Carbon Road
Trek 2.1 vs Boardman Road Team Carbon Road Bike?
For a (fit, ex-runner) beginner on a road bike, which is a better bike? Hoping to do some road racing for a club at some point but need something to start off with.
The Boardman bike has a carbon fibre frame where the Trek is aluminium but the Trek has a lifetime guarantee and the guys in the shop know what they are talking about and swear by the quality of the bike, where as the blokes in Halfords selling the Boardman don't have a clue.
Any advice?
Boardmans have had good reviews from the bike magazines, but its all down to preference.
A big difference between the two is the groupsets (the gears, chainsets etc.) The boardman uses a sram rival groupset, the trek a shimano 105 groupset. The main difference is the ratios that they use are different. the SRAM uses a 1:1 ratio, (for every 1mm of cable pulled by the shifter, the deraillieur is pulled 1mm) which is supposed to require less maintenece than shimano's 2:1 ratio. This may be worth bearing in mind if you are a beginner.
Although carbon frames are lighter and stronger than aluminium, a crash can make a carbon frame unrideable. Thats where trek's lifetime warranty may prove to be valuable.
I do have experiences with boardmans, and they do seem to be finished well. However because of the trek name is well established, it will hold it's value more if you come to sell it on.
At the end of the day, its got to be what feels right with you.
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