Accessories from Halfords

fragglekfc

Hi, I am taking advantage of the cycle2work scheme through my employer, hopefully picking up my new Boardman Team road bike tomorrow. My employer has a deal with Halfords that means I will get 12.5% of the cost of the bike in free accessories. This means I will have over £80 to spend and I would appreciate any advice on what to get. I have nothing so will need plenty but Halfords is hardly the ideal place to shop so what should I spend my £80 on in store to give me best value for money before I buy everything else I need online?

Thanks

Wirral_paul

£80 worth of tools so that you can look after it properly and do your own maintenance (rather than trust the Halfords numpties who often dont have a clue)??

smidsy

The things you may consider are:

Helmet - They do a nice Boardman.
Track Pump - Joe Blow are good.
Saddle Bag - the Topeak ones are fine
Pedals - If the bike does not have clipless they do some Shimano SPD-SL ones with cleats for about £40.
CO2 - or mini pump.
Puncture repair kit.
Water Bottles - the Camel back ones are nice.

You will not get much for £80 so its a pick and mix of the above till its gone.

fragglekfc

smidsy wrote:

The things you may consider are:

Helmet - They do a nice Boardman.
Track Pump - Joe Blow are good.
Saddle Bag - the Topeak ones are fine
Pedals - If the bike does not have clipless they do some Shimano SPD-SL ones with cleats for about £40.
CO2 - or mini pump.
Puncture repair kit.
Water Bottles - the Camel back ones are nice.

You will not get much for £80 so its a pick and mix of the above till its gone.

Thanks for that, thats the kind of list I was hoping for, take the Topeak Aero Wedge Quickclip for example, £20 in Halfords, £16 delivered from Amazon so probably worh getting it in Halfords as I will have the money to spend and other things will be relatively dearer.

tubbs_214

IMHO the most important thing you should get is a good helmet you dont have to spend shed loads about 50 will get a decent light one, a DECENT mini pump the topeak racerocket hp is good, some spare tubes and maybe a saddle bag to keep the tubes in.

thats what i would get

woodywmb

Spend the money on getting the staff to double check the bottom bracket is greased. There is an issue with BB30. The bike's great, even better if they take out the bearings and replace them with Sram ones plus loads of lube. Or even a BB30 adaptor. Discuss this with staff. All Halfords BikeHut employees have been told what to do in regard to BBs that start clicking and clunking within a week. Also: Google BB30 complaints, for advice.
viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12790818&p=17126400&hilit=bb30+boardman+bb30#p17126400

binsted

If you have £80 to spend why not wait until until they do a 3 for 2 deal, normally do one every few weeks

indysmith

Halfords has a 3 for 2 deal in store at the moment on almost all cycle accessories. Locks, lights, pumps, helmets, hydration...

essjaydee

Woodywmb wrote:

Spend the money on getting the staff to double check the bottom bracket is greased. There is an issue with BB30. The bike's great, even better if they take out the bearings and replace them with Sram ones plus loads of lube. Or even a BB30 adaptor. Discuss this with staff. All Halfords BikeHut employees have been told what to do in regard to BBs that start clicking and clunking within a week. Also: Google BB30 complaints, for advice.
viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12790818&p=17126400&hilit=bb30+boardman+bb30#p17126400

Why bother wasting your £80 on this
You have a 12 month guarantee on the bike, so just ride it and if there are any issues with the BB30 (or anything else for that matter) then you can get it all sorted under the guarantee

@Smidsy has covered the essentials in their post above.

woodywmb

Agreed. I was using the post to pre-warn the buyer. A nice bike and a clutch of goodies don't count for much if the main part of the machinery ain't working.

kayakerchris

Only things I would add are good lights.
You could quite easily spend the £80 on 3-4 good lights. I would have at least one big Cateye at the back, the one with 2 buttons and 2 rows of LEDs. A good front one with a steady and a flashing mode and then a couple of little ones to put one more to the sides or on the helmet.

snoopsmydogg

kayakerchris wrote:

Only things I would add are good lights.
You could quite easily spend the £80 on 3-4 good lights. I would have at least one big Cateye at the back, the one with 2 buttons and 2 rows of LEDs. A good front one with a steady and a flashing mode and then a couple of little ones to put one more to the sides or on the helmet.

good job you dont live in the states there would be a few ufo spotters after you with all those going at once.

shouldbeinbed

Lights, on bike tool/repair kit, topeak pocket rocket pump, set of crud roadracers/sks chromoplastic mudguards.

TKF

Be warned. The Halfords toolkit at £35ish is made out of butter and KitKat wrappers.

The Bikehut one at £50ish is actually pretty good.

fragglekfc

Thanks for all replies. Went yesterday and picked up bike. Ended up getting mudguards, bike computer and pump, 3 for 2. That only left around £7 so got a spare inner tube and a can of GT85 at half price. I already have helmet, puncture repair kit. I will get the Toopeak wedge online, didnt make sense to get it yesterday the way the pricing went with 3 for 2 items. The bike came with kind of triangular shaped pedals so I assume they are designed for use with shoes with cleats.