Boardman bikes..any good? experiences?

PKRAZOR

Hi

Anyone got any advice for me on Boardman bikes? i'm not talking about Halfords, but the bikes themselves. Anyone got one? good experiences? had problems? etc

any advice would be appreciated, cheers

Paul

noiseboyfeetman

They seem to get good reviews (check out the reviews on here for instance) and have good specs, only downside as you seem to already know is they're sold through Halfords so it'd be worth taking it to your LBS to get it checked out and set up properly after you've bought it.

cougie

Use the search facility on here ? Great reviews and lots of happy riders. You will find a few people with bad experiences - but you'll get that with any product.

cougie

Use the search facility on here ? Great reviews and lots of happy riders. You will find a few people with bad experiences - but you'll get that with any product.

PKRAZOR

Sorry, new to this site, keep forgetting how many reviews there are on here! cheers

Keith47

I've had my Boardman Comp for about 3 years now and it's been faultless. Can't compare it to other bikes as it's my first road bike, but there is nothing bad I can say about it (unlike Halfords, but that's another story!). All the Boardman range get good reviews, so they are well worth a look at.

ATB,

Keith.

Flamez

Well i had a bottom bracket fail twice in the first week, Halfords replaced the bearings and all has been good since.


Getting sick of bad press Halfords gets, i bet most of the complainers have never bought anything there..

Despite the initial problems i really like my Boardman team..

Cornish-J

i've got a limited edition team carbon, cant fault the bike at all .. had the bike 2 years and done a fair few miles on it, hasnt put a foot wrong, the chain hasnt even come off once.

JRooke

Flamez wrote:

Well i had a bottom bracket fail twice in the first week, Halfords replaced the bearings and all has been good since.


Getting sick of bad press Halfords gets, i bet most of the complainers have never bought anything there..

Despite the initial problems i really like my Boardman team..

nothing wrong with boardmans, really solid reliable bikes, alot like the scott CR1's, for that money wonderful frames, but to be honest the bad press isn't without reason, some people are lucky and their local halfords have a decent mechanic who genuinely knows his shizzle, but sadly its a rarity, mine has some 15 year old kid wearing a team GB jersey who tried clamping my carbon frame to the stand by the down tube, almost killed him.

noiseboyfeetman

Flamez wrote:

Well i had a bottom bracket fail twice in the first week, Halfords replaced the bearings and all has been good since.


Getting sick of bad press Halfords gets, i bet most of the complainers have never bought anything there..

Despite the initial problems i really like my Boardman team..

I bought a BMX for my son from Halfords a few years back and the service was awful, it definitely put me off using them at the time. However if I don't think it would put me off buying a Boardman from them now as long as I had it looked over properly by my LBS.

plumpy

Just bought a Boardman Comp for my son. I could not see anything with remotely the same spec for that money - £799 to Specialized, Giant et al would get you Sora or less, rubbish wheels, budget bottom bracket, etc, and I'd ignore anyone who counters the spec argument with frame snobbery - all the alloy frames for all brands in that price bracket are made in one of four adjoining sheds in Taiwan. Really pleased with the bike overall.

Halfords were AWFUL. I know you said you didn't want Halfords stories, but if I wasn't capable of building up the bike myself I suspect I would still be waiting for it. (After several delays and lots of lies I just insisted they gave it to me boxed.)

richardspooner

I can heartily recommend the Boardman bikes. Forced down the Halfords route with CTW at work signing an exclusive deal with them, but I'm now four Boardman bikes in and I can really recommend them, both the road and MTB's. They stack up very well both on their own and in comparison to bikes from other manufacturers in the same price brackets.

And as such I do feel qualified to make a statement about the service about Halfords. It is appalling. The three different stores I have dealt with across the four purchases have made have always being very helpful, but ultimately the mechanics are not experienced enough and the bikes are never sorted out properly.

Out of a company of 400 employees there has been plenty of feedback the last three years about Halfords and the experience is overwhelmingly negative. Poorly assembled bikes, chronic mistakes on setups and an inability to identify problems. Let alone fix them.

It shouldn't put you off buying the bikes, but you need to assume the worse and walk out of Halfords straight into a decent LBS and pay for a once over. Let Halfords grease monkies scratch their arses by it for the warranty, but always get it maintained elsewhere.

Don't let general Halfords snobbery put you off the bikes themselves. Just heed the warnings on service.

PKRAZOR

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

With regards the business about Halfords, i said it because i already knew their service was pretty dire. Ive got friends who bought other bikes there, at various locations, and they all said the same thing about the service, so thats why i was interested in the bike only.

One of my mates went into a Halfords once and asked the guys if a certain bike had a wooden frame, just for fun-expecting them to laugh...one of them said he'll go and ask the manager...

nuff said.

but the bikes sound ok from what i'm hearing.

123oldman

Love my Boardman Team carbon, the only thing to be careful of is the reliability of the spokes on the original wheels.

I've had snapped spokes on the rear wheel twice :roll:

richardspooner

Sorry PKRAZOR, didn't fully read your original post. Hence my rather lengthy monologue about Halfords!! Missed your point a little there!

Some people have questioned the quality on the original MTB frames saying the buttings of the tubes weren't exactly butted as stated, but I've not heard any other criticisms of the bikes. I'm up to about 8k miles in almost three years on my team carbon road bike, and whilst it has gone through several big wear and tear cycles and the inevitable upgrades, I've yet to find another bike that I really like more than it to make it worth shelling out the money on to supersede the spec and ride of the Boardman. And if I was given a stock spec one to start riding again I'd be perfectly happy to be riding it.

