The story behind Boardman Bikes' Elite SLS 9. 0 Complete Road Bike begins with an absence. With a claimed weight of just 850g, the SLS frame leaves a lot of extra material and undo weight off of the spec sheet. The story continues through the frame's endurance-minded geometry, especially in the rear triangle. The seatstays are slightly flattened and bowed to soak up road noise, and the 41cm chainstays and tall head tube make for an upright geometry and long wheelbase for a ride that's more stable and doesn't require the constant babysitting of a twitchy race frame. Endurance comfort doesn't mean the SLS 9. 0 is a slack-jawed dawdler, though. The chain stays are engineered with a peculiar, boxy cross-section that reduces torsional and lateral flex, which means more power goes into the road to propel to the frame's barely-there weight up climbs or across rolling terrain. The Toray carbon fiber of the frame itself is laid-up with targeted zones of power transfer through the drivetrain spine, which shuttles watts through the tapered head tube, squared down tube, and through the oversized PF30 bottom bracket. The SLS 9. 0's kit is equal to the all-day quality of the frame's efficiency, comfort, and low weight. Boardman specs it with Shimano's 105 drivetrain and Mavic's Aksium wheels. When it comes to kit, these components are among the most tried, most trusted, and most beloved items in the industry, with all the durability for off-season abuse and the functionality for long distance training rides and charity events.
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