as with everything in life, you dont get something for nothing, specs are definitely eye opening but corners are cut elsewhere ie frames where you may as well buy a claud butler !!!!!!

 similar to packages put together by wiggle on the focus sh*t if your stupid enough to fall into the trap then you deserve a boardman/focus.

the frame is the heart of a bike much like the chassis of a car it govenrs the whole ride quality and handling characteristics, you can fit an apollo with all the xtr kit you want but it will still be a sack of sh*te

as will the service recieve from clueless muppets in halfrauds !!

as with everything in life, you dont get something for nothing, specs are definitely eye opening but corners are cut elsewhere ie frames where you may as well buy a claud butler !!!!!!

do you think the average halfords customer will know the difference between a suntour fork and a r/s reba and alvio and x0 rear mechs, i doubt it.

as will the service recieve from clueless muppets in halfrauds !!

the quality of the service does depend on the store, some are completley clueless and overs fairly switched on.

a HT frame,  is pretty much the same as any other HT frame,  my 02 ish Vulvan Carrera Frame is perfectly good and fine,  compared to various other HT frames and nothing in it.

Damn good value for money,  sold through a shop that sells in bulk and doesn't need to take high margins,  that is where the saving is.

There can be huge differences between hardtails..... 

Jump bikes, 4X bkes, Long travel Trail bikes, Short travel XC bikes, Trekking bikes, Slack angles, steep angles, wheel bases, BB heights..............

I wouldn't fancy pedaling the first more than a few hundred yards. And I wouldn't even attempt to bunny hop the second let alone jump on it.

JJ...

Dylan once said the frame was the least important component on a bike, i wouldn't take his opinions on HT's seriously!

Jimmy - fine and true but.......

 On a £500 hardtail, unless it is very specifically a jump bike or similar, then the frame is indeed much the same. It might look different due to tube shaping etc, and as a result some may be harsher than others, but handling and fit is fairly universal.

Lower priced models are described as 'entry level' and that is just how they are designed, for beginners. Geometries are set to be easy to ride and comfortable rather than 'long travel' 'XC race' 'Trekking' or any other such type. These appear further up the price scales. 

Or to put it all another way. Most £500 hardtails have a frame made in Taiwan to a fairly standard geometry. The only real difference is the name on the side and the finishing kit.......

Yeah, fair enough, I agree completely with that.

They've got good specs for the money as they are being sold through halfords, who as has been said don't need to take such big margins. Plus they are the first range from that brand so they'll be priced and specced well to attract people to the brand.

I accept that the frame is the most important part of the bike, but I doubt Boardman and the rest of his design team are going to ignore that fact. The spec levels are good this year, but I think the prices will rise slowly over the years, and the specs will slowly drop.

Good luck to Boardman though, Halfords are trying to improve their image among biking circles by selling more quality kit but sadly they still employ idiots (at most, not all stores). You pay peanuts you get monkeys. A bit like Kwik-Fit really- but don't get me started on them.

Yes there are different styles off HT,  but if you compare a XC HT with any other,  there pretty much the same,  same as a Jump HT and all the rest of them.

the idea of trying to use a half decent retired roadie to add credibiltity to some of there bikes is laughable, the road ones you can half understand, but boardman mtbs lol.......

so glad they have stuck to ht's as fs would be awesome...not