Felt AR5 Vs Boardman Team Carbon

Bignaldo

Just wondering if anyone has a preference to any of these two bikes. Will be using for sprint triathlons and training rides.

Boardman Team Carbon- SRAM Rival group set - gets great reviews and is 1250euro. - looks ok
Felt AR5, looks fantastic - 105 groupset, 1999 euro (ouch), but there are few reviews on line.

Not sure whether to part with an additional 750 euro, but summer is coming and I have to decide!

Think I might get a little buzz everytime I take out the felt! but value for money the boardman wins hands down. Cant decide. Please help me make up my mind!

Doc_Savage

city cycles have a lot of felts in stock go down check one out and see if the extra buzz is €750 eurons worth of buzz!

brayblue24

OP,

I am selling my Felt AR4. It's only 6 months old and if you're interested we can sort out a price. I have a trade in agreed with my LBS but if it suits......

It has the Ultegra set and this is the ad I had up on the adverts forum

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055863018

Bignaldo

Would love to buy your AR4 - (tasty machine), but I am hopefully going to buy a new bike through the cycle to work scheme. I wonder can you buy quick release saddle bags I can put on the new bike when the boss is around?

Why would you posibly want to sell something as beautiful as the AR4? I would hang it on the wall like a piece of art instead!

brayblue24

To be fair it's a beauty and I can't fault it but it just wasn't for me. I was hoping to go down the road of Triathlons but have changed my mind and am going back to Specialized as it's more of and all rounder.

For what it's worth I would reccommend the Felt-there's nothing per se wrong with it. They are lighter than what I was used to but against that the Boardman keeps getting rave reviews. Happy hunting

bones36

I got a boardman on the btw scheme and never looked back, no matter what bike you buy off the shelf, you are goin to eventually upgrade components, i v upgraded wheels to fulcrum racing 1s, 2nd hand, also a sella italia saddle and a set of t2 tri bars, the bike now stands me 1750, still €300 under the ar5, and i think youd have a lot more bike for ur buck, but when your getting ur bike, think down the road to when ur upgrading components. good luck. see pics

Lumen

bones36 wrote: »

I got a boardman on the btw scheme and never looked back

Ah, stability issues; I knew it was too good to be true.

I can ride my Planet-X with no hands whilst looking over my shoulder.

bones36

Iv been on this bike at 65kph on a decent, not sure what your saying, but looking over your shoulder with no hands is a new way of riding a bike to me, there is little or no flex from the bike, the ride is harsh and aggressive, but new saddle soaks up the pain. would`nt change it.

blorg

bones36 wrote: »

Iv been on this bike at 65kph on a decent,

I've got up to 67kph on my Planet X.

velo.2010

bones36 wrote: »

Iv been on this bike at 65kph on a decent, not sure what your saying, but looking over your shoulder with no hands is a new way of riding a bike to me, there is little or no flex from the bike, the ride is harsh and aggressive, but new saddle soaks up the pain. would`nt change it.

Funny I got up to 65kph descending off Saggart Hill last week on a Boardman. Detected a slight wobble, hoping it was just meeting the wind at a particular angle that moved the bike.

If it was a pre-full on shimmy I would be nervy next time.

DirkVoodoo

I got a wobble descending of Calary into Kilmacanogue on my Planet-X, as witnessed by the user with the same name. It was a side wind thought and not the bike.

Lumen

Note to self: must make jokes more obvious.

velo.2010

I got the joke, yer man Bones didn't!

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

Note to self: must make jokes more obvious.

I think the joke was fairly obvious, you probably need to make more use of those smilies.

bones36

Point takin Lumen,
i really must get out more often , maybe if u put knock knock in front of it, i would of copped it.
drat.:(

iregk

The only thing is the Boardman is exclusive to Halfords and as far as I know they do not honour the bike to work scheme as they have a different voucher system.

delynet

I got a Boardman Team Carbon from Halfords in Sligo and they do the bike to work scheme. In fact they have leaflets on their counters about it.

c montgomery

I also got a boardman bike through the cycle to work scheme in halfords cork. They are an excellent bike and are hard to beat at the price.

bones36

They do in conjunction with one4all voucher system. fairly painless.

Bignaldo

Thanks for the advice bones, I was 99 percent sure i was gona go for the boardman, now I just have to splash the cash. Ar5 may look the part, but its not worth the extra750 squid.

On another subject, do you use a turbo trainer to rack up the miles when the weather is crappy. Is it a good investment? Got to find a way to get more miles on the legs. With two young kiddies to look after its hard to find time to get on the road. Thought doing a few miles in the garage after dark may be the answer, what do you think?

Nietzschean

Bignaldo wrote: »

Thanks for the advice bones, I was 99 percent sure i was gona go for the boardman, now I just have to splash the cash. Ar5 may look the part, but its not worth the extra750 squid.

On another subject, do you use a turbo trainer to rack up the miles when the weather is crappy. Is it a good investment? Got to find a way to get more miles on the legs. With two young kiddies to look after its hard to find time to get on the road. Thought doing a few miles in the garage after dark may be the answer, what do you think?

lights.. be mad to be indoors with this weather whatever time of day

bones36

likewise, dont mind the weather, cover up well and get out there.buy the wife flowers more often, i have 4 small kids and the flower thing is working a treat for the training, if u cant cycle get running or swimming. leave the trainer until winter. good call on the bike.