Boardman Team Carbon - does anyone actually have one?

[MajorMantra]

Searching on the Team Carbon turns up lots of speculation but not many opinions from owners. Anyone here got one?

I am (hopefully) working up to buying a nice road bike that fits me better than my current one and which is nice and light. The Boardman looks appealing because it weighs just 8kg and has the SRAM Rival group which sounds rather good. I've never ridden an SRAM-equipped bike but from a quick fondle in a shop the shifting action is quite nice. As is the fact that it supposedly weighs less than Ultegra SL.

Problems I see are:

1. Getting one: how would one go about this in Scotland? The 'reserve and collect' option shows none in stock anywhere in Edinburgh (hardly a surprise since none of the Halfords here are listed as bike shops) and there doesn't seem to be the option to order one. Do they actually want to sell these anywhere except the south of England? In fact, from playing with the stock checker, very few places have them. Hmmm...

2. Sizing: I think I'd probably want the 54cm TT version, which is the smallest they do. That makes me slightly nervous. I mean, I'm average height (5'9") and I seem to find my Cannondale with a 56cm TT a little stretched and my 54cm fixed rather more comfortable - isn't it a little odd that they don't appear to cater to anyone much shorter than me? Am I missing something?

3. The rear spoke nipples problem: I've read lots of comments about this but it seems no one ever got Halfords/Bikehut/Boardman to admit there was a problem here. Is it easily curable?

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Matthew

 

[ACS]

Have you seen this?

 

[MajorMantra]

Have you seen this?

I have, but it doesn't really answer my (admittedly vague) questions.

Matthew

 

[zaid]

I know it's a bit of a distance for you, but they do have a medium in Aberdeen.

 

[MajorMantra]

I know it's a bit of a distance for you, but they do have a medium in Aberdeen.

I'd need to be sure about sizing before committing, but I suppose hopping on a train wouldn't be so bad.

I intend to give the Edinburgh Halfords listed here a ring when I'm back in town but I was wondering if anyone had any insight into the Halfords Combine and my other questions.

Matthew

 

[MajorMantra]

Anyone else?

Matthew

 

[ACS]

I think you may have underestimated the mighty power of the word ‘Halford’s’, most on this forum who come with 1km of any such emporium have to go an sit in a dark room with several pints of anti gravity juice to recover. Not very helpful I agree, but it may go some way to explain the lack of answers.

Have you considered any other bikes, if so what have you looked at?

 

[Scoosh]

Halfords on Seafield Road have the Boardman road bikes in - or did have yesterday when I went in to get a lightbulb for my car . Nice SRAM Rival gears too . I like.

Might be worth giving them a call.

 

[MajorMantra]

I think you may have underestimated the mighty power of the word ‘Halford’s’, most on this forum who come with 1km of any such emporium have to go an sit in a dark room with several pints of anti gravity juice to recover. Not very helpful I agree, but it may go some way to explain the lack of answers.

Have you considered any other bikes, if so what have you looked at?

I suspected as much. The antipathy for Halfords does seem to run quite deep.

I'm also looking seriously at the Ribble Sportive carbon (also £1k and it comes with Campag Centaur!) though I fear I may be running out of time as a price increase is rumoured, and the bike is already back-ordered to the end of May at the earliest. Part of my hesitation over that one is down to sizing as their 52 looks like it might be a touch too large, and their 49 appears quite small.

Halfords on Seafield Road have the Boardman road bikes in - or did have yesterday when I went in to get a lightbulb for my car . Nice SRAM Rival gears too . I like.

Might be worth giving them a call.

Really? That's encouraging. Actually, on looking at their site they do show some of the other Boardman bikes as in stock in Seafield, just no Team Carbons. Still, that's a start.

Matthew

 

[MajorMantra]

I rang the Seafield Halfords today and not only do they not have any in stock, they also said that there were none at "head office" and the guy had no idea if it would be possible to get one. Pretty poor really - it's a shame to release such a nice line up of bikes if half your potential customers can't even get them.

Matthew

 

[amnesia]

There are 4 Halfords within 5 miles of my house... all of them have the team carbon and pro carbon bikes in. One of them even has the £3.5k pro carbon race prep bike on display.

You can now get cheap flights from Edinburgh to Bournemouth

I recently got the Road Comp - it's very nice and I will definitely consider the team carbon for next year's Cycle2Work choice.

Daniel.