Picked Up The New Boardman Road Bike. Not Very Happy.

[Big John]

@mythste I hear what you say about poor pay and why should they give a damn but as a human being could anyone send a bike out unchecked knowing full well that someone could get seriously injured as a result? Without wishing to appear over dramatic that's exactly what can happen once that customer is out on the open road in traffic. If one takes on the job of a mechanic then be a mechanic and do it to the best of your ability in the knowledge that anyone riding a bike you've put together/serviced is safe. I fix bikes as a volunteer for a bike charity and I'd be mortified if anyone got hurt because of shoddy work I'd done.

 

[cougie uk]

That is crappy from Halfords. All of my Planet X bikes have been great to go out of the box. Just needed to sort the bars and off we go.

Good luck with getting it sorted. They can't argue with you.

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

I hear what you're saying about your drivetrain problem but once I had the mechanicals fixed on the bike I'm not sure I would give shop staff an opportunity to stuff them up again.

 

[Sharky]

One of the most respected mechanics in the Medway area, I believe originally worked for Halfords.

 

[Lovacott]

By all means go and get everything sorted out, the sticky drivetrain could be any number of things. But do remember none of the people you speak to will be on a living wage. You'll get further with a smile and "I'm sure this was an honest mistake, could someone take a look for me?" than you will guns blazing. Not paid enough to give a fark, I can tell you that.

I've had customer facing roles in the past and I'm very aware that nobody likes being chastised by a customer. I would be much more inclined to go the extra mile for someone who pointed out an issue but didn't make a fuss.

My intention is to go in there and just say that the bike doesn't seem right and see what they say. I may (or may not) mention the handlebar issue depending on how they treat me. If they try to fob me off, I'll stand my ground.

I know they are under pressure in the local branch to get as many bikes built as possible and they do have a high staff turnover. Not a job I'd like to do myself.

As for the quality of the factory build in China, maybe they too have been cutting a few corners to meet high global demand?

 

[Lovacott]

I hear what you're saying about your drivetrain problem but once I had the mechanicals fixed on the bike I'm not sure I would give shop staff an opportunity to stuff them up again.

The only way I can isolate the tight drivetrain issue is to remove the chain and see if the crank runs smoothly on its own.

An easy enough job for me, but I felt it better to take it straight back and get them to do it for me.

If there is a major issue, at least they won't be able to blame me for fiddling with the bike.

 

[PK99]

Unfortunately confirms what we've known about Halfords, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. The display bike was set up by 'Kevin' who's now left or been transferred to another department.

That's the main reason I opted against a Boardman for my new e-bike. Too many bad reports of crassly bad set up and workmanship at various Halfords shops.

I went for a Whyte Winchelsea, more expensive but click and collect from Whyte, collect less than a week later from an LBS Whyte dealer I have used for 10/15 years and have bought a bike from before. Good product and good back up. Unlike Halfords

 

[mythste]

I've had customer facing roles in the past and I'm very aware that nobody likes being chastised by a customer. I would be much more inclined to go the extra mile for someone who pointed out an issue but didn't make a fuss.

My intention is to go in there and just say that the bike doesn't seem right and see what they say. I may (or may not) mention the handlebar issue depending on how they treat me. If they try to fob me off, I'll stand my ground.

I know they are under pressure in the local branch to get as many bikes built as possible and they do have a high staff turnover. Not a job I'd like to do myself.

As for the quality of the factory build in China, maybe they too have been cutting a few corners to meet high global demand?

Bang on mate. You may very well be right about the last point.

Side note for some of the other commentors on here. Setting up a Boardman or a Voodoo is a doddle. By all accounts they're well made and come well prepped.

When you can safely build a £130 full suspension "Boss" bike that comes from the factory with calipers like Gordon Browns eyes and a triple that requires so much cable tension you need a colleage to yank the cable with mole grips whilst you tighten the clamp you know you've cracked Halfords spannering.

 

[tudor_77]

Sorry to hear that man! Halfords can be very hit and miss. For balance, my much beloved Boardman Road Team LTD came perfect out of the box and never missed a beat until a year or so later after a 'service' at my LBS, after which I had chain rub and the chain coming off when shifting to the smaller cog. I guess some Halfords mechanics are great and some that work at your LBS are going to be amateurs.

Boardmans are fantastic bikes though so I hope you get it resolved soon.

