what is wrong with Boardman?

[240Cup]

So my Road Team Carbon is worth about a tenth of my Canondale Synapse Evo Hi Mod but rides quicker and has never let me down. I put some Hollowgrams on it, but other than that it is factory standard.

I also have a Boardman hybrid which again rides very well, has good spec and generally a lovely bike. I think I paid about £600 for it.

Several times (mainly in Canondale dealers) I mention I also have a couple of Boardmans and I get oooouf, really? Oooooh, eeeeeeek.

So, what is ACTUALLY wrong with them, why do the 'afficionados' have an issue with them? Just curious!

[dudleybloke]

My Boardman Hybrid comp has never failed me either despite it getting treated like a downhill mtb at times.
It's not the lightest of bikes but is very well made.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

There’s nothing wrong with Boardman’s. I bought a pro Carbon in 2014, it was so far ahead of it’s time, that it still punches above it’s weight now. Chris is all about the aero, and he’s been proved right. I think the ‘aficionados’ are basically muppets, who like the kick backs they get from the big brands.

Edited by Maximus_Meridius101 on Saturday 3rd July 13:10

[anonymous-user]

Brand snobbery because of the Halfords association. Many dealers are just pissed off their suppliers couldn’t match the Boardman for spec so they just rubbish the brand.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

pablo said:

Brand snobbery because of the Halfords association. Many dealers are just pissed off their suppliers couldn’t match the Boardman for spec so they just rubbish the brand.

Quite. Some big name brands st out after being associated with Halfords ( which is essentially a bike shop chain that diversified into automotive much later ) Pinarello for example. If the bikes are good ( they are IME) there shouldn’t be an issue.

[calvinhobbes]

Others have mention the brand snobbery in association with Halfords, but it's probably this association with Halfords that does them the most harm. The standard of mechanics in Halfords is patchy at best. The mechanics in the proper bike shops have likely seen loads of Boardmans that have been brought in by frustrated customers having been setup poorly and wanting a proper bike shop to fix the issues. See enough Boardmans come through the door with the forks on back-to-front or gears that don't shift and the brand becomes synonymous with poor quality.

On top of that, the frames themselves are of average quality. Hambini had a couple of videos up (since removed) highlighting the poor QC standards and manufacturing tolerances. This is not particularly unusual, but don't be under any illusion that Boardmans are anything other than cheap, mass-produced frames from the Far East.

And just on a personal level, I had a Boardman Pro Carbon a few years ago. Couldn't fault the spec for the money, but I found the ride quality poor and wasn't sorry to see it go.

[lufbramatt]

I think they’re fine and offer a decent spec for the money but I do know a guy that had one of their frames crack. Carbon road frame with the wishbone seat stays, the back end started to separate from the seat tube.

[0836whimper]

Nothing with with them at all.
Just the mass market association so people will be snobby as it’s not a boutique brand. Halfords is as mass market as it comes.
Chris Boardman is great though, so hold your nose about the Halfords part.

[anonymous-user]

This isn’t a personal dig but unless you’ve been to a representative number of Halfords stores and engaged with the bike staff, or spoken to a good number of indies who have genuinely seen the things you describe, irrespective of your personal experience of the brand, it’s hardly a credible opinion. Sounds like, brand snobbery to me. Did you get looked down on whilst riding it?

calvinhobbes said:

Others have mention the brand snobbery in association with Halfords, but it's probably this association with Halfords that does them the most harm. The standard of mechanics in Halfords is patchy at best.

Based on what? I know a National level BMX racer who worked there and could build bikes better than many “proper” bike shops

calvinhobbes said:

The mechanics in the proper bike shops have likely seen loads of Boardmans that have been brought in by frustrated customers having been setup poorly and wanting a proper bike shop to fix the issues.

And why wouldn’t they lie and rubbish a competitor with stories of “forks on backwards”... Remember you can buy them boxed and save a bit too, who’s to say the badly built ones were even touched by a Halfords mechanic.

calvinhobbes said:

See enough Boardmans come through the door with the forks on back-to-front or gears that don't shift and the brand becomes synonymous with poor quality.

