Which one for around £600 Boardman, Giant, Specialized?

sirlylos

Guys,

I know this must get asked a lot but I've pretty much narrowed down my choice of bike to a Giant defy 3, a Boardman comp or a Specialized Allez.

Any words of wisdom? I'm a seasoned Mountain biker but new to the road bike game and like to get my money's worth.

Cheers,

SirLylos

blu3cat

Try 'em out see which one you like best, buy it. You may find that one just feels right.

sirlylos

yeah that's true but I just wanted a take on what people thought had the best components.

Cheers though man.

evil_breakfast

I've just bought a defy 3, and am very impressed.
taut precise ride with relatively decent kit.
Bear in mind it is built to a budget.
Better tyres would be my first port of call, and a decent set of brake blocks.
After that it's down to personal taste.
I'm considering a new crankset as the first upgrade myself.

blu3cat

well lookinign at them all, it seems they all have aluminium frames, carbon forks & are 9 speed.

The Boardman has the better finishing kit including groupset, but this may mean the others have slightly better frames. (you'll only find out by riding it )

There is always the Halfords aspect to Boardman, and you may be one of the lucky ones to have a good mechanic in your local one, but a quick trawl of these forums reveals several have not been that lucky.

juankerr

sirlylos wrote:

Guys,

I know this must get asked a lot but I've pretty much narrowed down my choice of bike to a Giant defy 3, a Boardman comp or a Specialized Allez.

Any words of wisdom? I'm a seasoned Mountain biker but new to the road bike game and like to get my money's worth.

Cheers,

SirLylos

Boardman has the best kit for £600 and I think is lightest. But it's Halfords isn't it.

Infamous

blu3cat wrote:

The Boardman has the better finishing kit including groupset, but this may mean the others have slightly better frames.

I don't think that's true, I think boardman can sell at lower prices than everyone else because halfords can (presumably) afford to sell at a smaller profit margin than a LBS.

That's why for the same price as a Sora Specialized/Trek/Giant, you can get a tiagra/105 boardman. There is no evidence that the boardman frames are inferior.

Probably.

on-yer-bike

Specialized Allez. I have an 08 but the 09s look great with the curved TT

sirlylos

sweet, thanks for the replies.

It's actually looking like there isn't much between them all. I'm interested in the boardman but doubt I'd get interest free credit from halfrauds so it's probably between the defy 3 and the allez.

I'm going to head to my not so LBS near Leeds as they do 36 months interest free credit and see how I get on.

sirlylos

Got the Giant Defy 3 in the end, over the moon with it.

Cheers for the advice fellas.