Boardman ADV 8.9 review: a hugely capable budget gravel bike with one minor issue

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Boardman says the ADV range of gravel bikes were conceived with versatility in mind, designed to be at home on trails and singletrack as well as wide-open gravel roads.

The bikes have lots of fittings for luggage-carrying and mudguard mounts, with the ADV 8.9 a great commuting option, too.

The ADV 8.9 sits one below Boardman’s top aluminium gravel bike and shares the same frame and fork.

It's a slick-looking, smooth-welded 6061 aluminium frameset and carbon fork with Shimano's GRX 2x10 groupset and hydraulic brakes, tubeless-ready wheels and quality tyres that go way beyond its budget price tag.

Boardman ADV 8.9 frame

The ADV frame is built from butted 6061 aluminium. Such is the quality of the finishing, with its smooth welds and matt paint finish, it could easily be mistaken for carbon.

The sloping top tube has a flattened top – a smart choice because it adds stability to any top-tube bag attached to the bento box mounts.

The kinked down tube features two-position bottle bosses on its topside, with a further set underneath. The seat tube adds a third bottle-mounting option.

The slender dropped seatstays feature both rack and mudguard mounts.

Home mechanics will appreciate the simple cable routing, where the cables and rear brake hose enter at the down tube (rather than through the headset).

The rear derailleur cable runs underneath the chainstay, making adjustments and maintenance simpler than full internally routed designs.

At the front, the carbon fork has triple ‘anything’ mounts on the legs, along with a drilled crown, and mudguard eyelets on the fork's inside face.

Boardman ADV 8.9 geometry

The ADV’s geometry is well thought-out. A relaxed 71.5-degree head angle on my large test bike is matched with a road-bike-like 73-degree seat angle, with a stack of 599mm and a compact 393mm reach.

The fork offset of 50mm, combined with the 40mm-wide tyre, creates a 63mm trail, which should add plenty of stability when things get rough.

The 430mm chainstays extend the wheelbase and allow for a generous tyre clearance of 50mm. That means the ADV is right on trend with the increasing popularity of wider tyres for gravel.

Overall, the ADV’s geometry is well considered – its relaxed head angle and handling stability should prove a boon to beginners and experienced riders alike.

The compact ride position tips the ADV towards a more endurance-biased fit than racier designs such as the Specialized Crux DSW.

Boardman ADV 8.9 specifications

The 8.9 build is based around a Shimano GRX RX400 groupset with a 2x10-speed setup.

It deviates from the full suite of Shimano parts with a 2-piece Prowheel crankset with 40/36T chainrings. At the rear, it uses an 11-36t cassette.

This combination provides a good spread for both road and trail use, with a 40/11 top end and 36/36 lightest gear.

The latter gives a 1:1 ratio, which should be more than enough for the steepest gravel ramps.

The alloy Boardman ADV wheelset is tubeless-ready, a rare sight on bikes at this price. They are shod with Goodyear Connector tubeless tyres, again a great choice here.

Boardman provides the finishing kit, with a combination of a smartly finished alloy stem and a 42cm-wide alloy bar with a subtle flare.

The seatpost is a larger-than-usual 31.6mm-diameter unit, but this opens the possibility of upgrading to a dropper post in the future.

The Boardman ADV saddle is plushly padded with a shallow pressure-relieving channel.

Overall, this represents a solid build that puts a good deal of the budget into the parts that really matter.

Boardman ADV 8.9 ride impressions

The ADV 8.9 is an easy bike to like. The compact ride position is comfortable, without being too upright. That makes for fun and forgiving handling in the rough, yet a relaxed, easy-going, stable nature on both tarmac and gravel roads.

Its middling 10.5kg weight never feels like a burden, even compared to the lightweight Crux DSW, which comes in 0.75kg lighter.

That’s largely down to the winning combination of good wheels and great tyres for the dry conditions of my test period.

On the road, I was able to hold a pace just a few miles per hour from road-bike level, and the good gear spread made climbs a breeze. I’d have appreciated a little more at the top end on a couple of fast, smooth road descents, though.

However, I’m happy for that trade-off when it comes to all-around gravel performance.

Despite the Prowheel crankset, it still shifted well enough at the front. However, I found that when at the extremes at each end of the cassette, I could induce plenty of chain rub on the front derailleur.

A quick tweak and tensioning of the cable helped reduce it, although it was never quite cured, something that also happened with the Focus Atlas 6.7 I've been testing, which shares the same RX400 GRX groupset.

The Shimano brakes are impressive, offering lots of feel, plenty of modulation at my fingertips and high levels of power.

I expected the ADV 8.9 to be a less competent bike when the going got rough and the trails became more technical. So, I was pleasantly surprised by how capable it felt.

It’s stable on gravel roads, double-track byways and bridleways. The front end maintains its composure through ruts and tractor tyre tracks well and the 40mm tyres do a good job of muting dips and bumps – even set up clincher from the factory.

A conversion to tubeless is easy, with the compatible rims and tyres, after which you can experiment with tyre pressures to a greater extent.

What really impressed me, however, was the way it felt on more technical terrain; the bike's compact design makes it feel agile. When the trails head downwards, its feeling of balance gives you confidence in spades.

It may not have the out-and-out, go-anywhere nature of the Focus Atlas, nor the edge-of-your-seat nimble, flickable nature of the Specialized Crux DSW, but it delivers a happy medium between the two.

Boardman ADV 8.9 bottom line

If you’re looking to get into gravel riding and don’t want to spend a fortune, the ADV 8.9 is a brilliant option.

The frameset is a highlight. It's well finished, with a great geometry and all of the fixtures and fittings needed should you want to try bikepacking, touring, or simply load up the ADV 8.9 with racks and mudguards to serve as a go-anywhere commuter bike.

Front-derailleur niggles aside, this is a brilliant gravel bike, packed with value and a great basis for lots of adventures should you choose to upgrade it down the line, or not.

If your budget is tighter, the ADV 8.8 at £950 shares the same frameset and wheels and switches to a gravel-specific Microshift Sword groupset, which on paper looks like a serious bargain.

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