Boardman or Marin

Nige346

I'm looking to buy a gravel bike on a budget, This will be mainly for towpath riding and areas where the road surface is poor, 2 I have looked at are the Boardman CX Comp and the Marin Gestalt, The Marin appeals as can be purchased in a larger size of 60cm, being 6"2 this will allow be to stretch out a little, My current Trek One series is a 58 and a little cramped on long rides, I cannot seem to find many reviews on the Marin, I know they used to be a good name and were renound for their frames but that was some years back, Does anyone have any recent experience of the brand, both bikes are priced within £650 - £700

Thanks

stevie63

One piece of advice is to ignore the way Boardman do their sizing as it does not relate to other brands. The Large or X/large would fit fine for 6'2".

veronese68

Don't know much about the Marin, but I will say Boardman are generally excellent value for money, Marin tend to be pricier for their spec. So if the same price the Boardman is almost certainly the better value.

Nige346

Thanks, The Marin was originally £900,

The Boardman's maximum frame size is 57.5, My concern was that this would be the same size as my Trek one which I'll be moving on as I find it uncomfortable on longer rides (20 miles + which isn't actually long at all) Halfords which seems to be the only place locally I can find one & only have medium frames (55cm) in stock, the only way to try a larger frame for size is to buy it :shock: far from ideal, Having not had a gravel bike I have no indication of the fit, My Hybrid Cannondale CX5 is XL, My Trail 6 is L both are perfect as although different sizes they serve different purposes, What I'd like to do is move on the Trek one and CX5 and have the gravel bike as a crossover for the 2, but I need to ensure I can ride for long periods on it. Specs do look to be about the same but I've read some reviews concerning poor brake performance with the Boardman, It uses a duel lever set up that seems to be the cause of the issue.

stevie63

As I mentioned before the 57.5cm frame size means nothing, its actually equivalent to 62cm plus from other manufacturers. You can check this by comparing top tube size.

veronese68

Nige346 wrote:

Thanks, The Marin was originally £900,

That should even things up a little more. As Stevie63 says take a look at frame geometry and compare actual dimensions. Trying one would be best, but they seem to be making that difficult. Can you push them to get one in? Can you pay a refundable deposit dependant on a test ride? I know Evans will let you do that, Halfords may not be as easy.

Nige346

stevie63 wrote:

As I mentioned before the 57.5cm frame size means nothing, its actually equivalent to 62cm plus from other manufacturers. You can check this by comparing top tube size.

Thanks, I'll check the specs

janwal

I am sure that you can order a bike on line from Halfords for delivery to store without paying anything.They will contact you when it arrives.Then go,in and try it.As stated ,sizes are for seat tube.I have a Boardman cx team ( I wanted the SRAM rival 1x11 hydraulic groupset,which I can highly recommend)it is a size 50 but has a 54 top tube. It also takes full mudguards.
If the Marin is only cable disc then think about the cx team if you can live with the SRAM 1x11 as the hydraulic brakes are superb.The 44 chainring and 10-42 cassette is equivalent to about a 12 -32 normal compact .
I got mine when they had one of the £200 off offers which they do regularly.If you have British cycling or U.K. Cycling membership which only costs about £20 to join you can also get another 10% of anything at Halfords. When I went to pay I was told that the Cx team was now an end of line bike so I could have £75 of free accessories aswell! So I put it towards a Garmin 25 ,bonus.

StillGoing

I have a Marin Hybrid in brushed aluminium from around 2007 with Shimano 105 as standard. Even then it was £700. The bike is still going strong and unmarked save for a loose bottle cage rivet that is a simple replacement fix. They're not a light bike by any means, but the build quality is sound.