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BOARDMAN BIKES ????????
starcher
Posts: 126
in General Chat
Hey im currently looking to buy my first road bike, whilst flicking through a copy of 220 i saw the Boardman bike range so i had a little look see down at Halfords and to my unknowing glance the £599 entry level steed looked like a good buy ok gear set brakes etc any opinions anyone or should i spend elsewhere.
or can anyone answer the mecca of all newbie questions what is the best entry level priced bike.
thanks in awe of your wisdom guys.
mat
or can anyone answer the mecca of all newbie questions what is the best entry level priced bike.
thanks in awe of your wisdom guys.
mat
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My first road bike was a trek 1000, I still own it actually! I use if for a winter training and turbo bike! I got it second hand, but it was in absolutely mint condition, cos apparently the guy who bought it soon decided he wanted a full carbon frame. got it from a shop who gave me a yr warrenty but i didnt need it, cost me 250.
It has carbon forks and seat post and all the parts work well, (mostly shimano tiagra groupset).
So my overall opinion is for your first road bike have a look and see if you can get one second hand. There are a fair amount of similar priced bikes to the trek 1000 out there.
Also if you do want to spend about 500 you will get a really good bike for the money 2nd hand.
Because these bike are often owned by people who care for their bikes, and because road bikes dont have to endure the constant battering that mountain bikes are subjected to they are often in better condition for their age.
Id have to agree with you Tommmi i'd love to put the money to a better quality second hand bike but im struggling to find any good one for sale except on ebay and id like to get my butt on the seat before parting with money in an over priced ebay auction.
As for bike snobbery if i had a boardman bike then obviously id paint it black and stick a felt sticker on it.
Any good recomendations for where to find second hand
I had max a budget of £200 and my only option was ebay - and realistically to get a decent spec bike I was only going to be able to afford a Carrera (Halfords).
And guess what - that's exactly what I got - and I bloody love it. I managed to get a £450 bike for less than £200, it's about a year old, has hardly been used and is in great condition.
It's my first road bike (in fact it's my first bike for 15 years), it looks great, goes well (enough for me) and is so easy to ride. And as for bike/kit snobs who look down their noses at "inferior" kit - sod 'em - I'm happy so why should I care what they think?
if i can save some money then alls the better .
Its got the super duper "flappy paddle" (tektro) brake/gear levers (105 rear mech and tiagra front mech) which are brilliant.
And it's even helped me whizz past a couple of other cyclists on my first few outings!
I was at an athletics meet about 6 or so years ago. I was running in the 100metres and was wearing my shiney new pair of silver spikes, that I think I had paid around 100 pounds for. They were guaranteed to make me win, with go faster stripes and everything. In the next lane to me was a guy wearing his red and gold spikes, and in the lane next to him was a guy in bright white spikes. In fact, all but one of the sprinters were waring brightly coloured spikes, and looking around at what each other was wearing, all hoping he had the most expensive and fast looking spikes, so all the others would envy him.
But there was one guy, his spikes were black, they looked a good 10 years old, not made out of synthetics like all ours were and definitely no go faster stripes. Everyone had noticed that he didnt have the latest superfast spikes, such was the snobbery.
When the race started I got out of the blocks well, but as we got to about 50 metres one runner streaked past all of us, and ended up winning the race by a mile. I have never seen anyone at that age run so fast. It was the guy with the black spikes.
He knew it didnt matter that he didnt have the best gold spikes out there, because he knew he didnt need the brightly coloured spikes to impress people, his incredible speed would do that on its own.
Its the rider that makes the most difference, not the bike.
Yes, I am lucky - I got a great bike at a bargain price the day before my first tri - I honestly walked into my mate's local shop as I was passing and they had a Felt S22 on a massive discount - they spent 3 hours measuring me and every bike they stocked which was a race/tri bike and came up with nothing better suited than the S22.
The next day I cycled 3miles an hour faster than ever before (27lb mtb with skinny tyres)...If I hadn't I would have been slower but don't see that I would have enjoyed it all any less...doing UK 70.3 this year...and yep - I'm glad I have got the dedicated bike as it is more efficient..and that makes me faster and that is what I am trying to achieve..to go as fast as I can....others can so what they want..I'll think no more or no less of them if they are faster or slower than me...if they go as fast as they can on the day and strive achieve then we have all suceeded...
