Would you spend £5000 on a Boardman?

Bar Shaker

Shaggy_Dog said blah

I love it when LBS owners come on here and diss Boardmans.

SFF.

Shaggy_Dog

Bar Shaker wrote:

Shaggy_Dog said blah

I love it when LBS owners come on here and diss Boardmans.

SFF.

a) where was the diss?

b) who said I own a bike shop?

bails87

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

You could argue that you are buying into brand marketing, and by default becoming a "brand snob" by getting so carried away about specs. Essentially XTR, Reba and X.0 are all brands within brands. You're just being snobby about the gears and parts rather than the frame and where it has come from and who it was designed by.

Just a thought.

Hmmm, not sure I agree with that. I think brand snobbery is only valied when there's no real improvement in performance, but the name written on the side doubles the price. I don't think you can call wanting XTR instead of Alivio brand snobbery because the XTR functions better and is lighter. Wanting a Santa Cruz instead of a Boardman/Specialized/Trek/Giant, or even refusing to buy a Boardman and getting a heavier, worse specced, more expensive Trek could be called brand snobbery, because the decision is being made purely on the stickers on the frame.

For some people, that's important, so fair enough, but I don't think that kind of decision can be compared to choosing components that are demonstrably better.

MountainMonster

biff55 wrote:

Anyone prepared to spend 5 large on a bike isnt gonna make value for money a priority.
You want the bike to feel and look special in a way that sets it apart from more common brands.
Boardmans are well made and good value bikes , but do not have the prestige to make folk part with 5 grand like say Ibis or Santa Cruz etc.

That's a very good point, but like someone mentioned with Ferrari and Audi, the perception is different for everyone. Personally I would pick the Audi over a Ferrari any day, but that's just me. I do agree though, once your getting into that price bracket for bikes, there is not much different than the frames between them and value for money does go out of the door.

At the end of the day, you need to buy what fits best. If I tried a Boardman that had the same spec as a Santa Cruz, and cost exactly the same, but fit alot better, it would be the Boardman over SC. The name only carries something good so far if there is another thing better.

Shaggy_Dog

I'm very doubtful that XTR delivers a genuine improvement over SLX other than weight savings. I've got XTR cranks, front mech, cassette and chain with X.0 triggers and rear mech on my HiFi. Only the front shifting is noticeably better than SLX and that's only down to the chainrings! Do you know how much they cost to replace? About 290 quid. SLX rings? £67.

When I'm riding my bike the best part of my ride is certainly not the shifting of the gears, it's singletrack, challenging climbs and flat out speed. XTR and X.0 does not improve the experience, but the handling of my bike does.

I never choose a bike based on brand, I choose it on fit, stiffness and geometry. Unless Boardman drastically change their geometry I won't be buying a £5,000 bike from them, I'd sooner have a £2,300 Trek Fuel EX8 and give the rest to charity.

ashleymp777

Has anyone got any pictures of these "£5000" Boardman Bikes to share? I'd quite like to see what it looks like. I saw the review of the hardtail in one of the rags and thought it looked quite cool actually.

njee20

Are they actually MTBs, or road bikes? They've been doing road bikes over £3000 for a while, that'd be more obvious than to leap into MTBs at a totally different price point!

Bar Shaker

They are road bikes. It's the new Elite frame range which, with a pair of Zipps and box full of Red gives you a £5k bike. The frames look stunning.

http://www.boardmanelite.com/

It's the bike that United Health Care will be riding in the Pro series.

The carbon Pro HT will be around the £1700 mark and also looks very tasty.

If you want to spend £5k on a mtb, it's still an S Works Stumpy or similar that will relieve you of so much wonga. Boardman can't help you.

njee20

Sadly you're £1200 short of an S-Works!

bails87

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I'm very doubtful that XTR delivers a genuine improvement over SLX other than weight savings.

So it's exactly as good AND lighter? That's an improvement in my book.

When I'm riding my bike the best part of my ride is certainly not the shifting of the gears, it's singletrack, challenging climbs and flat out speed. XTR and X.0 does not improve the experience, but the handling of my bike does.

Having used 7 speed shimano stuff I can promise you that X.0 does improve the experience!

