assistance required. Rode last years BB200 on a full sus 26er and am hellbent on a 29er for this years BB200 reliability test,.

on C2W I'm limiting myself to £1000 but Halfords do have the Boardman pro 29er for £850 this weekend.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... dtail-29er

I'm limited to Halfords or Evans with our cycle to work. and really can't see anything to better it for value / spec kit at the £850 or so price range. am not bothered by brand snobbery at all. what would you think best from either shop? the trek superfly at Evans seems the best of a bad lot in that range?
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec068689

So go for the (boring) boardman?

The other bother is sizing. go medium or large? 6 feet tall. I test rode a medium and it felt fine but there was a lot of exposed carbon seatpost if running it at cross country / efficient pedalling height which makes me worry about reliability later...
I don't want to be stretched out on a size large so will probs put a shorter stem on a large if going for that size.

I have decent 29er wheels and tubeless tyres so they'll replace what's on it. and the others will do as spares for the 29er or my CX bike. am willing to risk the obligatory dealing with halfords that buying the boardman through them ensues. also considering a respray to black pearlescent (keeping only the downtube logo section silver). As it's a boardman frame it can't look much worse even if I don't do a good job.

Are you sure you're restricted to Halfords? First off they can get stuff in and second you can call up the Halfords helpline to get a list of LBS who participate in the scheme, hence my C2W Salsa Fargo.

Also, the Halfords scheme seems to have a separate section that is geared up specifically for Indy shops since I got mine. On One for example are on it.

Size wise, I don't know you but I'm 5' 11” and my Medium Boardman road bike is too small.

£850 worth of Pinnacle Ramin wouldn't be a bad move IMHO.

Pinnacle ramin seems to get a lot of approval for the price

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec071315

Ha ha great minds an all that!

I was also going to suggest a Ramin ... but my mind's less than great, so I'll not bother

Mmmm ramen

850 quids worth of that and going for a bike ride will be the last thing on his mind....

Join British cycling, you'll get 10% off at Halfords which will still cover the membership

Cheers for the advice guys. I've got British cycling membership as is. forgot about it. wonder if I can add that to the bank holiday savings. 25% off will seal the deal there.

the pinnacle does look great in fairness, i'm still finding it hard to look past the Boardman and admittedly i have a soft spot for them, maybe even cos they're seen as uncool???. It does have a very odd cable routing & cable length t the front round the shock crown which makes the cable sit on the shock crown. surely a point for wear later? .

Discount will work on top


Pinnacle have some crackers at the moment, but so too does Boardman

I doubt you'll regret either

Where can I get than Ramen (as per Greg's photo)? I think I need it

Yep, you can stack Halfords discounts. Not sure about paying with a c2w voucher though...

Have you spoke to Halfords? they can get other brands in including Kona and Kinesis. You could get yourself a nice FF29 or sync build.

I've ridden that boardman, it's pretty nice package I must admit. The only thing I disliked (apart from the paint job) was the cable routing as you mentioned, being a) exposed inner and b) on the downtube - such smooth welds though, and lovely fork. I might be tempted to get a charge cooker/high latitude if you wanted something with a bit more character, or the trek superfly or scott scale if you like them racey (from Evans) and swap a load of parts out. Personally I'd go for the superfly, but I'd go over the budget swapping bits out. The complete package of any of those can't compete with the boredman though, sorry I mean Boardman.

As you're already talking about spraying it, and starting threads on niche mtb websites trying to get people to talk you out of the boardman, it sounds like your heart might not be in it!

Boardman's smooth welds are normal welds and bodyfiller.

Nothing wrong with them, but they have taken the easy way out.