Evans Cycles Bike Service

Mark909

Anyone ever had their bike serviced at evans cycles? Are they any good?

Naveed

My servicing experience with Evans

1 - Went to get my disc brakes bled - got call from Evans to tell me the bike was ready. Took the bike and rode off to find that brakes had not been bled.

2 - Went with friend who wanted to buy rear hub for singlespeed conversion. Shop assistant told him that he also needed a new front hub for singlespeed conversion - TRUE

3 - Went in because disc rub on my commuter was slowing the rear wheel down. Mechanic said that disc rub came with having disc brakes and that although rear wheel was hindered there was nothing he could do - mechanic looked about 16

4 - Got Evans to convert my Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra to SS - got the bike and noticed chain rub on chainring bash guard. Took bike back and mechanic said that the bike was not really built for ss and that chainring rub on bash guard came with the territory. Went home tweaked the bashguard and fixed the problem myself.

Gobs

I went for a test ride the other day, rang a day in advance and was told all would be fine. When I showed up I was told I would have to wait an hour for them to fit pedals and check the brakes were ok. So much for me being organised at least. The guy didn't look like he knew what day of the week it was. Immediately off to a bad start

I return after an hour and wheel the bike out of the shop. It feels awful and really uncomfortable, no pro pedal or locked fork upon looking............

They'd given me the demo bike with about 60psi in each tyre! F'ing useless. I don't feel confident in them at all. It's a shame as a couple of the guys in there knew their stuff and were very genuinely friendly

GHill

It will depend on the branch and even which member of staff you get. Some will be good, some average and some bad.

cheehee

GHill wrote:

It will depend on the branch and even which member of staff you get. Some will be mildly imcompetent, some worse and some brain meltingly sh*t.

I fixed that for you mate...........no charge

Gobs

:shock: :shock:

WildfireS3

I bought my latest bike through Evans (ride to work scheme). I was very disspaointed to find that I had to put a £50 deposit down on each bike I looked as as they had to order it in. Staff were generally very helpful and enthusiastic, but IMHO lacked proper knowledge. There was little technical know how.

I was staggered at their servicing cost and what you got for your money. They wanted £200 to service my 99 Manitou X-Verts! And it was £30 or so for a wipe down of the bike!

My last experience with Evans was over 10 years ago and they were very good. I think standards have slipped very badly!

Mark909

Thanks guys i was looking into getting one of their £55 services.

Ive tried ringing during during hours. No answer 4 times and then when i did get through asked guy about services.

He said hed have to put me through to maintenance. Then i was just left with a phone ringing again.

Hardly confidence inspiring!

CycloRos

It does depend a lot on the branch and the member of staff. A couple of the guys in the nottingham branch are good and I ask to talk to them specifically, if they're not available I hang up

I've had my Stumpy serviced there before and they did a pretty decent job although they weren't particularly quick or good at keeping me informed.

Gobs

Perhaps there should be a sticky thread for recommended local bike shops in your area, based on users reviews. Just like getting your car serviced, it's great to have a recommendation, because the standard varies so much

projectsome

Got my bike serviced few weeks ago with Evans. They fitted a new rear brake (I redckon I didn't need one though as it seemed fine)

The chain now rubs when on the largest cog at the front.

I managed to get a £60 discount though.

Went back the next day because they forgot to do my front brake which they replaced the front pads and bled for free.

Also getting a wheel fixed which is late so getting a discount.

All in all, I suppose it's reasonably ok. If any other shop was late fixing my bike they wouldn't give me a discount but then they'd do a slightly better job...

scotto

got my gt from them and everything was loose from day 1.

1) Headset, brakes, gears, bars seatpost the works.

Went to get my 'free 1st service', was told there was a 3 month que

2) bought some gore trousers from them, had a bad off and took the knees out

went to buy some more and bloke in shop said 'no need to, bring them in and we will send them off to scotland and get them repaired for £20.00'

they were then sent to germany, by week 2 it was apparently belgium

on week 3 nobody knew where the hell they were and on week 5 after a load of arguements with head office, I got another pair free.

