Halfords?

clickrumble

The company I work for has decided to celebrate the benefits of my presence on their payroll for the last 10 years by presenting me with an award. This award is on the form of points which can be exchanged for gifts from on online catalogue. Not surprisingly I can’t find anything in the catalogue that I could say will make my life complete. However I did notice that the points can be exchanged for shopping vouchers which can be used in a limited number of stores and the only store on the list which sells anything remotely of interest is Halfords. So my question is should I consider buying a Boardman or Pinarello, are these cool or would I be the subject of ridicule (one of my other bikes is Sp….ed so I know about this)? I would have to put some (err quite a lot) of my own money into this as there is a limit to my employer’s generosity, so could be looking at a spending a total equivalent of £1500-2000, also as I am no longer in the first flush of youth and I live in a reasonably hilly area I would have to consider a lower gear range. Any advice please?

markhewitt1978

Boardmans are generally regarded as good bikes I wouldn't have any hesitation in buying one. Pinarello are too of course although you may look like a poseur

meanredspider

Boardman bikes usually represent great value if you aren't a brand snob.

lakesluddite

Just a quick look at Halfords online, and the top Boardman model, the Pro Carbon, is £1800, so you won't need to add that much to it - depending on what your bonus is of course. I reckon you probably get more 'bang-for-your-buck' with Boardman than Pinarello.

Any reason you are wanting a new bike as opposed to upgrading your current one(s)?

clickrumble

LakesLuddite wrote:

Any reason you are wanting a new bike as opposed to upgrading your current one(s)?

I allways want a new bike, even though my exisitng ones are superb (apart from the Spec...d of course)

clickrumble

markhewitt1978 wrote:

you may look like a poseur

I live in the south so this isn't going to be a problem.

W12_Lad

The Boardman Pro Carbon SLR at £1799 won the "best value" cycling plus 2014 award.
Halfords currently have 15% off all Boardman bikes till next Wednesday making it £1529 and if you have/get British Cycling membership, you get another 10% off that, making it £1376.
I think that is a serious bargain for an award winner.
I would definitely go for that if I was looking for a bike around that kind of money, even if I wasn't tied to Halfords as you are.
It even has half decent wheels (Ultegra 6800).

Coach H

If you already have a Specialized and are happy with it then a Boardman will also be good for you as they are both made by Merida and both offer very good products

patrickf

Aren't the "13" bikes available yet? These are Halfords exclusives and looked very nice at the Cycle Show.

Otherwise, Boardman bikes are good value for money (just watch out for dodgy builds by Halfords).

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_173014

coulddobetter

Boardman road and mountain bikes owned . Both very good .

type:epyt

I had something similar from work few years back and ended up getting vouchers for Sainsbury. Everyone thought it was a daft choice until I pointed out that I could use the vouchers to buy the shopping for a month (we shopped in Sainsbury anyway) and then buy whatever I wanted from wherever I wanted with the money not spent on groceries.