Boardman SLR 9.2 Carbon

£2,500 Speed and sensibility in a value-loaded package

- Warren Rossiter

Weight 8.6kg (L) Frame 'C10' carbon fibre Fork 'C10' carbon fibre Groupset Shimano 105 Di2 (50/34t, 11-34t) Wheels Alex alloy road, 30mm, tubeless ready Tyres Goodyear Eagle, tubeless ready, 700c x 30mm Finishing kit Boardman Aero Alloy handlebar (40cm), Boardman SLR ICR stem (120mm), Boardman Two Position Aero D-Shaped Carbon seatpost, Prologo Scratch M5 saddle

The new Boardman SLR Carbon is a performance road bike built to handle British conditions. While older incarnations of the SLR were designed for flat-out racing, it evolved into more of a performance-orientated endurance platform in 2021, and that's still largely the case with this update.

Boardman don't go into much detail about the type of carbon fibre used in the frame but say the 9.2 model features a "high-grade" 'C10' carbon blend, while a "medium-grade" 'C7' mix is used on the 9.0 and 8.9. They also say the aerodynamic shaping was developed using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) modelling and wind tunnel testing. Despite these race-focused optimisations, the SLR has a host of practical features, designed to make it better to ride in poor weather.

Sensibly speedy