I have decided to go for an £800 Boardman Team road bike. I tried going to the store and sitting on a large and medium, but the staff were useless. Has anyone here got any experience with Boardman bike sizing, or any other experience that may help?

My details: I am 179cm tall with an 84cm inside leg (measured correctly I believe). The effective top-tube of the medium and large Boardman bikes is 55.5 and 57cm respectively. Having done some internet research with fit calculators etc. I was expecting the medium size to be correct.

At the shop in question I can look at my reflection in a glass window when trying the bikes – is there anything I should be looking out for in terms of my body positioning?

I will go back and try the two sizes again. Any help will be very gratefully appreciated, I am looking forward to entering the world of the roadie!

I would be thinking that the large is about right for you. Based on the details you've given.

Just measured my height more accurately – i'm actually 178cm. Inside leg is still correct though!

A Giant Defy or Trek 1.5 sized one.

Thanks for a quintessential STW forum answer rolf!

The reason I thought I might need a medium was this thread: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15264356

Someone 5'11" was apparently reccommended a medium by the boardman 'specialist'. If only they had decent staff in my local, but I guess that's part of the reason the bike's so cheap.

179cm? Do people really use cm to measure their height in the UK?

i'm 178cm, or about 5'11". Not sure on inside leg, never measured it! I tried a Large and a Medium Boardman in the shop and bought the Medium.

Medium felt perfect, Large felt way too stretched out.
For reference, i ride an MTB with 23.5" top tube.

Not sure what you should look for, but i made sure i was comfortable with my hands on the hoods. I'm no expert on this sort of thing either, maybe Medium will seem too cramped after i get use to the position, but it certainly feels fine at the moment.

If the staff are crap should you really be buying a bike from halfords and supporting their lame staff attitude?

I bought a focus cayo a few weeks ago from wiggle, and their advice over email has been excellent. I can't remember the model, but they do a cracking deal on a bike at 800 quid!

For reference, I went size xl and put a slightly shorter stem on it and it's perfect. I'm 183cm and 34 inch inside leg 🙂

Thanks for the help guys! It seem the Focus Cayo in XL has ETT of 570mm, which is the same as for the Boardman large size – on that basis the medium sounds sensible. Medium is winning so far then.

I'm pondering a Boardman

6ft tall and a 83cm inside leg. What size should I be … probably large.

also 178cm, owned the medium and it felt spot-on. also ride a 23.5" top tube MTB.

Hmmmm?? However I'm about the same size as you guys and yet the large (55.5cm) seemed to fit me fine, tried the medium (53cm) but I felt like I swamped it, I am about the same size as you guys as well (5ft 10) just about to go and order one through C2W but am now confused on which size would suit me best

I just realised this thread has been resurrected. As per original post I am 178cm and 84cm inside leg, and I bought a medium. Whilst I am 100% happy with the size of the bike, I feel I am at the upper size limit for a medium. The geometry is aggresive in terms of a low front end.

For anyone the same size as me, I think it would be a question of tatse whether to go for the large or medium. Medium gives an aggresive, low front end and will be marginally lighter. A large will have a very slightly higher front end due to the longer head-tube.

its no jist the staff thats useless is it ?

No, your spelling and grammer leave a lot to be desired too. 😉

so you must be new to the sport and you want to blame the staff because you have no idea what size that you need is that right?

so you must be new to the sport and you want to blame the staff because you have no idea what size that you need is that right?

It's like having a job in IT.

so you must be new to the sport and you want to blame the staff because you have no idea what size that you need is that right?

So before asking the staff for advice you have to know at least as much as they do about the product THEY are paid to know lots about?

Bellend.

i flipped the stem on mine so it was angled upwards to get round the low front end problem.

so you must be new to the sport and you want to blame the staff because you have no idea what size that you need is that right?

I assume this is in reference to my original post. I was informed that each Halfords store had a Boardman 'expert' who could help with fitting. When I went in to the store, I told the chap my dimensions and that I wasn't sure whether I would be a large or medium.

He got the display model down for me to sit on, but seemed surprised when I wanted to raise the saddle to the correct height, and didn't seem to know how to determine the correct saddle height(!). I have no idea how I was supposed to tell if the frame fitted or not with the saddle jammed into the frame… I eventually went for a ride around the car park, which was nice.

As you guessed it was my first road bike, so I was a bit unsure about fitting and wanted to get it right. I still think my description of the chap as being useless at bike fitting is correct though.

Hi I am looking at the Halfords team road bike (under cycle to work have to use Halfords)& am almost identical size 179cm tall & 84 cm inside leg, as you. One year on do you still think medium was the right choice. Have you adapted bike any way? i.e longer stem etc. Any other comments re the actual bike.

Thanks