Worth setting up roadie at home?

ubiquitous

The age old debate "Would you trust the gormless teenager at Halfords with your life?". I'm waiting to pick up a Boardman Team, I have met the staff at my local Halfords and I wasn't too impressed. I have also heard from work colleagues who have used this branch that they supplied his bike with the brakes installed backwards and made a balls up of the bar tape.

The other option is to let Halfords do their best then get it checked at an LBS but I don't know of too many round here, the one I have been recommended is a considerable drive away. I'm tight on money at the moment so every penny counts, two days slow work setting it up would be far preferable than paying someone £30+ to do it(!)

I'm quite hands on and like to know how things work. I can follow a set of instructions! I've done lots of minor adjustments to my MTB nut only have basic cycle tools.

How much work would be required to set the bike up from it's boxed stage to being road safe? What special tools (other than hex keys, wrenches, sockets etc) would I need?

Lillywhite

I actually popped into my local Halfords to see what all the fuss was about the Boardman Team and Pro bikes and see how they compared to my Trek OCLV bike.

Unfortunately, this branch didn't stock them because in the words of the mechanic I spoke to said 'we are not Boardman trained'.

Makes you wonder what sort of training they have to install brakes backwards! :shock:

rake

get it built at halfords emporium and then check it out yourself. only a fool would jump on something blind where ever it was assembled.

ubiquitous

I had to hunt around for a store that actually stocked them and three wild goose chases later and two visits to that store I tracked down the "specialist".
Probably harsh to judge someone on appearance but he didn't look like the sort of person who rides a bike and the knowledge appeared a little sketchy. I'm no snob but I do take my well being seriously.
I know they have to be additionally certified as part of the agreement with Boardman but I wonder what level of training is given? No way of knowing. I'm sure there are some excellent mechanics out there but I did not get this feeling in the store. The store around the corner from me has two "elder" employees and I go to them everytime as they are helpful and know what they are talking about, they just don't deal with Boardmans.

Infamous

How do you install brakes backwards?

sods_law

I am going to go against the trend here and say that my Boardman Team I got for Halfords was set up great. Bar tape is good, shifters aligned at the correct angle, gears work perfectly, all the connections were tight when I checked them. They had even wrapped everything back up in pipe lagging so I wouldnt damage it putting it in the car.

After all I had heard about Halfords bike service, I was very pleasantly surprised. Obviously have some good guys (and girl) at my local Bike Hut!

Lillywhite

ubiquitous wrote:

The store around the corner from me has two "elder" employees and I go to them everytime as they are helpful and know what they are talking about, they just don't deal with Boardmans.

The mechanic I spoke to thought this 'Boardman training thing' was a load of tosh (as he proceeded to put on brakes backwards).

Mike67

Building your own from all the parts is a very therapeutic exercise and gives a great sense of achievement at the end.

You also get to know how absoloutely everything fits together, all the little foibles that various parts have and you also get to see all the slight imperfections in the parts and frame. Places to look in future for unusual wear etc.

You do need one or two specialist tools to do it right. Bottom bracket spanner, cassette lockring tool, HTII crank tool and star nut setter spring to mind. You can get away without the last one with a compression plug.

I've nothing against Halfords as I've never bought a bike from them. If I did I would probably end up taking most of it apart and re-building it anyway....just to check
But that's just my mistrusting nature

Flasheart

Infamous wrote:

How do you install brakes backwards?

If there's a will..there's a way

shortyman

My wife's bike to work boardman hybrid came home without the gears indexed. God knows what happens if you let them near a car.

Flasheart

And to the OP. Have a go at building it yourself.
Having some mechanical knowledge of how your bike actually goes together can't be bad for those times when cr@p happens miles from nowhere.
Park Tools Blue book is good for reference as is their website

rake

shortyman wrote:

My wife's bike to work boardman hybrid came home without the gears indexed. God knows what happens if you let them near a car.

i walked into a halfords garage once with a part in my hand and the receptionist told me what part i was about to ask for before i opened my mouth. very reassuring.

STEFANOS4784

Infamous wrote:

How do you install brakes backwards?

