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Signed up for Bikes 2 Work again (3-year thing) and discovered they've changed their terms with my employer - You have to buy a "Halfords branded bike". When protesting, discovered that if I'd read every HR missive end to end I would have known this - so apparently it's my fault.
Anyway, internetted a lot, hummed and hawed, considered a road bike, got the Boardman FS Team small (I'm 5'7). I usually ride SS, but I'm feeling old now.
Got out on it today at Glentress for a 45 minute window whilst the family scoffed cakes - up from the bottom to Pennels, down from there on the blues / Good Game.
What a blast! This is a good bike. First off, I was amazed I could climb standing. Very comfortable SS-stylee to the road. Then the new climb to Buzzard, a few little rocks and that 3-section rock ladder at the top were no bother. Uphill switchbacks were easy, lovely balance.
Then, down Pennels and I could let go. The Elixir brakes are better than any I've used (I have Shimano and old Hopes) and it felt very fast. Down to the blue from Buzzard to the road, and again great control with tight corners particularly under control.
Then Good Game, very fast and I know I'm going to hit that faster and faster. I'd say I had to pedal out of jumps a lot more more with rear sus than on a hardtail/SS but didn't feel wallowy at all.
Finally down to the old section from Red Squirrel to the bottom, flicking it around and smiling all the way.
Very glad I got over my snobbery and chose the right bike!
Cheers, al.
Heard nothing but praise for them! - bargain pricing for the spec too!
Glad you're happy with your bike, but my company told me exactly the same thing, and I ended up with a Cannondale through Leisure Lakes. Every time I spoke to someone on the Bikescheme I got a different answer, so I carried on until I got the answer I wanted, then ordered the bike I wanted !
Halfords were absolutely useless at every point.
I am at this very moment humming and arring over a FS Pro? Saw a team in the fleash today and dead impressed.
I just cant get my head around the fact its in Halfords and have a horrible feeling they are going to be knocked out half price after I buy one!! 😕
Make sure all the bolts are tight. My mate bought one and his main pivot bolt fell out on its second ride.
I agree, great bikes.
My boardman road bike was setup perfectly by a bikehut in Brighton, but i had to go round and sort a friends MTB boardman as they let it out the shop with non-working front brake, loose headset & bars, horizontal brake levers etc.. Easy stuff if you're experienced but a pretty poor show for Halfords.
But yeah, great bikes (when setup properly!).
Through the same bike to work scheme as Allan I go a carrera Titan ( the carbon fibre hardtail that they do) and it was set up just fine, I have since replaced the bar to a flat bar and adjusted the controls for how I like them but no complaints on the initial build.
I managed to "Win" a boardman pro frame on ebay £150.00,I built it up with bits I had in the garage, and to be honest its one of the best bikes I have ridden!
I can recommend a 140 talas fork with wide bars,I am 5"8 and its a 16ins frame.Managed to do Garburn pass from Troutbeck with only 2 dabs on Saturday,Its an exeptional climber,and rides single track lovely. 😉
I think it would take wider 2.3 tyres as well,handy in the Lakes!
So, the bike is great. I didn't mention the few niggles I had because Halfrauds issues is nothing to do with the bike itself. So, I'll have a gripe to cheer myself up.
To be fair, I phoned up and said "Do you have a Bm FS Team small? I juts need to try it for size, if it's OK I'll take it home." But I would have expected them to have tightened the handlebars and seat in a roughly straight position, and maybe even tightened the headset and front maxle. They didn't, so I fixed all that. Anyway, took it home, checked all the bolts, it was fine.
Couldn't stop the gears skipping today, stopped 10 times on the way up trying to spot it, tightening, loosening, couldn't fix it. Then eventually tried running the chain through my fingers - aha! a seized link. Tried bending it to fix it but nope. Once home tried with a tool, nope. (BTW, It's a Shimano chain on SRAM chainset. Must have a cheap job-lot they need rid of).
I'm tempted to put the bike back to the shop to see if they can find the problem! That would be evil though.
So, I've got SRAM powerlinks in the post I'll replace the crap link with the powerlink.
al.