Snapped Boardman Frame?

simone11

I have had 2 large Boardman Team FS frames snap in the last 12 months with normal singletrack riding. On my third now which is for sale on ebay. Spoke to a guy on ebay who is about to be on his fourth Pro frame. Anyone else had a snapped Boardman? Are these frames dangerous?

supersonic

As I said last time - reported cases are few and far between, they have sold thousands. 99.9% have been fine.

teulk

Where has it snapped - i am on my second Team HT frame, i found a crack in the welding where the down tube meets the head tube. This was about 2weeks after i got it. Halfords replaced the frame with no problems at all - that was a year ago now and the second frame has been faultless.

simone11

supersonic- i dont believe you have no links with halfords like you've defended previously. you big their bikes up all the time! infact it would suprise me if halfords didn't employ someone to monitor the forums. i just wanted my experience with these bikes to be heard to hopefully put other people off from giving money to halfords.

few and far between doesn't describe me having 3 frames and a another person who just happened to come across on ebay having 4. my best guess at issue is the large frames have had little R&D spent on them and just upscaled versions which can't take the riding. i would love to see actual fail rates from halfords, because i reckon a lot of people wont bother with forums - they just want a bike that works. like the guy on ebay said he'd not mentioned it on forums so no one ever hears about it!

supersonic

I have no links with them. If you look through my posts I am far from happy with some of their policies.

It is just that you have said this 3 or 4 times now, and unsure why you have mentioned it again after having it discussed previously.

i just wanted my experience with these bikes to be heard to hopefully put other people off from giving money to halfords.

I do however write for WMB. We have tested many Halfords bikes, and many are award winners.

simone11

snapped frame was seat tube just above main pivot - complete break, first one was chain stay, again complete failure. failure during riding on flat roads - very low stress, so must have been weakened over time.

The Northern Monkey

maybe you're a bit weighty?
I know I wouldn't have a boardman, just because i'm a big bloke.

simone11

mentioning again, as in beginning i was unsure if i was just very unlucky, but this weekend when i came across guy who is about to be on his fourth frame it seems more likely that there is a problem and it isn't just me.

i guess boardmans are really good bikes until they snap. so if they dont snap it's happy days - but when they snap they're the worst bike ever!

Daz555

Guy at work has snapped his 09 FS - downtube went as I recall.

simone11

bigbenj_08 - well yeah, that was my thought when first frame snapped - im just under 15 stone - still shouldnt snap though. when halfords gave me second frame i didnt trust it so lent it to friend when he came riding with me. he was the only guy to ever really ride it and hes just under 12 stone. the second frame snapped with him on it.

supersonic

I can contact them for more up to date figures on reported failures.

It was very low in the first year of production - 10,000 total sales and 2 frame replacements. It maybe that some of these are showing up now, or maybe as you said, a possible faulty batch.

If you are wondering how I know that lol I spoke to Chris Boardman as wanted some info on the bikes. I am curious too! He posts here from time to time. Maybe PM him with your concerns?

Daz555

simone11 wrote:

supersonic- i dont believe you have no links with halfords like you've defended previously. you big their bikes up all the time! infact it would suprise me if halfords didn't employ someone to monitor the forums. i just wanted my experience with these bikes to be heard to hopefully put other people off from giving money to halfords.

Supers point is simply that Halfords sell far more bikes than any other retailer and as a result we will see more complaints.

Boardman MTBs have been getting the praise from just about everybody for a fair while now.

carbonfiend

I rode with bloke once who over the yrs had snapped 10 frames - he was about 17 stone. He started to take it as part of the course that he was gonna snap frames

simone11

supersonic - if you work for WMB why would they want to tell you an accurate figure for failure rates if it was bad?

supersonic

He didn't know that! I asked via the forum. He doesn't know me from Adam.

Why not ask yourself?

simone11

why would halfords tell anybody about a high failure rate?

supersonic

This has nothing to do with Halfords. Chris joined the forum, and gave some info on the bikes. I PMd him with some concerns. He may have even said publicly about the low failure rate. I can't remember, was last year, hence why I have said about an update.

