Scott Speedster S20 v Boardman Team Carbon v Planet X SL Pro

[yashicamat]

Seeing as my employer has finally decided to offer the cyclescheme, I thought I'd look into getting a 'proper' road bike, rather than bobbing about on either an old steel singlespeed or my touring bike.

My budget will stretch to the above mentioned bikes, with the Boardman being the best on paper (to my relatively inexperienced eyes . . .) and having an excellent review. The only problem is this apparently common issue of the spokes coming loose, plus the fact that I'd have to set up the bike myself as the chances are that the Halfords staff would make a mess of it.

The Scott is the LBS choice, so would come well set up and any issues would be easily rectified - the issue with this one is it is relatively heavy with an alloy frame and a slightly inferior groupset to the other two.

The Planet X seems to have this confusing '10% charge' when purchased with a cyclescheme voucher (which, as far as I can work out, is the only method of payment my employer will pursue). I presume this extra £100 over the £999 list price would come directly out of my pocket, otherwise it wouldn't be available on the cyclescheme at all. The groupset is quite appealing, though.

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or comments about the above bikes? At the moment I am leaning towards the Boardman with a mind to buy a spoke key and tighten the spokes myself (I assume a half turn across the wheel shouldn't affect how true they are but will hopefully resolve loose spoke issues). The set up of the gears will be a learning curve I suspect (I am used to friction gear levers) but I'm sure I'll work it out given a bit of time.

Cheers.

Rob

 

[Ben1982]

One thing to double check is whether your employer has signed up to the halfords scheme too as they aren't part of the standard cyclescheme. My work did the cyclescheme for me, and then in the past few weeks had to sign up for the Halfords one because a colleague wanted the Boardman one. (They almost told him to choose a different bike because they found getting the Halfords one sorted was a pain in the ass compared to the regular one).
In the end my Colleague got it, and I saw it on Thursday, he also let me have a ride of it. Made me rather jealous, and I would love to have one, though I think it will be sometime before I would feel comfortable sitting on a grands worth of kit.

I don't really have the knowledge or expertise to advise on the bikes though, but the bit about the halfords scheme may take the boardman one out of the equation?

 

[battered]

I would ring up the sales manager of Planet X and tell him of your dilemma but that the 10% surcharge is a show stopper. If they don't waive it for a £1000 oredr in the current climate I'll be amazed. A £100 surcharge is a mickey take anyway, it's just exploiting a captive market. As you aren't captive, turn the screws.

 

[l4dva]

I got me a boardmans team carbon - awesome awesome bike!! (can't compair to any other carbon frames as this is my first) - Halfords are sh*t though.... I would if I was you get it factory built by boardmans and they deliver it to you or your local store i guess in a box no extra charge for this(not that im aware of anyways).... and then take it to a proper LBS if you still feel need to adjust stuff (mine only charged me £20 for a full once over and tightening of the bottom bracket - usless halfords)

I am rubbish when it comes to adjusting gears etc... I can do the brakes and I guess with time ill sus out the rest as well

As for spokes not a problem on mine (done about 200 miles so far) and from the recent reviews that ive read they seem to have sorted out this problem on the 2010 model so I think you will be fine with the wheels as they are.

Just never use halfords for anything other than supplying the bike, dont even let them open the box lol and dont let them do your 6 weeks service. It's shocking how rubbish they are!!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I heard that the spoke problem they had originally was just down to Hellfrauds not setting the bike up properly or sommat.

If you get one, take it to your LBS just to make sure that it is buillt ok.

 

[Banjo]

Scott /boardman

I have a Scott Speedster 30 which is the triple version.It weighs in at about 9 kg so not excessively heavy.

Most people say the original Alex 28 wheels dont do the Scott justice I had mine replaced on warranty after some problems.

Mine is a 09 model so not identical to the current offering.

Its a pleasure to ride .

I would tend to go with what your LBS specializes in as they will then be better placed to sort out any problems.

 

[iendicott]

I would ring up the sales manager of Planet X and tell him of your dilemma but that the 10% surcharge is a show stopper. If they don't waive it for a £1000 oredr in the current climate I'll be amazed. A £100 surcharge is a mickey take anyway, it's just exploiting a captive market. As you aren't captive, turn the screws.

Battered,

Asking a bike shop why they charge £100 on a £1K cycle would be a good idea before saying it's a mickey take and I'll explain why....

The reason is the goverment kindly takes 10% from the sale of the bike from the supplier so the supplier is on a £1K bike £100 out of pocket, this is not fair to the bike shop so they pass this onto the customer quite rightly.

Have a think what the goverement did with the car scrapage sceme, they actually gave you money off a new car. Did you ever stop and think why ?

Thing is in my opinion the goverement are not going to stop you buying new cars as they make lots of money from them through road tax, petrol tax etc. Now take a bike there is no way they can claw money back on road tax, petrol etc so they sting the suppliers when they sell the bike.

The goverment is in a win win situation and the people who like to ride for pleasure or work etc loose.

Ivan

 

[blindmanpugh]

Rob, you need to be careful with the amount that you want to spend. The government will only sanction a £1,000 limit. Halfords will only accept a voucher for £1,000 on the cycle2work scheme and you cannot add any extra money to it. Also they say they can order most bikes - which is true - but they also charge the manufacturers RRP.

As the company i work for used the cycle2work scheme from Halfords I asked to add some money to it and was told "Under any circumstances _ NO!" So I ended up buying a Dolan Mythos about 18 months ago which came in at the £1,000 limit and is a great bike. Unfortunately the prices have gone up since then.

I would seriously check about adding any extra money to the Halfords deal before committing to anything. However a local bike shop using the cyclescheme may look at things differently