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After a bit of help please.
Replacimg my v brake rigid inbred and wanting a entry level Hardtail. Every review and mag at the moment is singing the praises for the Vitus Nucleus and saying nothing can touch it so that was the obvious choice.
Since spotted the boardman which is similar price and to me looks better specced 1x10 rather than 2x9 etc I prefer the spec of the boardman but am I missing something? Does the Vitus have better geometry and generally be a better ride ?
The boardman was £750 according to Halfords so maybe why it's not been reviewed in this price bracket although I suspect it's typical Halfords pricing and always in a sale
Thanks in advance !
Vitus
I’d take the Nucleus just about. Forks are similar - maybe the Halfords one is slightly higher up the range but it’s qr vs the bolt through boost spacing of the Vitus one.
Brakes I think are similar.
Wheels on the Vitus have branded rims that’ll play nicely with tubeless - hub wise difficult to compare so I’d call it a draw.
Frame - the Vitus has more reach / shorter seat tube / shorter chainstays / slacker head angle for any given size so I’d say this is where the Vitus punches above the Boardman.
Drivetrain - yes I’d much rather have 1x10 deore than the 2x9 Altus - but you could swap this out easily enough at a later date.
The Vitus also has better tyres which is good at this price- the wtb front tyre is specified in the high grip version rather than having some cheapie plastic tyres you normally get on a bike of this price.
The model that is £100 more expensive at £650 has the 1x10 drivetrain that you’d ideally like btw.
Vitus will be more fun and worth upgrading in future
Boardman currently £520!I bought one in the last January sale and have grown to like it immensely.
I don’t do hardcore down hill mountain biking but with that proviso it has coped with all sorts of terrain without issue.
The first thing I did was to go tubeless on the supplied wheels and also changed the saddle to a Fabric one.Gears work as they should but brakes were inadequate and I changed them for a set of Shimano BR395 off eBay for less than £50.Once air pressure was set the forks worked fine with no issues.
My local Halfords (Exeter) assembled it with no problems and after more than 1000 miles all I have had to do is re index the gears after the few weeks and clean and oil it.Coming up to a new chain and rear tyre (too many cycle track miles) but no breakages or repairs.