Well if what's meant is that the back brake was on the right side then that's not backwards, most countries have it that way i think, it's just us who're backwards

Bunneh

Oi I worked at Halfords for a while and yeah we were all gormless teenagers. I had to retap a derailer hanger and I hadn't a clue, the securty guard did it for me :oops: It's not too bad these days, just avoid weekends and holidays and you're likely to get someone with half a clue.

ubiquitous

Not saying all Halfords employees are bad, just wasn't happy enough with the one I met to set up a bike! Just alarming the number of bad things said about them on the net. As with any profession, you get some bad, some good. People will moan about the bad ones, but aren't so quick to praise the good.
From what I've read, most of the parts are already on the bike from the manufacturer, just a matter of setting them correctly. Bottom bracket and running gear might require tools I haven't got/can't afford..... we'll see!

zedders

I ain't very good when it comes to bike repairs, but everyone has start somewhere? I suppose the more you do it the better you become?

I can do the basics, but two years ago I wouldn't have known if the brakes were on backwards! I think I could figure it out now, just... :?

CyclingBantam

Halfords tried to put my Look pedals on the wrong way round!

I wouldn't trust them at all. When getting a bike from them I would assume it is sold on the basis you are responsible for putting it together irrespective what state you get it in. Not sure the wheels were even tight on mine. It's not really funny to be honest!

cougie

I'd do it myself - I've seen proper bike shops install brake blocks the wrong way round which gave no stopping power at all- just take it methodically and you'll be fine.

crankycrank

A bike that already has all the pieces matched to the bike such as your Boardman would be one of the best projects for a first build. You don't have to worry about getting all the correct spacers, ferrules, brake bolt lengths, etc that sometimes come with buying everything separately. No one will ever care more about getting everything right on your bike than you. In addition to the tools you mentioned a bottom bracket tool, pedal wrench, cone wrenches for your wheel hubs, chain tool and cable cutter are good to have and make assembly and future maintenence much easier although you may not need any of these for the initial assembly. I would guess the chain is already cut and mounted, cables trimmed to length and the bottom bracket already installed but I would recommend checking it and your axle nuts for tightness to be safe. The money you'll save doing all the maintenence yourself will eventually pay for the tools many times over.

juankerr

My BM Team was set up perfectly apart from the rear brake which was dragging on one side. I did have it up on a workstand for about an hour checking it over before I rode it mind.

oldwelshman

I don't understand some of the guys on the forum, what will you do with your bikes if something goes wrong when out riding? Call the wife for lift home?
IMO if you can't put a bike together you should not ride one

acidstrato

get halfords to do the grunt work and you do the quality check, if it dont pass then take it back...Simplez

rake

oldwelshman wrote:

I don't understand some of the guys on the forum, what will you do with your bikes if something goes wrong when out riding? Call the wife for lift home?
IMO if you can't put a bike together you should not ride one

amen. if they havent got the iQ to check a few simple mechanisms and turn the odd screw they shouldnt ride a bike.

paul64

There's nowt wrong with calling the team car on occasions. Less depressing than walking 4 miles to the nearest shop in Surrey and counting 38 selfish tnucs ride past you without asking what's up. True story. With shop in sight one person finally asked, decent bloke. Wasn't local of course, down from Scotland, so you certainly can't rely on others to help if you're genuinely stuck and can't fixt it yourself out there.

For cables I would add the Lifeline Third Hand Cable Puller, cost me about £9 from Wiggle IIRC and a god-send. I also bought crimps, ferrules etc. As others have said, short term expense pays off longer term.

Garz

Halfords do get a good slating but some of it is just bandwagon macho crap. Mine was setup pretty well, but lets not forget any online purchase or mailed bike is going to have to be checked over by yourself or the lbs.. as boardmans are specific to halfords then theres hardly a choice where to source it from!

The bikes are cracking value, and as another poster put it, as long as you dont succumb to bike snobbery you'd be a fool to buy a higher branded name just for the sake and get worse spec.

8)

Monty Dog

paul64 wrote:

There's nowt wrong with calling the team car on occasions. Less depressing than walking 4 miles to the nearest shop in Surrey and counting 38 selfish tnucs ride past you without asking what's up. True story. With shop in sight one person finally asked, decent bloke. Wasn't local of course, down from Scotland, so you certainly can't rely on others to help if you're genuinely stuck and can't fixt it yourself out there.

How would anyone riding past know you had a problem? I would anticipate that anyone riding a bike should be self-sufficient on the road - regardless of where your live - unless it was a major / catastrophic. A good regime of preventative maintenance prevents more than 99% of problems. Sadly, there are many people who go out without even being prepared for a puncture and then expect someone else to fix it for them!