Whyte Portobello or Boardman Hybrid ???

northernneil

I currently ride a 20 year old Marin with slicks to work (8miles) 6 of which is road and 2 of which is rough-ish track. So I am looking for a hybrid which will speed me up on the road but be stable enough for the slightly rough stuff.

Looking at the whyte R7 range and the Boardman Hybrid, anyone got any thoughts, I know the boradmans are good value, but the whytes dont half look sexy .....

any help appreciated, ta

Neil

joelsim

The Boardman is a hard ride, great on smooth roads, not so great on rough roads and not great on tracks in my experience. My old Trek on 35 tyres is hugely more comfortable off road. The Boardman is a road bike with flat bars.

I don't know about the Whyte.

northernneil

thanks for your thought, I kind of want to use it for winter training as well so boardman might be ideal

forcutty

My sister has the Whyte Portobello and rides 12miles every day on it. She loves it, if I manage to have a go on it i'll let you know what it feels like to ride. She chose it due to my recommendation of disc brakes working better in the rain! I'm fed up of seeing Boardmans everywhere Great spec for price though! Boardmans may be cheaper but I don't think there as good IMO.

g00se

Saw a very very good review of the Whyte last year. Said it was a near perfect commuter. The fork rake and wheelbase made it very stable but maneuverable too.

g00se

Couldn't find that review, but here's another:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/urban/product/review-whyte-portobello-11-42608/

Redhog14

Whyte is way cooler - just ask my teenage nephews! - 'cept their not on here so you'll just take my word for it...

joelsim

Cooler than Boardman Hybrid? Impossible!

dilemna

l looked at both. I prefer the Boardman Hybrid Comp. It has double eyelets on the rear for separate mounting of mudguards and rear rack where as the Whyte only has a single eyelet iirc. The attention to detail on the Boardman is superb. Only downside for me was -no eyelets on front forks (alloy) for mounting low loader rack for panniers plus there could be slightly more wheel clearance to fit slightly larger 700C tyres, say 42C, with mudguards or wider spacing to fit 26" wheels with 2.2 inch tyres. But apart from this it looks a superb bike. The Whyte looks to have a longer wheel base therefore top tube longer and looks altogether more fragile and might not withstand as much abuse as the Boardman. The Boardman has a better paint job IMHO. The Whyte looks good but the Boardman looks better IMHO.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534