[Closed] Boardman ADV 9.0 vs Ribble Endurance SL

That Boardman looks brilliant to me and my aged frame, lungs and legs would appreciate the geometry and the gearing.

I have a Boardman 8.9 from about 2 years ago. It is aluminium but I think they are under-rated. I have put road and knobblies on it depending on use.

The new one is very smart looking and some of the features look really good. I only changed mine recently to the 46-30 crankset combo so my gearing matches that and I think the geometry is the same.

I have spent 4 hours on the turbo on it and 6 hours plus out on the road/hills so it cant be too uncomfortable!

Speed wise it is hard to tell as I only tend to ride on the road with one rider but I have kept up with some local road rides no problem (where I have seen a group out on the road and they overtake but then seem to slow down - or I speed up!) and it climbs well.

Also had the 8.9 ADV - aluminium. The orange one. Good all round bike I found it heavy and slow compared to my road bike and that was with lighter wheels and 32mm road tyres on for road duties. It did feel a bit dull though.

Weight was less of an issue off road.

If the one you are looking at is the carbon one may well be a bit lighter and more responsive.

You've come to the same conclusion as me molgrips
Ive always been an mtber and in looking for my first drop bar bike (so I can enjoy days when I'm more on road riding at a faster pace) it was natural to consider a gravel bike as it's closer to what I know. The more I thought about it though, the more I realised that if I'm going to be including any rough stuff I may as well ride my hardtail and so what I need is more towards the road bike end of the spectrum. This lead me to conclude that I'm actually after an endurance bike which can maybe accommodate slightly larger tyres.
As well as the bikes you've mentioned, I'm also considering the Trek Domane. It can potentially take up to a 38mm tyre!

I have an ADV 9.0 but a 2018 one with 650b wheels and tyres. The new one looks great and I get rid of this one and my road bike and just use this one.

Ive got a 2019 ADV 9.0 (alloy version, the latest one is carbon)

I fitted 700c wheels and sold the 650b wheels

On the road with 38mm schwalbe G one tyres fitted im 1-2mph slower over a 50 mile road ride than when im on my 7k road bike

Off road its pretty good, i even done blue trails on it but i do have a dropper fitted

Interesting to hear, I’ve thought of fitting 700 wheels.

I will only have one drop bar bike. This will replace my road bike and I want to be able to do up to 100 miles or so without feeling draggy or taking all day.

Can I fit one of those gravel crank sets to say a 105 bike?

100 miles road and gravelly capable?

I'll be in the same boat soon and I think a Boardman and a spare set of wheels may be the answer.

@molgrips you should be able to get a grx crankset to work on a 105 equipped bike. My front mech is tiagra. The grx cranksets are a bit wider (about 2.5mm) I think so you need to adjust the throw of the front mech out to suit but mine had enough adjustability in it to do it. I like 46/30. I live in Derbyshire and most of the time you are going up or downhill so lower gearing works better for me but I also have a fast cadence (95-100) so I am happy spinning away but never run out.

Like you I realised that my road/tracks/whatever/tour bike needed to be about different experiences. It wasn't off road focussed, it was more rough, steep rural road with a forest track.

That's why I've got the Merlin.

It's noticeably lower than the Boardman CX (BB and bars), quicker to accelerate and a much less jarring ride everywhere. I sat this morning in MTB kit, winter boots, peaked helmet, 36mm tyres and loaded frame bag for about 10 miles without losing ground to a couple of 'proper' road bikes and owners. Obviously I couldn't say how much harder than them I was working... 😳

The geo of the ADV 9.0 is awkward for me, a bit like the previous generation of Merlin Malt gravel bikes, being ~178cm tall with short ~82.5cm cycling inseam.

https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2375-adv-9.0-2021.html

I'd probably choose the small for the 500mm seat tube because I usually use 89-90cm pedal top to saddle top, so more post is exposed and giving more flex. But it only has 368mm reach with a 80mm stem, compared to my Cube's 388mm reach and 110mm stem, so I'd need to swap out the stem for something at least 140mm for a similar position for road riding.

Or go medium for 381mm reach, so a ~120mm stem would work for road rides, but then have 2.5cm less seat post exposed.

Does look a tempting deal for £1530 with BC discount, but not sure if it has guard mounts and I would have preferred more than 700x42mm tyre clearance.

100 miles road and gravelly capable?

It doesn't need to be gravel capable really. It's just that if I could get something gravel capable it would be nice to have, as long as it didn't make me too much slower on road. I mean I'd probably have two sets of wheels in this scenario.

EDIT Wait - Boardman have a BC discount? 😮

EDIT Wait – Boardman have a BC discount?

Halfords does.

not sure if it has guard mounts

From the description you linked to - With clearance for 42mm 700c tyres, hidden mudguard mounts...

Does the ADV 9.0 have rack mounts?

Doesn’t the Boardman have press fit BB’s? I’d go for the one of the Merlin Malt’s. I think they do a Shimano top end one now for around a grand. Great spec for the money.

Yes Boardman is a pressfit according to the website.
That and no pannier mounts make it a non-starter for me.