SR
If i can backtrack, and alter my story based on what your interpretation of it was then I could say that the guy who won was wearing wellys when we were all wearing spikes.
What I meant by my story was that you shouldn't worry about how your stuff looks, or what other people think of it, i.e. snobbery against a certain make of bike.
As long as the kit does its job thats the most important thing.
Yes - agree with you entirely (also agree with TreeFrogs sentiments).
SR
He travels everywhere on his bike, which at the time this tale took place, was a knackered old MTB.
During a long bike event, it was noted by many that he went sailing past them on their fancy new machines - one rider said at the end - " did you see that old guy on that knackered bike? When he passed me he was sitting upright, peeling and orange!"
I have had the pleaseure in competing with him in a sprint tri here in Wales and he got in the water, not in a nice slick tri suit but in a pair of baggy shorts, he threw an old T-shirt on the top of that when he exited the pool and - no guesses here - he beat me in every discipline. I dread the day he discovers Lycra and Carbon!!
I agree that kit can help but it's the person wearing it that really makes the difference - all that fancy stuff won't get far on its own. At my sort of level, a few seconds (minutes even) really won't matter much in the grand scheme of things!
On the bike front, I got mine nearly 10 years ago, it's a Peugot and is fully equipped with Campagnolo gears, in fact Campagnolo eveything. I got it really cheap as it is a team Festina replica and it's from the year that Richard Vironque was done for drugs - somehow the bikes just wouldn't sell after that! I got a great bargin and, it might be a bit old but I love it! Have definately had my monies worth out of it. If like me you haven't got the budget to change your bike every season (or twenty) buy something that you know is going to last you! I agree with the second hand route - you often get a lot more for your money.
the other otion you have is go to your local bike shop and get them to build one and you will be able to put what ever you want on it
Back to reality: Have to agree with you, treefrog, but I would point out that the expensive boat made a difference when you were at race-winning form. Given that starcher doesn't actually have a bike at the moment, I'd say that anything in budget (even if it's a uni-cycle with a square wheel) is better than nothing.
If somebody has £200 to spend, and that's a hard limit, then the options are a) buy a £200 bike, or b) Don't do triathlon until you've spent another year saving up. Personally, I bought a Carrera Valour, based on it being a good deal at the time (£300 for 7005 frame, tiagra & sora kit) with £100 of extras bunged in free. However, I did know what I was looking for, and knew how to ensure it fitted me.
For a couple of years I knew the bike was still better than me. Now I've stuck some Planet-x carbon forks on the front to make it more comfy and speed up the steering. I've also changed the wheels for slightly better (but still 'budget') ones. Only now am I getting suspicious that I should be looking at a better bike.
What's my summary? As a total beginner, spend whatever you can: even a £200 bike will be better than you. The more you spend, the longer before you get better than the bike. £600 is a good budget: You bike will probably last you 3 years, then you'll be after something really special! [8D]
A few of the squad have Cannondale 3.0s. Pretty nice for £500. Boardman bikes look nice, too. Also see wiggle for some great bargains in the 'Focus' range. I think there was recent review in 220 for bikes in this price segment.
Enjoy your shopping!
Please buy a rubbish bike from Halfords – I love whizzing past you suckers! And telling you 6 months down the line that cheap bikes are fine for light use / summer but if you want more you have to pay more and you will save in the long run.
Never spend more than £200 in Halfords – just to have someone who isn’t a chav set your bike up is justification enough – justify the extra money by cycling to work a few times a week over the summer – me cycling to work just 2 times a week saves me about £50 a month!
http://www.menshealth.co.uk/Gear/Boardman-is-back/v3
I know they might not know much about anything (lets be honest the mag is abit poor) but still its related to this thread.
Personally i believe you get what you pay for, so if you are in it for the long haul then spend abit more (if you can). I love the Focus bikes.