I’m willing to bet this has never happened. I bought one around 2009, a high end aluminium ultegra model, Halfords always were very proud of the association and they knew the bikes were a cut above everything else they sold, I don’t think they’d let one out of the shop in that condition.

calvinhobbes said:

On top of that, the frames themselves are of average quality. Hambini had a couple of videos up (since removed) highlighting the poor QC standards and manufacturing tolerances. This is not particularly unusual, but don't be under any illusion that Boardmans are anything other than cheap, mass-produced frames from the Far East.

And just on a personal level, I had a Boardman Pro Carbon a few years ago. Couldn't fault the spec for the money, but I found the ride quality poor and wasn't sorry to see it go.

Hambini rubbishes everything, that’s not to say he isnt right with some issues he identifies but he’s hardly subjective these days, he knows sensationalism is what gets views...

I’ve had a few Cervelos and wouldn’t claim they are anything other than well designed, mass produced Far East (albeit Taiwan not China) frames and on occasion there will be QC issues.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 4th July 09:16

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 4th July 09:17

[calvinhobbes]

pablo said:

Based on what? I know a National level BMX racer who worked there and could build bikes better than many “proper” bike shops

Based on the fact that I used to work at Halfords for several years

There's a very good reason why I described the quality as 'patchy' rather than outright poor. There are some stores that have really good staff who know their stuff. Similar to your friend, when I first started we had a boss who was an Elite-level XC racer and all the guys working there were enthusiastic cyclists who'd all grown up fixing their own bikes. However, we were more than aware that we were unusual and we had a reputation amongst other stores within the surrounding area for knowing our stuff. We often had customers 'referred' to us by other local stores, where the knowledge and skills just weren't there. Those examples of forks on backwards and gears that don't shift are direct experiences of bikes that I had to fix that had come in having been setup by other stores.

I'll take your example of a national-level BMX racer who's a brilliant mechanic to demonstrate some of the key structural issues that Halfords faces in their bike departments. Firstly, I guarantee his skills as a mechanic come from his love of bikes and his involvement in bike racing, not from the quality of training that Halfords has given him. Secondly, I bet he doesn't view his long-term prospects as staying at Halfords. When he leaves, the knowledge goes with him. This eventually happened with our team. The pay was crap, the career prospects non-existent and covering the opening times of a superstore often meant crap hours. Everyone viewed the job as transitory - something interesting and fun to do that fitted in with their lifestyle at the time. But when they each left, the person coming in wasn't always of the same quality. Our boss moved to another store and we got an ex-car salesman as his replacement. Lovely bloke, but clueless about bikes. A team member left and we got a kid who moved over from in-car entertainment department. He knew absolutely FA about bikes.

So, you might get lucky and have your bike built by a National level BMX racer or you might go to a store 10 miles down the road and have your bike built by someone who's just been moved over from the Parts department. As such, I'll stick by my assertion that the quality of mechanics is patchy.

[Fusion777]

calvinhobbes said:

This is not particularly unusual, but don't be under any illusion that Boardmans are anything other than cheap, mass-produced frames from the Far East.

Like the vast majority of manufacturers, then?

[Maximus_Meridius101]

Fusion777 said:

Like the vast majority of manufacturers, then?

look at a Giant catalogue. There are strategically placed other brands boxes dotted around in the photos. Boardman, Cannondale, and various others. Giant do make a lot of frames for other manufacturers, it’s worth remembering that. There’s always the open mould vs proprietary mould arguments, but you’d expect Giant to use proprietary moulds, materials and lay ups on their bikes. My best bike’s frame is actually made in Vietnam ( although they are bringing manufacturing back to Italy soon). The Asians / Taiwanese / Chinese / Vietnamese are experts at Carbon frame manufacturing, so there’s no better place to get your frames pressed out In my opinion.

