Evans Warehouse Sale-worth a trip?

Mothyman

does anyone know if the Evans Warehouse Sale at Gatwick next week is worth a 3hour journey each way? Was it any good last year? Are they likely to have a bargain carbon road bike (presumably 08 model) or would I be wasting my time? I am still looking for something equivalent to the Roubaix/Cannondale synapse.

giant_man

Dunno, depends if you're gunning for a deal guess. I went to one about 4 years ago and it was very good have to say. Plenty there, with lots of test rides available also. I would say it was worth it imo.

hotspur

I think I'm going to make the 50 minute drive there to have a browse.

I'm actually after some MTB shoes, some padded fingerless gloves and some bibshorts so fingers crossed.

freehub

6 hours worth of driving for a warehouse sale?


I cant see it being worth it tbh.....

FSR_XC

Cost of getting there, bit of grub and the chance they'll have what you want

'V'

a 5 hr ride in the sunshine whilst visiting and buying something from LBS at 15% more?


mmmmmm let me think . . . . . . . :roll:

Aggieboy

Evans Warehouse Sale-worth a trip?

Why do you need a warehouse?

CiB

Aggieboy wrote:

Evans Warehouse Sale-worth a trip?

Why do you need a warehouse?

Bad as my OH on seeing a sign that read 'Gigantic Alloy Wheel Sale', and asking why would anyone want gigantic alloys anyway [with her tongue firmly in cheek].

I'm in two minds about going down for this. It's only an hour away but ending up with the wrong bike just because it looked a bargain at the time doesn't seem like the best way to go about it, and a two hour round trip to get a new pair of shoes seems excessive. That's that solved then. 50 miles on the bike instead as prep for my coming century run.

STEFANOS4784

Mothyman wrote:

Roubaix/Cannondale synapse.

:?

Mothyman

thanks Stefano...well I am a beginner..

I wont be travelling to the warehouse sale - got to baby sit ! Let me know what bargains I missed out on !

nosmo-king

What do you want to buy a warehouse for?

DomPro

I will be checking out the bargains for sure, Gatwick is only a few mins down the road from me. Thinking about a new seat post/saddle

raynaw

I'd get there early if you're going on the first day. Last year the queue was a couple of hours long and didn't move too fast! I gave up.

freehub

Mothyman, you wont have missed out on anything...

fatherted

Since Gary Smith handed over control and since Active bought a majority stake Evans Cycles is only concerned with getting the ££££'s out of your pocket. I haven't been in any of their shops since they asked me to pay them for some air. By all means go along to the "warehouse sale" , all you'll be doing is lining the pockets of the city financiers who back Active LLP.

andy81

Tempted to go myself as I'm after a new bike - anyone have any idea how good the bike deals usually are, or is it a case of pot luck?

I live in Reading, so the journey would be about 75 minutes each way.

hammerite

I stopped off for a visit last year on my way round the M25 on a journey I had to make anyway. I'd been tempted to make a special journey, but actually glad I didn't.

There were a few good deals, but nothing amazing (unless you were perhaps looking for that specific bike). I still spent about £80 and probably saved about £50 had I been buying all that stuff normally, trouble is I probably wouldn't have bought any of the stuff normally!

ianlash

Went there today. Arrived at 8am (when it opened), queued for 50 minutes to get in. Once in there, it wasn't too busy. Wife bought a bike and we bought some other stuff. Most clothing didn't seem to be dicounted, although that didn't stop a lot of people buying it. Some road bikes discounted a lot, other type sof bike just small discounts (about 20%). Not many components.

They sold a lot of bikes when I was there, and were bringing in other ones, so who knows how many will be left by the end of the week.

I must say I was impressed with the helpfulness of the staff and that there were so many of them.

Took another 30 minutes queueing to pay.

I got outside at about 11:30 and the queue was the same length as when I joined it at 8am, so I guess it was still about 50 minutes.

Good luck if you go.

Danielsan

Got there at 9:30 and queued for an hour and a half! :shock:

As stated, the staff were very helpful and even the burger van lady was taking orders from the ever growing queue, a nice healthy breakfast!