3) took my gt in to get an external bottom bracket done, no problem as booked 2 weeks in advance, will be ready by the end of tomorrow.

tomorrow came and after confirmation on the phone that it was ready to go, I turn up to find that the parts had not even been ordered.

two days later i picked it up and it was fitted with a normal bottom bracket, I got discount and left


4) I got a taurine 4 delivered from them, had scratches all over it, they offered me a £50 voucher i told them to shove it, back at the shop they then offered me £200.00 in vouchers, out of principal i declined, had a shouting match with twat behind the till before he refunded the card.

This was using 3 branches wandsworth, gatwick and the worst of them all, the mighty chiswick branch.

Needless to say I no longer use them and never will again and though rare for me to hate, i would love to see them go bang.

projectsome

scotto wrote:

got my gt from them and everything was loose from day 1.

1) Headset, brakes, gears, bars seatpost the works.

Went to get my 'free 1st service', was told there was a 3 month que

2) bought some gore trousers from them, had a bad off and took the knees out

went to buy some more and bloke in shop said 'no need to, bring them in and we will send them off to scotland and get them repaired for £20.00'

they were then sent to germany, by week 2 it was apparently belgium

on week 3 nobody knew where the hell they were and on week 5 after a load of arguements with head office, I got another pair free.

3) took my gt in to get an external bottom bracket done, no problem as booked 2 weeks in advance, will be ready by the end of tomorrow.

tomorrow came and after confirmation on the phone that it was ready to go, I turn up to find that the parts had not even been ordered.

two days later i picked it up and it was fitted with a normal bottom bracket, I got discount and left


4) I got a taurine 4 delivered from them, had scratches all over it, they offered me a £50 voucher i told them to shove it, back at the shop they then offered me £200.00 in vouchers, out of principal i declined, had a shouting match with fool behind the till before he refunded the card.

This was using 3 branches wandsworth, gatwick and the worst of them all, the mighty chiswick branch.

Needless to say I no longer use them and never will again and though rare for me to hate, i would love to see them go bang.

seems to me there motto is "bodge it then discount it!"

I've just had my wheel done,

got a upgradge from deore to deore lx for the price of a deore hub along with a discount.

I haven't picked it up yet so will have to wait and see the end results...

andy46

i got my scott spark from evans as it was the cheapest i'd seen anywhere but when i picked it up i also noticed some scratches on the frame i didn't kick up a fuss, but when i got it home i noticed even more scratches and the tyres already had mud on them!! i managed to polish out most of the scratches, but it has made me wonder if my bike has been used as a demo model. they certainly didn't mention this. its been back for its first free "service" which all they did was lube the chain, needless to say i won't be taking it back so if anyone knows of a good lbs in the county durham / darlington area please let me know.

Gobs

When I was in there all the demo bikes had mud on the tyres. I would assume yours is probably one of them. It would explain the cheap price too

If it's any saving grace the demo's are only 10 mins long so it's unlikely to have any damage and it should just be superficial

andy46

Gobs wrote:

When I was in there all the demo bikes had mud on the tyres. I would assume yours is probably one of them. It would explain the cheap price too

If it's any saving grace the demo's are only 10 mins long so it's unlikely to have any damage and it should just be superficial

it wasn't cheap price it was the same as the rest of the bikes here's the link it's the same price now. http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sco ... uery=scott spark 50

don't get me wrong the bike is mechanicly sound, it's just i'd expect it to be gleaming, it's meant to be brand new.

andy46

plus they didn't have the spark 50 at gateshead so they apparently ordered it in, i was waitingfor ages and its only when i went to pick up my helmet i'd ordered i happened to ask if they knew when my bike was coming the lad behind the till said i'll just go and check, then came back and said oh yes it was ready a couple of days a go :shock: :roll:

CommandoBoy

Andy46, if nothing needed adjusting then thats all i would of done.
When someone brings a bike into our shop for the 8 week check over, i usually just find out how they have been riding it and maintaining it to advise them.
I was talking to one lad before and i said have you been keeping it lubed but and he said he with WD40. I gave him a can of GT85.

nonnac85

I always use Evans in MK. They always have time to speak to you about problems / product choices even on a weekend.
When they serviced my bike (the £55 one) they said that because not all the things needed sorting out that are on the service list I only paid £25. Cant argue with that!

jedi_master

Had my bottom bracket shell and head tube faced at the waterloo cut store a couple of months back and the job they done seems good. Apart from that and wheel truing(need a truing stand ) I do the work myself.

