BOARDMAN MTR 8.9

£1,750 A fantastic all-rounder with potential to turn into a rocket ship

The MTR 8.9 shares its geometry and suspension with the more expensive MTR 9.0, and boasts a great spec for the money. It also looks like a good platform for upgrading when you want to unlock more speed and capability.

THE FRAME

Boardman’s 6061 alloy frame has an angular, purposeful look and external cable routing. Its 145mm of rearwheel travel is provided by a Horstlink design, which in theory isolates the suspension better from braking forces than the single-pivot set-up of the Marin. Our large test bike has a 66-degree head angle and 75.5-degree seat tube angle, both middle of the road. Elsewhere, the geometry is more modern, but not extreme, with a generous 475mm reach and long 440mm chainstays. These figures should give the MTR 8.9 a balanced ride, with the head angle providing better low-speed agility than a slacker figure, and the reach and chainstays calming things down at pace.

THE KIT

The MTR’s kit represents a fantastic blend of performance, strength and cost. RockShox’s sturdy 35 Gold RL fork has beefy 35mm stanchions and 150mm of travel. At the rear, the brand’s Deluxe Select+ shock comes with external rebound damping adjustment and a lockout lever. SRAM provide their NX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain and Guide T brakes, while the Satori post has 150mm of drop on the large size. Boardman wheels are wrapped in reinforced EXO-casing Maxxis Minion DHF and DHR II tyres.

THE RIDE

Overall, the MTR 8.9 is comfortable, especially on less steep trails, where it puts you in a relaxed, well-balanced seated position. This neutrality is echoed by the suspension, which bobs very little under pedalling, so your input is rewarded with swift progress. Although it feels taut, the rear end does a good job of absorbing trail chatter as you climb. It’s impressively capable deeper into its travel, too, where it ramps up quickly enough to forgive poor line choices, and inspires confidence over bigger hits. The 35 fork is a good match up front, easily soaking up small bumps, even on steep climbs when it’s relatively unweighted.

When the gradient steepens, the seat tube angle begins to feel too relaxed. As on the Vitus, the kink in the seat tube means that the higher you run your saddle, the slacker the angle feels on the trail. We found that we had to shift our weight forward onto the saddle nose to keep the front wheel on the ground while maintaining

rear-wheel traction. This balancing act reduces the likelihood of cleaning steep technical ascents, but they need to be particularly challenging for it to be a real issue.

Working with, rather than against, gravity, the suspension’s calm and supportive feel dominates the ride. We were able to push the Boardman through turns and dig the back wheel into the ground as we would on a more expensive bike with slacker, longer geometry and more travel, without fear of the consequences. The payoff for this support is that the MTR doesn’t deliver the smoothest ride, but we’d prefer to trade some comfort and smoothness for plenty of progression. On the descents the MTR still has just enough small-bump compliance to be comfortable and grippy, though. Improving grip further are the Maxxis tyres. Although they’re made from dual- rather than triple-compound rubber, the tried-and-tested Minion tread patterns are well-suited to most trail conditions, only coming unstuck in deep, claggy mud or over ice-like roots and rocks.

We found the Boardman to be a little noisy on the descents, due to cable rattle and the chain slapping the unprotected chainstay. The fork was also prone to spiking when things got particularly rough or high-speed, although this wasn’t a frequent issue. On sustained downhills, the brakes became wooden-feeling, adding to hand fatigue caused by the grips, which were a little hard for our tastes. Despite these issues, though, we really liked the character of the MTR 8.9, and feel it’s perfectly suited to speedy trailcentre blasts. Like the Marin, it’s ripe for upgrades, which in this case we’d choose to make it a lighter, faster, mile-munching machine, rather than turning it into a downhill destroyer.

Versatile bike ideal for trail-centre riding with plenty of upgrade potential to increase speed