New Boardman hybrid - advice please

nirurin

I've recently been looking for a new bike, mostly for road use (probably 90% road at least, I may occasionally go on grass and paths but no mountain biking).

After a lot of resarch into various bikes and brands, (norco, ridgeback, specialized) I'm currently focusing on the Halfords brands... it feels strange but as far as the best value for money these particular bikes seem to get the best reviews. (I was as shocked as anyone lol).

However I thought I should get a few outside opinions before I make my purchase.

My usage - Fitness, riding for fun. Mostly will be road use, but I'm in the country so paths and grass may come up. No heavy hills or deep mud though. Local roads are pretty bad in places with potholes, so I'm avoiding super skinny tyres for comforts sake, but I think anything above a 30c with a decent frame should be ok? Will be used in winter too so mudguard fitting and able to run safely in wet weather is a must.

The bikes:
Boardman Hybrid Sport. - £385. Seems to be good spec, light.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -bike-2014

The old 2012 boardman race - £385. It seems to have slightly higher spec than the newer Sport, but its 1kg heavier so not sure its worth it.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -medium-19

(removed) Boardman MX sport - The suspension is overkill, but can be locked. Comes with the best spec and disk brakes, so would be the most comfortable. Also the heaviest, but I'd imagine the best all-rounder should I ever go slightly off-road on my travels.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... sport-2014

(Added) Boardman Hybrid Comp - Most expensive at £499, but I can get almost £100 off with a work discount so it gets just inside my budget limit. Good tyres, great brakes, lightweight. No drop bars still, but no bike with drops seem to have big enough tyres.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -bike-2014


So yeh, any opinions I'd be grateful. I also have the Carrera Subway (1 and 2) both on my list, but the chunky tyres on those make me think they will be even more effort to run on mostly road usage. I think the MX-Sport has all the advantages (brakes and offroad ability) but much better for general riding.... but thats just how it seems to me.

If anyone has any suggestions on these, let me know I've tried them all for sizing and they all fit me pretty well, maybe a tweak or two but nothing major.

Thanks

nirurin

They're nice bikes, but beyond my budget really. The MX was only on the list because I can get it for about £375 after discounts and cashback.

There is the option of:
Broadman hybrid comp - £499
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -bike-2014

Id get it for about £430, which is seriously pushing my budget as I need to pick up lights and mudguards still.

I'm not personally a fan of drop bars. I'm not planning on racing, I'll spend almost all of my time on the shoulders anyway. I might get some bar ends if and when I start doing longer distances but that wont be until next summer at least.

nirurin

That one was on my shortlist for a while actually. The reason it got pushed back was because of the skinny tyres. I'm not sure how long the wheels will last bouncing over broken road edging and potholes and gratings, which theres a lot of down our road edges around here. I could put on slightly larger tyres, but there would then be no room for mudguards.

I guess its possible that the small tyres wouldnt be too uncomfortable on these roads, but there's no way to find out without buying the bike. It's not like its constant potholes, but theres a lot of rough surface.

nirurin

If there was a drop bar road bike that could fit 32c tyres (maybe 28c at a pinch) within my budget, I may consider it.

Otherwise the Hybrid Comp with 28c + disk brakes, or the Hybrid sport with 32c and saving me £100, seem to be the best value for what I'll be using.

Havent been able to find a road bike that can fit that tyre size + mudguards. It seems to require a CX bike, which are £1000 +

ai_1

nirurin wrote:

If there was a drop bar road bike that could fit 32c tyres (maybe 28c at a pinch) within my budget, I may consider it.

Otherwise the Hybrid Comp with 28c + disk brakes, or the Hybrid sport with 32c and saving me £100, seem to be the best value for what I'll be using.

Havent been able to find a road bike that can fit that tyre size + mudguards. It seems to require a CX bike, which are £1000 +

Yeah, it looks like a CX bike fits your need best except for the price!
I'd agree with David about dop bars. A lot of people shy away from them but once you get used to them, which doesn't take long, they are far more comfortable than flat bars for any extended period on the bike.
Suspension is a bad thing on the road in my opinion. It feels horrible if you try and put any power down especially if you get out of he saddle when the whole bike just mushes around and wastes all your energy. If you only want to do very gentle riding and will spend a lot of time on dirt tracks, canal paths and hitting potholes then there's something to be said for it but if it'll be locked out the whole time because you're mostly on the road, then it's just wasted money, weight and hassle IMO.

Most road bikes will take 25mm tyres which you can run at reduced pressure to make rough roads more comfortable and they're plenty good enough for most country roads with some bumps and potholes - you'll get the hang of bending your elbows, lifting yourself slightly off the saddle and putting your weight on the pedals when you see bump coming. It becomes automatic. If the terrain is really terrible then you're right to aim for something like 28-30mm tyres.
I use 25mm tyres myself and find them fine for the occassional badly surfaced country roads I encounter on many of my rides.

nirurin

I just think they will be a bit uncomfortable around here, I'll always be worrying about bending my rims. It might well be that I can get away with a 25 but I have no way to test it without buying one, so 28c or above is me making sure the bike will be good to use.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Sounds like a second hand Specialized Tricross Singlecross would be perfect, shame they stopped doing them new, they can easily fit upto ~40mm tyres.

tangled_metal

Before my hybrid I used a 20 year old Raleigh road bike with 700x23c on them. All original spec too. I rode all sorts of dodgy roads, the one near work are virtually potholes all along them. Really bad. My bike coped reasonably well but every couple of weeks I'd check the wheels for trueness. Only ever slightly out and easy enough to sort with a spoke key.

