£1000 - choice of two

baldtony

Hello,
sorry to start another thread about the CycleToWork scheme but I just needed a little bit more advice before taking the plunge.
I have a £1000 voucher for Halfords, and after reading this and many other forums, have narrowed the choice down to the two £999.99 Boardman's.
The Pro HT or the Team FS.

I haven't really been on a bike since leaving for Uni nearly 17 years ago, so it's fair to say my skills, lungs and legs are all a bit rusty.
Am living in North Wales, and have access to all the delights it has to offer. My last bike didn't even have front suspension, let alone a full rig, so even the HT is going to be a massive improvement. But I don't really enjoy speedy downhills, so would I still need a full suspension bike as I mostly enjoy climbs?

The possible extra maintenance on the FS is also a concern. I've been out of this for so long, that I genuinely don't know anything about it any more.

They both look excellent bikes, and either way it will probably work out OK. But would just like some advice off more experienced people before spending quite a lot of money.

thanks in advance

largephil

Your going to get a better specked hard tail than full sus for 1k, but as you said, both good bikes.

If you dont enjoy speedy downhills then maybe the hard tail is for you... but then you have not tried a speedy downhill on a full sus. I had a hardtail for 10 years before I borrowed my mates full sus for a blast on my local trails.

If you can, the best thing to do would be to give them both a go. You'll probably find that way, one bike will suit you much better than the other.

jmillen

I was asking myself the same question when buying my first serious bike after several years. In the end I went for the Pro HT as I just didn't think I'd make the most of the full sus to start with.

Granted, as you can see from my sig, I've now upgraded to a full sus but I'm glad I went for the HT for the year or so to get back into it again before splashing out.

Stevo_666

Good luck if you can get Halfords to let you try them....

I'd go for the Pro HT if you're stuck with that budget, though I live somewhere a lot flatter than you. If you're doing proper mountains like there are in North Wales you may prefer FS? Tricky one.

Pudseyp

If you don't want to be stuck with a halfords sled....then have a look at the KHS XCT 555 at a grand or the XC 604 at £850..two great spec'd bike for the money. Not sure what sizes are left as the 2011 range is out soon....
http://www.khsbikes.co.uk/bikes

And before you ask...they take the halfords vouchers !!

Uchiga

Hardtal and Fullsus is down to personal opinion. Try them both ask Halfords to test ride them for a weekend they should have demo bikes. If not tell them they've just lost a 1 grand sale and you'll look elsewhere.

I personally ride a Hardtail and it is great. Love it to bits and it does the job well. Advantage of a hardtail over a full sus is the stiffness in the frame so uphill you will be faster on the hard tail than on the full sus but down hill it will be vice versa. There is more maintaince on a full sus extra bearings a whole nother shock etc.

You cant really go wrong with either just get out there and ride them first before you take the plunge.

Radioactiveman

As others have said a £1000 hardtail will be better quality than a £1000 full suss.

The spec /components will be watered down on the full suss

butcher of bakersfield

You'll get a lot of hardtail for that money - especially from the Boardman range. That's what I'd go for. As above though, it's all personal preference.

I rode a little on an off since I was around 12. Right up until my mid twenties I rode the same Emmelle Couger. I'd probably consider it dangerous now, compared to what I'm used to, but that bike survived all of the local trails. I then got my hands on a late 90's GT with some early rockshocks. They had less travel than my current forks do on lockout. I still have the GT, and I can tell you, my Fury actually feels like a full suss in comparrison. The technology has come a long way.

Sure, the Fury is longer travel than the Boardman, but hardtail or full suss, these bikes are more than capable on most terrain. Whether you want to sacrifice some weight and spec for a bouncy rear is just a personal choice.

Pudseyp

Err would say the KHS XCT 555 spec can't be sniffed at....Marzocchi 44TST2 compression rebound and lockout, Monarch rear shock rebound an lockout, cane creek headset, Mavic XM 317 on formula hubs, firex cranks with X7/shiffters and X9 mech, Hayes stroker trail 160/180...and Stylo goodies...in my opinion that is a good spec full suss for a grand..and the frame is probably better than any boardman.

Bar Shaker

Pudseyp wrote:

..and the frame is probably better than any boardman.

:roll: :roll:

They've just sold 21,000 bikes in the last 12 months. That will be more than Spess, Giant and Trek put together. These forums are not stuffed full of people complaining about their Boardman frames, in fact the opposite is true from every owner you speak to.

They are great bikes with no middle-man-distributor/importer to suck 25% out of the retail price. That makes them exceptional value. Live with it.

Pudseyp

I said probably....the proof will be in the eating once the frames are a few years old....I am not saying there bad..just not been around enough. We will see if boardman are around in 25 years time like spesh, Giant and Trek...

Also they may have sold 21,00 bikes...most being crappy £100 throwaway after a year bikes...they are not specialists..just a retailer. KHS has been around since 1974 probably when Mr Boardman was peeing in his nappy it has a bonifide race team with many a DH and XC race win in the US series...the last even they were second behind the Yeti team..

