I am strangely drawn to this bike. I have a budget of £1,300 (£1,000 of which has to be cycle to work) and I am going to Halfords on Monday to look at em – my mate has a similar budget but won’t even look at the Boardman but will only get a Giant or Trek.

Am I wrong? will I have to suffer the sneers of ‘pwopa’ MTB’ers because I’ve sold my soul to Halford’s?

Or am I right and I’ve bagged a bit of a blinkin biking bargain?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_777751_langId_-1_categoryId_165499#tab2

Please advise.

The frame looks fantastic, had a look at one when they came out and seems really well made with lots of thought gone into little things like cables and protection. Forks are also very good as is the spec in general. Just had a quick look at the rims seem a bit low spec but still better than some unbranded rubbish. 717s would have been nice though or something a tad wider.

But I was disappointed at the price as I thought they would have got it a bit cheaper.

But it is all in the ride – not ridden one so no idea about that. If it fits you and you love the ride then it’s a good buy.

Thanks for that – I actually thought the price was ok – I was looking at a 2013 Trek 8.7 – same price but with 100mm rebas?. The ally version at a grand is also appealing but I’ve got the carbon urge – are there any drawbacks to Carbon? will be used on the Cannock trails pretty much exclusively next year.

I was just a bit disappointed after their previous bikes were VERY good value.

Still much better on paper than most of the big name bikes. But as I said it all depends how it rides and fits. Taking a good look at the geometry would be a start (if you know what kind of size you need and angles you like etc) but still need to try one.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-boardman-mtb-ht-pro-carbon-11-45015

A good review – cheers – I’m going in. 😀