy front end. The shifters are incorporated into the units and for the rear mech, work by clicking the trigger once for a harder gear or twice for an easier one (you do the opposite for the front mech shifter). This takes a little getting used to if you’ve come from a Shimano or a Campag setup, but it’s just as effective once you get familiar with it, and the 10-speed shifting was slick and smooth straight out of the box.
When it comes to the ride, the Team CX really wants to fly. The stiff rear triangle sends the power straight from the cranks to the back wheel, and the relaxed geometry keeps the steering responsive but not too twitchy. We hacked round the 23-mile Rutland Water track to assess the bike’s off-road credentials, and the Ritchey Excavader knobblies, carbon fork and padded bars soaked up the rough ground really well, giving a surprisingly comfortable ride. The handling was superb over bumpy and loose sections, and the light weight and spritely design will tear up any MTBs and collect a few admiring glances along the way.
The compact 34-50 front rings work perfectly with the 12-25 Shimano 5700 cluster to give a wide range of gearing. You can tackle pretty steep stuff with 34 on the front and the big 25 on the rear, and not many riders will spin out on the downhills when running a 50x12. Those indulging in hilly light touring might fancy a bit more at the climbing end, but investing in an 11-28 cassette or similar should get you up most inclines, even with the extra drag of a couple of panniers.
It’s easy to overlook the sense of fun cycling gives in a review context, but ‘fun’ is the word that keeps stabbing your thoughts as you career though the rough and glide through the smooth on this beast. Riding a gnarly off-road track on a beefed up road bike is an absolute joy, and the sheer entertainment of doing so is all the justification you need.
The only downside we came across was the disc brake setup. On our sample, we needed them set fairly loose to allow sufficient clearance between the pads and the disc. Without this, we suffered a constant ‘shhing… shhing’ on every rotation as the pads hit the disc. The problem was, with the cable backed off to give us silent running, the right brake lever had to cover so much distance that the gear trigger underneath it wedged and stuck against the bars. This released with a quick flick, but it was an irritation that stuck out against an otherwise brilliant performance.
This is a superb bike that’s great to ride, and it’s great value, too. At a penny under £900, it packs in an awful lot for your money, and gives you a go-anywhere package that’s incredibly versatile. Not many bikes will get you there and back on a fast commute, take on a couple of panniers for light haulage and then transform into a dirt-track tearaway for the weekend. This one does, however, and it does it beautifully. However you ride, the CX team will put a spring in your step and will plaster a smile on your face. Good job, Mr Boardman – this is a real peach!
