Boardman Hybrid Comp and Halfords experience.
- Thread starter Phixion
- Start date
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uclown2002
Guru
- Location
- Harrogate
The way halfords list the sizing for some boardmans is a joke!
Halfords had a 20% all road bikes last week and I was going to use my BC membership as well to get the pro carbon SLR for £1300 from £1800.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-pro-carbon-slr-bike-2014
Given that I've bought 2 boardman road bikes and on both occasions got a medium 53/54 I thought I'n need the same.
If you click on the 'frame sizes' it shows the 54 out of stock, so I didn't progress the purchase. If you look at the bottom of the page it gives a sizing guide for this bike supporting my need for a 54cm.
It was only a few days later that I thought the frame sizes were a bit odd, so cross-referenced to boardman site
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_pro_carbon_SLR.html
If you click on the geometry tag and compare to halfords site, they are not doing themselves any favours. It appears the frame sizes listed on the halfords site are in fact close to the seat tube sizes on the boardman site, so in fact a ''50cm' is what I need. Of course it is too late to get the discounted bike so all rather irritating.
Halfords had a 20% all road bikes last week and I was going to use my BC membership as well to get the pro carbon SLR for £1300 from £1800.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-pro-carbon-slr-bike-2014
Given that I've bought 2 boardman road bikes and on both occasions got a medium 53/54 I thought I'n need the same.
If you click on the 'frame sizes' it shows the 54 out of stock, so I didn't progress the purchase. If you look at the bottom of the page it gives a sizing guide for this bike supporting my need for a 54cm.
It was only a few days later that I thought the frame sizes were a bit odd, so cross-referenced to boardman site
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_pro_carbon_SLR.html
If you click on the geometry tag and compare to halfords site, they are not doing themselves any favours. It appears the frame sizes listed on the halfords site are in fact close to the seat tube sizes on the boardman site, so in fact a ''50cm' is what I need. Of course it is too late to get the discounted bike so all rather irritating.
Well, it's turned into a bit of a nightmare.
My brother had a Boardman bike built and it was late by a day because a part was missing from the box.
I'm having 2 built, Small and Medium... The medium has been ready for a few days, but the small that was supposed to be ready yesterday (Wednesday) is now going to be ready Sunday, they hadn't even ordered the bike in, let alone built it!
I'm not too bothered because I expected it, but if I could find a bike with similar specs for the price I'd buy it... problem is finding one.
Most hybrids have a mix of random parts (acera, alivio, deore etc) which I don't want - then there's all the triple chainsets, again, which I don't want.
My brother had a Boardman bike built and it was late by a day because a part was missing from the box.
I'm having 2 built, Small and Medium... The medium has been ready for a few days, but the small that was supposed to be ready yesterday (Wednesday) is now going to be ready Sunday, they hadn't even ordered the bike in, let alone built it!
I'm not too bothered because I expected it, but if I could find a bike with similar specs for the price I'd buy it... problem is finding one.
Most hybrids have a mix of random parts (acera, alivio, deore etc) which I don't want - then there's all the triple chainsets, again, which I don't want.
So it's Sunday, bike should be ready today - and guess what?
I get a phone call at 10:30am from Halfords telling me that they unboxed the biked yesterday and the front fork was bent.
Now, I'd believe them, only this is the second bike I've ordered from them in a week in which a part was either missing or damaged. I'm starting to think this is some sort of delay tactic they use when they don't have the bike ready when it should be.
The guy then went on to ask how tall I was, I know where he was going with this, as every member of staff I've spoken to in Halfords have told me that I should be riding a medium, even though the reach is too long for me and the top tube is acting as a hammock for my dangly bits. After doing some googling I found that a few people around my height, some 2" taller, ride the small because the medium was too big for them.
He says that the problem with the small is that my legs would be too bent - I had to explain to him that I'd just set the saddle higher to ensure my leg was at the correct position. Being as I'd only have 1-2" of standover clearance on the small, I don't expect to see too much seatpost.
The call ended with me telling him that this was the second delay and that I wanted either a bike sorting today or some form of compensation.
Anyway, I asked him to phone around the local Halfords stores to check whether there are any Small in stock for me, he goes away for 20 mins and phones me back telling me there's none in the area, but that he can order in the next model up (Boardman Hybrid Team) and get it built for Tuesday.
I'm pretty happy with the outcome, I'm getting a £750 bike for £500.
Weather here is crap today too!
I get a phone call at 10:30am from Halfords telling me that they unboxed the biked yesterday and the front fork was bent.
Now, I'd believe them, only this is the second bike I've ordered from them in a week in which a part was either missing or damaged. I'm starting to think this is some sort of delay tactic they use when they don't have the bike ready when it should be.
The guy then went on to ask how tall I was, I know where he was going with this, as every member of staff I've spoken to in Halfords have told me that I should be riding a medium, even though the reach is too long for me and the top tube is acting as a hammock for my dangly bits. After doing some googling I found that a few people around my height, some 2" taller, ride the small because the medium was too big for them.
He says that the problem with the small is that my legs would be too bent - I had to explain to him that I'd just set the saddle higher to ensure my leg was at the correct position. Being as I'd only have 1-2" of standover clearance on the small, I don't expect to see too much seatpost.
The call ended with me telling him that this was the second delay and that I wanted either a bike sorting today or some form of compensation.
Anyway, I asked him to phone around the local Halfords stores to check whether there are any Small in stock for me, he goes away for 20 mins and phones me back telling me there's none in the area, but that he can order in the next model up (Boardman Hybrid Team) and get it built for Tuesday.
I'm pretty happy with the outcome, I'm getting a £750 bike for £500.
Weather here is crap today too!
ShipHill
Senior Member
- Location
- Worcestershire
I'm 6'3" and have the large Comp. Bought it from a Halfords some distance from me because my local one didn't have any in stock at all. It's a very small branch here.
