LBs vs Halfords - My Experence

Andy said:

thorght

Do you hail from the West Country ny any chance? ;-)

Seriously, I wouldn't rely on Halfords stock for much other
than tubes and lubes. With regard to service levels, YMMV
between one LBS and the next, and between Halfords branches.

Agreed....they get a bad press but I have just bought a road bike from them, tried the LBS, one was full of [censored] with over inflated egos, the other would only order a bike in if I put my money over the counter, no chance of a test ride so wanted me to but from a sheet of paper and glossy pic!! as he had nothing on display.

Halfords ....found them helpfull and am happy with the bike!

Cheers

Matt
South Coast UK

Lbs in Richmond north Yorkshire were asked for info to help
me decide who to spend my £2000 with. Fortnight later and no
response. That's one LBS off the list.

Regards, Bob

"Mattboy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Agreed....they get a bad press but I have just bought a
road bike from them, tried the LBS, one was full of [censored]
with over inflated egos, the other would only order a bike
in if I put my money over the counter, no chance of a test
ride so wanted me to but from a sheet of paper and glossy
pic!! as he had nothing on display.

Halfords ....found them helpfull and am happy with
the bike!

Cheers

Matt South Coast UK

--

Andy said:

Just thorght I'd post my experience of different service
levels I recieved today, trying to fix a problem with my
Wife's bike. I know Halfords gets a bad view here compared
to LBS's in general, so thorght it might interest people.

The Problem:

Tightening the seap post bolt last weekend and the thread
in the frame broke. The bike is a Guess RB1 it has an
oval'ish shape seat frame so a normal quick release
bracket does not fit it, it simply has a hole where a bolt
fit through and tightened up.

Possible Solutions (that I thorght of at least)

1) Re-thread hole using a tap
2) get some sort of bolt and nut which will work without
damaging the frame (not easy as its oval shape, i
assume this is why they didnt use a nut in the first
place.

LBS Experience - The Cycle Shop, Newbury

Brought the frame in, showed the problem to the guy. He
then offered a Mountain Bike quick release lever (this is
a road bike) I explained that it wouldnt work and
demonstrated why, asked if they could but a new thread in,
or anything else they would suggest, guy wasnt interested
said no and that was that. Simply didnt care.

Halfords Experience - Halfords Newbury

Guy Took a detailed look at thread, confirmed if was
completly gone. Then explained that he could re-tap the
thread except he suggested that to do a proper job of it
the hole would need to be drilled out to a slightly bigger
size before the tap could be applied. Also told me the
risk of weakining the material. Suggested a local
engineering company who could do this type of work.

We then discussed a bolt and nut type affair. He spent
arouns 20 minutes looking in his "bag of bits" and
produced a nut and bolt which fit preety well, then when
fitting realised it may scratch the frame a little so
fetched a couple of washers to ensure this didnt happen.
End result it fits really well he didnt want any money for
it, simply said "remember that were here", which I of
course will.

End result, the bike is fixed and I will no longer buy
anything from the LBS, any bits and pieces will be brought
from Halfords that I dont want to buy off the internet
(wiggle etc). I would of thorght in this day and age of
Internet purchasing LBS's would be willing to do anything
to gain business, I guess not.

Halfords staff are very variable. The main problem with
Halfords is that a lot of the stuff they sell is [censored].
The advantage is they don't sneer at you like a lot of
LBS staff.

Andy said:

LBS Experience - The Cycle Shop, Newbury

Quoted message said:

Halfords Experience - Halfords Newbury

Andy,

I'm from Newbury too - and I can confirm that although the
range is limited at Halfords (but not as much as at TCS)
they have some good guys serving there that care, and will
make an effort to help you get what you want if they have
it, and to point you to an alternative if they haven't. TCS
may as well sell catalogue bikes, and have little (even less
than the previous owners) clue.

Best bike shop (reasonably) locally is Pedal On in
Tadley, IMHO.

Cheers, Chris

--
_____________________________________________________

Chris Walters Hungerford, UK
_____________________________________________________

Zog The Undeniable said:

Halfords staff are very variable. The main problem with
Halfords is that a lot of the stuff they sell is [censored].
The advantage is they don't sneer at you like a lot of
LBS staff.

Yes, but I'm still embarassed at having popped into
Halfords, asked on the offchance if they had a 27 inch
wheel, and him going and having a long look for one, and me
insisting it was steel. I bought it anyway, partly out of
embarassment and partly because the other one need(ed|s)
replacing anyway, but when I got it home, I saw 'alloy'
written quite clearly on the rim. But it was shinier than a
modern alloy wheel. Don't know how old it is, but it was
only 15 quid, anyway.

My LBS is good, too, though.

Ambrose

I should add that, to prove I'm not biased against Halfords,
I'll probably be buying a Carrera Subway 2 for my wife. I
was going to buy the Subway 8 with hub gearing (simpler to
use) but I'm concerned about its complexity and the near-
impossibility of finding anywhere to fix it if it breaks.
Apparently they're not as indestructible as SA 3-speeds.

Halfords were also the only place in Swindon which had a
suitable cantilever brake hanger - and people in the local
CTC have commented on how nice it is - for my touring bike!

