[Closed] Boardman Pro FS

I've been using one for 18 months and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Had quite a bit of warranty work due to poor initial assembly and the wheels didn't stand up to the abuse but otherwise it's a great ride.

I would buy another tomorrow!

Boardman FS or Calibre Bossnut. These are indeed the two interesting bikes in this price range.

poor initial assembly: that's the danger with both of them. But once all the stuff is fixed: great bikes!

The Pro FS for 1.2 k is an crazy deal. Your can't do much wrong there.

One of my bikes is the Bossnut V2. Love it.

This forum: many threads about the Boardman and the Bossnut.

Boardman FS Pro: can't remember any post with an bad review (only one funny guy HATING THE PIKE. But guess 99.9 % will love the PIKE. Possible that the pike hater was only joking? My opinion: great, great fork!)

My mates been on one for about 18 months and he loves it. Done BPW, Afan etc on it and he’s taking it to the alps this summer. Really good bike for the money. Only issues he’s had is the rear maxle had to be replaced as it kept coming loose. I think the stock one is crap. I doubt anything will come close in that price range.

Yes the rear axle needs replacing with a Shimano one....

I'd echo people's thoughts regarding assembly. I haven't had either of the above, but did recently buy a bike from Radon in Germany. First thing I did was take it to the LBS for a once over to make sure everything was as it should be. Correct torque on all the bolts, everything greased properly, that sort of thing.

For the money the Boardman looks ace. My dads got the Pro hardtail and its absurdly good for what he paid for it.

Cheers everyone, sounds like it’s more popular than the Bossnut, I’d go for the new Bossnut if it was in stock as it’s £200 cheaper, but not sure when they are arriving!

I had the last version of the pro fs (with Revelations instead of Pikes) and it was a good bike. The current one has the better forks / 1 x 11 / a more current head angle (although by no means slack). Should be really good and if you can get it for £1200 I can’t imagine you’re going to get even close to that spec anywhere else.

Other than second-hand either of the 2 bits mentioned have a great spec for the money.

Also, these days Guides lift be mid tenable than some Shimano offerings so don't worry about them.

I have Guide R's and other than bleeding them (I have the old, non bleeding-edge Calipers... ) they are genuinely fantastic brakes.

Enjoy which ever bike you choose, it's a win, win!  👍

Just to say Sram Guides are brilliant brakes. Got Guide R’s on both my hardtail and the enduro bike - both have endless power as far as I’m concerned and no fade. Both have the bleeding edge port but I haven’t needed to bleed them yet so can’t comment on how easy / hard that is. I’d have liked the Guide RS with the better levers ideally but the R’s have been just fine. I’ve had a go on a few bikes with Shimano SLX / XT and I prefer the feel of the Guides - but it’s down to personal choice.

Link says £1350. Gone up??

I was planning on using the British Cycling 10% off. So £1215.

Spec is silly high for the money.

I bought vouchers from zeek when i got mine so paid 8% less than the £1215 which bought me a brand x dropper 🙂

Thanks didn’t know about the vouchers! Still can’t decide between the 2. Bossnut isn’t avalible yet though so may well be the Boardman. How are the tyres?

Tyres aren't brilliant. I ditched mine for a purgatory/butcher combo which works well.

Put the brand x dropper in as well and it' a ripper! Had a ball on mine over last 2 days!

I never tested the tyres as i thought they would be deadly. I swapped the rims for wtb i25 tubeless rims from planetx for £7.5 per rim (keeping original spoke and hubs) and went with nobby nic front and rock razor rear (setup tubeless)

No connection to me but someone is selling a boardman fs,2017 for £600 in the classifieds.....

The tyres are an ok tread pattern on the Boardman but a cheaper rubber compound. They’ll probably be fine in the summer but maybe a bit slippery on greasy / wet trails.

The bossnut evo probably has more modern geometry in the frame, but it still doesn’t touch the Boardman for spec. Recons are not as good as Pikes and the NX 1x gears lose the 10 tooth cog on the cassette. You also get worse brakes imo.

The bossnut has got wider rims that are probably tubeless compatible. The Mavic on the Boardman are only a 19mm internal width which isn’t fashionable anymore and limits your tyre width a bit.

I’d still take the Boardman I think.

Thanks, both have pros and cons then. The one in the classifieds is the Team and not the Pro unfortunately, plus it’s the wrong size 🙁

Yep - it’s better spec (by quite a lot) vs more slack geometry and probably better wheels.

Tires on the Bossnut V2:

WTB Vigilante front tire is quite good. The WTB Bee Line rear tire has a bad reputation - but I didn't had real problems so far. The Bee Line is slippery on wet grass - that's true.

I use tubes and put additional 100 ml sealant into each tube. No punctures yet.

The new Bossnut Evo has even wider rims I think and gets a "better" rear tire and a 1x11 drive train. My Bossnut V2 has a Deore 2x10 and I'am a fan of the Deore 2x10. Use nearly the same setup on other bikes.

The Bossnut is one of the bikes which makes me go out and train and I feel my skill level moving up. That's more than I expected from a 1 k bike. Some bikers hate "every gram too much" on a bike. I don't care about the weight of the bike - the Bossnut might be for a trail bike a bit on the heavy side. No problem for me so - the bike climbs very well and is a real blast going downhill.

The only thing I try to "pamper" on the Bossnut are the rear suspension bearings. Before I go into the mud I spray always some low cost silicone spray onto all linkage points. Functions as "anti stick" against mud and water.

Pretty sure the boardman is actually 67.5 deg HA i.e. not the advertised 68.5

So the calibre is 0.7 degrees slacker.

Can you not slacken the fs pro with offset bushes?

Cookci- now you mention that I think I’ve seen that comment in a review. In which case that’s a point I’m favour of the Boardman. The Pikes / GX / Guides make it far more appealing to me than the Bossnut.

The Boardman feels nice and slack. Don't ever find it twitchy...

The Boardman  is indeed slightly slacker than advertised and is also quite a long bike - it's certainly not twitchy. Very stable while still being responsive.

I thought I'd read somewhere that someone makes an aftermarket link to slacken the Boardman.

Had a quick google and can't find it. Must have been dreaming...

I like the sound of that. The offset bushes allow 1 degree of adjustment

I just googled and found it. It gives 1.5 degrees and costs £100 made by betd

@cookci, I couldn't see it on their site. Internet where am is a bit limited sat behind a firewall.

Anyway, it looks like it could worth getting one, it'll give you the option to make it superslack.

I picked up a 2014 model for £1k. Revation forks, Guide RS brakes (end of line bike so I think these were upspecced).  RT air can, X9 group set and Nobby Nics.  Also added a X-fusion Hilo dropper for £80 (Wiggle eBay bargain).

I've had no issues with any of it and the wheel bearings are easy to regrease. Wheels are still true after two years.

The FS Pro is incredible value.