Halfords to stock Pinarello

silveringsurfer

There are going to be a lot of miserable geardos tonight at this news! Got to smile at the thought of all of those second hand Pinarellos that are going to turn up on the forum as their cool factor evaporates. Who is going to believe that your £9k Team Sky dogs danglies didn't come from the same place your magic tree air freshener came from :roll: ???

silveringsurfer

Hmmm - on the plus side you'll be able to ride your Dogma to the shops without being robbed and even leave it unlocked outside the chippy and know it will be there when you get back

Careca

It always seemed that image of Kona nose dived when Halfords starting stocking them.

HasselHough

They are only going to stock a few models though, the Dogma Dentists can breathe easy :-)

giant_man

fu$k me ...

Careca

I believe they are also going to have a Rapha concession too

Crispyapp

Yup always knew they were crap and this confirms it. Can't wait to go see the pinos stood next to the carrera's and reebok bikes.....

simona75

Hoping they're going to release Ben 10 and Hannah Montana themed Pinarellos now

ADIHEAD

Yeh, they're currently bought by people who've never ridden them, who want to be just like Mr Wiggins. It will be even easier for their target market to access them now! Wouldn't say they're crap. My LBS sells the high end models but the proprietor doesn't rate the ride compared to the equivalent Look/Supersix/TCR's etc. He's an ex Elite rider so knows what he's talking about. He tells me the Dogma's Team Sky ride aren't actually made by Pinarello:-o

cogidubnus

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013 ... ey-wiggins

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... bikes.html

Good move for Halfords and interesting to see what it does for Pino. Certainly much greater exposure

themekon

ADIHEAD wrote:

Yeh, they're currently bought by people who've never ridden them, who want to be just like Mr Wiggins. It will be even easier for their target market to access them now! Wouldn't say they're crap. My LBS sells the high end models but the proprietor doesn't rate the ride compared to the equivalent Look/Supersix/TCR's etc. He's an ex Elite rider so knows what he's talking about. He tells me the Dogma's Team Sky ride aren't actually made by Pinarello:-o

Well who makes 'em then?. Talk about inverted snobbery.

ADIHEAD

I'm trying to recall the name of the company who he claims makes them. I can't find anything online so I'll ask him to remind me when I pop into the shop the weekend. Come on we're all brand snobs aren't we

jotko

ADIHEAD wrote:

I'm trying to recall the name of the company who he claims makes them.

Carrera

ADIHEAD

Lol! I remember him saying it was a specialist British company and the frames were £20k plus each. I'll find out and post Saturday.

fsd61b

Noooooo ! Phone him now !

dyson1590

I take your point, but I see buying bikes from Halfords in the same way I see buying jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos...it's "does the job, low end cheap kit" to me...which I didn't think Pinarello would want to be associated with.

Camus

dyson1590 wrote:

I take your point, but I see buying bikes from Halfords in the same way I see buying jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos...it's "does the job, low end cheap kit" to me...which I didn't think Pinarello would want to be associated with.

Quite. There's a store near me (Manchester) just opened called the Bike Rooms. The showroom is quite glitzy and in the bike department it stocks Pinarellos exclusively, this is alongside apparel and accessories from Assos and Giordana. Very high end, so Pinarello in part obviously want to pursue that image.

The shop has the full range of Pinarellos from what I could tell wandering around, unfortunately the brand doesn't do much for me, too many wavy bits on the frames. Will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the deal with Halfords has. As someone above mentioned Halfords won't be selling Dogmas. If it encourages more people onto bikes it can only be a good thing for the environment and traffic levels on the roads.

awavey

fsd61b wrote:

Noooooo ! Phone him now !

