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TECH NEWS
Boardman Road Pro Carbon.jpgJust in: Boardman Road Pro Disc, new £1,499 carbon road bike with hydraulic disc brakes
This is the new Boardman Road Pro Disc, and it’s the highlight of the updated Boardman range, which we went to the launch of in Wales a few weeks ago. The reason I say it’s a highlight is because you’re getting a full carbon fibre frameset with Shimano’s latest 105 hydraulic disc brakes, all for £1,499. Talk about a bargain.
The Boardman range is split between the Elite lineup, full of very racy and top-end bikes, and the Performance models, which is where this Road Pro Disc lives. The Performance range also covers cyclocross and hybrid bikes as well as road bikes, and prices extend from £499 to £1,799.
This bike features a brand new frame designed specifically for disc brakes. Pegged as a sporty road bike with an endurance geometry, it is more relaxed than a race bike, but not quite as tall as a typical sportive model. It’s well-proportioned and a looker in this silver paint job.
There’s internally routed cables in the fork and frame and a press-fit bottom bracket. Axles are of the conventional quick release type, no thru-axles here. It’s a shame to see the use of post mount, and not the more modern Flat Mount, for attaching the disc calipers to the frame and fork. This doesn’t make any difference to the actual functionality and performance of the brakes, it’s more about the adoption of the latest standards. And Flat Mount brakes look nicer. But Flat Mount brake calipers are still scarce.
A Shimano 105 5800 11-speed mechanical groupset is combined with an FSA Gossamer Pro chainset, used because the frame has a PR30 bottom bracket and Shimano doesn’t make a chainset with a 30mm axle.
The chainset has our favourite 52-36 chainring configuration, which is a nice balance between the spinny ratios of a compact and the clout of a standard double. There’s a 12-28 cassette out back which should be enough to bail you out on the ascents.
The 105 brake levers operate the new RS505 hydraulic disc brakes, with 160mm rotors front and rear. They use technology first featured in Dura-Ace and Ultegra mechanical shift/hydraulic brake levers, but do introduce a new hood shape that is dividing of opinion.
Like most manufacturers, Boardman keeps the bike on budget by using a lot of own-brand equipment. Nothing wrong with that, and all the kit on this bike looks fit for purpose. There are Boardman-branded aluminium aero shaped rims laced to Shimano hubs with Vittoria Zaffiro Pro 25mm tyres. There is space for 30mm tyres but, in case you're wondering, there are no mudguard eyelets.
A Boardman Alloy handlebar and matching stem are sized accordingly to match the frame size - that means a 120mm stem and 440mm wide bar on this XL bike - while a 31.6mm Boardman Carbon seatpost is topped off with a Prologo New Nago Evo saddle.
The Road Pro Disc is available in just four sizes, 51.5 to 57.5cm. We’ve got the largest size in for Big Dave to test, and it measures up with a 585mm top tube, 195mm head tube, 73-degree seat and head angles, 415mm chainstays and 68mm bottom bracket drop. It weighs 8.78kg (19.4lb).
This is one of the cheapest carbon fibre disc-equipped road bikes we’ve yet had in the office. Boardman as a brand is very competitive on price, and Shimano’s new RS505 hydraulic brake levers make it possible for manufacturers to make a hydraulic disc road bike more affordable than ever previously imagined.
As a result, there isn’t much we’ve previously tested to compare it with. A quick search reveals the new Cannondale CAAD12 Disc 105, which is the same price and has the same Shimano 105 disc brake build kit, but has an aluminium frame. This difference just serves to highlight how good value the Boardman really is.
Another good comparison, though it's pitched more as a comfort and all-road sort of bike, is the Pinnacle Dolomite 5. Like the Cannondale, it has an aluminium frame, but it uses the same RS505 hydraulic disc brakes with a largely 105 drivetrain. The best thing though is the price, it's just £999. It's the cheapest bike we've just tested with proper hydraulic disc brakes.
The bike is being tested now so we can see if it lives up to its promise.
More info on the Boardman at www.boardmanbikes.com
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
Latest Comments
- David9694 1 hour 2 min ago
I hope you're all checking your insurance policies, helmets, test certificates and road tax, it's the 2024 round-up...
- check12 2 hours 42 min ago
200 people out of a close by population of how many? Just build it and stop being a wuss
- Spangly Shiny 4 hours 15 min ago
To paraphrase Field of Dreams, "Build it right and they will come: and use it!"
- Rendel Harris 6 hours 36 min ago
And a Happy Christmas to you, road.cc staff!
- Rendel Harris 7 hours 24 min ago
The odds of not being able to find a single pedestrian - just one, note, "any pedestrian" - in an area containing more than about ten of them who...
- bikeman01 9 hours 3 min ago
I love how wannabe racer reviewers talk about fork flex under braking like their tyres are made of glue. I find traction gives long before fork flex.
