Boardman MTR 9.0 review: brilliant or bobbins?

Barney batters the Boardman MTR 9.0. Boardman’s blingiest bouncy bike, but is this affordable full-sus Brilliant, or bobbins? Boardman’s MTR 9.0 is th …

By barney

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Boardman MTR 9.0 Review – Brilliant, or bobbins?

I’ve been waiting for this review, ta. Sounds like just what I’m looking for

But……gaaaah, why is it £2200, £200 bloody quid more than my C2W limit! FFS!

Wahayyy, new bike for Simon.

Much as I hate Halfords they do turn out some really good value bikes

But……gaaaah, why is it £2200, £200 bloody quid more than my C2W limit! FFS!

BC member? 10% Halfords discount would solve that

BC member? 10% Halfords discount would solve that

CUK Member, and indeed it would, if said discounts could be applied to C2W purchases, and it can’t (I checked)

Wahayyy, new bike for Simon.

Hopefully soon, but not that one at that price. Grr.

Reminds me of a HB160 – no bad thing

And, as good as it is, they ain’t not got none in stock.

There’s actually stock at the moment so it can even be bought.

And, as good as it is, they ain’t not got none in stock.

Have WAd you.

Reminds me of a HB160 – no bad thing

Wash your mouth out with soap and water!

(More like an HB130 with the shock placement, or even a Whyte G or S thing).

Unless i’ve missed it there is no info on the suspension travel?

@richmtb Up and down, broadly speaking.

HTH

I’d happily have one, if a medium was available in Glasgow area..

Unless i’ve missed it there is no info on the suspension travel?

Halfords say…

With 150mm of fork travel and 145mm in the rear

Ooh, missus.

It seems like a very long time since I read such a positive review about a full susser costing “only” £2 200. Good on Halfords and Boardman with this one.

No mention of weight, unless I missed it?

No mention of weight, unless I missed it?

Probably until Spring 😉

Up and down, broadly speaking.

Is that how it works? And here was me just riding along.

Seriously though, we’ve got the length of the cranks, the drop of the seatpost (in various frame sizes), the angles and reach and the width of the bar. But they’ve not bothered to include the travel front and rear. Seems an odd thing to miss out.

And here was me just riding along.

Careful, that’s how all the worst accidents/catastrophic bike failures happen.

No mention of weight, unless I missed it?

15.36kg without pedals!

I have a 10 percent off code which I think can be used on any bike if someone wants it

10OFFBIKE-3GMT-2C9B-62RX-GSK9

What ho folks! Not sure how I missed adding it in first time round, but as has previously been mentioned, the travel is 145mmR and 150mm front. I’ve asked ST to add this to the story (I can’t :-))

I wish they did a similar lesser travel (& lighter/less burly) variant at a similar price point. The better value bikes available (this and the calibre full sussers) are always higher travel enduro/trail spec.

I like Boardmans and myself the wife and kids have had lots of them over the years. The only complaint I have about my MHT 8.9 is the paint is crap. I,m not precious with my mountain bikes as I rarely sell them on an and fall off a lot. 2 years it looks dreadful, to be fair the kids MHT 8.6 with a gloss finish look fine. I know how important this is to folk on Singletrack so it would be worth investigating.

@snownrock The reason it’s heavy isn’t the travel, it’s the value.
The problem is that nothing you can build with at that price range is light, maybe you could save a bit of weight with the fork but there’s not much which is any good (or more to the point people think is any good*) at that price point which offers any weight saving. I’d guess that at OE a sid select is similar or more expensive than a (more popular) pike select, but beyond that there’s nothing to save weight on.
[the same] Shock, tyres, wheels, drive train bars etc aren’t getting lighter at the same price point so you’d simply end up with a very similar weight bike but with less travel and therefore less market appeal.

It’s not like a 34lb bike is that heavy any way but it would be the first thing anyone mentioned in a review of a 2k 100mm travel bike.

*I’d be very happy with an Sr suntour of decent pedigree like the axon but I’m not sure how much weight that would save or indeed compare on OE cost anyhow. That and a lot of people would immediately complain about there being a (very good) SR fork on a 2.2k bike instead of something cheap from RS

I know this is a cheap shot, but I’d genuinely rather go without a water bottle than have to look at that top tube.

@snownrock

I’m sue these use to be alot less. About 12kg depending on size

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/29-full-suspension-carbon-mountain-bike-xc-900-s-red-black/_/R-p-305778?mc=8545706

My 2017 Boardman FS pro is still soldiering on….okay, it’s in need of some TLC after a recent race, but it refuses to die.

Great fun to ride. I’m sure this 9.0 one would be a great purchase.

I know this is a cheap shot, but I’d genuinely rather go without a water bottle than have to look at that top tube.

Reminds me of a gen 1 Santa Cruz Nomad, and we all remember what animal – and what it was doing – they looked like*.

*Now that is a cheap shot.

Did you read the review?

@chakaping same, here about the water bottle.

Thanks @ampthill that’s interesting, never thought to check decathlon.

Unless I missed it there’s no mention of wheel size or do we just assume everything bigger than small size frame has 29 inch these days .

29″. 2.5″ at front, 2.4″ rear
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Boardman-MTR-9-0-29-Mountain-Bike-2021-Trail-Full-Suspension-MTB_228757.htm

But……gaaaah, why is it £2200, £200 bloody quid more than my C2W limit! FFS!

I see this comment a lot. When our last one came out it had a 2k limit and I was gutted as I wanted a Bird AM160 (the perfect commuting bike) so I had a gentle grumble about how you can’t buy a decent bike for 2k these days, and also how it discriminates against those who might need an eBike to encourage them to cycle 2 work. A week later we had a limit of 10k which then gave me other issues such as divorce, seeing the kids at the weekend etc. etc. but opened up more bike buying opportunity. So maybe just give a gentle nudge to HR to show them the error of their ways.

Decent looking bike for that price, and I like the little touch around filing down the welds, I thought it was carbon at first glance.

To be honest, my £2k C2W limit is less of a limiting factor than the fact that I think Barney tested the only size XL in existence.

Curse my lankiness.

When our last one came out it had a 2k limit and I was gutted as I wanted a Bird AM160 (the perfect commuting bike) so I had a gentle grumble about how you can’t buy a decent bike for 2k these days, and also how it discriminates against those who might need an eBike to encourage them to cycle 2 work

Worth a sly word with Ben or Dan – I got an Aether7 last year (also good commuter bike) with a £2k limit, they let me top up the difference in cash.

Decent looking bike for that price, and I like the little touch around filing down the welds, I thought it was carbon at first glance.

Not sure they are actually “filed down”, more like filled over.

I have a 2016 CX Team with the same treatment. I took it for paint stripping and powder coating a couple of years ago, and it returned with standard blobby welds and clearly skinnier tube junctions.

No problem for me, just something to be aware of.

ETA: it’s not broken yet either, so I guess the filler is non-structural!