So next question:

Why would Chris tell anyone about high failure rates?

Unless you think he lied. Things have probably changed now, more sales (was projected to double after first year), more problems showing up in older bikes (maybe).

I suggest you contact Boardman and simply ask about this!

simone11

did you say he was on here somewhere? ive not seen his posts.

The Northern Monkey

supersonic wrote:

He didn't know that! I asked via the forum. He doesn't know me from Adam.

Why not ask yourself?

Who's Adam?

supersonic

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

ExeterSimon

bigbenj_08 wrote:

supersonic wrote:

He didn't know that! I asked via the forum. He doesn't know me from Adam.

Why not ask yourself?

Who's Adam?

http://www.askadamanything.com/

Dubzy

I've just bought a MTB Team .

I think with potentially damaging threads like this one it's wise to take a balanced view. I'm sure that there are plenty of other makes of bike where problems with cracked frames have occurred but of course these have not been bought at Halfords. SS is right to point out that as Boardman bikes are a big seller for Halfords, the sheer volume of units is going to produce a few lemons - Hell, look at the mess Toyota are in now with all their recalls and they are the biggest car dealer in the world.

Yes, Halfords have a poor reputation as bike dealers but there again they are not solely bike dealers, are they?

butcher of bakersfield

Dubzy wrote:

Hell, look at the mess Toyota are in now with all their recalls and they are the biggest car dealer in the world.

Ironically, they have a reputation for building the most reliable cars, surpassing even their Japanese counterparts...

Seems mad to me that frames should snap though. Does it raise questions on priorities perhaps more than anything else? I mean, does a 15 stone bloke need to save a couple of extra pounds on frame weight, and is it wise? I'd be scared to ride anything that I thought might snap!

vengeance111

strength always comes first i think

Dubzy

vengeance111 wrote:

strength always comes first i think

Whose - the rider or the bike?

supersonic

butcher of bakersfield wrote:

Dubzy wrote:

Hell, look at the mess Toyota are in now with all their recalls and they are the biggest car dealer in the world.

Ironically, they have a reputation for building the most reliable cars, surpassing even their Japanese counterparts...

Seems mad to me that frames should snap though. Does it raise questions on priorities perhaps more than anything else? I mean, does a 15 stone bloke need to save a couple of extra pounds on frame weight, and is it wise? I'd be scared to ride anything that I thought might snap!

Look deep enough, and a lot snap. Hope, Thomson, I've seen a lot of their parts fail.

But they do sell a lot.

bails87

vengeance111 wrote:

strength always comes first i think

But at some point you've got to say "now it's pointlessly strong and too heavy"

You wouldn't use DH wheels for riding along the towpath (or would you?!) so there's always a compromise. Unfortunately, some people will be in the 0.1% that experience a failure, and the other 99.9% will just benefit from the lighter weight.

Salsa

I worked for a large Halfords that sold 100's of Boardmans, never saw a snapped frame. Only snapped part I saw was on a 2 year 2 month old hybrid, the fork had snapped just where the aluminium dropout met the carbon leg on the disk side.
We replaced it for the customer for free even though it was out of warranty.

Dubzy

Salsa wrote:

I worked for a large Halfords that sold 100's of Boardmans, never saw a snapped frame. Only snapped part I saw was on a 2 year 2 month old hybrid, the fork had snapped just where the aluminium dropout met the carbon leg on the disk side.
We replaced it for the customer for free even though it was out of warranty.

Thanks Salsa, I rest my case. Seems if Halfords is involved then it automatically gives rise to scaremongering.

lastwords

I have a boardman HT Pro and i have ridden it in the peak district down some knarly decents, at sherwoods pines over jump etc and locally and have to report no problems at all, nothing has broke and everything still works like new.

My boardman is about a year old now and its an 08 model.

I am only 11stone though, I have also seen other frames from big names fail.

Sodfoster

Dubzy wrote:

I've just bought a MTB Team .

Why is this relevant to this thread??