- hawkinspeter 10 hours 10 min ago
They don't make them like they used to
- LongitudeLatitude 11 hours 1 min ago
Thanks for using my picture of chocolate in your opening picture. The original can be found here, chocolate! | LongitudeLatitude | Flickr.
- lesterama 11 hours 28 min ago
Fair comments. I'll put my hands up and say I got the wrong end of the stick with this one. ¡Feliz navidad! Here's a pic for the season of goodwill.
- Mike Holmes 11 hours 32 min ago
A trip down memory lane (or street) for me - Harry Quinn's bike shop was at the top of our Street and I used to spend time staring at the bikes and...
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20 comments
Why no eyes for mudguards or a rear rack?. Fatal errors on a not full on race bike to be used in the UK. They cost and weigh virtually nothing and broaden the potential customer base. I don't like getting a wet backside on wet rides. Sorry, this one's not for me, shame because it was up there until I saw that.
Also, press fit BB is a poor design in carbon. The one my Trek Madone had to go back to Trek to have a liner fitted after it became loose in less than 6000 miles. I expect it go again one day...... I'll not buy another press fit one that just presses straight into the carbon.
FSA chainset on my own Ultegra equipped steed, and happy as Larry about it. Other campag steed has chorus, veloce and even xenon bits, but it works just fine too. Some components seem to go better with other brand components, mismatched or not.
Granted it doesn't carry the groupset name throughout the setup. And for some that matters, for me, it doesn't matter at all. It works. I like to sing my own harmony with different notes perhaps.
Suggesting that the shape of the Shimano 505 brake hoods is "dividing of opinion" is a hell of a positive spin on the feedback I had when testing the Pinnacle
I've heard a lot of discussion about cheap carbon frame vs decent alloy (as the latter being worthwhile over the former). Any feel on that frame at the minute? Is it better having a potantially lacustre C frame vs. a lively Al one?
I quite like the colour scheme. Like a Boardman Ninja...
CAAD12 105 disc weighs in at 18.92lbs in a 56cm Dave, it's not all about carbon..but you know that..
No mudguard eyelets is a pity, with them it would make a great value commuter.
Cannondale for me. I'd like to say it was because I think I'll be getting a better frame, or because I think it'll hold it's value better, but it comes down to two things:
- The paintjob on the Boardman is, to my eyes, not nice. Way too much Kawasaki green.
- The font used in the Boardman decal on the downtube is awful.
To be honest, both are spoiled by those horrendous Shimano levers. I know, shallow. It's a little strange that there are no mudguard eyelets, given how suited this is to winter riding and Mr. Boardman's enthusiasm towards utility cycling.
back on the subject of the chainset for a minute, the new Gossamer Pro is the same weight as the 105 chainset and functionally I can't really tell them apart. It does have a 30mm axle which in theory should make it stiffer than the 24mm-axled 105 unit but I certainly haven't noticed that. RRP of the FSA chainset is more than the Shimano one, although I expect Boardman get a (very) good OEM deal.
Should be stiffer and lighter Dave as most 30mm spindles are alloy and Shimano 24mm are steel. However that's at the axle, I haven't ridden those arms to know if they have similar stiffness to Shimano.
Also factor in the frame that has a BB or PF30 shell is 'normally' stiffer than a frame with a BSA BB.
Overall, 30mm crankBB AND frame should provide a laterally stiffer pedalling platform.
Any more grandmothers that need to suck an egg?
Seems like a good deal compared to other brands.
Its "at the back" in english and "out back" in american". Please write in english!!
If we're being picky then it's "it's", not "its". "English" really needs a capital E, and "American" a capital A. And you've got a stray quote mark in there. And what's with the double exclamation mark? Horace Hart will be turning in his grave.
But really I'd rather we weren't picky, because everyone can understand what "out back" means.
And Muphry's law dictates that I too will have made a mistake.
Interested that you dismiss the CAAD12 so readily. On the face of it they're direct competitors - same groupset, similarly racy geo.
Not sure they did dismiss it did they ? They mentioned two comparable bikes, one the CAAD12 which they merely pointed out had a different (usually cheaper) frame material and hence emphasised the value part of the Boardman.
I suppose they targeted a sub £1500 price but I'd pay another 10 or 20 quid to get the proper 105 chainset. Don't get me wrong this is stonking value but for me the 105 chainset is far better looking than the alternatives that a lot of companies are using to hit a price point.
PF30 BB's are just much easier to make so I think that's why they go down this route. With the last two bikes I bought adaptors so that I could use shimano chainsets :-P
funny that, whenever we stick up a review of a shimano groupset there's usually a comment about how it's the ugliest chainset ever. tastes vary I suppose...
It's terrible isn't it, and makes no real sense below the high end stuff. Nothing to trigger bike OCD more than a mix and mismatch groupset!
It's a steal.
zing!