Looking at their price list though the do seem to over charge. Well at least in my opinion, I mean £12.50 to fit a water bottle cage.

Gobs

nonnac85 wrote:

I always use Evans in MK. They always have time to speak to you about problems / product choices even on a weekend.
When they serviced my bike (the £55 one) they said that because not all the things needed sorting out that are on the service list I only paid £25. Cant argue with that![/quote0


I live in MK! The guy with the purple curly hair is sound as. I almost feel bad for not buying a bike off him (alas my bike scheme is diff to the Evans scheme) He seems very well informed without being pushy. There's also a small blonde guy who is decent without being pushy. He has a Meta 5.5.2 They are well worth searching out. Top guys

chuckcork

Jedi Master wrote:

Had my bottom bracket shell and head tube faced at the waterloo cut store a couple of months back and the job they done seems good. Apart from that and wheel truing(need a truing stand ) I do the work myself.

Looking at their price list though the do seem to over charge. Well at least in my opinion, I mean £12.50 to fit a water bottle cage.

Having while out on a club run had to help one of my club mates with her brake setup as she wasn't stopping that well (c'mon, how difficult can it be to setup road calipers?) there are likely to be many out there who wouldn't know a 4mm hex key* from a No.15 spanner, so would need the assistance.

My own complaints about Evans centre around the Kingston store, last time I was in there I walked out, having to stand in a long, non-moving queue for the counter simply to find out if the product I wanted was in stock, then having numpty staff asking generally if anyone was waiting (?????) really was taking the mick.

5 minutes after walking out and I was in another cycle shop and having 2 staff eager to assist with my purchase

Thing that gets me is the Kingston store has always been poor at customer service, not just the once on a busy Sunday, but numerous times and over the 9 years or so I've been on and off going to them and finding I shouldn't have wasted my time. I've complained via their contact us and yet have never once received an acknowledgement, so I guess they can afford to lose customers like myself who only spend a grand or so a year on cycling.

I guess there are plenty of people who like or are prepared to put up with poor service, staff with no training or knowledge etc and who are prepared to pay for it; until such people abandon Evans and the company's bottom line starts to suffer they'll continue to be sh!t.

*not suggesting a 4mm hex key would be required for a bottle holder bolt.

spark1479

It depends on who you get in each Evans store - bought an specialised enduro from the Kingston store a few years ago and after being promised repeatedly that it was ready to go, got there and everything was loose after the 'PDI' or whatever they called it. I complained with no real response apart from some moronic grunts so took it to my LBS who basically rebuilt it and it rocked.

I've got some stuff from the Evans Gatwick store and some of those guys were pretty switched on.

Evans is a slightly better version of Halfords and i've learnt the hard way to use my LBS and pay a premium. Its better to build a relationship with them and you get a far better service.

helen984

I don't know about Evans but Leisurewheels tried to charge me nearly £40 to adjust my gears, I thought that was utterly ridiculous so I decided to go for a Halfords £14.99 job to see if they could sort it our for me.

I popped down after work on Wednesday; he had it done in 5 mins, explained that the inner structure of the derailleur was warped and SHOWED me it (my fiance had taken a fleeting look previously and he also thought it looked bent so at least I know Halfords' diagnosis was accurate!), he said he had tried to straighten it and said that it was shifting much better but couldn't reach 1st gear and would benefit from a new derailleur. I was given the option to have it done immediately or leave it for another time so I accepted, he gave me a choice of two models, fitted it (no appointment, done on the spot!), showed me the new derailleur and how it aligned better than the old bent one and even took the bike back downstairs for me. Only £14.99 labour and £29.99 for a new Deore derailleur, its shifts perfectly now, better than ever! I was expecting them to be shite at Halfords TBH, LOL, how wrong I was...