I never choose a bike based on brand, I choose it on fit, stiffness and geometry. Unless Boardman drastically change their geometry I won't be buying a £5,000 bike from them, I'd sooner have a £2,300 Trek Fuel EX8 and give the rest to charity.

Noone has suggested that anyone should buy a badly fitting bike because of the rear kit that's bolted to it :? Nobody would spend £5k on a bike that they know doesn't fit right. But that would be the same whether it said Boardman or Ibis on the side.

biff55

MountainMonster wrote:

That's a very good point, but like someone mentioned with Ferrari and Audi, the perception is different for everyone. Personally I would pick the Audi over a Ferrari any day, but that's just me.

But even if the audi drove as well as the ferrari , would you pay ferrari money for an audi ?
probably not , which is the main point to this topic

bails87

biff55 wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

That's a very good point, but like someone mentioned with Ferrari and Audi, the perception is different for everyone. Personally I would pick the Audi over a Ferrari any day, but that's just me.

But even if the audi drove as well as the ferrari , would you pay ferrari money for an audi ?
probably not , which is the main point to this topic

I think he just said he would, which is back to the main point to this topic that people have different perceptions of 'quality' and 'value' and some put value on a name or if it feels 'special' whilst others put it purely on performance.

Bar Shaker

Let's not forget that Volkswagen Audi Group also make Lamborghini and Bugatti cars and its major shareholder is Porsche.

The Cycling Plus comment on the Boardman AiR TT was "Probably the best performing Time Trial bike we have ever tested by some margin". Maybe the 'Elite' badge will prove to be the EB of the cycling world.

MountainMonster

biff55 wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

That's a very good point, but like someone mentioned with Ferrari and Audi, the perception is different for everyone. Personally I would pick the Audi over a Ferrari any day, but that's just me.

But even if the audi drove as well as the ferrari , would you pay ferrari money for an audi ?
probably not , which is the main point to this topic

I would yes. For me, the perceived value of the Audi is better than the Ferrari. I'm talking driveability, comfort and ease of repairs. I want the peace of mind knowing, that if I break something on the Audi, all I have to do is find an Audi dealer in the area to get repaired. I don't want to search the internet trying to find a local Ferrari dealer and then have to travel there, however far it is. Could be a few miles, or could be across the country. Imagine that happens in Italy or something, and your out in the country. Towing could rack up a huge costs, which, if you have the money to buy the cars probably doesn't matter, but it's still a though.

The repairs obviously don't matter too much in the bike world as almost everything is standard fitment and is universal.

biff55

MountainMonster wrote:

biff55 wrote:

But even if the audi drove as well as the ferrari , would you pay ferrari money for an audi ?
probably not , which is the main point to this topic

I would yes. For me, the perceived value of the Audi is better than the Ferrari. I'm talking driveability, comfort and ease of repairs. I want the peace of mind knowing, that if I break something on the Audi, all I have to do is find an Audi dealer in the area to get repaired. I don't want to search the internet trying to find a local Ferrari dealer and then have to travel there, however far it is. Could be a few miles, or could be across the country. Imagine that happens in Italy or something, and your out in the country. Towing could rack up a huge costs, which, if you have the money to buy the cars probably doesn't matter, but it's still a though.

The repairs obviously don't matter too much in the bike world as almost everything is standard fitment and is universal.

At least you're not looking too deeply into this hyperthetical scenario.
:?

biff55

Anyways , i've got a '98 A4 estate you can have for 120,000.
I'll throw in a genuine ferrari air freshener as well.
You'd be a car salesmans' dream pal.

MountainMonster

biff55 wrote:

Anyways , i've got a '98 A4 estate you can have for 120,000.
I'll throw in a genuine ferrari air freshener as well.
You'd be a car salesmans' dream pal.

Hahaha there's a difference between paying 120k for a car worth 25k, or paying 120k for a car worth 120k, just made by a company that makes more budget cars as well.

Hardly a dream for a salesman. I do my research beforehand and then go in and buy the one I want. No distractions, no messtings.

Bar Shaker

OK google Audi's new 690bhp, 0-60 in 2.9, monster and tell me you wouldn't consider it over a Ferrari.

It's called the Lamborghini LP700