I don't have a fortune to spend on kit, just like many of the people who have participated in this thread. It doesn't mean I am a weaker competitor, or that I don't take it seriously, or that I need to get off my arse more. I'm sitting here barely able to type because my arms are **really jolly tired** from a swimming session which followed a bike/run brick.
Barney commented earlier that he loves to go past 'suckers' on cheap bikes. I think what he really meant was that he loves to overtake beginners. Well done, Barney. I spent £300 in Halfords. I could've gone to my LBS and spent £450 on a Giant with exactly the same spec. So I'm a sucker for spending less? Am I a sucker for passing an un-prepared idiot on a P3 in last years' London Tri, while I was riding my sucker's bike? No.
You, treefrog, on the other hand, are telling beginners to our sport that if they don't buy a P3C or DA they are wasting their time and money. You are boasting about your kit when some of us would rather boast about how HARD we trained, or about how much BETTER we did than last time.
When I first started doing tri I always loved the pioneering, inclusive and all-together attitude that people had. Now, I'm getting really disillusioned by the kit snobbery. I put a huge amount of effort, planning and science into my hobby. Whether it is training time or money spent, I have a very small budget for each. I do not waste either of them lightly.
Maybe you have more money than sense, or maybe you just have more money than others. Whatever, get over it, try to offer a bit of encouragement to people who ask beginner questions instead of saying spend £loads or forget it.
And yes. I'm really **jolly angry**.
At our club, we have got some seriously seriously good performers, several off to represent their age group in Canada and they have some great kit BUT what I love... they never ever make people like me feel that I am too rubbish to take part, they encourage me loads and never take the p*** out of my kit. If it wasn't for thier attitude, I would probably not have stuck with it. Like many, I have not got en enless amount of money to spend so I get what I can and make do with it. I hope that friends see that you don't have to be skinny and have lots of flashy kit to take part in this sport and join in the fun!
I have recently downgraded my car and bought a small ultra economical model - because I now realise that cars bring me no real joy. Can you belive that some poeple think my car show me to be a loser?..... I think they are funny to want to spend their money on petrol!
I have also recently spent £1000+ upgrading my bike - This does bring me imense joy.
SO - we all have money, we all have prioritys;- act on your priorities and don't be sensitive to other poeple having other priorities.
I suspect its just as fun passing a good bike on a 'crap' bike as it is, humping a 'crap' bike on a good bike. I doubt that any of us would tell that person the joy it is giving them as they pass them - thats just not british.
So whoever started this thread - buy what you can, accept that it will never be enough.
p.s. this is coming from the owner of the most pimped up Guess RB1 (a <£500 bike) on the planet - Treefog will be turning in his ,, urm golden throne.
i have to say that i was always told, "it doesnt matter how expensive or how many gears your bike has-its how you ride it"- so if you are crap on a more affordable bike, you will still be crap on a ££££ bike!! i do find it quite annoying when people say that their bike cost as much as a car.....and their top of the range gear cost as much as a month in the maldives!!-who cares? does it really make that much difference to their times?
like many, my hubby and i do tris for fun, and are more than happy with our sub £500 giant scr3 bikes (which we bought last year at the end of the season, for £130 cheaper than when they were at the start of the season!)-how can you enjoy a sport when you are constantly worring about having the best gear and bikes that your hard earned cash can buy, and stressing about how you are going to pay off your next credit card bill because of the snobbery and pose value?[:'(]
its a shame, but i think all sports are turning this way- i used to show- jump horses, and i constantly saw individuals who had more money than sense, with the most expensive horses that you could imagine, and all the flash gear-making a pigs ear of jumping......pure and simply because they thought that money could buy them success....and it doesnt!- u need lots of blood, sweat and tears to succeed in life! (enuf of the lecture!!- get out and enjoy ure sport!!!)[;)]
I get the 'HOW MUCH???' all the time with my bike expenditure..but I don't drive even, so my bike still costs less than a years petrol, insurance, tax etc..and I still get to work on time & I'm not getting fatter!
Like all sports Tri has fads & fashions..and you can spend or not, I love anyone who takes part, boneshaker bike to carbon stealth bike...what you can or will afford is it, run what you brung & have fun.