Was a little disappointed by the lack of components, mostly clothing, helmets, gloves etc. Still, the girlfriend managed to get some bargains and will be trying them out in the morning.

Worth a visit if you're not too far away but I'd save it until midweek unless you fancy queueing in the rain tomorrow!

GavH

The Ad made it sound tempting but there is NOTHING I need or want that bad that I want to spend an hour and a half driving on the M3 and M25 just to then queue, on the off chance there is something I like to then wait again just to pay to then drive for another 90 motorway minutes. Even if it is half price or whatever.

Mothyman

any good carbon road bikes in non-freaky sizes?

STEFANOS4784

What kind of thing are you after though. I know Synapse/Roubaix but the geomatry of these bikes are quite different. What will you be using it for and what size do you need and what's your budget. Someone on here might happen to know for a bargain they can point you to

Mothyman

Hi Stefanos
first road bike, budget 1700 max, will aim to join my raodie pals next year in 60-80mile weekend rides/sportifs. not racing . 47yr and low back worn so thought comfort quite important - hence Roubaix..but I thought synapse was similar . I am probably size 56 having tested Giant advanced 3 in 'M/L'....also might look at lower end trek madone.
cheers

jrduquemin

I went there with my girlfriend yesterday. She was on the lookout for a new roadbike. Took us over 2 hours to get there due to the Shouty Dash Bitch getting mixed up with directions. Queued up for over 1 hour to get in but managed to find a new bike for her. She bought a new Specialized Dolce which she was very pleased with, though there was a small problem after the PDI which was sorted out by one of the staff there.

I also managed to get a pair of Ritchey DS Pro wheels and a new Giro helmet as my old one got damaged in a crash in Spain.

Big Shoes

I went on saturday at 7pm, and i walked straight in, bought some 661 veggie knee pads for £21 and 661 veggie elbow pads for £18 and had a good look round. It is worth going if you wanted a new bike, the man i spoke to there said they had just sold their 631st bike of the day!!!! I went in again on sunday (i only live 5 mins from it) at 5-30 just incase there was anything new, was tempted with some DMR V12's for £29, but just had a very quick look round, spoke to another person who said they sold over 400 bikes that day too!!

kitenski

Did they have any 'all round' full sussers at a decent discount, ie not downhill bikes, but ones suitable for UK trail centres, the yorkshire moors etc???

robthehungrymonkey

I went this morning. There were some decent offers (a couple of framse stood out). But mostly i was pretty dissapointed... I sent a friend of mine in there at the weekend and the only road bikes around £500 were £50 off. Not a great discount if you ask me, they also had a top peak track pump that I bought at Halfords a while ago for less than evans' discounted price.

Big Shoes

kitenski wrote:

Did they have any 'all round' full sussers at a decent discount, ie not downhill bikes, but ones suitable for UK trail centres, the yorkshire moors etc???

I didnt check the bikes out that closely, but Halfords in Crawley are doing the 2007 GT I-Drive XCR 5 for £596, which is a bargain.

ZENERGY

any nice large frame full sus xc/marathon bikes spotted ?

robthehungrymonkey

ZENERGY wrote:

any nice large frame full sus xc/marathon bikes spotted ?

I saw a spesh S-works heavily discounted, i didn't pay much attention though. I think the high end stuff is where tehre are much bigger discounts.

ZENERGY

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

ZENERGY wrote:

any nice large frame full sus xc/marathon bikes spotted ?

I saw a spesh S-works heavily discounted, i didn't pay much attention though. I think the high end stuff is where tehre are much bigger discounts.

thanks , i might pop down thursday and see if anything nice if left.

mudslinger

They are adding new stock daily so I've been 3 times this week. Sat was a nightmare so I gave up & went back home. Called in on Mon & Tues on way home from work on the lookout for a cheap roadie.

Staff are very good. There are loads of MTBs but I only had a brief look so don't really know what they are selling & for what sort of discount. When I went there was hardly anyone in the MTB tent. If I was looking for a new MTB I'd definitely get down there especially during the week.