Bike Advice

[aquilagb]

Hello,

I am a newbie to road riding and currently have a £700 Cycle2Work voucher to spend on a bike in Halfords. There are two main options I am considering and would appreciate peoples thoughts on them.

1. Boardman Road Comp - At £700 I will use the full value of my voucher.

2. Carrera Vanquish - Now reduced from £600 to £450!! Could buy bike and equipment (pedals, shoes, closthing etc)

From what I have read, the Boardman does clearly seem like the better bike but the Carrera seems like it's a steel at £450. I will mainly be using the bike for work cycling (20'ish mile each way) and I am also possibly doing the JOGLE next year. Advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[cyberknight]

Hello,

I am a newbie to road riding and currently have a £700 Cycle2Work voucher to spend on a bike in Halfords. There are two main options I am considering and would appreciate peoples thoughts on them.

1. Boardman Road Comp - At £700 I will use the full value of my voucher.

2. Carrera Vanquish - Now reduced from £600 to £450!! Could buy bike and equipment (pedals, shoes, closthing etc)

From what I have read, the Boardman does clearly seem like the better bike but the Carrera seems like it's a steel at £450. I will mainly be using the bike for work cycling (20'ish mile each way) and I am also possibly doing the JOGLE next year. Advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I have ridden a vanquish and for the money they are a nice bike but tbh i would be tempted to get the boardman and start hinting at people for Christmas for the rest of your kit,once you have the basics you can build up the rest of your kit over time .
If you get the carrera you are kind of stuck with it and it would probably cost a lot more to bring it up to a similar specification as the boardman.

I have just read the spec`s on both , if you can get the boardman !!

 

[accountantpete]

The Boardman bike is the 2010 model - may be worth waiting for the sales when the 2011 bikes come out.

 

[sandman77]

There is no need to limit yourself to the brands available in Halfords stores. I had Halfords C2W vouchers and ended up with a Specialized Allez. Just phone the C2W phone number and they will get you just about any bike you want. My specialized was delivered directly to my house and never even entered a Halfords shop.

In saying that the Boardman bikes are very good.

 

[aquilagb]

Thanks for the replies... I'm not sure if I want to get any more confused looking at many different bikes. I had no idea Halfords could order in different bikes!

Do you have any idea when Halfords usually get next seasons bikes in, and sell the current seasons range off in a sale? I only ask as I want to start training ASAP but if it's likely to be only 2-3 weeks, I will probably wait before making a purchase.

Thanks again all.

 

[the_mikey]

Around about now is sale time for most bike shops it seems. A lot of bike/frame manufacturers have finished with 2010 stock and are in the process of launching new 2011 models.

 

[mikeyw]

Please do't tell me you can get any bike through the C2W scheme - are you 100% sure ?

I tried to get a boardman comp 18months ago (on offer at £400

)but was told by the dizzy woman who looks after our C2W scheme that halfords were not on our company's approved cycle shop list so i had to very reluctantly let the deal go and get a Trek 1.2 instead.

I'll be furious if I find out she was talking out of her backside

 

[Sittingduck]

I almost got a Boardman Comp in June to replace my road bike but went for the Single speed version in the end. The Comps are excellent bikes!

 

[g00se]

Please do't tell me you can get any bike through the C2W scheme - are you 100% sure ?

I tried to get a boardman comp 18months ago (on offer at £400

)but was told by the dizzy woman who looks after our C2W scheme that halfords were not on our company's approved cycle shop list so i had to very reluctantly let the deal go and get a Trek 1.2 instead.

I'll be furious if I find out she was talking out of her backside

I don't think that's what was meant. Sandman meant that if your company is using Halfords C2W scheme, then you're not limited to what you find in the shop as Halfords will order other bikes in.

I'm guessing you're on cyclescheme who use a network of independent shops - they won't be using Halfords.

 

[sandman77]

I don't think that's what was meant. Sandman meant that if your company is using Halfords C2W scheme, then you're not limited to what you find in the shop as Halfords will order other bikes in.

I'm guessing you're on cyclescheme who use a network of independent shops - they won't be using Halfords.

As above.

 

[aquilagb]

Looks like I will be purchasing the Boardman; based on comments here and write-ups I've found on-line it doesn't look like I'll get more bike for my money than with the Boardman Comp!

Thanks all for your comments :-)