Bought the Boardman in the end.

drewcole81

Hello,

After much chewing on cycle mags and test riding whilst waiting for the 2008 specs to come out, I can conclude that the Boardman Bike are a really good deal.

The only other bikes i have really been looking at are Konas or Spesh, the 2007 bikes for £800 didnt have anywhere near as good a spec as the boardman, although i know the frame is probably better.
Then i saw the 2008 range, they seem to have mixed up all the old paint they had left in the shed and painted the frames in some rubbish colours!!

So after adding the cost of the spec parts of the Boardman (TEAM) and working out how much i would have to spend to get that on another make the Boardman kept coming out on top.

After having to convince the Monkey in Halfords i needed pedels fitted to the bike to test ride it!!! I took it for a spin and really couldn't fault it, so i picked one up, took it home and tightend the bolts properly!
I have to say that the more i ride it the better it keeps getting.

I know the frame may not be as good as the Konas or Spesh, but they do come with a 2 year warrenty so if it breaks then i get a new one. Anyways i'll just get a new bike on the cycle2work scheme next year!

Just thought i share,

Cheers.

Paul Sh

Spot on, i have one also, great bike, one thing though, you will find that........

All rigid frames have 15 years guarantee
Full suspension frames have 2 year (due out next year apparently)
All other parts 1 year.

BTW POST SOME PICS.

lost-time

Boardmans do seem to be getting high ratings so far...

They may not be the best/worst but certainly they look a lot of bike for the money.

Enjoy.

Paul Sh

It's a shame some people can't shake off the........... It's a halfords bike attitude ......... as it is deffo a cracking bike, so i will say it again out loud this time, IT AINT A HALFORDS BIKE lol

drewcole81

That is true, there is nothing Halfords about the bike, other than it is sold there. I have been in contact with the guys at Boardman and they have been telling me about it, Boardman produce the frames and they use Halfords buying power to get such a good deal on the parts.

They are about as much of a Halfords bike as Kona or VooDoo are.

Red Panda

Halfords chief executive Ian McLeod commented: "We are extremely proud and delighted that Chris, Britain's best ever cyclist and an Olympic gold medallist, has chosen to work with us on developing and launching his new cycle range. This places Halfords at the forefront of specialist bike development in the UK, offering superior quality products at the most competitive prices."

Statements like the above won't help people perceive Boardmans as an independent brand.

The main difference between Boardman bikes and Kona is that Boardmans are tied long term to Halfords, whereas Kona is a global brand independent of a single supplier.

drewcole81

Boardmans are tied to Halfords, But that isn't really a bad thing as Halfords are one of the largest bike retailers in the uk. Halfords can help to get the brand name out there. I know i would say all this as i have just bought one, but for the money, i really dont think they can be beaten.

The main trouble with being tied to Halfords is the total muppets who work in the stores that cant put bike together properly, i have just been to look at a Fury a guy i work with has bought, he doesnt know much about bikes really. When i looked at it the headset has loads of play in it cause it wasnt put together properly and the bolts for the disc could be tightened up by about 1 and a half turns each....