Colleague at work heavily crashed his hardtail MTB a few weeks back. Buckled a wheel and various other bits, took it to his LBS to get it thoroughly checked and the frame was still straight and true. It was a BIG crash too.

seanoconn

richardspooner wrote:

I can heartily recommend the Boardman bikes. Forced down the Halfords route with CTW at work signing an exclusive deal with them, but I'm now four Boardman bikes in and I can really recommend them, both the road and MTB's. They stack up very well both on their own and in comparison to bikes from other manufacturers in the same price brackets.

And as such I do feel qualified to make a statement about the service about Halfords. It is appalling. The three different stores I have dealt with across the four purchases have made have always being very helpful, but ultimately the mechanics are not experienced enough and the bikes are never sorted out properly.

Out of a company of 400 employees there has been plenty of feedback the last three years about Halfords and the experience is overwhelmingly negative. Poorly assembled bikes, chronic mistakes on setups and an inability to identify problems. Let alone fix them.

It shouldn't put you off buying the bikes, but you need to assume the worse and walk out of Halfords straight into a decent LBS and pay for a once over. Let Halfords grease monkies scratch their arses by it for the warranty, but always get it maintained elsewhere.

Don't let general Halfords snobbery put you off the bikes themselves. Just heed the warnings on service.

Richard, I think it was your review I read and explanation of the ritchey wheel problem, that made my mind up about buying a boardman a couple of years ago.

So its about time I said thanks. Thank you.

croutledge

I've just purchased my first road bike and it is a Road Comp. Ordered Saturday afternoon and was ready to pick up Sunday tea time.

I looked it over for anything that might need an extra turn to tighten it but only thing i found was the nut around the valve on one of the wheels. I suspecting the gears might not be indexing quite right but not missing or jumping at the mo so carrying on.

I've managed a couple of 16milers already this week and it is brilliant. Superfast and smooth. The Apex gear system took a little getting used to but soon got the hang of it after a few miles.

All in all love the bike and like others have said for the money they probably can't be matched. I managed to use a code online and got another 10% of the price

Would def recommend boardmans

PKRAZOR

richardspooner wrote:

Sorry PKRAZOR, didn't fully read your original post. Hence my rather lengthy monologue about Halfords!! Missed your point a little there!

Some people have questioned the quality on the original MTB frames saying the buttings of the tubes weren't exactly butted as stated, but I've not heard any other criticisms of the bikes. I'm up to about 8k miles in almost three years on my team carbon road bike, and whilst it has gone through several big wear and tear cycles and the inevitable upgrades, I've yet to find another bike that I really like more than it to make it worth shelling out the money on to supersede the spec and ride of the Boardman. And if I was given a stock spec one to start riding again I'd be perfectly happy to be riding it.

Colleague at work heavily crashed his hardtail MTB a few weeks back. Buckled a wheel and various other bits, took it to his LBS to get it thoroughly checked and the frame was still straight and true. It was a BIG crash too.

no problem, thanks for the info, seems to be the way of Halfords service mind. Makes you wonder why Boardman still sticks with them as it seems to me that the reputation of the bikes has outgrown the reputation of Halfords after-sales service.

niblue

Makes you wonder why Boardman still sticks with them

Probably because they're selling sh1tloads I'd expect!

Anyway I've also got a Boardman, a 2010 Team Carbon which cost £900 in the Christmas sales. It's a fantastic bike for the cash - light, fast and comfortable. I pre-empted the Halfords issues by getting them to supply me the bike still boxed up and then set it up myself.

Alan Franks

I was new to Road Cycling in 2015. I was using my Trek mountain bike for work commuting and thinking of an endurance challenge ride. I purchased a Boardman Road Sport, their most basic road bike which has a decent triple butted alloy frame and a Shimano Claris group set. I paid £309 in a sale with further internet ordering discount. I didn't rate Halfords then but the reviews I read for the Boardman Road Sport generally stated it was a fantastic bike for the price. After 18 months of riding my Road Sport, I have to strongly agree. Clocked up around 4000 miles with no more serious issues than a couple of loose spokes. New chain at around 3000 but It didn't need a new cassette. Completed my ride to Newquay Cornwall from Nottingham with no issues at all other than a puncture (and that can happen to any bike). Just sold my Road Sport for an upgrade to Team Carbon. Such is my faith in Boardman, I'm sticking with them. The Guys at Cycle Republic are very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Mostly young guys with an obvious keenness and enthusiasm for bikes ...

jdee84

niblue wrote:

Makes you wonder why Boardman still sticks with them

Probably because they're selling sh1tloads I'd expect!

Anyway I've also got a Boardman, a 2010 Team Carbon which cost £900 in the Christmas sales. It's a fantastic bike for the cash - light, fast and comfortable. I pre-empted the Halfords issues by getting them to supply me the bike still boxed up and then set it up myself.

I think boardman stick with halfords cause boardman bikes are fully owned by halfords it would probably be a bit awkward if they tried to say we dont want to stock your shops anymore as halfords would probably just say well your not making anymore bikes!

kingstongraham

Weird thread to reply to with your first comment!

Not Alan Franks the friend of Robert Crampton?