Big-up Robert T at Halfords Hemel Hempstead! 8)

10/10 for explanation, speed and helpfulness!

maluco_beleza

I bought my Zesty at Evans, only reason i got from them was the Cycle to Work scheme (didn't have any other choice).

It was the worst experience ever:

1. Before I bought the bike, went for a demo, they gave me a Zesty with a fairly loose headset and tyres with about 30psi. Needles to say I had to wait for ages to see if someone could take a look at the headset, and this is the answer they gave me:
'you grab a allen key and do it yourself'

I don't mind doing myself, but for someone that is willing to spend 2 grand on a bike, this is a pretty s**t customer experience. This was the in the waterloo cut store.

2. Decided to go all the way to gatwick, as the apparently staff there are a bit nicer. Got the bike, and 2 days later I realised that the front brake it's all dented, with the paint coming of. Probably the 'so called mechanic' messed up when building the bike.

Now i have the option to take the bike for the 'free service', but I'm seriously considering to do it myself, as I really think they won't do anything, except for wiping the chain. And the guy at the store told me that you need to bring the bike before 9am, otherwise they don't do it.

Can anyone tell me how these guys are managing to survive???? I really felt I was the one doing a favour, and serving them when I bought my bike, rather then the other way around.

maluco_beleza

I bought my Zesty at Evans, only reason i got from them was the Cycle to Work scheme (didn't have any other choice).

It was the worst experience ever:

1. Before I bought the bike, went for a demo, they gave me a Zesty with a fairly loose headset and tyres with about 30psi. Needles to say I had to wait for ages to see if someone could take a look at the headset, and this is the answer they gave me:
'you grab a allen key and do it yourself'

I don't mind doing myself, but for someone that is willing to spend 2 grand on a bike, this is a pretty s**t customer experience. This was the in the waterloo cut store.

2. Decided to go all the way to gatwick, as the apparently staff there are a bit nicer. Got the bike, and 2 days later I realised that the front brake it's all dented, with the paint coming of. Probably the 'so called mechanic' messed up when building the bike.

Now i have the option to take the bike for the 'free service', but I'm seriously considering to do it myself, as I really think they won't do anything, except for wiping the chain. And the guy at the store told me that you need to bring the bike before 9am, otherwise they don't do it.

Can anyone tell me how these guys are managing to survive???? I really felt I was the one doing a favour, and serving them when I bought my bike, rather then the other way around.

supersonic

Was that the first time you had seen the brake?

Pufftmw

I've always previously used Cyclesurgery but when I went in to look at options for my C2W scheme they had no stock and no-one wanted to talk to me in an empty shop.

However, Evans had a Spark 60 that fell inside the price range, so popped in there. A very helpful and knowledgeable chap talked me round the choices & options, then arranged to get one in for me (ok - £50 returnable deposit). Arrive Thurs and test-ride Friday sir. This was Tuesday.

I then found out that Evans did their own C2W scheme My boss was not too keen in starting another so I rang round Spark dealers looking for one at the same price. Although they would match the price, they would charge 10% on top (cash) for a C2W - which slightly defeated the object. So I filled out the forms and faxd them back. Company passed the check & we got instant credit, so filled out all the hire forms and order form and sent that back as well. I missed the Thursday print run by 30 minutes for the voucher but the really helpful girl (Katie) in head office said she would special delivery it for Saturday. However, I work for a courier company and I had one collect the voucher on Friday as soon as it was printed.

Turned up at the Shoreditch Evans and found the guy who I had spoken to originally. Bike was ready and he insisted I went out for a test ride. This I duly did then I was handed over to Michael to finish off. We spent literally 30 minutes ensuring that everything was set up 100% in terms of the shocks, seat height etc. Really knowledgeable, enthusiastic and someone who was seeminly very happy for you to be buying a nice bike.

Have to say that my whole "Evans experience" to date has been extremely positive.