BOARDMAN SLR 8.9c
Classic carbon road bike hits the right notes
Boardman’s SLR 8.9c was in the top 10 last year – and as it’s unchanged it’s no surprise to find it well up the ratings again. To hit the £1000 price Boardman has had to go with Shimano’s 10-speed Tiagra rather than 105, and make a few other cost-cutting measures. But all of these are easily forgivable considering the quality of the frame and the ride that it delivers.
The original Boardman Carbon Team, launched over a decade ago, came with SRAM rather than Shimano – but, crucially, the geometry is very similar.
All the cabling is now internally routed and the semi-compact frame features dropped, slimline seatstays and what Boardman says are “much more aerodynamic tube profiles to give riders an increase in speed for the same effort”. The fork is a full-carbon tapered affair and the bottom bracket shell is an oversized PF86. The Boardman-branded wheels may be modest but they’ll take 28mm tyres and are tubeless-ready.
The SLR 8.9c has a light-feeling, lively handling ride but one that’s not too twitchy for commuting or everyday riding. The carbon has more-than-adequate comfort for long-distance riding and I got in loads of miles on this over the winter and spring with barely a murmur of discomfort. And some of this will be down to the changes from the original Boardman Carbon Team. The first, 2009 models had the thenpopular 31.6mm seatpost and near-horizontal top tube. Now it’s a more compact frame, complete with up-to-date aerofriendly features and a narrower 27.2mm seatpost. The result is a post that offers a bit more foreand-aft deflection, which combines with the dropped seatstays for both excellent comfort and a tight and efficient
rear triangle. The saddle’s pretty decent too: manufactured by the saddle expert Velo especially for Boardman, its shape strongly echoes that of the Fizik Antares.
The geometry bridges the gap between performance and race bike, making it ideal for fast riding without putting you in a very extreme – and potentially uncomfortable – position; it’s fine for tackling Strava or sportive PBs.
The ride of the carbon SLR 8.9 belies its budget price, and then some. It’s smooth and composed, the carbon easily softening road bumps and taking the edge off chatter. The 25mm tyres are okay and on the carbon model the rims are tubeless-ready, which is a big plus. Go up to the rims’ maximum 28mm tyre width and switch to tubeless for even more comfort.
But this is just one area in which the 8.9c scores heavily. Boardman has also moved with the times and the SLR 8.9c is very much a bike of our era – the frame was developed with the help of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) so, while not an aero bike, the truncated aerofoil tube profiles will have drag-reducing properties.
It’s sufficiently stiff for those of us this side of Chris Hoy, with a little flex during full-on sprints and out-of-the-saddle climbing; the wheels aren’t super-stiff either. But that’s more than made up for by its day-long endurance-friendly geometry and the comfort that imbues.
But Boardman’s SLR 8.9c is in a class with very few competitors. If you want carbon and don’t want to splash more than £1000 of your cash it’s a close call between this and Ribble’s newest R872. I’d have appreciated a lower bottom gear and the Boardman’s brakes aren’t the best of the bunch.
But the comfort of carbon gives it that dash of smoothness as well as definite cachet, and you barely notice the drop down to 10-speed Tiagra. Its tubelessready rims add to your ability to upgrade it too. The weight is only a little higher than the lightest bikes in our top 10 and it’s fractionally heavier than the Ribble but the difference isn’t discernible, and with the help of its stiff frame and some aero features the Boardman can be pretty speedy should the mood take you.
“It has a light, livelyhandling ride that’s not too twitchy for commuting or everyday riding”