Halfords Bike to work

seanorawe

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?

Dougall

My work nominally use Halfords C2W scheme but if you call their helpline they'll give you a list of shops in your area that will also accept the voucher.

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

Anonymous

Depends on why you like the Specialized but personally I would rather have a Boardman anyway.

macleod113

yea, agree with the above if you call them they can tell you where you can spend it. mine happened to be my LBS so i was well chuffed and added to my Trek collection. i was mightily relieved when i found that out.

diy

Having always been a Halfords snob, I had my mind set on a Tarmac (carbon version of the allez) or Roubaix (carbon version of the Secteur). I ended up buying a second hand Boardman team Carbon as it was a good price and the previous owner had hardly used it.

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).

Anonymous

I prefer the Boardman brand image to Specialized ;-)

Halfords.............not so much

seanorawe

Carbonator wrote:

Depends on why you like the Specialized but personally I would rather have a Boardman anyway.

The comfort. I also tested it and liked the Secteur. I have an allez, but im getting rid

seanorawe

I rang the number and got a few stores that will accept the voucher. Shortest distance from me is about 20 miles so not bad. However, the only other bike I found that I like is the Scott speedster 30. Looking at the boardman also to see if its worth trying and if need be, geet a mechanic to look it over after I buy it

diy

Carbonator wrote:

I prefer the Boardman brand image to Specialized ;-)

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.

KingOfTheTailwind

Which stores accept the voucher Sean?

Bar Shaker

Carbonator wrote:

I prefer the Boardman brand image to Specialized ;-)

Halfords.............not so much

+1

seanorawe

KingOfTheTailwind wrote:

Which stores accept the voucher Sean?

Carnmoney Cycles Newtownabbey
JR Magill Dromore
TJ McCabrey Craigavon
Madigan Cycles Carrick
RF Linton Ballymeena
Bicycle Shack - portglenone
Cyclology Armagh
Bridg End Newry

seanorawe

Boardman Comp

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

KingOfTheTailwind

No Specialized dealers then. Have you considered something with similar geometry to the Secteur? Giant Defy 3? Felt Z95?

seanorawe

Thats the thing, I dont really know what bikes have similar geo to actively look for. Ill have a look at the Felt, the Defy 3 seems to be a bit of heavy climber. Any idea about the Scott Speedster s30?

Or the Defy 1 is going for £899 in Madigan Cycles in Carrick

Salsa

seanorawe wrote:

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?

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.

smithy05

The defy is a more comfort orientated geometry, I have the Boardman team and the geometry is quite agressive

eskay

I bought a Kenesis through the Halfords B2W scheme. You will be surprised out how many different brands you can get, they have a helpline that you can call with your list of prefered machines.

andy9964

Salsa wrote:

seanorawe wrote:

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?

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.

/\ This /\

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

eskay

Not any bike, they cannot supply planet x. They do have a finite list of manufacturers.

Kerguelen

seanorawe wrote:

Boardman Comp

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

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.

mrbubbaman

I got my Boardman through Halfords on the cycle 2 work.
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

diy

My team carbon has done over 5,000 all weather miles in the 18 months I have owned it. Its the 09/10 model (bought by previous owner for £1000 early 2011), so has a regular external GXP BB, not a BB30. I've just changed the chain and cassette, but there was still plenty of life in the cassette. I've not had any problems with parts/bearings on mine. Toe overlap is only really noticeable when track standing at lights, but has never caused me a problem. I did notice a paint drip on the BB the other day.

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.

essjaydee

I've got a road race, and don't think the position is 'aggressive' at all. It's a nice comfortable bike with a good level of spec for the money. Rear hub did give up the ghosts after 18 months of all year commuting on the north west coast, so can't complain at that, as the wheels are usually the place where manufacturers keep the costs down.

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