Boardman bikes, the eponymous bike brand of one Chris Boardman, have made big changes for 2016. While the bikes maintain a relation to last year’s models in frame design terms, an awful lot more has changed. The branding, paintjobs, names and spec have all been altered, making for a huge and impressive range that covers pretty much every conceivable base.
Since Boardman were bought by Halfords last year, changes have been in the works, and part of this was a new direction for the brand. The team sat down and decided that the core philosophy needed to be bikes that they themselves would want to ride, and the new tag line ‘out there with you’ is a reflection of that. Part of this re-finding of the brand’s core values has been a redesign of the logo and a different font on the downtubes of the bikes. It’s a bold move, as the Boardman brand has grown from strength to strength over the last few years, but a step away from that older branding will allow Boardman to position themselves in a slightly different section of the marketplace.
In terms of the bikes, Boardman have overhauled specs across the board, and will offer some of the first machines we’ve seen equipped with SRAM’s new-for-2016 Red eTap groupset. Also brand new for 2016 is the SLR Titanium.
Boardman have also launched a totally new website which you should check out, as it offers a host of new features including the brand’s first custom bike configurator which uses 17 different colours to offer what Boardman claim is 5,202 different colour combinations (we haven’t counted them, so we’ll take their word for it). It’ll be available on all Elite series frames and, in case you’re interested, the paintjobs are done by Enigma, who are extremely well respected in that field besides making their own steel and titanium frames.
That’s not all, as Boardman also have new clothing, accessories and a whole wheel range stemming from alloy clinchers all the way to top-end carbon, which will be available both on bikes as shop spec and as stand alone wheelsets.
