Sheffield_Tiger
Guru
Picked up the new Carrera Crixus today and it is - or could be - a lovely bike for a bargain price.
I know how things get confusing so I'm not grumbling about the long wait for them to sort out the price match agreed by their customer service on two separate emails. For £240 a Claris equipped CX is a good deal worth waiting around for.
HOWEVER....I do know halfords so I took my multitool along with me when I walked down to pick it up and ride my "professionally built" bike home tonight.
Now this isn't a grumble about the individual but the first thing I noticed was the young lady running the workshop on her own wes the same person I interviewed for a cycle store/workshop position a month ago. SO I know that (a) she was new to the job and (b) her exact level which was, and she was quite open about this, very much trainee hobbyist and Halfords seem to have overlooked this and just left her to get on with it. The company's fault not the employee, let me be very clerar about that. I also know it's not her name on the build sheet BIT...first alarm bells rang when she got the ratchet and 5mm hex and swung on the top cap bolt to tighten the bars.
So first job when I got the bike outside - loosen the almost rigid steering and actually tiughten the very much loose clamp bolts. Will have to check the star nut and see if that's still as it should be because it was swung on significantly - but may be a moot point..more on that later...
Ridden like that would have been dangerous, hard to steer and if I hit a pothole the bars would have turned. I'd have been off.
Next thing I notice when they are faffing around trying to put the price match through....bike builder has left off the front refelector. Not only a legal requirement (being fussy) but on a CX with cantis and a straddle wire. Nothing to catch the straddle wire if something goes wrong with the main cable. Again - significantly dangerous.
Noticing the bell is loose the guy who has since taken over serving since the price match needed a more senior staff member goes to tighten it up but it's already as tight as it gets. Mutters about "you'll probably take that off anyway and they always come with the wrong size" - Nah mate, it's in the wrong place you just need to loosen it, move it to the centre and it'll fit perfectly, but I said nowt since I'm thinking I don't want these people near my new bike.
Also notice the cable hanger is off centre, pulling the bridge off centre and the cantis are not centred. I can sort all this myself no worries, plus the slightly maladjusted front mech so just a minor irritation really. Otherwise it rode fine on a little pootle (I might swap the freewheel for a 32T - think it's a FW, not looked too closely)
BUT....arrive home and fit the nice new red composite bottle cages I bought that match the decals and have a good look round...
THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ON A NEW BIKE, budget or otherwise! What ham fisted moron has ragged the stem round without loosening off the bolts?
Dangerous build and clearly "don't give a s**t" attitude to workmanship. These photos are off to Halfords, I want new forks for this level of gouging out of the steerer, especially so visible.
I know how things get confusing so I'm not grumbling about the long wait for them to sort out the price match agreed by their customer service on two separate emails. For £240 a Claris equipped CX is a good deal worth waiting around for.
HOWEVER....I do know halfords so I took my multitool along with me when I walked down to pick it up and ride my "professionally built" bike home tonight.
Now this isn't a grumble about the individual but the first thing I noticed was the young lady running the workshop on her own wes the same person I interviewed for a cycle store/workshop position a month ago. SO I know that (a) she was new to the job and (b) her exact level which was, and she was quite open about this, very much trainee hobbyist and Halfords seem to have overlooked this and just left her to get on with it. The company's fault not the employee, let me be very clerar about that. I also know it's not her name on the build sheet BIT...first alarm bells rang when she got the ratchet and 5mm hex and swung on the top cap bolt to tighten the bars.
So first job when I got the bike outside - loosen the almost rigid steering and actually tiughten the very much loose clamp bolts. Will have to check the star nut and see if that's still as it should be because it was swung on significantly - but may be a moot point..more on that later...
Ridden like that would have been dangerous, hard to steer and if I hit a pothole the bars would have turned. I'd have been off.
Next thing I notice when they are faffing around trying to put the price match through....bike builder has left off the front refelector. Not only a legal requirement (being fussy) but on a CX with cantis and a straddle wire. Nothing to catch the straddle wire if something goes wrong with the main cable. Again - significantly dangerous.
Noticing the bell is loose the guy who has since taken over serving since the price match needed a more senior staff member goes to tighten it up but it's already as tight as it gets. Mutters about "you'll probably take that off anyway and they always come with the wrong size" - Nah mate, it's in the wrong place you just need to loosen it, move it to the centre and it'll fit perfectly, but I said nowt since I'm thinking I don't want these people near my new bike.
Also notice the cable hanger is off centre, pulling the bridge off centre and the cantis are not centred. I can sort all this myself no worries, plus the slightly maladjusted front mech so just a minor irritation really. Otherwise it rode fine on a little pootle (I might swap the freewheel for a 32T - think it's a FW, not looked too closely)
BUT....arrive home and fit the nice new red composite bottle cages I bought that match the decals and have a good look round...
THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ON A NEW BIKE, budget or otherwise! What ham fisted moron has ragged the stem round without loosening off the bolts?
Dangerous build and clearly "don't give a s**t" attitude to workmanship. These photos are off to Halfords, I want new forks for this level of gouging out of the steerer, especially so visible.
.
