First serious bike

Northwind

pk64 wrote:

Whatever you decide to buy, I would keep clear of Halfords, I bought a trax bike from Halfords in January this year for £140 (supposed to have been reduced from £340) with a fairly decent spec, full suspension and cable disc brakes but it was terrible, I had it until June when I sold it and bought a Trek 3900 for £400, it was a much lower spec, only cable V brakes and no full suspension but there is no comparison between the two, the trek is just fantastic. You get what you pay for!

Which has nothing to do with Halfords- you got what you paid for as you say. No reflection on the shop, or on their other bikes.

supersonic

Trax bikes are horrendous. Nothing like the Carreras or GT Aggressors.

pk64

I am sure that some of the higher end bikes sold at Halfords are much better than the cheaper ones, but I don't think much to the customer service at Halfords either, when I e-mailed them regarding the faults with the bike they didn't even attempt to help me with and told me that I should go to the nearest bike shop, this was only a month after I bought it.

Briggo

pk64 wrote:

I am sure that some of the higher end bikes sold at Halfords are much better than the cheaper ones, but I don't think much to the customer service at Halfords either, when I e-mailed them regarding the faults with the bike they didn't even attempt to help me with and told me that I should go to the nearest bike shop, this was only a month after I bought it.

Not being funny but if there is a problem with the bike the HQ cant do much, you need to show the store whats wrong with it.

The HQ can only say "ok thanks for letting us know" unless you expect them to come round your house?

Northwind

What else would they say? "Post it to our customer service phone desk and we'll fix it?"

pk64

I mail ordered the bike in the first place and when I bought it, I was told that it had a guarantee where they would repair the bike if it was faulty, in my opinion it was. I will think twice about buying a bike from Halfords again, especaially the cheaper ones that they sell. They could have organised for it be collected, I have had faulty mail ordered items collected before, by the courier that delivered them.

Briggo

Do you live miles away from a Halfords store? If so then fair enough, perhaps speak to them over the phone about it and not just an email.

Its better sometimes to speak to the company as you'll get a person there and then to sort it and not someone hiding behind an email which is easy to respond to with a half arsed effort.

pk64

Its roughly a 300 mile round trip to the nearest Halfords store and that includes a ferry journey there and one on the way back. I live in South Uist which is an island off the west coast of Scotland lol. I probably should have phoned at the time, but its too late now

dr.a

Halfords are known for their occasional "20% off GT bikes" sale.

Anyone got any pointers or estimates as to when that may happen again?

I'm urgently in need of a sale!

freeride-mike

halfords have a 3rd off carrera bikes at the minute but if ur stuck on the gt i would just shop around a bit i find halfords arnt always the cheapest for bike stuff

supersonic

pk64 wrote:

I mail ordered the bike in the first place and when I bought it, I was told that it had a guarantee where they would repair the bike if it was faulty, in my opinion it was. I will think twice about buying a bike from Halfords again, especaially the cheaper ones that they sell. They could have organised for it be collected, I have had faulty mail ordered items collected before, by the courier that delivered them.

What were the faults? Bikes bed in from new and need readjusting - have you readjusted it? They have no obligation to pick the bike up for that.

pk64

As I said, I sold the bike in June after having it since January, I can't remeber exactly how many miles it had done but certainly enough to bed it in, only a month before I sold it, I had it into the only bike shop on the island, the guy from the shop told he me he had made adjustments to the transmission and the brakes, but it didn't make much difference, the shifting was still awful and stopping distance was just unreal. I think that to put the bike right (replacing half components on it) would have cost more than the bike was worth.

dr.a

Inspite of setting my sights on the Aggressor XC2, I'm liking the Carrera Kraken. £20 cheaper and seems to be similar in spec. . . A better choice than the aggressor?

Yes/No?