On video: Boardman range 2009 launch

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We've been up to the Manchester Velodrome at the behest of Halfords to check out the brand new 2009 range of bikes from Boardman. The man himself was there, of course, as was Nicole Cooke who piloted the Boardman Road Pro to Olympic and World success. The range is a little bigger for the coming year: five road bikes, four urban bikes and a singlespeed too - you gotta have one.

Probably the stand out model on the road side was the £1499 Road Pro Carbon, which is the Olympic and World Championship winning frame kitted out with SRAM force running gear.

Chris was at great pains to point out that the frame is the exact same frame ridden by Nicole, not a lookalike, and to be able to buy a 16.2lb race machine with such a good recent pedigree is, frankly, astonishing. How do they do that?

The race spec – essentially the exact bike that Nicole Cooke rides – weighs in at 14.8lb (we weighed them ourselves just to make sure, and they're not making this up), so to make it race legal you'll have to add a bit of weight somewhere. Zipp carbon wheels and SRAM Red make up the componentry, and the whole thing sells for a penny under three grand. We'll add more to this soon, but we thought you'd like to see what Chris thinks of the new range toppers in the urban and road ranges.

Click here for the Boardman gallery