I have a budget of a grand and have narrowed it down to two. I am not looking for any other suggestions. Will be used for commuting, lots of road cycling and a charity event in the summer. Tell me which one to get and why.

The Cube, 'cos Boardmans are ugly and come from Halfords.

Which colour do you prefer?

The black and red of the cube cos it would match my Spesh full sus in the shed. Am i being a snob by not going with the Boardman even though its a better bike.

dont know anything about either but know doubt a load of singleminded twunts will rush to slate the boardman on no other basis than its incredibly flimsy link to halfords and the poor service that people have had from underskilled mechanics in a chain store(obviously these mechanics were pivotal in every step of the design of each and every boardman.not. :roll:)

Can't comment on the Boardman, but I had a Cube Attempt from 2009 and it was an excellent first (i.e. I had nothing to compare it to) road bike.

Great, lively handling, seemed very responsive and stiff, and I could also do some longish rides (90-100 miles) in comfort.

I've since bought a Cannondale CAAD9, and while the spec on it didn't compare to the Cube, the frame is obviously lighter.

Check the sizing of the Cubes though, their sizes seem to run a little smaller than usual.

Going by spec alone it would be the Boardman for me, carbon frame vs alu for the Cube, groupset is better to unless you must have Shimano.

Go for whichever you think you will be happiest with, I doubt you will feel like you made a bad choice if you go for either of them.

Ignore the people who tell you to avoid Boardman 'coz it's Halfords', but on the other hand don't think you are being silly if you want to buy a bike with a lower spec because you like it more.

I have a Boardman Team Alu. For what it's worth it has a good spec and is very light for the price too. You will need to be able to set-up a bike yourself though, just in case the Halfords staff have been crap. IMO they tend to have a fairly agressive geometry, i.e. the handlebars are quite low, but that might be because I am on the upper size limit for the frame.

FWIW I think the Carbon Team looks pretty cool. It is supposed to be a stiff, racy frame though as opposed to a comfortable, flexible frame.

why have you narrowed it down to those two?

Wouldn't have either…

would have this:-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Focus_Cayo_105_2010_Ltd_Edition/5360045298/

and you get the 7 day test ride thing.

go for the one that comes with a proper fitting and the option to change bars/stem in the shop to achieve this.

IMO its worth just playing yourself with position over a period of time & accept you'll pay a bit more for an extra stem and possibly seatpost, as IME bike shops can set you even worse than a standard bike… sitting you on a bike in jeans and a t-shirt & whatever day-to-day shoes you happen to be wearing doesn't represent a good bike fitting.

BTW if you do go for the Boardman you will need to change the bar tape – its incredibly thin and crap. I bought some Bontrager gel tape, cheap thickish and not too sticky on the back.

Cheers for the input, has anyone actually got a cube road bike that would be able to assist with sizing? any pics of them?

I'm 5ft11 and bought a 56cm Cube Attempt, as 56cm was my size in specialized road bikes. The 56cm cube was a wee bit small though, had to turn the stem up the way to get the handlebars high enough, and ended up running the seatpost a smidgen higher than recommended.

In comparison, my 58cm Cannondale is almost perfect, although I'm now tempted to run a slightly shorter stem to try and mimic the handling of the Cube.

Some (useless) pics;

planet x?, lighter than both and better spec

From speaking to a couple of guys in the LBS you would be much better opting for somthing with a better quiality frame, at that price the Cube and Boardman Frames appear to be poorly made to cost in the component spec. Your probably better looking into some of the bigger manufacturers such as Specialized, Giant, Kona and even Merida as they seem to make frames for everyone, as you will end up with a longer lasting bike for your money.

"Poorly made" is a bit harsh, the Cubes look great and ride great, welds are all relatively neat and the paint is durable.

Admittedly my new CAAD9 frame is much lighter, but it came specced with Tiagra 9spd kit instead of Ultegra/105 10spd like the Cube, yet the CAAD9 cost £100 more.

On a tangent, someone cruised past me today with one of the Lightening Ti Cubes on top of their Audi, looked beautiful..

Is wasn't so much to do with the welds and paint finish but the alignment of the frames they had been finding problems with. It might have just been a limited case but its food for thought i suppose.

…yet the CAAD9 cost £100 more.

Because there're frames (mass-produced, Taiwanese-made) then there's the CAAD9 (low numbers, handmade in the USA). So not really a valid comparison!

re. "which bike": whichever fits! Try them both…and the, try them both again. And whilst you're at it, try other bikes that you'd have otherwise ruled out to see how you get on with them. The latest, greatest, lightest, Dura Ace-equipped carbon framed weapon is useless if you can't get on with the riding position…

Having looked at both bikes now the Cube seems a lot heavier but the Boardman seems to have better components, I need some help in deciding!

Had a proper fitting for my new one last week (best part of hour long). Feels great and is miles from what i thought was a good length and position on my previous bike. You wont get that buying one online and probably wont get near to that sort of service in Halfords either.

I would suggest going to a serious shop with a bike fitting service and at least get measured correctly (although it will cost you if you don't buy from them).

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/images/prod_26093.jpg

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/bikes/road/product/evo-pro-carbon-10-37562

I know you said no more suggestions (peeks out behind hands). But i have to second raddogair and suggest, ne implore you to take a look at the planet x sl pro carbon. I got one and it's brilliant, the spec is unmatchable (or close) for the price. Plus every component is custom sized for you.

Just in case you were'nt aware of them, it really is worth checking out.

Sorry again for disobeying you

Some usefull info

CUBE comp series road bikes have a 2cm sloping top tube and are measured in a virtual manner, for the average person buy a size up from usual as a 56cm will measure centre to top 54cm.

All bikes are DIN plus tested, and are good value because money is not wasted on paying riders to race the Tour.

My advice buy fom your best LBS….service is worth it's weight

Plus any bike at 1000quid is going to be great, it's riding that matters

Dan

The Boardman comes out tops so often…..its difficult not to put it first against the Cube

Boardman by a country mile, don't be put off by the it comes from Halfords tag, particularly since cube as a name are nothing to write home about.

particularly since cube as a name are nothing to write home about.

Really?
How did you come to this conclusion?

Got a team carbon here. Its a good bike. Although I did ask for it unbuilt and did it myself. Very happy with it. Just change the tyres if it still comes with those shite conti's puncture tastic

what did you change your contis to ? or did you go belting up kerbs with 60psi in tires

frankly id have neither. Cubes always come out heavier than the others in my tests…..wanted to like the 1500 quid mtb for my missus but i couldnt for the weight compared to the merida that was a couple hundred cheaper. i would have to say the same as deadmonk and look closer at the caad9. If you can see past the name on the mechs …..

fwiw i ride sora with tiagra shifters on my road bike. It does the job and it does it quickly and comfortable. – not for want of trying to buy something fancier but strugling for the same alround ability – ride everything from 20 min 10mile tts to 300k audaxes.

They were at about 80-90 psi and no didn't go hitting kerbs that hurts on a road bike. Replaced them with rubino pro's they are good

First thing I did was sell the Conti Ultra Sports and replace with Conti Ultra Gatorskins.

Must be an oem conti issue then conti need to stoop doing that gonna get them a bad reputation – never had an issue with Real contis supplied by madison

So is it a case of form over function with the Cube? I thought Cube was good as a brand being German and all that and Boardman were nothing to write home about?