My visit to Halfords.

[Brandane]

The lack of stock on display has also affected my nearest Decathlon store. Pre Covid, it always had a large section devoted to cycling, with just about every bike in their range on display in different sizes, all ready to buy. I was in yesterday and it was actually very sad to see the change. Hardly any complete bikes on display. Presumably they cannot get much from their suppliers, and what they can get is immediately sold and heading out the door.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

As chance would have it, I've been delaying today's trip to Halfords. Granddaughter 1 has her bikeability course next week and she's outgrown her Isla bike. I wanted to see what range of bikes they had for kids. Maybe I should just look at boxes instead.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

As chance would have it, I've been delaying today's trip to Halfords. Granddaughter 1 has her bikeability course next week and she's outgrown her Isla bike. I wanted to see what range of bikes they had for kids. Maybe I should just look at boxes instead.

Same for me, my daughter had outgrown hers which is why I was forced to go and buy in these tricky times. I had to rely on size charts, experience of a given model line, and some best (semi-educated) guesswork, but thankfully buying a box has worked out fine for us, and you're extremely experienced at the end of the day. I think so long as you have a really good idea of sizes, and what the bike is like, it's not the end of the world buying "unseen".

 

[Dave7]

For balance, I bought a Trek last week from a very well regarded, local (but not local to me) bike shop about a hundred miles away. I couldn't view it because of the distance, but I'd done my research, knew what I wanted, they had one boxed in stock (there were only two in the country), so I paid and they booked a courier. It arrived boxed, part built, and was exactly what I expected.
So not much different really. Most retailers (including LBS) are getting boxes in, building and then selling to a waiting customer, the days of retailers having examples of everything out on the shop floor may come back one day, but they went away (at least temporarily) in 2020.

Even my 2 closest LBS have very little to view. One is a Genesis dealer and he's got 2 road bikes in, if you want to view say, a tourer, there simply aren't any to view or try. If you want to try one, the shop owner will order one and you will wait, but before he orders one he'll wish to be very confident that you are genuinely interested and very, very likely to buy it. (And he's a really nice guy!) He simply can't afford to have umpteen shop soiled bikes on his books at the moment. So it's not a Halfords thing.

The difference is that they actually had it in stock but were not willing to assemble it.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Thinking back 7 years or so, I ordered my first e-bike online. When it was delivered, it was rubbish. Think ASDA £99 bike with electrics fitted. So I sent it back as not fit for purpose. Decided to fork out 4x as much for a Wisper and it was excellent. IIRC the return was no hassle, they just arranged a date and time and a courier picked it up.

 

[stephec]

The variability of Halfords different branch staff's knowledge can have it's advantages though.

When my insurance paid out on a stolen bike they offered a generous amount of Halfords vouchers, so I have a look at my options and see that they can order in a lot of makes that they don't actually stock.

Whilst in the branch near Brunden Park in Bolton I'm quite taken by a Boardman full suss, only to be told that Boardmans aren't included in the voucher scheme, cue a phone call to the Horwich branch -

'I'd like a Boardman bike please, and I have an insurance voucher, how do I go about it?'

'Come in and order, we don't have that model in at the moment but we can get one in three days.'

I go straight to Horwich and hand over the voucher, then as promised two days later I'm wheeling my new steed out the door. 😊😊😊

 

[Drago]

The difference is that they actually had it in stock but were not willing to assemble it.

Because if you didn't like it they then risk it being soiled in thenstockroommor on display before sale, and thus devalued.

That bike will be sold by the end of business tomorrow, still in its box, so where is their inventive to do bolt it up on an offchance you might want it? For every one like you theres a hundred at the moment who'll just hand over the cash and be glad they found one at all.

In times of normal demand, for sure, but for a very rare change its a sellers market, and theres nothing we can do other than get over it.

I do feel your pain Dave, but its market forces at play.

As chance would have it, I've been delaying today's trip to Halfords. Granddaughter 1 has her bikeability course next week and she's outgrown her Isla bike. I wanted to see what range of bikes they had for kids. Maybe I should just look at boxes instead.

Shes outgrown her Islabike, eh? Just so happen that Dave7 is after a bike, and hes a compact chap...

 

[stephec]

@Dave7 are you going to Clitheroe for the full on Ribble retail experience?

 

[Dave7]

Because if you didn't like it they then risk it being soiled in thenstockroommor on display before sale, and thus devalued.

That bike will be sold by the end of business tomorrow, still in its box, so where is their inventive to do bolt it up on an offchance you might want it?



Shes outgrown her Islabike, eh? Just so happen that Dave7 is after a bike, and hes a compact chap...
[/QUOTE
2 points.
A) i am not knocking Islabikes but pink is not my colour.

B) re your 1st point.....they have maybe 100 bikes set up with no one looking at them.
With me they had someone with genuine interest and who had actually travelled to see it.

 

[tyred]

They closed my local Halfords and if I'm honest, I miss it. They stocked things that I use like cantilever brake pads and 26 x 1 3/8" tyres and tubes which none of the trendy bikes shops do.

 

[Dave7]

@Dave7 are you going to Clitheroe for the full on Ribble retail experience?

@Dave7 are you going to Clitheroe for the full on Ribble retail experience?

Plan is to go tomorrow morning.

 

[Venod]

I’m thinking it might be an age thing as well. Younger people are used to buying online without ever having seen or touched the product relying instead on customer reviews or YouTube.

My lad has just bought a car online without a test drive etc, there were extensive pictures on the website and they are a main dealer for the brand, but its not something I would have been comfortable with.

 

[Brandane]

Same for me, my daughter had outgrown hers which is why I was forced to go and buy in these tricky times. I had to rely on size charts, experience of a given model line, and some best (semi-educated) guesswork, but thankfully buying a box has worked out fine for us, and you're extremely experienced at the end of the day. I think so long as you have a really good idea of sizes, and what the bike is like, it's not the end of the world buying "unseen"

There lies a problem though. If someone less experienced wants to get into cycling and is faced with having to make these choices online for what might be a relatively expensive purchase for them, they might well decide that it is all too risky and not bother. So another one is lost to a life of using a car every time they venture outdoors....

PS... Nice to see a happy looking youngster (that word makes me feel SO old ) out on her new bike. Doesn't seem so long ago that could have been me. Actually, it was half a century ago .

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Shes outgrown her Islabike, eh? Just so happen that Dave7 is after a bike, and hes a compact chap...

If the 7 indicates his age.....

 

[AuroraSaab]

I've had issues several times with car stuff at Halfords but customer services have always sorted it out.

It's very poor to expect anyone to pay £2k for a bike they haven't even seen out, but I suspect Drago is correct. They don't need it out as it will sell anyway. I was in there at the weekend and there were lots of bikes out with the paperwork on them, built up and waiting to be collected. There were only a handful of adult bikes out to actually view, and no road bikes or Boardmans.