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BOARDMAN BIKES ????????

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  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    Right I just want to clear things up.... I thought it was only the Americans who had no sense of irony and I I saddened to see that some have stooped to low as to use vulgar and profain comments!

    One of the most common themes on this forum is "how much ...?" well we all know that all you need is the bare minimum and that you could do with JJB dual suspension mountain bike, but you simply will not do yourself justice. The point that I'm trying to make is that to partake in, to be competitive at (at whatever level) and to remain safe & avoid injury you should get good kit. If you cannot afford such kit then borrow it until you have saved enough to afford it.

    Now ..... irony coming up Bopomofo..... I'm off to my custom built carbon fibre bed to recover from the expletives that I read on this thread and to ponder on what the " mofo" might mean

  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Wheeew! I am glad IDID read the irony..but really treefrog...no carbon fibre bed with barometric tent?..tut tut...
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    You should really place that thing in awind-tunnel to get full benefit on it[;)].

    Oh, and I bet shaving or waxing would help too.[&:][image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image]
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    The only shaving that works is shaving with a carbon fibre/titaniun razor
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    in the wind tunnel tested hyper baric chamber, with 0 body fat, with red go faster stripes..by jove I think we have cracked it..who needs a coach?
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    ...and eat porridge with from a carbon fibre bowl and spoon! (ps these do exist -check out Schmolke carbon products!)
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    treefrog and all: yes... sorry I used some naughty words but we're all grown ups and sometimes you can only go so far in written English before your lack of ability to use body language to express your point becomes an issue.



    froggy, I am in awe of your knowledge of bikes and your ability to crank out some monster times & speeds. You know that from other threads. Really, I mean it. Read on...



    Barney, I think from reading your second post that we're kind of agreeing.



    To all: I got really annoyed on behalf of the newbies who were posting, and from suddenly reading a chain that had me blasted as a sucker and told me to spend money or quit. I can see the irony in your posts, albeit clumsy and misplaced in my consideration, but it doesn't look very inclusive to a beginner, does it?



    For reference purposes, frog, there's no need to write a letter to the Daily Mail about the 'mofo' on the end of my name. I have a technical specialisation in converting mobile phone software platforms to work in Chinese. When doing so, the 20000+ potential charaters of the Chinese alphabet have to be entered on a 12-key keypad. You use some predictive software to do it, and the first characters are 'Bo', 'Po', 'Mo' and 'Fo'. It is actually called a 'BoPoMoFo' keypad. I am good at it. The nick-name has stuck. What profanity where you thinking of?



    Finally, to Benny: thank you for bringing the conversation back to the one true topic: shaving. I am now investigating a business opportunity to supply cross-drilled magnesium alloy shaving handles to people who had mistakenly thought that carbon fibre was the most expensive thing you can buy. After reading this thread I have also painted them red to guarantee success.



    Goodnight all. I'm off to sleep in my steel framed bed, hoping somebody won't tell me that sleeping is pointless because it's not made with titanium springs and covered with Dodo skin.



    That last bit was irony.
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Oh no..panic sets in what does he know about dodo skin that I don't? Will it make me sleep faster/better?? Help...actually I did see in Triathlete magazine a couple of months ago a 'triathlete bed'..must sort out the link so we can all snigger..or buy one on the quiet...you know, just in case...
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    We should really stop this nonsense, almost no serious talk is left on this forum!!!

    Lets go back to the basics of tri: shaving/waxing, utterly expensive carbon gadgets, porridge and the fastest colour in the universe: RED.

    Oh no, there's no stopping this, we're addicted[:@].



    I'm sure some utterly ridiculous , but truely neccesary responses will follow, so I really wasted time here.



    (Notice the colour of the smiley[image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image]).
  • I would recommend anybody new to the sport looks into packages, I got one from TriUK about 18 months ago and got a £550 bike (Felt F90) together with wetsuit, trisuit, pedals, bike shoes and helmet for £495. Everything is still serving me well with a few minor adjustments (stem flipped and spacer removed). BUT before you buy ensure you get measured properly, I went to Evans (boo hiss evil corporation) and they recomended a 56cm frame so a 56 i ordered, a 56 I received, i rode it rediculously wrongly set up for a year before going on a training weekend and having it properly set up for me. At this point I was told the frame was actually marginally too big for me on the upright but perfect saddle to bars. Moral of the story I think is go to triandrun (www.triandrun.com) go into the store get everything properly fitted to yu and if you need wetsuit and trisuit get the £595 package. I would do if they had offered it 18 months ago. Now I just need to wait til I am good enough/rich enough to deserve a shiny upgrade.
  • all did until 12 months ago was ride bikes. MTB, BMX race, DH, Time Trials... i have never had amazing bikes. raced last year on my 7 yr old bike that cost me £1500 at the time. it worked and i found myslef regularly passing people on new bikes. they had either not trained or were in bad positions. My coach knows i do not have much disposable income (plus iam being amade redundant at work) and he has given me his 3 or 4 year old soloisrt for the seasion. I would rather spend my money on races and racing than all the gear.



    All i can say, is use your budget. CB bikes are nice, they get consistently good reviews by people with more balanced opinions than ppl on this forum. i like them and would buy one if i had any money to spend. dont listen to the people on this forum. focus on fitness and position and the bike you like the feeling of. bit like running shoes.



    rebadging, whatever, we all know it happens.
  • jamewahjamewah Posts: 113
    starcher wrote:


    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.





