What NOT to buy

diamondbacker

OK, there seems to be a lot of info on what to buy, but which bikes wouldn't/shouldn't you buy and why?

You could even do it by price category: up to £500, £500-£750, £750- £1000 etc

Mickey Eye

Please tell me not to but an Intense Tracer VP. I'm supposed to be saving for an engagement ring.

LordBanks

Anything from Halfords.

diamondbacker

Rally? Some of the Carrera and Boardman bikes seem to perform really well. Is this more because of the poor levels of service in some stores?

Northwind

Yup, stupid comment, don't buy anything from Halfords unless you want to get a great bike for a ridiculous price.

Si78

LordBanks wrote:

Anything from Halfords.

Hmmm, the Carrera Fury is very highly rated, and the Boardmans are fantastic bikes!

Steer clear of the cheap tat Halfords sell though...
If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.
for example, full sus and disc brakes for £100....no,no,no...

Si

jay12

Si78 wrote:

LordBanks wrote:

Anything from Halfords.

Hmmm, the Carrera Fury is very highly rated, and the Boardmans are fantastic bikes!

Steer clear of the cheap tat Halfords sell though...
If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.
for example, full sus and disc brakes for £100....no,no,no...

Si

i know it would probably break after 2 weeks

supersonic

Budget Marins - poor value. Budget Felts too.

NigelSWales

jay12 wrote:

Si78 wrote:

LordBanks wrote:

Anything from Halfords.

Hmmm, the Carrera Fury is very highly rated, and the Boardmans are fantastic bikes!

Steer clear of the cheap tat Halfords sell though...
If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.
for example, full sus and disc brakes for £100....no,no,no...

Si

i know it would probably break after 2 weeks

Try 2 days! i bought a full sus fs 26 a few years back, after 2 days the BB had gone, and crank arm was screwed, they still havent fixed it properly, needless to say i rarely use the bike now and am building my own, don't know about the rest of the country but cardiff halfords branches are staffed by muppets who have no clue on how to fix a bike, LBS all the way for me for repairs.

nmarchini

you shouldn't buy anything from men on street corners or out the back of a van......also chocolate teapots are not good either so don't buy any of them!!

Northwind

NigelSWales wrote:

don't know about the rest of the country but cardiff halfords branches are staffed by muppets who have no clue on how to fix a bike

To be fair it'd take more than skill to make that bike work, it'd need a miracle.

NigelSWales

Northwind wrote:

NigelSWales wrote:

don't know about the rest of the country but cardiff halfords branches are staffed by muppets who have no clue on how to fix a bike

To be fair it'd take more than skill to make that bike work, it'd need a miracle.

couldnt agree more, i bought it purely because i needed a bike to get to work and had a silly low budget, it's been on the trails once, and never again, and as for the frame being "lightweight" aluminium, cack! it must weigh as much as me, my m8's unbranded steel HT weighs alot less!!!

Surf-Matt

Halfords really need to do some proper staff training very very urgently.

Every time I have asked for advice, I have received none, they have given me the wrong stuff many times (for car and bike) and know naff all. I only go there because they carry a good range but I ALWAYS choose stuff I know I want.

They are a company resting on their laurels that are great candidates for the next big corporation bankruptcy.

kazzie

I have to say that you cant tarnish every halfords store or their staff with the same brush. Some are very good and know their stuff and have the skills, you just need to find a good one. The problem is that if you end up getting served by a part time member of staff who isnt into their bikes then yes i agree you may struggle. always ask to speak to the specialist and then make your decision about the store. We all know that Halfords do sell a shocking number of poor quality bikes but unfortunatly they have to cover every market and there is a huge number of people out there who will not spend more than £100 on a bike. 1 in 3 bikes sold in the uk are bought from Halfords so there is a huge market for these kind of bikes. Shockwaves, trax and apollo are budget bikes but thats what they are sold as in the good Bike Huts. People need to be educated in the fact that a £100 bike will break on you, its designed to be put in the car, ridden once and then live out the rest of its life in the shed. If you look deep then many of the people that do work within Halfords are great cycle enthusiasts themselves. Before you slate them all then perhaps you should think about having to sell a decent bike to someone who thinks an apollo is too expensive....

fwb2006

Had to 'correct' a noob mates forks on a bike from Hafords really dangerous.

supersonic

Some stores can be very good, and staffed by knowledgable enthusiastic people. A lot of it comes down to the manager and who they want to employ. When I applied to work there I remember being nervous as they were some tools I had never used before (some reamers etc) and wasn't that experienced at that point in my life. I needn't have worried, the hour long interview hardly even touched bikes!

I got the job and spent two years there. The supervisor was great, and we taught each other stuff but he eventually left as he was been shat on. They moved the admin clerk to supervise the department which was astounding as she knew nothing about bikes, nothing about tools or the stock, was unfortunately disabled so couldn't even lift the bikes down for customers and relied heavily on other staff. I wasn't offered the job I was 'too focused on the bikes and customers' but was stenciled in for Specialist when the store went to BikeHut. Basically I was supposed to do all the supervisor could, but she wasn't supposed to do anything I could and I was actually criticised for spending too much time with customers and spending more than 10 minutes PDIng bikes! We weren't allowed to take repairs in. The rest of the staff were nigh on useless so I left as the pressure I was under was ridiculous. Pile 'em high and sell from boxes, that is wall they wanted.

I have no probs with stores giving people a chance, they did me, but there needs to be training and someone there who can do it. It was good when I started as the supervisor was like me, passionate and cared, but unfortunately the Halfords model stifled us.

edhornby

ok then people - lets get a list together of Halford's stores with good staff, name them and praise them

LAW4778

Halifax is rubish staffed by kermit and fozzy bear, Huddersfield good and i have been told Wakefield is excellent.

Si78

edhornby wrote:

ok then people - lets get a list together of Halford's stores with good staff, name them and praise them

A couple of good lads in the Chester Greyhound Park store, couldnt have been more helpful! One was called Neil, cant remember the other chaps name.

When checking out what bike to get when I was waiting for my C2W voucher to arrive I popped in and spent well over an hour talking to Neil. He went thru all the bikes there for my budget, pros/ cons etc. Was passionate about bikes, and knew his stuff.

Then when I got my voucher I went in to get my size sorted. the other lad got all the sizes out, let me jump on and off, didnt rush me etc.

They didnt have my size in stock, so he phoned up the other Chester store and the chap in that store started building up my bike before Id even left the first store.

He wasnt quite as good, cos he left a bolt on my headset loose, and didnt fit the front wheel properly (how hard is it???!), but you cant have everything!

Si

mrmcdean

May end up getting a Fury in a few weeks (if the price drops again). Chester isnt too far away but anyone know of a good store closer to me in Macclesfield ? Also, ive just got myself a lovely tool kit so how hard would it be to put the thing together myself ? Bearing in mind that im new to all of this.

Cheers