Test riding a Boardman at Halfords....

[Riverman]

Now here is a really novel idea - how about a retailer the size of Halfords keeping a range of demonstration bikes for customers to try?!! They might then begin to be taken seriously and even respected a little by the punters out there ready to part with £500 plus. There is NO WAY I would be willing to part with £1000 without checking size and test riding the bike first. If they really wanted to be taken seriously they could even offer a bike fitting service!!!

Plus, you never know. They then may even sell more bikes.

 

[darthpaul]

Maybe someone should write to their head office and give them some facts. If this country is ever going to start convincing people to ride instead of drive then we need the national chains to actually offer a useful service!

They should have a fitting service, they should have demo bikes especially for anything £500 upwards!

 

[coco69]

Too right, unfortunately you can never have enough money either. Hence the trade in. Shame as the BB makes a great London pavement crasher.

I think the Colchester Halfords Bikehut is alright, they're a bit more with it there.

PM sent mate

 

[Crankarm]

Anyone know whether the Distance Selling Regs work for bikes? Buying from Halfrauds on line may give you 7 working days to test ride the bike.

Edited to add Their Ts and Cs give you 28 days but they don't appear to be as watertight as the DSR's. Buying on line could be the answer.

I like your initiative Norm. Can't see why not. Surely whether a bike fits would be fundamental in an inspection. If it doesn't fit just take it back to a store and ask for a refund as per the DSR.

 

[Crankarm]

Odd. The two Halfords I visited whilst looking at Boardmans were both happy to put pedals on and let me ride around the shop, one let me outside (supervised), whilst I tried to figure if I wanted an 'M' or an 'L' frame.

OK the store I eventually collected it my Pro HT mtb from did draw the line at me test riding it down the stairs from the mezzanine until after I'd accepted delivery.... Some people are just unreasonable.

. Indeed.

Did they insist you wore a helmet ?

 

[Crankarm]

Condor and Evans have been fine with test rides. Just leave some form of ID and credit card and off you go. However I think they might be reluctant to allow you out on a £4-5k Cervelo or other exotica without knowing you or you offering genuine substantial security.

Idiotic of Halfords to only allow test rides inside their shops as you might run over another shopper. Mind if it is a chav twiddllin' his knob in the car radio section it might be a wise move .

 

[jimheaney57]

I have the same issue with Halfords. Was looking at the full carbon Boardman the other day and asked if I could have a test ride. I was told I could ride it round the shop. Ridiculous, £1,000 worth of carbon bike and I've about 10 square metres to ride it in. That will really give me a great idea of what the bike is like.

I'd be careful about going down the line of buying in Halfords and going to your LBS for building/servicing etc. One of my LBS said they wouldn't touch a Boardman!

 

[iendicott]

OK the store I eventually collected it my Pro HT mtb from did draw the line at me test riding it down the stairs from the mezzanine until after I'd accepted delivery.... Some people are just unreasonable.

How very unreasonable
You just can't get the staff nowadays

I did take a trip to Halfrauds to buy my daughters and wifes cycles but to be honest next time I am going to our LBS. The wheels on my daughters bike where buckled so I had to straighten them and to where the wifes wheels, and the wifes cycle weights the same as a steam roller, buy hey she's happy with the colour

 

[biffosbats]

Think this thread actually started on a slightly different topic, but seems to have descended into a rant against Halfords. Was looking to buy a GT Zum from my local store - all they would let me do was sit on the bike in-store - no chance of a ride anywhere, even after I offered to leave a deposit, Credit card proof of ID, etc. I could continue to catalogue the lack of service and errors endured by various branches of Halfords, but let's save that for when I;m having a really bad day!!

My LBS, from where I eventually purchased a Mongoose Crossway 350 also wouldn't let me ride it round their car park - they said their insurance was invalid after some kid whacked a car with a test ride bike! Truth or not, it is very frustrating when you're trying to spend not to be able to test ride a machine.

Evans do a test ride scheme for cc imprint and photo ID plus a few other bits of security, but they frequently don't have the actual model you want in stock/ I know they can't keep every model ins otck, but out of six bikes I was interested in, my local store (Birmingham) had nothing in stock to trial, although they were happy to let me test ride others.

Biffosbats

 

[youngoldbloke]

Would you buy a car without a test drive? It is ludicrous that you are expected to purchase a bike without a test ride or fitting. Boycott Halfords or any LBS that has a no-try policy, and give all support to those that are helpful - including Evans and Wiggle. If the bike is the wrong fit or size it is potentially dangerous and "not fit for purpose". By the way - I would have thought that kids-whacking-cars was just the sort of thing insurance was meant to cover.

 

[Norm]

Buy it online then return it under the Distance Selling Regs, if they get inconvenienced enough by people not being able to test ride bikes, they might change their policy.

... they said their insurance was invalid after some kid whacked a car with a test ride bike!

By the way - I would have thought that kids-whacking-cars was just the sort of thing insurance was meant to cover.

Whilst agreeing with YOB, my response to the LBS would have been to tell them that their attitude towards test rides had previously been correct but they possibly had the wrong insurance policy. The way to rectify it should have been to correct the insurance policy, not the test-ride policy.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Buy it online then return it under the Distance Selling Regs, if they get inconvenienced enough by people not being able to test ride bikes, they might change their policy.

....... The way to rectify it should have been to correct the insurance policy, not the test-ride policy.

Agree completely - both your points.