Hoy vs Boardman

[Duffzilla]

Hi guys, I'm researching a simple, light bike for commuting. Looking for rigid front forks, disc brakes and just a single front crank for simplicity, so I've narrowed it down to:

Hoy Shizouka 001 vs Boardman URB 8.8

Wildcard: Marin Fairfax SC4

Budget up to £700. Thoughts? My gut says Boardman but is it overpriced compared to the Hoy?

Thanks

[landsurfer]

Boardman is a cycle brand. Hoy is a sticker attached by a marketing company to generic cycles various.

[Duffzilla]

Boardman is a cycle brand. Hoy is a sticker attached by a marketing company to generic cycles various.

Hmmm, interesting point well made...

Anyone got any thoughts on the URB 8.8 vs 8.9? Worth the extra £150 for carbon forks and hub gears?

[belgiangoth]

No, not for me, I don't like hub gears.
I used to commute on canal towpaths throughout the year and never had a serious issue with my gears, I also never had an issue with being in the wrong gear at traffic lights. I have regularly had to change rear tyres due to punctures, which is much less convenient with a hub gear.

The only hub gear I would consider would be a rohloff on a tourer.

[The utility cyclist]

Not single speed but for similar money you can get the Pinnacle Lithium 5, that comes with Deore 10x3
Ridgeback Flight 4 with hub gear for £500 from Biketart, there's only one in a 52cm and orange/silver but £450 off from new https://www.biketart.com/bikes-c1/hybri ... -04-p12156
If you're on the shorter side they also have a Genesis Skyline 10 for £400 https://www.biketart.com/bikes-c1/hybri ... 017-p21113 or a Ridgeback Flight 02 in the two small sizes.
i'd go for carbon forks all day long, but i wouldn't narrow my choice to a single ring bike or discs either.
luck hunting

[tim-b]

Hi
Simple, light and hydraulic disc brakes don't go together, rim brakes are fine for commuting. I understand that you'll hear about rims wearing out in winter conditions but the reality is that this will take many thousands of miles and several winters
Regards
tim-b

[Bez]

Simple, light and hydraulic disc brakes don't go together, rim brakes are fine for commuting.

Sorry, why don't these go together?

And rim brakes may be fine but IME rim brakes when you're commuting means you'll have a bike that's constantly covered in black brake muck. It'll get on your luggage if you carry it, it'll probably get on your shoes, it'll get on your locks and then to your hands… I hate it. I can't justify replacing my commuter but if I did there's no way I'd have rim brakes. YMMV.

[tim-b]

Hi

Sorry, why don't these go together?

Hydraulic disc brakes aren't simple to service and repair, especially at the roadside, and at this price point they aren't light in comparison to a rim brake either
Regards
tim-b

[Bez]

Discs are a little heavier than rim brakes, sure, but it's not much in the grand scheme of things. But when was the last time you needed to service brakes at the roadside? I've never had to do it once with discs, in nearly 20 years of using them. You should probably also advise the OP to steer clear of hub gears because they're a pain to dismantle and service at the roadside

[reohn2]

If you want brakes that stop as good in the wet as they do in dry weather buy a bike with discs

[Bonefishblues]

Boardman is a cycle brand. Hoy is a sticker attached by a marketing company to generic cycles various.

Which is interesting in itself, but which is the better bike?

OP, surprised there's no Whyte on your list.

[pjclinch]

I'd personally get hub gears on a commuter, particularly if your local council puts a lot of salt down. My wife and I both use hubs on our urban hacks, and neither of us are that keen on cleaning the drive train every trip in winter. I have derailleurs and hub gears on regularly used bikes, and I prefer the hubs for day-to-day, but I can see why some people prefer derailleurs (lighter, usually more to choose from, more efficient). For me though, it's a hub by choice unless it's sports equipment: every change is reliable and the cleaning burden is much lower.

On the hydraulic discs, yes they're not roadside serviceable, but on the other hand IME they need much less servicing. My tourer has hydraulic rim brakes, bought on the promise that aside from changing the blocks once in a while they were as close to fit-and-forget as reasonably possible. That was about 10 years ago, and I've never done anything except fit new blocks once in a while (and turn the wee thumbwheel that sets the action point of the lever, which is "maintenance" to the same degree as moving a QR seatpost up an inch). In the same time I have done a great deal of fettling and fiddling with rim brakes (Vs and DPs) on my other bikes. In action, hydraulics give you all the power you need with fingertip pressure, which amounts to more fine control. Given a choice of hydraulic discs or mechanical rims I'd go for the discs. And I'd put the hydraulics over the discs: much brake maintenance is buggering about with cables, and aside from adjusting for length I've got through several sets of inners and a fair few oters in the same time my hydraulics have just sat there and worked beautifully. Rim wear is a bit of a non-issue: I have worn out one, once, which took about 15 years of regular riding and being a Brom it was a wee wheel and thus with far more concentrated wear, so I don't worry about rim wear, I just like brakes that work better with more sensitivity and consistency (over time and across different conditions).

If you ride much in the dark on your commute I'd consider a hub dynamo. Modern lights are much less fuss than older ones, but it's still nice to be able to get on and know you have working lights whenever you need them.

Also, consider second hand. My £600 MTB cost me £300: it had been ridden a few times. My wife's Boardman road bike cost £350 rather than about a grand: rather more used than my MTB, but excellently cared for. New, I'd go for a Boardman over a Hoy because while I'd say that suggesting Hoy is just a sticker is a bit of an insult to Sir Chris, I don't think it'll have the same degree of Clueful thought gone in to it as a CB. Second hand, however, there's less choice and if I saved £500 by getting a reasonable Hoy then that's £500.

Pete.

[PH]

And rim brakes may be fine but IME rim brakes when you're commuting means you'll have a bike that's constantly covered in black brake muck. It'll get on your luggage if you carry it, it'll probably get on your shoes, it'll get on your locks and then to your hands… I hate it. I can't justify replacing my commuter but if I did there's no way I'd have rim brakes. YMMV.

OT - Get some of these rims and that muck is a thing of the past, expensive compared to other rims, though the longevity can make them good value if you avoid other methods of failure.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rims-tape/3 ... all-black/

[Bez]

Got some Mavic ceramics on other bikes and yes, they certainly seem cleaner. (Not sure how much, though: they see quite different use to the commuter.)

[andrew_s]

Simple, light and hydraulic disc brakes don't go together, rim brakes are fine for commuting. I understand that you'll hear about rims wearing out in winter conditions but the reality is that this will take many thousands of miles and several winters

I've worn out a rim in about 8 months, road riding only.

However, the main advantage of disc brakes is that they work straight away when it's wet, without the 2 or 3 second delay that you get whilst rim brakes clear water off the rim.
That's particularly important when commuting, as you have to go to work no matter how much it's raining, and there are lots of other people also going to work who may do something you weren't expecting.