As far as ride goes it never bothered me. I rise off the saddle and keep legs and arms bent when going over the worst bumps. Easy to get used to doing that and it becomes second nature/instinct.

BTW I used to roll on 100-110 psi too! I just like higher pressures in bike tyres. My hybrids tyres, 38s, run at 90 psi when the rating is 75-100psi. Guess I don't mind vibration on a ride.

I regret my hybrid purely because the lack of comfort on a flat bar bike. Drop handles just offer so much variation in grip. I have elbow and wrist issues which get aggravated by anything over about 1 hour on flat bars. I must switch grips to better ones than the spesh ones as they don't have bar ends. Can't get another bike so have to put up with the hybrid.

apreading

Dont be talked into believing that a Hybrid cant go more than a few miles - I just did a 120 mile ride a fortnight ago on my Boardman Hybrid Team and found it much easier than many of those on drop bar bikes and no discomfort whatsoever. With bar ends I have 80% of the hand positions that a drop bar bike has, plus I have hydraulic disk brakes that would cost a fortune on a drop bar bike.

Lots of people do buy flat bar bikes and then regret it and switch to a road bike with drop bars but there are lots of reasons for this - some flat bar hybrids are heavy (like the subways you mention), some flat bar hybrids have stupid suspension or poor geometry, sometimes they dont get the setup right and conclude flat bars are not comfortable and sometimes they get persuaded by the constant barrage of people telling them they should have bought a 'proper' road bike.

Drop bar bikes will be better for many people, but decent flat bar road bikes have a place too.

If buying from Halfords, also loot at joining British Cycling, for about £25 it would give you 10% of anything you buy in Halfords - so more than paying for itself if buying a new bike.

And look out for Halfords promotions - every few weeks, often 10% and just a couple of weeks ago they were doing 20% off, which with british cycling discount too would total up to 28% off...!

nirurin

I'm not going to be doing huge long distances, at least not anytime soon. I think doing an hour a day would be more than enough for me, especially if I manage to keep that up over the winter months. Maybe next summer I'll start attempting a longer run on a nice weekend, but saving drop bars for a once a year event seems silly.

Especially when I can just add bar ends and have options for comfort anyway (already planned to do that if I got a flat bar bike, but thats a purchase for another day).

At the moment I can get 20% off a bike at halfords, hence considering the Hybrid Comp for £400 (11kg with disk brakes is pretty good, 28c wheels) or the Hybrid Sport for about £320 (32c, just under 12kg, cheaper).

nirurin

Wow... ok I mean the 25c tyres are slightly less than what I wanted, but the rest seems fairly insane lol. It's basically the Triban 500se (which I did really like, but it would only fit 23c tyres with mudguards), but with an even better set of equipment. And 25c tyres as standard, so may even be able to fit the next size up in future (though no way to know this yet obviously).

Is an interesting find! Shame there are no reviews on it, I have no idea what kind of quality you get from Merlin.

I'll keep an eye on it. I'm not sure it will be a better choice than the halfords options, as I get about 20% off boardman bikes at the moment, which is a huge discount.

nirurin

Also the Merlin has £30 shipping, so its really £330. Still, a very nice bike for the money. But 20% off might do me better on a boardman... Tricky!

I have already emailed Merlin about what tyre size would fit with mudguards, if and when they respond I'll add it on here (or on the Merlin thread I just noticed) cos other people may be interested too.

apreading

I think you need to test ride some bikes because you have it all the wrong way around. Randomly ending up with either flat or drop bars based on which comes with the best spec/value is a bad way to decide.

Decide what type of bike you want first and THEN look at what gives you the best value within those parameters.

Halfords wont let you test ride and not easy with merlin either but I am sure there is a bike shop near you that will have similar(ish) flat and drop bar bikes you can try out to see which suits you.

nirurin

I have already tested the boardman bikes. I like both the styles of handlebars, however I will mainly be doing shorter distances (probably the most I will ride is an hour in a day) and high speed isnt really an issue for me, so my thinking is that flat bars would be the better option, with bar ends available in the future if I ever do a slightly longer ride.

If I had a drop bar bike I'd end up riding on the hoods pretty much all the time anyway. I just seem to prefer the more upright position.

In saying that, if I find a good well-specced and well priced bike with drop bars, then I can ride on the hoods and use the drops if and when i need to.

My requirements are a good bike, comfortable for rough roads (maybe occasional grass and tracks but no proper mud work), reliable and decent for the money, for improving my fitness. Hence looking for good quality components, preferring a 28c+ tyre size, and relaxed geometry (for the most part, though this is harder to work out for some).

nirurin

Or I could just go nuts and get a CX bike like someone suggested.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -bike-2014

I can get about £100 off so it'd be £500. £100 more than what I would pay for the hybrid comp, and about £150 more than my original budget lol. But seems like a hell of a good bike.

And my birthday is coming up soon too haha

dhooper7

I have a Boardman Hybrid Comp (2014) and it's great. The wheels are not the strongest but you get great VFM with the components