I had trouble with it all the way home. Set up by a shaved chimp I suspect.
Bloke at work sorted it out and had no bother since.
Judging by what other folks say on here about Halfords, it appears that some branches are poorly staffed and some (like my wee local one) have excellent staff.
Hope it works out for you. That discount sounds good.
I had trouble with it all the way home. Set up by a shaved chimp I suspect.
Bloke at work sorted it out and had no bother since.
Judging by what other folks say on here about Halfords, it appears that some branches are poorly staffed and some (like my wee local one) have excellent staff.
Hope it works out for you. That discount sounds good.
Thank you, I am pretty excited to get it, I'm not so confident the weather is going to hold up for much longer though. 
If I have any issues after purchase it will go back to Halfords and I will get them to sort it out.
But any maintenance and servicing will be done by a (not so local) bike shop after that.
If I have any issues after purchase it will go back to Halfords and I will get them to sort it out.
But any maintenance and servicing will be done by a (not so local) bike shop after that.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
I ride a small boardman and had to order it without seeing it as all the stores within 29 miles could not get hold of one and only had mediums or large in stock.
What height/inside leg are you, may I ask?
As I said earlier, I think it's absolutely pathetic that they don't have at least a S/M/L in each model... It's not too much to ask, especially when they have such a big range in each style of bike.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
I am 5 foot 7" with a 30 " inside leg and also ride an 18 " carrera subway .
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
It's not only Halfords. Most bike shops have a very limited selection of small sized bikes - if any. I've given up even looking in my LBSs. Hence my last 2 bikes have come from Ribble and Rose, and I realise now that a Peugeot I was 'helped' to buy in an LBS in the 1990s (before I knew any better) was not really the correct size, but too big, probably just stock they wanted rid of
. Beware
Thought I could add usefully to this thread, which has been helpful to me, so have joined the forum, not sure how long it will take for my first post to appear though.
I've been researching the bottom end Boardman (Hybrid Sport) for a couple of weeks now, for me and for one of my grown up kids - she's only 5'2! We need light bikes and for the price the Boardman looks well specced, but I've had many of the problems on sizing mentioned above. Local Halfords had a small/45cm model in stock but with a 29 inch inside leg and 5'7" I found it to be barely small enough even for me, it was still a slight strain with the seat down low. "well you could saw off the bottom of the seat post to drop it a bit more " said the sage at the local Halfords, which didn't inspire confidence - and still wouldn't have been low enough for my daughter, but I did briefly consider it before heading off back online.
Well it turns out from the Boardman site that there is 'fi' range (female informed' they call it) which have slightly different frame shapes and the range goes one size lower - to 40, 45 and 49 cm seat tubes. They also happen to look the same as the 'male' versions apart from the colour schemes (no pink though!) and the addition of 'fi' in small lettering on the top tube. "Never heard of them" said my local Halfords bike sage when I told him. He did however agree to order one in and build it for me to 'try before you buy', but then he found one in stock 8 miles up the road, so I headed off to the bigger Halfords.
And would you believe it, the small 40 cm 'fi' version fitted me better than the small men's version - with the seat post set at the mid point. Should also fit my daughter well with the seat right down. Unless you know to look for the 'fi' lettering you'd never know it was the women's version so in effect, it's the return of the old "XS" frame, or similar anyway. So, problem solved by the look of it and who knows, I might even get a 'fi' for myself after I've tried out hers - which I'm about to order.
They never seem to do in-store discounts on the Boardman 'fi' bikes though, so I'm relying on Halfords online discounting and as it happens, they've just introduced one, up to 10% on the fi. Sadly though, the British Cycling discount doesn't apply to Halfords website offers.
Anyway, I thought I'd share that for all the other 'little fellas' out there who like me find the small men's a bit of a stretch. Try a 'fi'.
I've been researching the bottom end Boardman (Hybrid Sport) for a couple of weeks now, for me and for one of my grown up kids - she's only 5'2! We need light bikes and for the price the Boardman looks well specced, but I've had many of the problems on sizing mentioned above. Local Halfords had a small/45cm model in stock but with a 29 inch inside leg and 5'7" I found it to be barely small enough even for me, it was still a slight strain with the seat down low. "well you could saw off the bottom of the seat post to drop it a bit more " said the sage at the local Halfords, which didn't inspire confidence - and still wouldn't have been low enough for my daughter, but I did briefly consider it before heading off back online.
Well it turns out from the Boardman site that there is 'fi' range (female informed' they call it) which have slightly different frame shapes and the range goes one size lower - to 40, 45 and 49 cm seat tubes. They also happen to look the same as the 'male' versions apart from the colour schemes (no pink though!) and the addition of 'fi' in small lettering on the top tube. "Never heard of them" said my local Halfords bike sage when I told him. He did however agree to order one in and build it for me to 'try before you buy', but then he found one in stock 8 miles up the road, so I headed off to the bigger Halfords.
And would you believe it, the small 40 cm 'fi' version fitted me better than the small men's version - with the seat post set at the mid point. Should also fit my daughter well with the seat right down. Unless you know to look for the 'fi' lettering you'd never know it was the women's version so in effect, it's the return of the old "XS" frame, or similar anyway. So, problem solved by the look of it and who knows, I might even get a 'fi' for myself after I've tried out hers - which I'm about to order.
They never seem to do in-store discounts on the Boardman 'fi' bikes though, so I'm relying on Halfords online discounting and as it happens, they've just introduced one, up to 10% on the fi. Sadly though, the British Cycling discount doesn't apply to Halfords website offers.
Anyway, I thought I'd share that for all the other 'little fellas' out there who like me find the small men's a bit of a stretch. Try a 'fi'.
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