Boardman Bikes

jimmythecuckoo

I like the look of them and will be popping down to Halfords for a look.

Is the reason Chris stopped reviewing for Procycling the fact he had a range coming out?

alfablue

They look good but probably could be bettered at the RRP, but Halfords may well do decent discounts on them after a while.

Rob Sallnow

Anyone catch the gratuitous shot of the downtube of the bike Chris was using to illustrate the finish line of today's stage during the highlight show? :roll:

Red Panda

I did...looked like a rather obvious plug to me Hmmm I think I prefer a Liquigas Team's Cannondale

jonnywilkinson

Rob Sallnow wrote:

Anyone catch the gratuitous shot of the downtube of the bike Chris was using to illustrate the finish line of today's stage during the highlight show? :roll:

yeah, that really made me laugh - fair enough though, he'd be stupid not to ask the producer to slip that in

andy_wrx

Didn't it look awful though !

Hardly an avert.
He seemed to be working really hard, labouring up a very slight incline.
The bike just looked heavy and dead.

jimmythecuckoo

They do look great on his website, but I am not sure how they will ride.

For the price points I agree you may get a better buy.

stage_fright

Have to agree that Chris seems to have more than enough savvy to ensure the range got a free plug...tho my comment to my daughter was more along the lines of Chris looking heavy rather than the bike!

jimmythecuckoo

and the bags under his eyes are getting bigger by the day...

wildmoustache

I had a look at them at the bikehut in Putney the other day. Not with a view to buying but out of curiosity.

I think they look crap value. From memory, the highest end one they had there was £1400 and for that it was an alu frame and a third of a dura ace wheelset. I know it's boring to say this, but compare this with the Focus!

What's the deal with Pinnacle bikes as well... more overpriced alu!! If you want alu, buy a chceapo cannondale or s-works frame and build it up. ... for £1k+ you can get much better frames and the rest than these two brands.

giant_man

I am pretty sure it's all Bikehut ie Halfords controlled with just his name on the tubing. Nothing to get excited about I'm sure. As for Pinnacle, I looked at these at the Cycle show last year and thought they were very average quality.

schlepcycling

Does anyone have a link?, I looked on the Halfords website but couldn't see the Boardman bikes....cheers.

Anonymous

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/

sqwerl_mk2

Last night it looked like he'd covered the decals on the top and down tubes with black tape. Did anyone notice that?

jimmythecuckoo

wildmoustache wrote:

I know it's boring to say this, but compare this with the Focus!

Its not boring, it looks like it is a fact

littlestwoo

I like the inclusion of the description Race Spec Frame, what does that mean?

My 531 frame was 'race spec'... 30 years ago!

Can Halfords be trusted? I would have much more faith in Chris' bikes if they where not being sold by a company I would regard as a 'box shifter'

I don't find there sales staff at all knowledgable, I remeber trying to explain to a young gentleman behind the car parts desk what Ignition leads are! Can there bike sales staff be any better? Where talking fairly big sums of cash being departed with here, 'race spec' is no good if it doesn't fit.

Steve

allaction

Agree they look expensive compared to recognized market leaders which surle means Halfords will heavily discount them after the Tour perhaps? Think the Hybrid models look decent quality and may be the better seller. Agree with earlier post about Cannondale Liquigas, just got my bike serviced today and they had one of these in stock and it looks the business.

acorn_user

The Focus isn't really a fair comparison because it's a mail order bike. And it's still expensive compared to some similar US outfits. They look nice enough for the money, but I'd rather have the LBS build up summit.

Spinacilight

Really long head tubes! 13.5cm for a small and 15cm for a medium!

So not designed by Thorn then .

Niland

sqwerl_mk2 wrote:

Last night it looked like he'd covered the decals on the top and down tubes with black tape. Did anyone notice that?

Yea, I did notice that, very bizzare. It's not like it's the BBC.

I popped into Bikehut to give them the once over, the Boardman quote above the MTBs was a bit amusing. I doubt he went riding down too many trails testing it. The top of the range looked "ok" but £1400 is roubaix/galileo/pilot 5/etc territory.

Rob Sallnow

sqwerl_mk2 wrote:

Last night it looked like he'd covered the decals on the top and down tubes with black tape. Did anyone notice that?

I noticed that my self this evening (before seeing your comment) and thought it was some attempt to imitate a painted alloy lugged carbon fibre tubed frame. Most odd!!

campagchris

The computers look decent :roll:

cooper.michael1

I think they look quite nice, the comp looks a decent budget bike, much better kit that a Allez or Trek 1000.

Im looking for a new bike, dont race so im in the £600-800 bracket and ill go have a look. Ive tested a focus varadio in Germany, good kit but nothing so special, and hassle to buy over the web. The Giants in this price rance look taty, in comparison to my old-ish italian bike.

Might go have a look the the boardmans at the weekend. Are they in stock yet?

Rob Sallnow

Shot of today's bike:



On the 'focus on the downtube and pull out' shot on Stage 2 there was a bright yellow C on the there. Clearly covered up by Chris Boardman Accessory Gaffer Tape.
:?

Rob Sallnow

cooper.michael1 wrote:

Might go have a look the the boardmans at the weekend. Are they in stock yet?

They've been in the warehouse style Halfords in Plymouth for a couple of weeks now.

daowned

For your money you can do better IHMO if you go to a real bike shop.

Stwutter

I've just read an add in Pro Cycling, and it says '18 - speed Dura Ace'.

OK, it's Dura Ace, but 18 speed? Is this correct? Presumably if you buy a bike with DA on, you want a 10S block - it's not exactly new-fangled now!

I suppose it's all about making bucks, but I think it's abit of a shame that Boardman's gone down the Halfrauds route. If he'd have done a Museeuw/Mercx/Lemond kinda thing, surely he would have still been able to have agood range of road bikes available in the LBS - none of those guys are exactly skint, I'm sure. I haven't ridden one, but I'd smell a rat of a bike's £1400 with Dura-Ace - 18s or not.

jimmythecuckoo

Have seen the clothes and they are shocking !!!

alfablue

Niland wrote:

sqwerl_mk2 wrote:

Last night it looked like he'd covered the decals on the top and down tubes with black tape. Did anyone notice that?

Yea, I did notice that, very bizzare. It's not like it's the BBC.

I believe that even on commercial TV the rules are that there needs to be a clear seperation between programme content and advertising (a bit like in magazines and newspapers where you see "Advertisement Feature" or similar to differentiate content), so no product placement.

Rich Hcp

cooper.michael1 wrote:

I think they look quite nice, the comp looks a decent budget bike, much better kit that a Allez or Trek 1000.

Im looking for a new bike, dont race so im in the £600-800 bracket and ill go have a look. Ive tested a focus varadio in Germany, good kit but nothing so special, and hassle to buy over the web. The Giants in this price rance look taty, in comparison to my old-ish italian bike.

Might go have a look the the boardmans at the weekend. Are they in stock yet?

Get an n Allez Sport or Trek 1200 for that

Tarmacadam

I had a look at 1 in halfords the other day, i lifted it up from the rack and it seemed quite heavy to me, heavy 1400 quids worth. It may have dura ace shifters etc but you can get an ultegra equipped planet x just now for a grand which is a considerably lighter bike with you're own selection of bits, cranks, length, stem length etc etc