Should finally get my (Halfords) C2W voucher through this week – want a nice cheap(ish) simple 29er hardtail again for local riding where my full suspension feels OTT. Applied for £850 voucher, was planning to get a Voodoo Bizango and have enough over to replace helmet, get a new light, some decent mud tyres etc.

But now with the offers and sale stuff on, I’m dithering.

Voodoo Bizango – now on offer at £520. Nice enough spec, not massively enthused about the Suntour forks but everything else looks good. Leaves loads left over for other bits and pieces.

Voodoo Bokor – on offer at £680. All looks the same as Bizango but you get a RS Judy Gold fork and SRAM Level brakes – worth the £160 extra?

Boardman Pro 29er – previous (2016?) model still there at £800. Cracking spec (Reba RLT, GX, Guide R brakes, etc) – but in a world of low/long/slack bikes it looks pretty tall/short/steep. But then I wouldn’t be chucking it down steep mountainsides, I have a 140mm FS for that.

But then a look at Tredz (who take Halfords vouchers on sale stuff) throws up:

Marin Nail Trail 6 – at £825. Really like how it looks, nice wide rims, proper boost (not the QR141 of the Voodoos), fork is a basic Recon RL (steel stanchions) but otherwise all good. I’d obviously have very little left for any other bits but would it be over £300 better than a Bizango?

Anything else decent I might have missed? Need a large (I’m 5’11) – please no “buy something secondhand” stuff thanks!

You know many LBS can accept Halfords vouchers too? Opens up many options, we accept quite a few a month.

I’ve got a Bokor and really like it. The other thing it’s got over the Bizango is a bolt thru rear axle if that sort of thing bothers you. SRAM NX chainset is an OEM special with a random powerspline clamp.

Don’t forget you can get an extra 10% off if you’re a member of British cycling. Think the Bizango won the MBR cheap(ish) hardtail of the year recently.

+1 on what Rocketdog says. My experience of Halfords wasn’t positive – bike great, servicing no.

Having ridden the Suntours a couple of times, don’t write them off. They are better than cheap RS imo.

Don’t be too suckered into better gears and brakes – they wear out. The frame, forks and wheels are the heart of a good bike.

I’ve the Marin up from yours and love it – and you can find a few of last year’s model up on sale at £900…then you’re into Yari, dropper, 1x slx etc.

boardman 29er is pretty good – got mine last year, did the traversee du jura on it, and its been the winter commuter and summer commuter bike of choice over the crosser on a hilly 2/3 road 1/3 offroad 7 mile commute.

By getting the bike from shop stock you should also get 10% of the value as goodies.

they are cr*p though so check the bike yourself as soon as you get it home.

Go on the halfords C2W scheme and look again, you can also use independent shops

I used my halfords C2W voucher to buy a brompton from a local independent shop

Colleague just bought the boardman 29er pro  after a similar choice , £850 an looks pretty good

When you get the letter of collection it will tell inform you that you can have 12.5% of its value in freebies on top if you buy through Halfords.

The freebies are restricted to the same list as you can spend the voucher on , so safety equipment etc.

So when I got mu £1k 8.9 29er hard tail on C2W , I was also able to order £125 worth of Exposure lights. All ordered online as click and collect and “paid” for with my LoC.

So you could potentially have £850 to spend on a bike plus £106.25 worth of helmet and lights.

interesting my work uses halfords scheme.  How do you get a local shop to use it?  just apply for the voucher online and turn up with it in your hand?  last time I thought I had to specify what I was buying (Boardman tt decent bike…)

I didn’t get any free stuff, but I did get a 20% off cycling accessories which isn’t bad if they have stiff on sale as generally they are a bit more than dev and the like but not 20% more

anyone used a halfords voucher with Hargroves?

Thanks – I did use an independent shop last time for a Cotic Escapade. Works fine if you want a current bike at full RRP but they don’t usually take it for discounted previous season stuff. Want to revert to my usual thing of getting a deal on something older so that really means Halfords or Tredz.

DT78 > just apply for the amount you want, take in the LoC and they do the rest. Think you can get them to raise a quote if you want to make sure nothing changes while the application goes through. There’s a bike shop finder on the Halfords C2W site.

Been looking more at geometry on the Boardman Pro and it’s not as old-school/racey as it first looks – seems very similar to my old Stache (from before they went 29+) which I loved to bits. If I can squeeze in a new Joystick on the extra accessories offer then that might be a goer.

How do you get a local shop to use it?  just apply for the voucher online and turn up with it in your hand?

That’s what our customers do, we call up Halfords C2W scheme and redeem it. Shop has to be registered with Halfords first though obviously

I bought a second hand but unused Boardman 29 pro in the winter as it was really cheap and I fancied trying a  29 hard tail but didn’t want to spend a fortune. I put my own bars,stem and pedals on it and bought a brand X dropper .

Turns out it’s a really good, well specced light bike that rides very nicely  in my opinion. Doesn’t feel tall ,short or twitchy at all. I can’t fault it.

Voucher finally through today – stock of the Boardman Pro is what’s left in shops but there’s one at a store 5 miles away. Ordered!

Backtrack – had a call on the day I was due to pick it up saying the front brake was broken, then they took another week to get parts and fix it. Arrive and while I’m comfortable enough with it being something that’s been out on display, it was disappointing. Forks with no air (so much for that thorough build/check) and valve cap missing. Big paint chip in the top tube, loads of smaller scratches all over. Seatpost one of the worst I’d ever seen “it’s been put up and down for people to sit on” but clearly something wrong in the seattube as there were deep scratches everywhere that the anodising used to be. Shame, rejected it.

Could have tried my luck with another store but can’t be bothered. Ordered the Nail Trail from Tredz instead.

The spec on the Marin isn’t quite as good as the Boardman, but it helps if a nice new (undamaged) one is available. Should still be a good bike with the spec! Bike snobs will also appreciate your Marin more than a Boardman – not that it matters at all….

Straight out of the box, refitted bars, checked pressures and did the local night ride. Feels spot on, maybe needs 10mm off each end of the bars but otherwise brilliant.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ajzvNu]IMG_4064.JPG[/url] by kiteless, on Flickr

Pauls Cycles are knocking these out at £769, bargain if anyone needs a nice hardtail around that money. https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s155p8745/MARIN-Nail-Trail-6-29-2018

Nice! And did Paul’s let you spend the voucher on a discounted bike with no surcharge?

Mine was from Tredz (at £824) as they take Halfords C2W, including on discounted bikes. Pauls is a bit cheaper if you’re just buying outright. I think they’ll take them but the surcharge would probably wipe out any saving.

What’s the sizing like on the Marin ? I’m pretty interested in it and I’m in-between medium & large

Mine’s large (19”), I’m 5’11. No idea how it compares to similar current bikes (everything’s got longer) but good fit for me.