My bike is more Stan Boardman than Chris Boardman...

Big Mig1

I have owned my Boardman Sport for 10 weeks now and it has given me nothing but trouble. Firstly the rear mech had so much play in it it was constantly ghost shifting, the front forks are about to be sent away for 2 weeks as they have developed a knocking noise and will no longer lock out, the seat has collapsed and today to put the cherry on the cake the chain snapped in the rain 6 miles from home. Halfords initially turned my bike upside down for 7 days to cure the knocking noise.....Honestly that was the recommended repair from the turds at Halfords. It was a nightmare of epic proportions to get the rear mech replaced. I want my money back so I can replace it with a Focus from Wiggle. I bought it as a winter hack so I could commute to work, little did I know it wouldn't make it to the winter. Any advice or Chris Boardman's home telephone number would be appreciated.

Dowse40

The bike has nothing to do with boardman himself. Your beef should be with hellfrauds alone. If you don't get any sense out of the shpo try to find a website for boardman bikes and take it up with them.

Eranu

Boardman don't make the forks, the rear mech which appear to be the problem. Just take it back to Halfords.

SDK2007

This is the problem when buying a bike from Halfords.

You may pay more for a bike from Specialized (for example) but they can service and turn around a bike in 2-3 days.
The can also get replacement parts delivered in a day - awesome.

bails87

But surely that depends on the shop doing the repair, not all LBS are brilliant.

I've had great service from Halfords, sounds like the OP hasn't but to be fair, Halfords and Boardman don't make the parts that have failed, they'd be the same on a Focus. But, sadly, again, Halfords havent helped themselves.

If the rear mech isn't set up properly then take a look on Park Tools and learn to do it yourself, yes, you shouldnt have to do this but it's a useful skill to have and isn't as scary as it looks. If it's genuinely faulty then ask them to take one out of stock or off a display model to replace it.

I'm sure the fork thing is a common Rockshox problem, something to do with suspension oil getting where it shouldnt?

Chain snapping, sorry, that could have happened to any bike, anywhere, any time, unfortunate, but not necessarily anyone's fault, least of all Boardman. it's either a manufacturing fault, or poor shifting technique, or just plain bad luck.

rwalworth

Well, actually by consumer law they have 30 days every time you take the bike back into store to sort any problem under warranty. Tbh how is the forks failing the fault of the store, it's not like they built the forks and a rear mech being slightly out isn't that big of a deal and can be fixed. The saddle will be replaced and it sounds like the forks are being sent off, lastly how the hell can the chain snapping be their fault, chains snap and thats life. Pull that tampon out mate and just suck it up until the bike gets sorted, this is how these things work and not just at halfords, I had my bike at a decent LBS for 6 weeks just because they needed that amount of time to get all the parts and sort it, just because it took a longish time doesn't mean they'r trying any less hard to get it working again.

passout

Yes, Halfords sold it to you and have a duty to sort it out. That said quality control should be evident on these bikes when they were put together, surely?

bails87

True, and he's possibly got a case with the rear mech (could be something silly like one of the mech hanger bolts coming loose?). But the fork problem developed, it wasn't there when it was sold. Same with the chain, you can't look at a new chain and tell whether or not its going to snap in 2 and a half months time can you?

If he'd bought a Trek or a Giant from an LBS then I don't think the shop would be getting the blame for problems with components that developed after the bike was sold, especially as they're sending off the forks to get repaired and it sounds like they replaced the rear mech.

I don't mind Halfords bashing when they deserve it. But it seems like branded components have failed, and the retailer, rather than Shimano/SRAM/Rockshox/Velo(for the saddle), is being blamed even though they're sorting it.

jay12

Dowse40 wrote:

The bike has nothing to do with boardman himself. Your beef should be with hellfrauds alone. If you don't get any sense out of the shpo try to find a website for boardman bikes and take it up with them.

tottaly agree with you

SDK2007

bails87 wrote:

But surely that depends on the shop doing the repair, not all LBS are brilliant..