If I was wanting a bike to do 100 miles on the road I’d be buying a bike that can do that well, and just be looking for one with tyre clearance for larger tyres.

I think people are getting too easily drawn in to this whole gravel thing at the moment.

Just looked at Merlin Cordite. Doesn't mention anything about guard mounts.

I think people are getting too easily drawn in to this whole gravel thing at the moment.

Well a gravel bike would be a lovely thing to have, no question. But I don't have room for both gravel and road.

Would you actually use the gravel bike on gravel or continue to ride the rigid MTB?

Sounds like you just need a road bike, but what percentage split do you think you might have for road and gravel?

Would you actually use the gravel bike on gravel

No, I'd use it on the mountain roads and lanes around here, many of which aren't much better than 'gravel' being strewn with mud and stones and broken surfaces; and include very steep hills for which lower gears and slacker HA would be a benefit. I currently don't enjoy them much on my old road bike.

But TBH a new endurance type road bike with say 32c tubeless tyres, slightly higher bars and discs (and in the right size for me) would be a significant improvement. I think I am siding with the endurance road idea now. A GRX chainset is probably a good idea too.

I think you're leaning the right way. Wider tubeless tyres are a genuine game changer.

Do you already have a compact chainset and wide range cassette?

I find 11-32t on the rear gives a nice easy gear - but granted sometimes you do HAVE to get out of the saddle when it gets very steep.

Just looked at Merlin Cordite. Doesn’t mention anything about guard mounts.

The one bit of my Merlin that I'm not happy with is that there are 7 out of the 8 guard and rack mounts on the frame. The fork has hidden guard / rack mounts. But they forgot to put a crown mount in - and the steerer is sealed from the underside.

I'm buying the SKS Edge Alu guards and industrial srength velcro...

As jjxray mentioned the Trek Domane might be worth a look.

At the risk of of conforming to true STW standards I shall recommend what I have!! 🤣 Specialized Diverge Elite. I had an older version of the diverge and this one is so much better...tiagra groupset, hydraulic brakes as opposed to cable pull, plus tyre clearance is large comes with 35mm as standard. Got it from Bike24. Takes guards etc

Happy to look at other brands, the budget is 1500-1600 ish

Big tyres are great on rubbish roads. The roads I ride aren't quite gravel but would be horrible on 25mm tyres. Didn't realise the new one is press fit though. Mine is threaded.

Happy to look at other brands, the budget is 1500-1600 ish

Cannondale Topstone 2 is there or thereabouts on budget. I looked at these before going for the Spesh as it was just a great deal at the time

Take a look at the Kinesis RTD, would be my choice as its more road focussed than either of the two you mention but will take a 34mm tyre and is all day comfy.

I want a carbon frame though. Partly just because I like the idea, but also because I don't want to have to worry about fatigue, creeping cracks or corrosion.

I want a carbon frame though.

Sorry, missed that bit. I wouldn't discount it entirely though, gets great reviews and is built to carry loads.
Doesn't conventional wisdom state "good alloy is better than cheap carbon" anyway?

is built to carry loads

What're you trying to say?! 😆

I dunno about the alu/carbon thing. It's probably just sentiment, but that's still a factor. It's not like I can't have carbon in my budget though, and there are no other compromises with the Boardman/Ribble road offerings - they both tick all my boxes.

The Boardman has a high-mod carbon frame.

You'd have to have some pretty bloody special aluminium.

The numbers in their blurb - C7 and C10 - do they mean anything or is it just blurb?

High modulus presumably means modulus of elasticity, so one would assume C10 is stiffer than C7? The review of the SLR 8.9 (onto which I have moved) says that it's more flexy than the previous version which might make it more comfortable, so perhaps C7 is better for an endurance bike.

it’s more flexy than the previous version which might make it more comfortable

Dont worry too much about comfort in a frame material, bigger volume tyres will add far more "comfort" to the ride than any frame material will. I read an article/test somewhere a few weeks ago comparing the "comfort" of different materials and the conclusion was that there is very little difference.

Let me see if i can find it.

Found it.

https://www.cyclingabout.com/why-impossible-steel-frames-more-comfortable-than-aluminium/

Here's the summary if you don't have time to read it all

"When we consider all components that move on a vertical plane, your frame material – be it steel, aluminium, titanium or carbon – will not affect your ride comfort. Not only is frame compliance a small proportion of the overall spring rate, but it also becomes completely insignificant when we calculate out the springs in a series.

The most important components for optimising comfort on a bike are your tyres, which will deform at a rate of 10-250N/mm (depending on pressure and width), and your seatpost which can deform at as low as 69N/mm. A carbon flex seatpost will achieve 15mm of vertical compliance before your frame will even move a fraction of a millimetre."

Carbon modulous is quite complicated, but I think in Boardman terms, C10 is hi-mod, C7 is reasonably hi-mod.

I believe carbon frames can be analagous to double-butted cro-mo and 853 - you can go thinner and lighter for the same stiffness with the latter.

So a hi-mod frame could be les comfortable if it were designed a certain way, or it could feel similar to a "lesser" carbon frame, but be lighter.

Anyway, you can't tell just by the names and numbers.