[neilr]

I think many 'afficionados' who look down on cheaper brands are often insecure people with the money to buy expensive stuff. They think that because they can afford high end brands that this makes them some kind of expert on the subject. All it means is they have the cash to by them. Nothing more

Clearly there are plenty (the majority thankfully) who aren't like that, but the ones who look down on what they percieve as lesser brands usually have any number of insecurities eating away at them so have a burning need to feel like they are above such mass produced tosh (as they see it).

I've encountered a handfull of people like that in cycling over the years. The best way to deal with people like that when it comes to bikes is not to ride with them. Works a treat Fortunately people like that aren't the majority by any means.

Nothing wrong with Boardmans. I don't have one but I definately would. Look like great value for money to me

[Sheets Tabuer]

I often find the people that look down on Boardmans are 50 somethings with a huge belly carrying an extra 30 kilos while sat on their 5k bike, usually doing 15mph up the lanes with every piece of kit available,

My boardman is carbon, have 105 kit on and was a grand, I see no reason to pay 2k for the same spec because it has a different name on it.

[Gribs]

A couple of my friends have Boardman bikes, one a carbon road bike and the other an ali cross bike that's just used on the road. Both have cracked in normal use. To be fair they were both replaced without any bother and have been ok since, but I don't know anyone who's cracked any other road bikes.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

Sheets Tabuer said:

I often find the people that look down on Boardmans are 50 somethings with a huge belly carrying an extra 30 kilos while sat on their 5k bike, usually doing 15mph up the lanes with every piece of kit available,

My boardman is carbon, have 105 kit on and was a grand, I see no reason to pay 2k for the same spec because it has a different name on it.

It always amazes me how people view bikes. I’ll be on my 12 grand superbike, and get lots of cooing, then I’ll be out on my old Boardman, and there’s no cooing whatsoever. It’s the engine that’s most important, but people are funny about brands and perceptions of those brands. There are quite obvious differences in the bikes, from a riders perspective, but both bikes have their place, and both have done me proud over the years.

[MrBarry123]

Maximus_Meridius101 said:

It always amazes me how people view bikes. I’ll be on my 12 grand superbike, and get lots of cooing, then I’ll be out on my old Boardman, and there’s no cooing whatsoever. It’s the engine that’s most important, but people are funny about brands and perceptions of those brands. There are quite obvious differences in the bikes, from a riders perspective, but both bikes have their place, and both have done me proud over the years.

That’s because people are impressed by your posh bike and not with the Boardman. That’s not to say Boardmans aren’t good bikes, for the money they’re very good, but people generally don’t lust after them. And I don’t think there’s anything particularly notable about that.

[CubanPete]

Gribs said:

A couple of my friends have Boardman bikes, one a carbon road bike and the other an ali cross bike that's just used on the road. Both have cracked in normal use. To be fair they were both replaced without any bother and have been ok since, but I don't know anyone who's cracked any other road bikes.

Both me and my mate had cracked cannondale frames. Mine was an alloy MTB, his a carbon road bike. Mine just started clicking (bottom bracket), his was a spectacular failure (head tube) that nearly involved hospital, and did involve a long walk home.

I don't know anyone else who has had a cracked frame...

Next bike will likely be a Boardman MHT.

[hyphen]

Do Boardman manufacture their own stuff in their own factory? As I guess not and it all comes out of the same factory somewhere? Plus Boardman is actually owned by Halfords so probably same factory where all the Carrera stuff is made (which is tried and trusted).

And the parts are all Shimano. So what can go wrong?

There is no way Halfords would be selling a bike that was faulty, as they would get too many back due to their size. I'm sure there are faulty batches and individual ones and so on like anything else.

Edited by hyphen on Sunday 4th July 17:41

[Squadrone Rosso]

Nothing wrong with them at all. Just the usual snobbery.

I bought my MHT8.8 from Tredz Swansea. Almost 1000 miles later, only emerging issue is a sticky front brake.

Nice bike, good spec. Very happy.

Ref Carrera, I did 2500 miles on one in 10 months. Only issues were a broken spoke & a couple of punctures.

Local Halfords (Port Talbot) are fine.