Its probably McLarens Applied Technologies division, part of the lot that make F1 cars that go round race tracks quickly, though not as quick as the Swiss Energy drink lot.

they made Cavs "Specialized" bike when he was at HTC, have oodles of experience in moulding carbon fibre, weight reduction,increasing strength and aerodynamics through computer fluid dynamics research, basically everything they do in F1 to make the car go quicker, they now look at ways they can apply it to other sports or everyday applications.

the Team GB olympic skinsuits were all supposed to have been tested in the McLaren windtunnel, which is how they ended up with some of the features on the sleeves to improve aerodynamic flow theyd borrowed from fluid dynamics on the F1 car, so wouldnt be surprised they are helping Team Sky as well given the two do seem to cross over quite a bit

its no different than that Adidas didnt really use to make Team Skys bike kit either.

and whats wrong with Pinarellos, I think they look really nice & shiny. Ill be more than happy for lots of people to go buy them in Halfords, then sell them cheaply barely used in less than a year

pinarellokid

i bet yellow are happy

rob21

I dont see a problem with halfords selling Pinarello,i bought a boardman team last year from halfords.
it's my best ride and a quality piece of kit which has nothing to do with halfords,and i would happily buy a Pinarello if i was in the market for one which im not.
I also have a carrea TDF which i bought 2 years ago to use as my winter bike,for a entry level bike it has been a very good buy and i spent very little on it apart from tyres pads e.t.c.
Chris Boarman has made a mint selling his quality bike's through halfords so pinarello will no doubt do the same.
He continues to sell his bike's so Halfords cant be that bad.
It make's me chuckle that their are so many bike snobs who seem to think the word halfords is something to avoid at all cost's

zx6man

The halfords saga is usually good bikes, built by not so good "technicians". I can't fault the bikes to be honest.

rob21

zx6man wrote:

The halfords saga is usually good bikes, built by not so good "technicians". I can't fault the bikes to be honest.

agreed...the 2 bikes i bought i built myself,however it dont stop me buying from Halfords though..

Churchill123

Seems like brand suicide to me..

riggsy81

hmmmm decisions decisions Carerra, Apollo or Pinarello LOL

I dont think this is a good thing for Pinarellos image and letting one of Halfrauds bike specialists loose on one can only end in disaster.

bernithebiker

Disasterous PR for Pinarello, IMO.

Where next? Tesco?

ben@31

bernithebiker wrote:

Disasterous PR for Pinarello, IMO.

Where next? Tesco?

For a Pinarello to be sold at Tesco's it will have to weigh 18kg and have the most cheapest components known to man, Shimano Tourney will be too good for a Tesco bike.

ju5t1n

I own two Pinarellos and don’t think this will harm the brand at all, in fact I think this is a good move for Pinarello. Selling bikes is all about volume, so getting your product into the retailer which sells more than one in three of all of the UK's new bikes can only be a good thing. It shows that their sponsorship of Team Sky has paid off.

rob21

ju5t1n wrote:

I own two Pinarellos and don’t think this will harm the brand at all, in fact I think this is a good move for Pinarello. Selling bikes is all about volume, so getting your product into the retailer which sells more than one in three of all of the UK's new bikes can only be a good thing. It shows that their sponsorship of Team Sky has paid off.

indeed same could be said for Boardman bikes..

bernithebiker

Volume is all well and good if you can keep your brand integrity.

The problem is that Halfords is not associated with high end cycling and as many here have said, the mechanics are often clueless.

If you're paying many thousands for your bike, it would be nice to have some expert advice, something I doubt you'll get at Halfords.

This is the exact opposite strategy to Specialized who are opening their own exclusive stores, presumably to better control quality and service.

Who is right?

navrig

ju5t1n wrote:

I own two Pinarellos and don’t think this will harm the brand at all, in fact I think this is a good move for Pinarello. Selling bikes is all about volume, so getting your product into the retailer which sells more than one in three of all of the UK's new bikes can only be a good thing. It shows that their sponsorship of Team Sky has paid off.

Yup. Don't see Chris Boardman begging on the street.

Halfords have more outlets than any other bike dealer and that bike dealer choses to stock a limited selection of high quality bikes alongside a wider range of mid and low end bikes.

You could argue that Pinarello are lucky to get a prime spot on the "High Street".

simona75

bernithebiker wrote:

Disasterous PR for Pinarello, IMO.

Where next? Tesco?

I genuinely believe that in the next 18 months Tesco et al will be selling "proper" road bikes. We've seen premium brands from other markets succumb so why not road bikes.

Plus, as we found out last night they already sell things that people are able to ride