I do not dislike the Boardmans, they have great specs...but what I am questioning is the frame longevity and the brand..I can dress myself in a top Armani suite...but it's still the beer bellied bald fella underneath...in my opinion it's the same with the boardman frame

uk_stretch

Are you planning on riding general cross country or are you thinking about visiting trail centres? If the latter you might want to look at the kind of riding available at the trail centre you intend to visit most. My understanding is that there is quite a lot of hardish/roughish red in NW Wales :shock:

The HT is a light quick bike an good for all round use - you'll learn quickly but the rough stuff will be harder. Good climber. Will still go down anything you're likely to find if you have the bike control. (Maybe I should say *almost anything* in case you're psychotic).

The FS is still quite light - more suited to trails and XC - you'll be coping with diffcult stuff quicker (in my opinion) but your bike skills won't develop *as* quickly as you can get away with more because of the back end travel.

So I'd say use should dictate but if you're looking for a general use bike that you'll also use for some fast uppy and downy stuff I'd go with the HT. I'd be tempted to go full sus if Red/Black trail centres are what you have in mind.

YMMV

Pudseyp

To be honest I have both a HT and a FS...and the FS get's used way more. OK the HT's are great for core skills development as you have to be a bit more cautious when picking lines...however a FS just gives you that little extra...it doesn't make you lazy you can be a bit more aggressive as the bike does more of the work. The Boardman and KHS can both be locked out for climbing, though I never use it myself. A FS is great at the likes of Llandegla, and in my opinion is the beter choice you may get a great spec HT but it will never be as versitile. Plus many a mate has bought a HT and then got rid within a year to move to FS with them losing money.

Uchiga

A FS rear shock locked out will srtill have some play in it. It will never be as stiff as a truly rigid hardtail frame. And boardman frames arent actually all that bad quality and they arent just £100 throw away frames. Boardman arent given enough credit. Its the "Oh they're Halfords sold only" that give them a bad image. Well i know a few people with the road bikes made by Boardman for a few years and have had no problem what so ever with them and love them. Its interesting that lots of people prefer FS to HT thats down to personal preferance. But it does make you wonder why quite often it is the HT XC racers that get on the podium despite the lack of comfort in comparison... But they also admit that it takes a differant riding style and rider to work a HT to a FS so like ive said before get out there and ride them both before you buy them

Bar Shaker

Pudseyp wrote:

Also they may have sold 21,00 bikes...most being crappy £100 throwaway after a year bikes...they are not specialists..just a retailer.

The bikes start at £500 and go up to £3300. Boardman don't make £100 bikes.

Chris Boardman and his team of engineers were responsible for Team GB's bikes at Bejing. They came back with an unprecidented haul of gold. I'd call that pretty specialist.

Halfords are a retailer, then again, so are plenty of LBSs. There are very few people who sell bikes that I would call specialists. Thankfully there are some.

That said, you will never go into your LBS and hear him say "If only I sold XXXXXX bikes. There really are better than what I have in stock".

Pudseyp

I ment 21,000 sales in general..not of the Boardman and yes I am aware how much they cost thanks.....they sell Apollo and alike don't they ! Ref them not being specialists, in many branches I have reluctantly visited you have the boy racer whom stands next to the modding section all day with a semi hard on trying to sell you a bike....I did to be honest look at them a while back like I said great equipment...but the sales guy did not have a clue, so in the end I went for a Giant XTC for the same money..spec wise not as great but a tried and tested race winning frame, halfords don't have the depth of knowledge in most cases than a bike store specialising in just err bikes.......ref your olyimpic reference..yes apprciated though the frames probably cost thousands and produced by hand not and therefore not comparable with some mass produced frames...(and before you all get on my bike I know most bikes are)

If you read my previous posts, I am not knocking the spec or the bike in general, I am questoning how good the frames are you buy off the shelf as they haven't been around long enough...If they are still around in 10-20 years time then yes they will be a reputible bike builder. Until then I will have my doubts....

Bar Shaker

My point was that it is 21,000 Boardmans sold in the last year, not 21,000 bikes in total sold by Halfords. That is a huge number of bikes for one brand.

With regards to frames, almost all bike manufacturers have their frames made in the Far East. Massive factories in China and Taiwan are making frames for Giant, Trek, Spess and Boardman, along side each other. This is no bad thing, their production quality is excellent and we, the customers, get top quality bikes for our budget.

The days of skilled specialists making custom bikes out the back of their bike shops are long gone.

supersonic

Pudseyp

What makes you think the KHS frames are better than the Boardman frames? Halfords and their brands have been making bikes for 20 odd years too, the frames on the Carreras and Boardmans are made to a high standard by a team of established designers.

Pudseyp

Ok..if you had an identical spec'd bike to the boardman but with a Giant, Trek, Cannondale, Marin name on it for the same cost....truthfully which would you take ??? the Boardman or one of the brands that have been around for donkies years ??? if you say the bordman I know your lying....

