Boardman Team Carbon Back To £999.99 - Ideal For Beginners!

Bar Shaker

chrishumes To be fair, the thread title makes this perfectly clear.

I have wasted thousands over the years by buying low spec kit to see if I like the sport. Windsurfing, water skiing, golf, private aviation have all cost me a fortune to virtually write off the entry level kit I bought when I upgraded to the kit needed to enjoy the sport/activity.

I think a Boardman Team Carbon is the perfect beginners bike. And if you decide that biking is not for you, then there is a big market for these bikes on eBay. Good ones change hands at 70-85% of new cost.

father_jack

Good ones change hands at 70-85% of new cost.

lol, don't think so.

Boardman Team Carbon is the perfect beginners bike

LOL. You know what people would say if I said they should fork out £1000? Don't be effing stupid.

Tiagra carbon/alu @ £500 is a begineers bike. Perhaps if you're rolling in money (sounds like it) You can give funds to buy a £1000 bike.

And likewise since I'm into Home Cinema, it's like me saying Revell Ultima speakers are "good beginner speakers"



Don't you agree?

al-hardman

Boardman team carbon back up to £1199.99 again???? whats going on at that place

nferrar

Nice bikes but not sure I'd shout about them being ideal beginners bikes, they have traditional geometry which might not suit all and you have Halfords setting it up for you (a beginner wouldn't necessarily know better).

morstar

al-hardman wrote:

Boardman team carbon back up to £1199.99 again???? whats going on at that place

Creating demand with a promotion.
No different from the gondola ends in the local supermarket.

al-hardman

Yeah guess your right but to put the price up after it being £999 for so long. Then drop it after a few month and then put it back up again?? Hhhmmm, think I might wait for the 2011.

rake

porsche 911 makes a good learners car :idea:

Anonymous

The entire Boardman range is pretty good value for money.

The specs for the price are better than your likely to get anywhere else and any review you read about them are singing there praises.

But you will always be riding a Halford's bike. And for that reason I'm out.

neeb

£1000 is not too much money to spend on a road bike as a beginner IF you are going to use it, i.e. several times a week over 2 or 3 years (or more). You are going to spend a fair percentage of your waking life on it after all. Many people regularly spend more than that on foreign holidays that only last a week or two. The problem is that as a beginner, you might not know yet how much you are going to cycle. £1000 is a heck of a lot to spend on a bike that gets used 4 or 5 times and then sits in the garage...

neeb

But you will always be riding a Halford's bike. And for that reason I'm out.

It's only a Halford's bike until you've taken it home and adjusted everything properly. All Halfords do is put the thing together (badly by all accounts). If I was buying a boardman I'd try to persuade them to give it to me in the flat-pack rather than let them fiddle with it first...

father_jack

But you will always be riding a Halford's bike. And for that reason I'm out.

Brand snob, although that's to be expected from a Londoner.

Gazzaputt

RichardSwt wrote:

But you will always be riding a Halford's bike. And for that reason I'm out.

Eh? Halfords are the distributor not the manufacture and nowhere on the bike does it say Halfords.

Bizarre comment.

rdt

An "ideal beginner's bike" is one you've borrowed from or been given by a mate for zilch, or bought 2nd hand for a pittance. If you're still riding it after a few months and expect to carry on cycling, then buy whatever you want within whatever budget you have. Of course, if you buy a high end bike, and are some beetroot-faced lardy who then grinds around on it like an arthritic OAP, expect to be mercilessly mocked by those flying past you, "all the gear, no idea, etc.". But they're only jealous of your flash steed. And fitter, of course. Much fitter. They tell themselves.

morstar

I'd have thought the aggressive ride position is what precludes it from being a beginners bike.

Nothing wrong with being a novice and investing in high quality equipment rather than budget equipment (if you can afford it) but a race profile is not conducive to a pleasant introduction for most.

+1 the porsche 911 comment. You don't learn to drive in a sports car do you! (?)

Before carving skis made skiing push button, you'd always get some numpty on the best skis and promptly discovering they couldn't turn them like the beginners pair they were on last year. Volkl P9's, the ultimate idiots ski for many years.

sundog

rdt wrote:

An "ideal beginner's bike" is one you've borrowed from or been given by a mate for zilch, or bought 2nd hand for a pittance. If you're still riding it after a few months and expect to carry on cycling, then buy whatever you want within whatever budget you have. Of course, if you buy a high end bike, and are some beetroot-faced lardy who then grinds around on it like an arthritic OAP, expect to be mercilessly mocked by those flying past you, "all the gear, no idea, etc.". But they're only jealous of your flash steed. And fitter, of course. Much fitter. They tell themselves.