 

[Durango Bay]

I have had call to use Halfords a few times and it has been "hit and miss" but to be honest mostly "miss". I have had a similar experience at Evans ranging from staff who really knew their stuff and wanted to help to a guy who didn't know what a cassette was. I tend to avoid these bigger chains but sometimes they are in the right place at the right time.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

Although not surprised I find this troubling.

I have looked at the SLR 8.9 and I couldn't workout if it had an aluminium, steel or carbon steerer, at £1K a carbon steerer seems possible.

The SLR 8.6 claims a full carbon fork at under £600 for the whole bike.

I also see that Halfords did include the torque setting for the stem, but instead of being reassured I find that as worrying as the stem not being tightened. Did they fill in the standard Boardman value of around 17Nm which is the value for aluminium or something in the 4Nm-6Nm range for CF, if indeed the steerer is CF?

If the stem wasn't tightened as ticked, then it is hard to argue convincingly that the torque setting on the same form must be correct.

I am not very familiar with carbon bikes, but I know enough to know what I need to lookup, so I bought a torque wrench for doing up my stem as it specified 5Nm and that is not a lot more than finger tight.

But I would have a lot of sympathy with someone finding their bars lose and then doing their aluminium stem up to 17Nm on a CF steerer cracking it in the process, hopefully. I say hopefully because it would then be obviously broken, rather than breaking during a ride.

With a CF seat pin it is obviously something not metal, but the steerer is hidden and if you are not expecting the need to check then you wouldn't. I can easily see some customers of Halfords or an LBS being unaware of the very low forces needed to bolt a stem to a CF steerer as it is counter-intuitively low, especially if they have a sheet confirming experience and expectations of a much higher force.

Bye

Ian

 

[mythste]

@mythste I hear what you say about poor pay and why should they give a damn but as a human being could anyone send a bike out unchecked knowing full well that someone could get seriously injured as a result? Without wishing to appear over dramatic that's exactly what can happen once that customer is out on the open road in traffic. If one takes on the job of a mechanic then be a mechanic and do it to the best of your ability in the knowledge that anyone riding a bike you've put together/serviced is safe. I fix bikes as a volunteer for a bike charity and I'd be mortified if anyone got hurt because of shoddy work I'd done.

I didn't say what happened was okay, my advice was on best approach based on reasonable experience to produce the best result going forward.

 

[cyberknight]

Sorry to hear that man! Halfords can be very hit and miss. For balance, my much beloved Boardman Road Team LTD came perfect out of the box and never missed a beat until a year or so later after a 'service' at my LBS, after which I had chain rub and the chain coming off when shifting to the smaller cog. I guess some Halfords mechanics are great and some that work at your LBS are going to be amateurs.

Boardmans are fantastic bikes though so I hope you get it resolved soon.

indeed my local halfords mechanic is great , a MTBer i beleive and good on the other hand i do not wish to name and shame somone connected to the club who is a mechanic i wouldnt trust to change an inner tube and another shop actually scratched my frame when changing a BB

 

[Lovacott]

Sorry to hear that man! Halfords can be very hit and miss. For balance, my much beloved Boardman Road Team LTD came perfect out of the box and never missed a beat until a year or so later after a 'service' at my LBS, after which I had chain rub and the chain coming off when shifting to the smaller cog. I guess some Halfords mechanics are great and some that work at your LBS are going to be amateurs.

I popped in at lunchtime with the bike and the more senior guy was working on the bike counter. I explained what had happened with the handlebars and he said that the guy who handed over the bike should have tightened the bracket at the time of handover.

As someone else on here said, they store the built bikes with the bars aligned to the frame to save space.

Also at handover, he should have gone over the bike with me showing me where everything was and answering any questions (which didn't happen).

He popped the bike on the repair stand while I was there today and went over the gears. The front mech was not well aligned but after about five minutes of tinkering, all was good.

I'm happy with the bike now but I still have to take it out for a test ride. I'll try and get an hour in on Saturday morning.

 

[Twilkes]

Fwiw, I have a Cannondale that has had a BB servicing and was nearly brand new when I got it and it has always had less than a turn of the cranks if I try to spin it backwards. I noticed it when I first got it, but it's had no bearing (pun intended) on how fast it rides or how fast it freewheels so I think it's just some bikes behave like that.