    Just to get back onto the subject . . .



    Starcher, I bought a boardman team in Feb this year (08 model) and I can say it is an awesome piece of kit, an excelent spec with full Ultegra gearing, carbon forks triple butted frame or something or other to make it light weight blah blah blah . . .

    The reaction I got from other triathletes was anything other than snobery, quite a few wanted a look round it as they'd be hearing good reports from a lot of the cycling press, And everyone was amazed at the spec for the price I paid for it. And my Boardman wasn't the only one there !



    It rides beautifully, responsive, handles great and the brakes work brilliantly.

    Ok, Halfords don't have the best reputation but the guy that served me was knowledgable and helpfull and if you know what you are looking for in terms of sizing I don't think it matters where you buy it from.



    I'm really happy with it and will be upgrading to a Boardman Carbon next year for sure.







  • gdh250467gdh250467 Posts: 237
    I recently bought a Boardman Team (the bottom carbon one, and would reiterate jamewah above. Spec is far in excess of anything else for the money, is light, quick and responsive. You'll also find it does attract quite a lot of attention in transition, as the bike snobs have probably never been in Halfords to have a look at one. Had it recently checked over at LBS for £11 and goes even better now.
  • jamewahjamewah Posts: 113
    Britspin wrote:


    Don'y drink, don't smoke..what do you do?..Triathlon!

    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.



    I've just binned my company car this week as I trialled cycling (34km round trip) to work last week & I lost 2lb's in excess baggage. Burning a whopping extra 5700 calories per week !!?? At this rate I'll be 8 stone by August !

    I've saved money on fuel & company car tax and it gave me great joy yesterday as I cycled home on the A63 which was gridlocked by an accident, as I just filtered all the way through (maybe to prove a point?)& when I turned off some 10 miles later I noticed the Fat Guy in his convertible Porsche had just passed me after sitting around for god knows how long in the queue. [:D]





  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    Aha the lawa of diminishing returns to the forum once more......general consensus is that the more money it cost, the faster I shall go.



    I suspect that it should go along the lines of he has a better bike than me so I want one that better than his, this all stems from the playground when we were kids.



    however there are some of us who just didn't care what the other thought and just went and did it anyway regardless. This is how it should be.



    The point of this thread was someone who wanted an opinion on a type of bike and has now turned into a thread of morality. Surely we should be thinking that this person is new to Tri and wants to get a decent bike that will give them a decent return for their hard earned cash?



    Good to see treefrog and Tommi back on board...
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    treefrog wrote:


    support your local bike shop,



    that woud be my local bike shop that advised me, and sold me, a bike that is too big for me then?



    Like I am EVER going use that muppet again. For ANYTHING.



    didds

  • JonhinioJonhinio Posts: 289
    Am I the only person worried that the winner of TommiTri's 100m race won by a mile? No, just me then...



    I bought an entry level Giant for tri's last year. It's got me through a few miles. I'm sticking with it to learn how to cycle more efficiently rather than go out all guns blazing and buy a top of the range bike.



    Frankly I'm not worthy yet, but my time will come....
  • Justification 1- Buy something well out of budget with an awesome frame telling yourself you'll upgrade the 'mediocore' components

    Justification 2 -Buy something well out of budget that will save you money by not needing to upgrade



    Buy initially following justification 1 then in 6 months follow justification 2
  • starcherstarcher Posts: 126
    Wow people do search back for older threads then!!

    well ... after this thread last year i went on to buy a asecondhand speccy allez comp with 105 and ultegra mix have now outgrown it and am looking to buy a cervelo S1 (soloist team) would go full on tt but am a bit scared of putting to many eggs in one basket so a team soloist with clipon tri will be the order of the day.



    dont think if id bought the boardman new i could have got buying another new one this year past the wife.

    (didnt tell her 2nd hand speccy was £500)



    Must thank everyone over the past year for huge amounts of priceless advice,



    Cheers

    Mat

  • Gary.G.Gary.G. Posts: 5
    It's not what you've got, it's what you do with it that counts.........
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    Bopomofo wrote:


    treefrog... sorry mate, but you just **annoyed** a lot of people with your uncompromising 'spend money to go faster or get lost' attitude. Me included.



    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**.





    Well Said Bopo.....



    Its been a while since there was a decent debate on the fourm. Its been too nice for too long.

    Good to see that Treefrog is back to form....



    having said that I do agree with Bopo....
  • gavinrigg06gavinrigg06 Posts: 176
    And don't forget Red....
  • GHarvGHarv Posts: 456
    gdh250467 wrote:


    I recently bought a Boardman Team (the bottom carbon one, and would reiterate jamewah above. Spec is far in excess of anything else for the money, is light, quick and responsive. You'll also find it does attract quite a lot of attention in transition, as the bike snobs have probably never been in Halfords to have a look at one.



    I also have the team and complely echo these thoughts.



    A guy on a 'frogesque' machine came up to look at mine and check it out at the weekend - because he'd heard great things about them.



    I think the Boardmans have trancended the Halfords debate.



    G
  • OranjOranj Posts: 45
    starcher wrote:


    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.



    IMHO they are very good, and having seen a few of them in my local Halfords, very good value for money. Sod that they don't look as bling as other more famous names, Boardman wouldn't have put his name to anything crap. If I was looking for an entry-level road race bike right now, they'd be pretty high on my list.
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