Halfords Bike to work

I have had my heart set on a Spesh bike through a very good LBS, and have now found out our work has changed their cycle to work to using Halfords only. Now what? Do they do anything that would remotly be on par with a spesh secteur?
Cube Attain SL Disc
Giant CRS 2.0
Giant CRS 2.0
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What you then need to do is once you've sorted out the bike order is call the helpline again & give them the store & bike details & they'll send a mail to the relevant store with an authorisation code or some nonsense like that which allows your shop to accept the Halfords voucher.
The guys on the Halford Helpline are in my experience miles ahead of the level of service that you receive in any of their stores.
In my area there were a load of LBS I could use - sadly not my preferred one but still managed to use it with no probs in a decent LBS
Willier GTR 2014
I have been very impressed with the bike. At the Entry level Specialized bikes are not that great anyway and Boardman seems to be a brand that has to over spec' to make up for the awful brand image (both halfords and boardman).
Stretching & Workout Vids
Halfords.............not so much
The comfort. I also tested it and liked the Secteur. I have an allez, but im getting rid
Giant CRS 2.0
Giant CRS 2.0
I fell out of love with Spesh, when they stopped making mountain bikes.
@OP try http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/ fantastic deals available if he will take your voucher.
Stretching & Workout Vids
+1
Boardman FS Pro
Carnmoney Cycles Newtownabbey
JR Magill Dromore
TJ McCabrey Craigavon
Madigan Cycles Carrick
RF Linton Ballymeena
Bicycle Shack - portglenone
Cyclology Armagh
Bridg End Newry
Giant CRS 2.0
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65710#tab2
Does anyone know how this bike feels for comfort? Is the position aggressive? Im gonna try it on for size at the weekend
Giant CRS 2.0
Or the Defy 1 is going for £899 in Madigan Cycles in Carrick
Giant CRS 2.0
Call the Halfords C2W team and see if they can source the bike for you, when I worked there a couple of years back we had Specialized bikes delivered to store on C2W.
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My C2W scheme is predominantly geared towards halfords, but the info we have been given says Halfords can source any bike if you ring the helpline
I have one (2011), but have relegated it to wet weather / shopping duties as I don't think much of it.
Executive summary: BB threads not cut properly resulting in premature replacement of the original BB, rear triangle out of alignment, ride harsh and uncomfortable (feels like a steamroller), understeer, chronic toe overlap, hubs of poor quality, cost-cutting Microshift front mech meant front shifting was useless until I replaced with a 105. Position is not bad though.
Maybe the carbon ones are better; I don't know.
I contacted the scheme about other brands and they emailed me a list of brands that they could supply, send me your email address and I can forward it on if you want.
I went with Boardman as it was well spec'd
I think there is quite a difference in ride, though between the carbon and alu bikes as the frames are really not the same at all.
I'm just getting to the point of considering upgrading parts out of boredom or chopping the bike in for something a bit better. At the time I was hard pushed to get anything good in Alu for the £650 I paid.
Depreciation is a bit of a factor with new boardmans as they are popular bike2work bikes and people dump them after 6 months of staring at them unused in the garage. Don't reckon I'll lose much when I sell mine.
Stretching & Workout Vids
I've got a supersix, and this is more race orientated and 'aggressive' riding position than the boardman.
If your worried about any goomers building the bike badly, do it yourself. I did and it was a doddle
Lancashire Cycle Link Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/126682247491640/