Halfords Incompetence - Im Fuming!

kajjal

njee20 wrote:

Different people like to have different ranges of gears to use without rubbing. Best to learn to adjust your gears to your own needs, that way it fits your riding and most commonly used gears.

Rubbish. I suspect most would accept some rubbing in the extremes: big/big and small/small, but you should be able to get just about everything else with no rubbing.

Which is exactly what I meant, calm down dear

buddy_club

Also just found a frayed cable, obviously i should've checked something like that, was wondering why it wouldnt shift in to the highest gears! I dont know how you could miss a frayed cable if you were meant to be giving the bike a service though.... :?

Chunkers1980

How do you mean frayed?

buddy_club

So a gear cable is made of lots of little wires wrapped together to make a thick one, at the cable guide under the BB the cable is frayed, bits of the cable is sticking out, it may have happened yesterday but i had shifting issues then too. The gears won't go down into the lowest 3 gears, unless I physically pull the cable myself.

jonnyashworth

just out of interest was it the Halfords in telford?

buddy_club

jonnyashworth wrote:

just out of interest was it the Halfords in telford?

Yes mate

jonnyashworth

Why does that not suprise me?

buddy_club

jonnyashworth wrote:

Why does that not suprise me?

I don know

njee20

Kajjal wrote:

njee20 wrote:

Different people like to have different ranges of gears to use without rubbing. Best to learn to adjust your gears to your own needs, that way it fits your riding and most commonly used gears.

Rubbish. I suspect most would accept some rubbing in the extremes: big/big and small/small, but you should be able to get just about everything else with no rubbing.

Which is exactly what I meant, calm down dear

Forgive me, when you said "different people like to have different ranges of gears without rubbing", I assumed that's what you meant, rather than "this Halfords employee clearly couldn't set up a front mech". Silly me.

monkeybar

I only ever go to Halfords bike dep for a part I need same day, most of time they don't have what I need. A quick chat with their mechanics tells me u'd get a better service hitting yr bike very hard with a sledge hammer! Like others have said, really not hard to learn yourself, and helps to know basics when you're out on trails and get mechanical issues.

PBNinja

I had to return my Voodoo after it's service which left the bike completely unrideable. I asked them to check the brakes as they weren't stopping the bike at all, I sh*t you not, he squeezed the lever and said "feels fine to me".

I ended up getting a boardman instead. Along with a few accessories, next on the list is a bike stand and some tools.

kajjal

njee20 wrote:

Kajjal wrote:

njee20 wrote:

Different people like to have different ranges of gears to use without rubbing. Best to learn to adjust your gears to your own needs, that way it fits your riding and most commonly used gears.

Rubbish. I suspect most would accept some rubbing in the extremes: big/big and small/small, but you should be able to get just about everything else with no rubbing.

Which is exactly what I meant, calm down dear

Forgive me, when you said "different people like to have different ranges of gears without rubbing", I assumed that's what you meant, rather than "this Halfords employee clearly couldn't set up a front mech". Silly me.

Your forgiven

mattrixdesign2

1 x Aldi Tool Kit (about £28), other places do cheap kits - some of the quality is questionalbe* (bin the allen keys and chain tools), but it will get many jobs done - chain whip and cassette tool get used the most on mine
1 x Cheap bike stand - Aldi, Lidl, Ebay, makes doing work much much easier
1 x Decent of allen keys, with "ball" ends (what ever you call them)*
1 x Decent chain tool, plus the relevant joining pins*, even a decent multitool one works fine
1 x Decent cable cutter - essential, do not try and use pliers, or anything else!!! It will only cause issues
... use the excellent Parktool web help, or if you prefer youtube "how to" videos and this will get most jobs done. A bit of a learning cuve, but do it once and you will know for the next time, and also means ou can make minor adjustments and tweak things exactly how you want them.

Personally I leave wheels/bottom brackets to the pros, but I get all the other jobs done. Handy when I have 3 of my own bikes, plus the Mrs MTB and my lads CX and younger ones MTB.

Kowalski675

monkeybar wrote:

A quick chat with their mechanics tells me u'd get a better service hitting yr bike very hard with a sledge hammer!

I think that's what Halfords "mechanics" do anyway. It's the same story you get with so many big businesses - you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Xommul

Walking into Halfords and buying a bike / asking for advice is like saying you know little or nothing about bikes. They are a car shop which incidentally sells bikes and the staff aren't overly enthusiastic about working full stop.

A LBS will have staff more experienced and enthusiastic about cycling.

cooldad

Xommul wrote:

Some LBS might have staff more experienced and enthusiastic about cycling.

FTFY

nicklouse

Xommul wrote:

Walking into Halfords and buying a bike / asking for advice is like saying you know little or nothing about bikes. They are a car shop which incidentally sells bikes and the staff aren't overly enthusiastic about working full stop.

A LBS will have staff more experienced and enthusiastic about cycling.

Err they are the biggest cycle retailer out there. Larger than all of the other cycle outlets put together.

Just like bike shops some Halfords are better than others. And some have some very good mechanics in them just like some Independants.

spring3r

Excellent advice...

BigAl wrote:

Learn to do it yourself

£60 is more than enough for all the tools you'll need to complete the same sort of service

stevel76

I also have had issues with halfrauds bought my Carrera kraken (based on magazine reviews) last year through the cycle to work scheme, I also took out the top care package meaning all servicing and labour was free and I just need to buy parts as required. Given the long wet winter we've had as soon as the weather turned dryer I dropped it in for a full service to which I'm told " it's not due until June" made them do it, told them if anything needed changing id be happy to pay. 3 days later they ring and say it's done, but it needs a new bb the headset needs servicing rear brake disc is slightly warped and would I like them to do it. Errr yes that's what I said when I brought it in, it Took another 3 days to do and I still had to adjust gears and mechs which had no problems when it went in.

Maro

nicklouse wrote:

Just like bike shops some Halfords are better than others. And some have some very good mechanics in them just like some Independants.

This is true, I don't often trust my local halfords staff but a cretain well known trail and bike park builder worked there for a bit.

supersonic

And I worked there ;-)

rockmonkeysc

My local shop has a hopeless bike mechanic but my local Halfords has two half decent mechanics.
The problem is that most bike mechanics are very poorly paid so it doesn't attract the best people in to a career as a bike mechanic.

ednino

Halfords suits the needs of the largest target markets in cycling

a) kids bikes
b) cheap amateur bikes

They have little interest in target c) serious cyclists

Think of it like Dragons Den. The serious cyclists are not the mass market. Its a small expensive area that isn't really worth training the staff for in Halfords eyes. They'd rather concentrate on selling a rubbish bike with a massive mark up to somebody that will ride it twice & leave it in the shed.

buddy_club

I appreciate the idea but if your gonna sell expensive (ish) bikes then you need to have staff with the expertise enough to deal with problems with the bikes. If they don't want to train the staff - stop selling the higher end bikes.

ednino

buddy_club wrote:

I appreciate the idea but if your gonna sell expensive (ish) bikes then you need to have staff with the expertise enough to deal with problems with the bikes. If they don't want to train the staff - stop selling the higher end bikes.

I've never seen a higher end bike in a Halfords store

buddy_club

ednino wrote:

buddy_club wrote:

I appreciate the idea but if your gonna sell expensive (ish) bikes then you need to have staff with the expertise enough to deal with problems with the bikes. If they don't want to train the staff - stop selling the higher end bikes.

I've never seen a higher end bike in a Halfords store

For some £1600+ is a high end bike.... And at the higher end of the Halfords price spectrum...