Nice post RDT, covers about everything

bernmc

Back up to £1200 today

edit - oops already been said.

I have heard that they can be convinced to honour the 999 price for people who want it on the bike 2 work scheme, so haggle.

edindevon

For anyone who hasn't noticed, the Boardman Team Carbon is now on offer online for £999.99 again. Plus they say you can use a £25 off code, so that makes it £974.99.

Also, don't forget to use a cashback site when ordering online at Halfords. With Quidco the current cashback for Halfords is 5%, so once you take off the £5 annual membership fee, you should get £43.75 back, making the effective price £931.24.

Edindevon

ShutUpLegs

Surprised they haven't upgraded the spec or reduced the price based on the original reviews that are nearly 2 years old now. Better spec alternatives out there.

Mr Dog

A mere £200 saving. There are so many better bikes and deals out on the market. No thanks. My local Halfords is last place I'd buy a bike.
My employers cycle to work scheme is ran them.. nightmare.

batch78

A 'mere £200', congratulations, you must be loaded.

There are so many better bikes and deals

Really? For the same price? Care to share any with us?

I agree you can get £600 or £700 off some top line end of season bikes but at this price point I think your dreaming.

Bar Shaker

The upgrade is coming at the start of next year.

Put back into the buying position, there is nothing else out there that would get my £1000.

Bozman

Upgrade or no upgrade, i've yet to see a bad review of the bike and it'll be interesting to see what alternatives folk come up with. Halfords(yes we know that they're shite) only distribute the bike, so when you walk out of the shop you shouldn't have to darken their doors again. Get the bike serviced elsewhere if you can't do it yourself.

ShutUpLegs

http://www.bikeradar.com/ROAD/gear/cate ... n-10-37562

How about this with Shimano Tiagra for £759

Bar Shaker

The only serious rival are Planet X.

The Ribble looks OK but the groupset isn't a patch on SRAM Rival and Tiagra or Centaur should never be seen on bikes costing this sort of money. I'll bet its at least a kilo heavier too.

The main difference between the TC and Planet X is that you can see your TC in the store and sit on it to check the size/fit. Planet X, good as they are, are mail order for most people.

rolf_f

Bar Shaker wrote:

.....and Tiagra or Centaur should never be seen on bikes costing this sort of money.

Lol

freddiegrubb

:oops: If you get the bike, take it boxed, here's how to" build " it - remove packing -front wheel on- straighten bars & torque up- connect up front brake- feed rear brake cable through the t/tube, it must have an internal liner because it flies through- connect up- if you have any, a slight film of construction paste on the seat post - insert -torque up . Check all other fixings for tightness etc. The gears should index correctly - if not there are good demo's on u/tube. People say the brakes are rubbish, in my experience it's the blocks that are the problem change these & you're okay. I don't know how Halfords can get it so wrong in their construction, why worry about the bike snobs it's being present in cycling for 50 years to my certain knowledge & if you're lucky you can walk over to aldi & buy some realistically priced bikie clothing as well.

Getoffandmilkit

Bar Shaker wrote:

The only serious rival are Planet X.

The Ribble looks OK but the groupset isn't a patch on SRAM Rival and Tiagra or Centaur should never be seen on bikes costing this sort of money. I'll bet its at least a kilo heavier too.

The main difference between the TC and Planet X is that you can see your TC in the store and sit on it to check the size/fit. Planet X, good as they are, are mail order for most people.

Quality levels of ignorance.
Centaur is at least on a level with Rival and the Ribble is the same weight (8kg) as the Boardman.
A cursory browse on this forum would have told you this.

RDW

With the Ribble Evo, you can can take your pick from Apex, Rival, Tiagra, 105, Veloce and Centaur at various prices under £1000; even Athena is only just over a grand.

Peddle Up!

Once you start thinking about buying a Boardman, or any other brand as opposed to "a bike" you're on the upgrade path. And we know where that leads...

prawny

I'm not sure i'd buy another boafdman because i think sticking £200 on a 2 year old bike while the tdf is on is taking the piss. I was dead keen on them doin well to start with but seem like a controlling money grabbing supercorporp hiding behind a house hold name. Aftersales service is as dross as the set up too. Shame, decent bikes but this shoul be no more than £850 at this stage in it's lifecycle.