Boardman/Halford conundrum?

Roundandround

Just wondering how to reconcile all the immensely positive reviews of Boardman bikes with the fact that they're supplied by Halford's. Does anyone who buys a Boardman have to have considerable savvy, so that they can give the bike the once-over themselves? Saw a review on the forum the other day which was quite scary, re. all the things that were poorly (dangerously) set-up on a B bike from H.

Dalton

I think it all depends on the store you purchase from, some Halfords branches have very good staff - who are themselves keen cyclists. Who therefore do a very good job in setting up bikes sold.

However, they do appear to be the 'minority' amongst Halfords staff, which is a shame. As like you say the Boardman range is fantastic and gets great reviews. If I was in charge at Halfords, I would be looking to get fully trained cycle specialists in every branch, instead of the young, poorly paid muppets some branches seem to have instead.

If I was going to purchase a Boardman, I would probably factor in some extra cash to have it checked over at my LBS.

Either that, or purchase a decent set of bike tools and learn how to do it yourself.

carl_p

I would encourage you to learn to maintain a bike yourself. It really isn't that difficult and there are loads of helpful people on here, as well other webites that could give advice should you need it.

There is the cost of tools to consider, but the convenience of being able fix your bike when YOU want and the money saved in the long run will quickly offset this.

If the Boardman ticks all the boxes for you then get one.

Duffer65

Dalton wrote:

I think it all depends on the store you purchase from, some Halfords branches have very good staff - who are themselves keen cyclists. Who therefore do a very good job in setting up bikes sold.

However, they do appear to be the 'minority' amongst Halfords staff, which is a shame. As like you say the Boardman range is fantastic and gets great reviews. If I was in charge at Halfords, I would be looking to get fully trained cycle specialists in every branch, instead of the young, poorly paid muppets some branches seem to have instead.

If I was going to purchase a Boardman, I would probably factor in some extra cash to have it checked over at my LBS.

Either that, or purchase a decent set of bike tools and learn how to do it yourself.

+ 1

Sound out the bike staff if they seem like they know what they are doing, great. If not, as Dalton says set aside some extra cash for a once over by your LBS or do it yourself.

Flamez

I think a load of rubbish is touted over boardman bikes and halfords.

To put peoples minds at ease the bikes arrive at store ready boxed. All the assembly requires is,

1 fitment and inflation of wheels and tyres
2 fitment of handle bars to stem, all cables and brakes etc ready fitted.
3 adjustment of saddle
4 fitting pedals of your choice.

To think they assemble from a box of bits is laughable.

If there is a major fault with the bike then it probaly rests with the manufacturer not the store. Fot example why is it Halfords fault that there was a rogue batch of battom brackets fitted to boardman bikes?

Broaders

Took my Boardmans to a good LBS when they were a few months old. Nothing major required for either, just a bit of grease here and there plus a bit of tweaking of the indexing.

I could probably do what they did now but it was reassuring to know they were perfect shortly after being bought.

My team carbon with upgraded wheels is an ace bike.

Ringo 68

I bought my Carrera Hybrid from Halfords and just took it home in the box.

As above, the assembly was very basic. Half an hour and the bike was ready to use. All the tools needed were included as well.

merak

If I buy a bike in a box I do a lot more before I ride it than those four things: eg, setting up the front and rear derailleurs limits and adjustment, brake adjustment, checking the play and adjustment of the headset and so on. Setting the right height of stem and cutting the steerer to length is not trivial. Furthermore even the four things listed here need to be done right. I have no confidence in most Halfords to do any of this properly. My daughter in law bought a hybrid from Halfords and asked me to check before she rode it and I found binding headset, one brake rubing with one shoe on the tyre and the other on the rim, the other brake pulling back to the handlebar, three sprockets unreachable and chain chattering between sprockets and I can't remember what else, all on a bike that was "set up" by Halfords.

+1 re buying tools and a repair stand and learning how to do this stuff yourself. Tools don't wear out - a decent set of Park tools will last a lifetime.

wombar

Dalton wrote:

I think it all depends on the store you purchase from, some Halfords branches have very good staff - who are themselves keen cyclists. Who therefore do a very good job in setting up bikes sold.

However, they do appear to be the 'minority' amongst Halfords staff, which is a shame. As like you say the Boardman range is fantastic and gets great reviews. If I was in charge at Halfords, I would be looking to get fully trained cycle specialists in every branch, instead of the young, poorly paid muppets some branches seem to have instead.

If I was going to purchase a Boardman, I would probably factor in some extra cash to have it checked over at my LBS.

Either that, or purchase a decent set of bike tools and learn how to do it yourself.

Absolutley spot on

I visited 4 Halfords stores when buying my Boardman, and it was only the last one where I found staff who were a) bikers themselves b) keen to talk bikes Brilliant service from start to finish. Perfect setup, great bike, no complaints whatsover. In fact I was going to buy another Boardman, but they were clearing out for the new model, and only had ex-display models left in other stores.

Contrast that with the bike I bought from CRC. Absolutely awful "setup". In fact, it was dangerous to ride with a bent derailleur hanger, rear derailleur hitting spokes, loose bolts on brakes, no indexing on either front or rear etc. If I'd ridden that out the box it would have resulted in catastrophic failure. I've not bought anything from CRC since, and doubt I ever will.

There are good and bad bike shops.

However, like Dalton suggested, get yourself familiar with the workings of a bike and you'll no longer have to worry about these kinds of things. Bike aren't that complicated and you'd be surprised how many jobs you can do with a simple £30 tool kit from Wiggle.