Thats the point I am trying to make...ref halfords as a whole, go upto someone and ask them to explain sag, the difference between compression and rebound and see what answers you get....of course anyone selling anything is their to make a proffit, but in my opinion you get the value of knowledge in buying from a proper bike store as thats all they sell and near all that work within them are avid bikers so know what they are talking about..

supersonic

I would go for the one that fit me best, and I liked the feel of. I don't care much for names. Giant and Merida produce for many of these brands anyway, and the quality is high.

And not all Halfords stores are the same, just like all LBSs aren't. And if buying mail order you have NO face to face contact or way of trying usually.

Swings and roundabouts sometimes.

Pudseyp

Names.....? Hark at e Mr GT man lol

Uchiga

Pudseyp wrote:

.they sell Apollo and alike don't they !

Yer Halfords make them. Those are Halfords specifically made bikes. Boardman bikes have nothing to do with Halfords in terms of design or manufacture. The only thing Boardman bikes have to do with Halfords is that Halfords is the only place to buy Boardman bikes from.

Boardman bikes are like Scott or Specialised or Trek or Giant. You just happen to be only be able to buy them from Halfords.

Monkeypump

Boardman design and manufacture (which may be outsourced) the bikes, they only chose Halfords as a retailer because they have a huge network of stores and it was a good way to reach a broad base of customers in a short time from launch.

The awards, reviews and feedback is overwhelmingly good for Boardman - I don't see how you can really argue with that.

Halfords may not offer the best service or knowledge but that doesn't detract from the quality of the brand.

Pudseyp - If Boardman had chosen a retailer other than Halfords, would you still have the same opinion of their bikes? Or would you be more willing to acknowledge them as an award-winning British brand who are trying to deliver high quality, maximum value products?

It's been said before, but the Halfords connection is a double-edged sword - great distribution, but tarnished by the often poor opinion of the retailer.

Bar Shaker

GT are owned by Cannondale. Lapier and Ghost are owned by Accell. Taiwanese company, Giant, make and/or have made bikes for almost everyone. Merida make almost everyone's carbon frames.

You need to be careful using names. You need to be very careful when slagging off frames.

The bike world is no different to the car world (VAG, PSM etc)

Uchiga

I worked in Halfords at work experience and to be honest after working with the guys there... Build your own bikes if you can. I built the bikes there how i would build my own bikes. but the rest of the guys took no more than 10 minutes building the bikes. I Spent at least half an hour making sure it was alright and worked well. Sure i got told off for it but at least i knew my bikes wouldnt be back quite so soon for problems. Oh well that was only 2 weeks.

The boardman bikes are exceptional quality for the money just dont let the Halfords staff build them up you're far better off building it up yourself.

supersonic

I am pretty sure Halfords do have some input to Boardman, especially regarding the spec of the bikes - Halfords buying power allows the specs to be what they are. Boardman made a deal with Halfords to use his name to market bikes a few years ago. However they did bring in some new designers, plus of course Chris's input.

supersonic

Bar Shaker wrote:

GT are owned by Cannondale. Lapier and Ghost are owned by Accell. Taiwanese company, Giant, make and/or have made bikes for almost everyone. Merida make almost everyone's carbon frames.

You need to be careful using names. You need to be very careful when slagging off frames.

The bike world is no different to the car world (VAG, PSM etc)

Cannondale don't own GT, but both are owned by Dorel who took acquired Pacific cycles. Also own Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse and Dyno.

Monkeypump

supersonic wrote:

I am pretty sure Halfords do have some input to Boardman, especially regarding the spec of the bikes - Halfords buying power allows the specs to be what they are.

Hmm... that would certainly make sense...

Bar Shaker

supersonic wrote:

Bar Shaker wrote:

GT are owned by Cannondale. Lapier and Ghost are owned by Accell. Taiwanese company, Giant, make and/or have made bikes for almost everyone. Merida make almost everyone's carbon frames.

You need to be careful using names. You need to be very careful when slagging off frames.

The bike world is no different to the car world (VAG, PSM etc)

Cannondale don't own GT, but both are owned by Dorel who took acquired Pacific cycles. Also own Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse and Dyno.

You are right, I was being too simplistic.

I understood Dorel bought them when Gary Turner went skint in the late 90s. My last MTB was a GT iDrive. I absolutely loved it and after 10 years I sold it to my cycling mate still owns it. OK it was a 'triggers broom' with only the frame, seat and bars original but what a good looking bike and bomb proof. My mate still rides it every weekend and its still taking abuse. He bought it as kept breaking bikes. Whilst it was a bit heavy for me, it is perfect for him (he is 16st) and he hasn't managed to break it yet.

Nice bikes.

cavegiant

I have just looked at the two bikes, the HT spec isn't that much better, and I can't see and real spec losses on the FS.

No contest hands down win for FS.


I would say that neither seems a great deal for £1000.

Some shop was selling a Mongoose Teocali Super on sale for that much. Fox forks, droppable seatpost, proved suspension design, fox RP23, 145mm travel. The cycle to work scheme isn't that good, you would do better hunting sales.

supersonic

Yeah, the old I drives were fantastic. I rode one of the first in the country, a lime green XCR4000 lol. I adored it, little pedal kickback, hardly any bob, just such a good bike.