My local bike shop is a Specialized Concept store

Anonymous

SDK2007 wrote:

This is the problem when buying a bike from Halfords.

You may pay more for a bike from Specialized (for example) but they can service and turn around a bike in 2-3 days.
The can also get replacement parts delivered in a day - awesome.

I get mine serviced same-day

bails87

I had a feeling that you'd say that! But still, that's not necessarily the case for the OP.

EDIT: Halfords can provide that kind of service too, they sent mine off to HQ, new brakes put on and returned to the store in a day. It wasn't planned either, they only realised they'd need mending at about lunchtime on the day it was done. It seems that many stores choose not to provide that kind of sevice unfortunately.

J55TTC

Just ask for the supervisor and be polite and friendly.

I bought some roof mounted bike carriers 3 months ago (set of 2 halfords advanced) and one of the clamps decided it didnt want to work anymore.

Took it back and explained the problem and they refunded the money no problems at all.

Got some thule 591's now... lesson learned!

supersonic

Don't expect a Wiggle bike to be any better - if the parts fail in the same way (which they might) - you'll have to send it back. Even more time.

The Northern Monkey

Who the feck is stan boardman?!

delcol

bigbenj_08 wrote:

Who the feck is stan boardman?!

you never heard of stan boardman, he's a funny scouser.


got to agrre with whats been said, you can't blame the retailer for parts that fail,,

i had a sram hollow link chain snap on my santacruz after 2 rides i bet the chain had not covered 30-35 miles... i didn't blame the shop who sold me the bike, i just fixed it...

my marzocchi 55 ata developed a fault after no more than 10 rides, this time i had to take it up with the shop as the warrenty was with them, they fixed it took a few days to get the parts....

just be patient and give them a chance to sort things out, if they don't then shoot them down..

Anonymous

Aargh, 55s!
I think you (or the shop) should have sent them back to windwave to be upgraded to the 09 spec, which seem to be free from the gremlins that plagued earlier models.

delcol

yeehaamcgee

windwave won't touch them as they were purchased in northamerica. ie whistler, they were fixed by marzocchi in vancouver well they sent the part free of charge up to the shop in whistler who then fixed them, they were fitted with a uprated ata cartridge i will gues its a 09 one..

probb66

My hybrid pro is in Halfords for the second time in two weks as gears are jumping . 10 day turnaround to fit a part. Seems a bit long . Boardman are keeping an eye on the repair .

Anonymous

gears jumping two times in one week is not an uncommon problem. It just means that the gear cables are settling, usually.
Regardless, adjusting gears os eomthing that every cyclist should know or learn how to do, really.

Stoo61

Im not saying its Halfords fault but I didn't have them build my Team, I took it to a guy in the box whose whole business is building and fixing bikes. It been perfect, just took it back to him for a service because I had a few minor issues and I got a complete run down of what was wrong, what may go wrong soon and ways in which to sort those problems.

It costs more but the bike will last a hell of a lot longer.

So, i'd say that in general the people at Halfords will not put a lot of work into making the bike perfect when it leaves the shop because their livlihood doesnt depend on it.

Craig at Stirling Cycle Repairs is the guy I goto, so big thanks to him for making my bike sing from day one. (a wee plug there)

montriff

"you never heard of stan boardman, he's a funny scouser
He is a scouser ,but he isn't funny

supersonic

yeehaamcgee wrote:

gears jumping two times in one week is not an uncommon problem. It just means that the gear cables are settling, usually.
Regardless, adjusting gears os eomthing that every cyclist should know or learn how to do, really.

I agree. I don't even think that most times gears jumping even is a problem. This is not pointed at anyone in this thread, but many riders think the bikes look after themselves and take them back as soon as something needs adjusting. Things have adjusters so you can adjust them! Quite often it is not a problem of the bike, but part of having one.

I think shops should point out (and I used to do this) that bikes need maintaining, cleaning, adjusting and servicng and regualr intervals. The rider has a duty to look after it.