Boardman Bikes

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Garz

Squat Member
Location
Down
Yes I got mine yesterday (comp) for a knockdown £600. Only had chance to take it for a brief few mile spin. As I never owned a previous road bike (not including the kids one I had donkeys ago) I cant really compare.

It is a great bit of kit for the price bracket and until you go over £800 you wont beat the build/components which is what swayed me!
 

TVC

Guest
They get good reviews. A mate of mine is toying with either a Boardman or a Planet X which are also good value. He's getting our LBS to quote him for inspecting and setting up the Boardman so he can take the dodgy orange clad ones out of the equation.
 

HJ

Cycling in Scotland
Location
Auld Reekie
Yes Boardman Bikes are exclusive Halfrauds, but designed by Chris Boardman (who knows a thing or two about bikes). Saw them being raced by the BikeHut team yesterday, they didn't win. TechMech (of this forum) was out on the CC Central Scotland Ride today on hybrid, he was keeping up ok...
 

iLB

Hello there
Location
LONDON
I am Spartacus said:
Why the constant knocking guys....?
You may have issues but generally they are good for cycling

A lot of you guys on here are getting very irritating

you know where the door is...
 

adscrim

Veteran
Location
Perth
QuestionableCarro said:
Can you only buy from Halfords?

I bought a road comp at the end of last summer and love it. Didn't have a great deal of money to spend and went with the positive reviews. I have not been disappointed. It's light and responsive and even rolls well (some of the reviews stated the wheels were on the cheap side - which they are but so is the bike!).

The service from halfords was atrocious. First they took and order for the bike and gave me a pick up date then didn't order the bike from the central warehouse. The excuse was that they wanted to see if I actually wanted it. Then they gave me a new date and waited until I came in on that date to tell me there were none available. Then, after my request fro them to source one, told me there were none available in Scotland. I got one that same day from the Dundee shop (Kingsway) and picked it up that evening.

Service from the Dundee shop was much better, guy even smiled, although the set-up was pretty shoddy.

I would advise checking the bike over before riding it as there was alot loose or badly set-up (such as the brake blocks being half on the tyre).

I'd definitely buy again though. I'm 2000 miles up on mine and still love it(so much so that if I had more money I'd be buying from higher up the Boardman range).
 

yenrod

Guest
I am Spartacus said:
Why the constant knocking guys....?
You may have issues but generally they are good for cycling

A lot of you guys on here are getting very irritating

Halfords DO stock hard to find (allen) bolts... do LBS eh eh eh :rolleyes:
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
I am Spartacus said:
Why the constant knocking guys....?
You may have issues but generally they are good for cycling

A lot of you guys on here are getting very irritating

IMO, some of the stuff is pretty reasonable, but let down by very poor employees. However, I note that C + has given a thumbs up to the Boardman bike this month.

Personally, I would not buy from them and would prefer to find an LBS.
 

amnesia

Free-wheeling into oblivion...
I have the Boardman Comp road bike too.

Again, it's my first road bike, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I have had it 3 months, and done a couple of hundred miles on it and not had any problems. Very comfortable (even compared to my MTB) and quick.

I would recommend them to anyone for VFM... not had a problem with my local Halfords branch either (yet).

I will definitely be looking at the Team carbon for next year's cycle2work scheme.

Daniel.



EDIT - make sure you replace the pedals though - the standard pedals and toe clips are horrendous ! I got some Shimano M520 SPDs for £20 and they are a million times better to use.
 

slinky malinky

Active Member
Halfords!!!! don't get me started, I tried to buy a carbon pro (£1400) after spending hours on the phone trying to locate a shop that stocks them, I went down to the nearest store, nice big showroom lots of bikes (if you like pink BMX's) and in the corner taking pride of place the Boardman Bike stand, approached the sales person and said "i am thinking of buying a carbon pro, have you got any in XL size"
Blank look
"you know the boardman bike.....over there in the corner...."
reply "errrrrm sorry I don't know, i will check on the computer"
15 minutes later... "sorry we haven't got any",
"oh, can you get one in so I can take a look"
15 minutes later... "no sorry we haven't got any, its out of stock, can i take your number and i will get back to you" (number placed on post it note and stuck to wall.
5 weeks later summer is here still no word on my bike, go into shop (see my number still on wall) still no bikes, I ask another sales person what's going on he replies "you are the third person to ask, i don't know why they are so popular","possibly to do with the excellent reviews, you know performance bike of the year"
Blank look........
Did boardman bikes know what they were dealing with when they signed on for Halfords to sell the bikes? madness, they lost a £1400 sale from me.
 

Marin Maniac

New Member
slinky malinky said:
Halfords!!!! don't get me started, I tried to buy a carbon pro (£1400) after spending hours on the phone trying to locate a shop that stocks them, I went down to the nearest store, nice big showroom lots of bikes (if you like pink BMX's) and in the corner taking pride of place the Boardman Bike stand, approached the sales person and said "i am thinking of buying a carbon pro, have you got any in XL size"
Blank look
"you know the boardman bike.....over there in the corner...."
reply "errrrrm sorry I don't know, i will check on the computer"
15 minutes later... "sorry we haven't got any",
"oh, can you get one in so I can take a look"
15 minutes later... "no sorry we haven't got any, its out of stock, can i take your number and i will get back to you" (number placed on post it note and stuck to wall.
5 weeks later summer is here still no word on my bike, go into shop (see my number still on wall) still no bikes, I ask another sales person what's going on he replies "you are the third person to ask, i don't know why they are so popular","possibly to do with the excellent reviews, you know performance bike of the year"
Blank look........
Did boardman bikes know what they were dealing with when they signed on for Halfords to sell the bikes? madness, they lost a £1400 sale from me.

What a classic case of only as good as the staff that work there scenario.

What a different tale I can tell.

My local Halfords bike hut is headed up by a fella named Paul who owns the Comp and the Team Boardman road bikes. He is an out and out enthusiast and is only to happy to help with anything.

I can fully appreciate that if he didn't work there, I wouldn't go near the place for bike stuff.
 

PC_Arcade

New Member
Location
Oxford
My local Hlaford Bikehut (or whatever it's called) varies ENORMOUSLY, the staff in the main are ok, but the assistant manager is the biggest peanut I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with in a shop. Yes, even worse than PCWorld / Dixons!

The Boardmans are great value for money though, just a shame that the Cycle2Work scheme that my employer uses doesn't encompass Halfords ;)
 

Garz

Squat Member
Location
Down
The experience I had with halfords does vary dependant on the store you goto. Most have kids who left school or students that work part time. As MM above stated you will be just lucky to get an enthusiast who knows what he's doing to make your experience miles better.

Back OT, I have yet to break my boardman comp in as my work keep sending me away all week leaving weekends to be condensed. If your after your first road bike or are moving up from a MTB/hybrid, it's a great value purchase for sure!
 

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