Boardman ADV 8.9

rsmrnd61

Hi,
Does anyone own Boardman ADV 8.9? What you can say about it? What you like and what you don't like about this bike?
Thanks

joe_totale-2

Mrs Totale has one but hasn't done that much riding yet as she only recently got it.

It's a great bike for the money, she bought it for commuting and some off road and it look like it'll do that well. It's pretty heavy but has some very low gears on it so hills shouldn't be too much of a problem.

She's got a proper road bike and definitely prefers using that for road rides but the ADV was never bought to replace that.

orraloon

As JT says, good value for money. Got mine, the 2021 model, in September.

A few teething set up issues, more to do with the fitters in Halfords than the bike itself. Once a good one got his hands on, all sweet. No issues since.

The Shimano GRX kit is good. 400 range so lower end of the spec. Is a 2x10 config, but ratios have been fine for what I've been doing, gravel riding for up to 4 hours. So no loading / backpacking type action, yet. I don't therefore know if running fully loaded might need a lower gearing. GRX brakes are excellent.

Colour scheme is nice, it's not the black and grey as website images tend to show, it's more of a blush hue. Boardman isn't the poshest brand, if that sort of thing concerns you.

The Schwalbe G one Allround tyres fitted as std are ok-ish on the road. Depends what proportion of tarmac vs soft stuff you envisage. I have swopped the front for a G One Ultrabite for the winter, grippier so (fingers crossed) no more losing the front wheel in the mud and hitting the deck; feel the rear twitching first easier to control.

Again as JT says, this is not my road bike. It was bought to use on a mix of gravel, flint, chalk, grass, mud... surfaces, but does ride ok on the tarmac sections.

slowmart

Don’t hang around making a decision as availability may become an issue if you’re after a specific colour/spec/price point. And it wouldn’t be unheard of there’s another price bump to offset impacted revenue streams from manufacturers.

LBS were bumping their gums about being given a July delivery on GRX drivetrains for builds so if that’s a view of things to come spares could be elusive than last year.

rsmrnd61

orraloon said:

As JT says, good value for money. Got mine, the 2021 model, in September.

A few teething set up issues, more to do with the fitters in Halfords than the bike itself. Once a good one got his hands on, all sweet. No issues since.

The Shimano GRX kit is good. 400 range so lower end of the spec. Is a 2x10 config, but ratios have been fine for what I've been doing, gravel riding for up to 4 hours. So no loading / backpacking type action, yet. I don't therefore know if running fully loaded might need a lower gearing. GRX brakes are excellent.

Colour scheme is nice, it's not the black and grey as website images tend to show, it's more of a blush hue. Boardman isn't the poshest brand, if that sort of thing concerns you.

The Schwalbe G one Allround tyres fitted as std are ok-ish on the road. Depends what proportion of tarmac vs soft stuff you envisage. I have swopped the front for a G One Ultrabite for the winter, grippier so (fingers crossed) no more losing the front wheel in the mud and hitting the deck; feel the rear twitching first easier to control.

Again as JT says, this is not my road bike. It was bought to use on a mix of gravel, flint, chalk, grass, mud... surfaces, but does ride ok on the tarmac sections.

Thanks for the feedback. In regards the colour I could not understand it's colour scheme. Ok the website it looked like black and white and when I saw this one in store it was like black and pink strange

rsmrnd61

orraloon said:

As JT says, good value for money. Got mine, the 2021 model, in September.

A few teething set up issues, more to do with the fitters in Halfords than the bike itself. Once a good one got his hands on, all sweet. No issues since.

The Shimano GRX kit is good. 400 range so lower end of the spec. Is a 2x10 config, but ratios have been fine for what I've been doing, gravel riding for up to 4 hours. So no loading / backpacking type action, yet. I don't therefore know if running fully loaded might need a lower gearing. GRX brakes are excellent.

Colour scheme is nice, it's not the black and grey as website images tend to show, it's more of a blush hue. Boardman isn't the poshest brand, if that sort of thing concerns you.

The Schwalbe G one Allround tyres fitted as std are ok-ish on the road. Depends what proportion of tarmac vs soft stuff you envisage. I have swopped the front for a G One Ultrabite for the winter, grippier so (fingers crossed) no more losing the front wheel in the mud and hitting the deck; feel the rear twitching first easier to control.

Again as JT says, this is not my road bike. It was bought to use on a mix of gravel, flint, chalk, grass, mud... surfaces, but does ride ok on the tarmac sections.

What size of the bike you have ? I'm 178 cm. What size would suit me ?

orraloon

I like the colour scheme, it's cool.

Sizing: I'm 192cm so my choice was easy. So not sure I can advise on that.

Be lucky if you try to bag one of these, I see low stock flag is back on. Only available in store, will mean all the central distribution held stock is out.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

rsmrnd61 said:

What size of the bike you have ? I'm 178 cm. What size would suit me ?

I'm 178cm myself and I'd probably choose a small frame and replace the 80mm with a 100 or 110, because I have short legs, I usually run my 58cm Cube Attain (funny geo) with ~89cm from pedal (Time Xpro 10) platform to saddle top along line of seat tube to get ~30 degree bend in my leg at bottom dead centre.

My 58cm Cube is 54cm C-T seat tube and I can live with it for the bargain price I paid in May 2017, but having more exposed seat post would make the world of difference on longer rides.

Small ADV 8.9 is 51.5cm C-T, while medium is 53cm, but small has 9mm less frame reach and a 10mm shorter stem.

However, no sizes are in stock to reserve from the stores closest to me in SO18.

cossington

I got one back in October. It is decent value for money. I didn't want to spend too much on a bike that was going to be ridden on rough surfaces. It has got me through some pretty muddy sections and rides fine on-road.
Quite heavy as mentioned above, but feels robust and Boardman bikes have been pretty well built in my experience (I have a Boardman MTB, too, alongside my fancy italian road bikes).

I signed up to British Cycling for a 10% discount at Halfords.