There's nothing I enjoy more than getting out into the garage and doing a bit of fettling. Yes, you'l run into a few frustrating moments, but come in, have a cup of tea and go back out when you're ready. Take a laptop out with you, jump on the net and you've got someone showing you what to do in the comfort of your garage

deffler

not had any probs with the boardman comp 2010 i bought a couple of months ago. Although tbh I wouldnt have a clue whether it was set up correctly or not as its my first roadbike. I keep meaning to post some pics of me on it to see if anyone can advise me what may need tweaking.

saintdracula

CANYON

togg

Had nothing but problems with my local Halfords and wish I'd gone to a proper bike shop.

I've been back 6 times to try and stop this chain rub on the front mech or derailleur. Worrying thing was the guy said I could bring my boardman road team carbon 2011 back as many times as I like until it's fixed, WTF just fix it you've had 6 goes at getting it right!

I've got many other serious complaints about Halfords and they refused to give me the area managers phone number, damaged both my bikes, left all sorts loose I had to tighten, overcharged me, horrible sour attitude, tires inflated to wrong psi...

gregster10217

As above, nothing to add. Great bikes. I was lucky to find a store with good, knowledgeable staff - Maidstone, Kent, and my Team Carbon came properly set up and not had any problems since.

If you don't feel like it's been properly set up, take it somewhere else and for a small fee, an LBS will do it for you until you can do it yourself. My bike has never been back to Halfords and won't be going there.

sumosprintstar

Yep, good experience here also in my local Halfords. Discount applied without me even asking and a decent set of pedals thrown in. When I had some teething problems with the pedals they upgraded them free of charge. They certainly went the extra mile for me in terms of sourcing me a bike that was nearly out of stock.

Roundandround

Thanks, everybody. Will seek out a bike maintenance class in my area, I think, and aim for an informed DIY route for longterm confidence (and some savings), as many if you suggest. Re. the mention of a toolkit from Wiggle (or anywhere, really), is there a specific recommendation? There's one on clearance at the moment (
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-worksh ... kaqze0N0NY) which has collected some good reviews. Might go for that one.

Thanks again.

SLX01

I had the same feeling when buying my BMC from Evans (they are the only supplier in UK) but at the end of the day once I got it home it has never been near Evans again. They didn't bother making sure it fitted me just bolted the bits on and wheeled it out into the shop and said 'there you go'. When I got it home I adjusted the saddle height and the height of the bars and gave it a once over myself.

Hals1967

SLX01 wrote:

I had the same feeling when buying my BMC from Evans.

Yes, he might have won the Tour de France and be an ace pro, but don't buy a bike from Cadel he's a hopeless mechanic :shock:

wombar

Roundandround wrote:

Thanks, everybody. Will seek out a bike maintenance class in my area, I think, and aim for an informed DIY route for longterm confidence (and some savings), as many if you suggest. Re. the mention of a toolkit from Wiggle (or anywhere, really), is there a specific recommendation? There's one on clearance at the moment (
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-worksh ... kaqze0N0NY) which has collected some good reviews. Might go for that one.

Thanks again.

Yep something like that will be fine. I think I got mine from Lidl and it's very similar. Has done a brilliant job of getting me into doing my own maintenance, and I think they're a great way to start. My only criticism of these kinds of sets is that the tools aren't built to last. The chain splittler in my Lidl one lasted one chain and then snapped. Tyre levers were pretty useless and snapped as well. You get what you pay for at the end of the day.

The other option is to buy higher quality tools as you need them. I've bought a few specific park tools (BB tool, derailleur hanger aligner, chain splitter) which have all been excellent (but not cheap in comparison). You could start off with the basics and go from there.

One thing I would invest in is a good set of Allen keys (halfords professional ones are good), some pliers (if you don't have some already) and some decent tyre levers (blue park tools ones are really good). With those three tools, you can do quite a lof of the most common jobs.

saintdracula

Hals1967 wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

I had the same feeling when buying my BMC from Evans.

Yes, he might have won the Tour de France and be an ace pro, but don't buy a bike from Cadel he's a hopeless mechanic :shock:

Ha

merak

Roundandround wrote:

There's one on clearance at the moment (
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-worksh ... kaqze0N0NY) which has collected some good reviews. Might go for that one.
.

It's a pretty comprehensive set of cycle tools, but as someoone else said, possibly not that robust. However, you're not going to be using them all day every day like a professional mechanic so they'll probably be fine. In addition you'll need ordinary workshop tools like long-nosed pliers, good sets of screwdrivers and Allen keys. I sometimes use Mole grips and a set of combination spanners comes in handy. A torque wrench is also useful. I assume the cassette lockring removal tool is Shimano, so if you have a different cassette, you'll need the appropriate tool. There are also very specific tools, eg for pressing in and removing press fit bearing cups, but you probably won't want those at first.

A course is one way to learn, but just doing it using a book or instruction videos on yotube is another way, or working alongside someone who has done it before. I've never started a job I haven't been able to finish myself, although I have had a few dodgy moments and some sweating and cursing (the worst was extracting a bottom bracket cup that seemed to have been welded into the frame). For me, fettling your bike is part of the whole cycling ethos and part of the satisfaction of the sport.

mouth

I bought a bike for my lad from Halfords (won't name branch but it was one in Nottingham). Ordered online to collect next day. Cracking build. Everything was perfect except for the fact they built the wrong bike. Muppets. Went into same branch the other day as I was nearby when I had a mechanical (ended up with new tyre bought from Halfords). Fitted it inside the store myself. When I politely asked if I could borrow a track pump instead of using my hand one the guy didn't even know what one was.

On the other hand in the last three years I've bought three bikes from other local Halfords stores and had no problems at all. Lack of consistency and staff training methinks.