Bloody Halfords. Inept - no - Damn Dangerous. And Ham-Fisted.

[Gravity Aided]

Lately, according to ads I see online, our local stores have been having bicycles assembled, as with other things, by a third-party place that does other assembly jobs. I have a friend who works at a local big box store, who asked me what i thought of the new bikes. We walked down the rack, and I pointed out backwards forks, brakes on the wrong side of the fork, missing hardware, etc. He showed me a dual suspension bicycle , impressed at the goods for the price. I told him it looked rather dangerous, as the brake cable braze-on was right where the rear suspension could mash it on a big drop, and lock up, or lock out, the rear brakes. The problem with retail, when it's not your name on the door, is the same with responsibility; it's not your name on the door. It is almost impossible, once you get past a half-dozen outlets or so, to know what is going on in any one store at any one time. And your customer service is only as good as your management. If you don't pay your help an honorable wage, how can you expect them to take the job seriously? This problem goes beyond Halford's. It's world wide.

 

[fossyant]

I'm outraged at all the outrage on this thread.

I shall go sit in a quiet corner.

 

[Globalti]

This is why I will never allow some muppet in a shop near my bike.

Except the very excellent mechanic who built my bike and got it so right that I've never had to change anything but tyres, chain and brakes.

 

[I like Skol]

This is why I will never allow some muppet in a shop near my bike.

Except the very excellent mechanic who built my bike and got it so right that I've never had to change anything but tyres, chain and brakes.

I have had a few new bikes over the years and have always had to do something in the way of 'finishing' to get them up to my standard, some much more than others.
There was one exception however. The first roadbike I bought was from DJ cycles in Ramsbottom, and it was set up perfectly, straight from the start. No indexing adjustments needed, no stupid long cable housings flapping around, never even had to true the wheels on that bike, which is unusual for a GT so not sure if he had worked his magic on them as well? I think he might have shut up shop now, sure I heard something to that effect recently???

 

[fossyant]

This is why I will never allow some muppet in a shop near my bike.

Except the very excellent mechanic who built my bike and got it so right that I've never had to change anything but tyres, chain and brakes.

I've bought 3 bikes from Halfords - 2 came in a box, the other had been 'on display' and was shop soiled. Saved a bloody fortune, and expected to have to pay for something - the shop had somehow over tightened the chain ring bolts, stripping the threads on the chain ring (SRAM bolt direct into the chain ring). That cost me £50 for a new chainring as it was more hassle going back to the Halfords to drop it off, wait for a repair, then collect it - the store was 10 miles away and I'd impulse purchased the bike.

 

[Sniper68]

There are only two people I trust to work on my bikes.....me and a friend of mine who happens to be a bike mechanic...at Halfords,Queens Road,Sheffield.He was a mechanic at JE James for many years before that.
There are many,many horror stories from other local Halfords though

 

[Gravity Aided]

I see better stuff roll out of the bicycle co-op than at most department stores. but we have a checklist, and inspectors/test pilots.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

There are only two people I trust to work on my bikes.....me and a friend of mine who happens to be a bike mechanic...at Halfords,Queens Road,Sheffield.He was a mechanic at JE James for many years before that.
There are many,many horror stories from other local Halfords though

And at Orbit Cycles before that in the early 90's? Yep, I think I know who you mean ;-)

 

[Deleted member 26715]

He was a mechanic at JE James for many years before that.

No disrespect meant to your friend, but if my experiences with JE James's spanner monkey's are anything to go on, that is not a recommendation.

 

[fossyant]

Wills Wheels in Stockport build bikes up properly. Mine was perfect when it arrived.

 

[Milkfloat]

No disrespect meant to your friend, but if my experiences with JE James's spanner monkey's are anything to go on, that is not a recommendation.

Assuming the spanner money is also the guy who reboxes the bikes then I agree. I had to send one back that was massively scratched and setup really badly.

 

[Sniper68]

No disrespect meant to your friend, but if my experiences with JE James's spanner monkey's are anything to go on, that is not a recommendation.

Same here.
I stopped using JE James Rotherham 13 years ago and haven't used the Sheffield branch in over 10 years.Had lots of issues including badly built bikes from them.One particular "mechanic" at Rotherham has a very poor attitude.

 

[Moodyman]

My local Halfords has an excellent bike mechanic. He had many years at renowned local bike shops - Chevin Cycles amongst others.

At Halfords he works in the car section and specialises in paint mixing.

Go figure.

 

[fossyant]

In the end, most of the jobs are retail sales - you rarely get to deal with a mechanic. I remember buying my wife's bike from Evans. The sales staff weren't that helpful, but the 'mechanic' was great (he was dealing with our sale). The only problem he had was that he couldn't work the till properly.

 

[KneesUp]

In the end, most of the jobs are retail sales - you rarely get to deal with a mechanic. I remember buying my wife's bike from Evans. The sales staff weren't that helpful, but the 'mechanic' was great (he was dealing with our sale). The only problem he had was that he couldn't work the till properly.

I used to train people to use EPOS systems, and I built my own bike up. I didn't realise this was a unique skill set :-)