Design or a faulty?

[Kev Deeley]

I recently purchased a 2014 Boardman Team Carbon road bike from Halfords for £1000 about a month ago. The bike is fantastic, no issues what so ever and I am picky! However whist removing half a farmers field from it yesterday I noticed that quite a few of the teeth on the large cog at the front were very badly worn and considerably ground down. The points were missing and on many of teeth they were only half as high as the others. It seemed to be every 5th or there abouts although there were groups of 2/3 worn teeth together in some places. No probs, it's going back to Halfords for its FREE first service in the morning (today) and I'll mention it. The staff were great and agreed that it wasn't right as the wear on the teeth was of differing amounts and they'd replace the cog under warranty. I thought these things were QC checked?
However whilst in the store I decided to have a look at an identical display model that hadn't turned a wheel and guess what? It was exactly the same. The staff were confused and mentioned that it could be either a faulty batch or a design feature - yeah nice try!
Thinking about the quality of the rest of the bike this seems to be so out of character with the rest of the components - ie Tiaggra shifters / 105 groupset etc etc. Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

 

[numbnuts]

It is made like that to assist you changing gear

 

[shouldbeinbed]

When you say worn and ground down, are you sure it is not just the teeth naturally set and angled slightly differently to provide slip on/off points that enable the chain to shift more smoothly? Halfords do have some decent bike people, they also have some people that could just as easily work in McDonalds or Next for all their bike nouse and understanding.

Edit, cross posting with numbnuts +1 to him, look at any bike and you'll see the same sort of thing.

 

[Roadrider48]

It's a hyperglide cassette. As numb and shoulder said, it helps for smooth shifting.

 

[the_mikey]

As said above, that's how the front chain rings should look. It's designed that way to aid gear shifting.

 

[raindog]

Even taking into account their bad reputation, it seems unbelievable that the Halfords staff wouldn't know that.

 

[Roadrider48]

Even taking into account their bad reputation, it seems unbelievable that the Halfords staff wouldn't know that.

From the experiences of people on here it's not really that unbelievable.

 

[Dusty Bin]

I recently purchased a 2014 Boardman Team Carbon road bike from Halfords for £1000 about a month ago. The bike is fantastic, no issues what so ever and I am picky! However whist removing half a farmers field from it yesterday I noticed that quite a few of the teeth on the large cog at the front were very badly worn and considerably ground down. The points were missing and on many of teeth they were only half as high as the others. It seemed to be every 5th or there abouts although there were groups of 2/3 worn teeth together in some places. No probs, it's going back to Halfords for its FREE first service in the morning (today) and I'll mention it. The staff were great and agreed that it wasn't right as the wear on the teeth was of differing amounts and they'd replace the cog under warranty. I thought these things were QC checked?
However whilst in the store I decided to have a look at an identical display model that hadn't turned a wheel and guess what? It was exactly the same. The staff were confused and mentioned that it could be either a faulty batch or a design feature - yeah nice try!
Thinking about the quality of the rest of the bike this seems to be so out of character with the rest of the components - ie Tiaggra shifters / 105 groupset etc etc. Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

The teeth are supposed to look like that. The fact that another display bike in the shop had identical chainring teeth was not a coincidence. If you had checked another 5, 10, 100 or 1,000 bikes, they would all have been the same.

 

[biggs682]

but staff at Halfords should have known

 

[Kev Deeley]

And the correct answer is.................You're all spot on and thanks for your input.
Although three members of staff at Halfords Malvern didn't have a clue and ordered me a new sprocket. I've since called them to explain the above and have asked them to cancel the new part.
As a complete coincidence I called in at Halfords (Worcester) and their display bike was the same which made me feel at ease. The female assistant couldn't understand it either so she asked her male colleague who explained exactly as you have above. Sorted and thanks.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Do you not think it acceptable that as Halfrauds as a general bolt on seller that not all staff will know all about every single product that they sell? I personally do not go in there as I find their prices expense on just about everything, unless it's Sunday afternoon & it's a MUST HAVE part. In the ones I have gone into the bikes seem to be in a separate part with separate people, the OP doesn't say whether it was one of these people or just a general member of staff. I feel all your expectations are too high.

Alan...

 

[Kev Deeley]

Alan, matey. At no point have I aired my displeasure with Halfords staff in fact above I have stated that "the staff were great". Although not the most knowledgeable I find them all very pleasant. They stated that they "didn't have a clue" why the teeth were different lengths and mis-shaped and as it's obvious that most of the younger staff that work there on a Saturday are students with a weekend job I also do not feel that it's fair to criticise them.

 

[ShipHill]

There used to be a shoot hot mechanic working at the Worcester branch but he's gone now. I agree with you Kev that the staff there are helpful, but lack knowledge. I bought my Boardman from there back in May and had some minor issues which I got sorted by a combination of a guy at work and my local Halfords. He's a OK mechanic and very helpful.

 

[User6179]

Even taking into account their bad reputation, it seems unbelievable that the Halfords staff wouldn't know that.

I would be more surprised if they did know it

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Alan, matey. At no point have I aired my displeasure with Halfords staff in fact above I have stated that "the staff were great". Although not the most knowledgeable I find them all very pleasant. They stated that they "didn't have a clue" why the teeth were different lengths and mis-shaped and as it's obvious that most of the younger staff that work there on a Saturday are students with a weekend job I also do not feel that it's fair to criticise them.

Kev, Never said you did/had, it was just some of the other comments by other members, they seemed to want to tar the whole company with the same brush as they didn't know an answer that neither you nor I knew the answer to.

Alan...