"Andy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
: Just thorght I'd post my experience of different service
: levels I recieved today, trying to fix a problem with my
: Wife's bike. I know Halfords gets a bad view here compared
: to LBS's in general, so thorght it might interest people.
:
:snip

I've generally been quite happy with Halfords, much as I
dislike large corps in general. LBSs have, IME, been pretty
[censored], but I only tend to use them once if the service is no
good the first time. The one near Ilford, Romford Road,
generally good unless the workers get cycle bores in the
shop - if so, be prepared for a wait.

Rob

Zog The Undeniable said:

I should add that, to prove I'm not biased against
Halfords, I'll probably be buying a Carrera Subway 2 for
my wife. I was going to buy the Subway 8 with hub gearing
(simpler to use) but I'm concerned about its complexity
and the near-impossibility of finding anywhere to fix it
if it breaks. Apparently they're not as indestructible as
SA 3-speeds.

Haven't bust mine yet! But then again, I've only covered
25 miles🙁

I saw another Subway 8 on the road today. First time
I've ever seen someone riding 'my' bike. (Pre-empting
the inevitable follow up; *my* bike is in front of me
as I type).

[email hidden] wrote:

[snip]

IME, it all depends on the *staff*.

You get good staff anywhere and you get bad staff anywhere.

--
Callas

Quoted message said:

End result, the bike is fixed and I will no longer buy
anything from the LBS, any bits and pieces will be brought
from Halfords that I dont want to buy off the internet
(wiggle etc). I would of thorght in this day and age of
Internet purchasing LBS's would be willing to do anything
to gain business, I guess not.

I've worked in retail myself although not connected to
cycling and worked with national companies and local private
owned companies and would say the level of training
generally with local independant stores tends to be higher
than national chains which is strange. If anything you'd
expect the major chains to be better in this respect. One
thing I would say though is with the national chains if
someone brings back something as faulty they will normally
get a refund fairly easily but local independant shops seem
to put up more of a fight presumably as they feel there
giving away their own money with a refund.

On a logical basis you would expect Halfords people to be
better at servicing/repairing bikes for the simple reason
they sell low cost, less reliable bikes and so would get
more practice at it.

Not Responding said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

I should add that, to prove I'm not biased against
Halfords, I'll probably be buying a Carrera Subway 2 for
my wife. I was going to buy the Subway 8 with hub gearing
(simpler to use) but I'm concerned about its complexity
and the near-impossibility of finding anywhere to fix it
if it breaks. Apparently they're not as indestructible as
SA 3-speeds.

Haven't bust mine yet! But then again, I've only covered
25 miles🙁

The Nexus 8 is supposed to be much improved over the Nexus
7, which had quite a poor reputation, but if the hub fails
it is probably a case of swapping it out (new wheelbuild).

I was a bit put off by this thread:

cyclingplus.co.uktopic.aspOpen ↗

Zog The Undeniable said:

Not Responding said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

I should add that, to prove I'm not biased against
Halfords, I'll probably be buying a Carrera Subway 2 for
my wife. I was going to buy the Subway 8 with hub gearing
(simpler to use) but I'm concerned about its complexity
and the near-impossibility of finding anywhere to fix it
if it breaks. Apparently they're not as indestructible as
SA 3-speeds.

Haven't bust mine yet! But then again, I've only covered
25 miles🙁

The Nexus 8 is supposed to be much improved over the Nexus
7, which had quite a poor reputation, but if the hub fails
it is probably a case of swapping it out (new wheelbuild).

I was a bit put off by this thread:

cyclingplus.co.uktopic.aspOpen ↗

I'd come across that thread but didn't let it put me off
what is, in truth, a bit of experimentation. Besides, I
thought that the Dutchman seemed to be grinding an axe
rather than genuinely highlighting shortcomings.

So far, I really like it. But then, as I said, I have barely
covered any miles.

(Andy) said:

Just thorght I'd post my experience of different service
levels I recieved today, trying to fix a problem with my
Wife's bike. I know Halfords gets a bad view here compared
to LBS's in general, so thorght it might interest people.

The Problem:

Tightening the seap post bolt last weekend and the thread
in the frame broke. The bike is a Guess RB1 it has an
oval'ish shape seat frame so a normal quick release bracket
does not fit it, it simply has a hole where a bolt fit
through and tightened up.

Possible Solutions (that I thorght of at least)

1) Re-thread hole using a tap
2) get some sort of bolt and nut which will work without
damaging the frame (not easy as its oval shape, i assume
this is why they didnt use a nut in the first place.

LBS Experience - The Cycle Shop, Newbury

Brought the frame in, showed the problem to the guy. He
then offered a Mountain Bike quick release lever (this is a
road bike) I explained that it wouldnt work and
demonstrated why, asked if they could but a new thread in,
or anything else they would suggest, guy wasnt interested
said no and that was that. Simply didnt care.

Halfords Experience - Halfords Newbury

Guy Took a detailed look at thread, confirmed if was
completly gone. Then explained that he could re-tap the
thread except he suggested that to do a proper job of it
the hole would need to be drilled out to a slightly bigger
size before the tap could be applied. Also told me the risk
of weakining the material. Suggested a local engineering
company who could do this type of work.

We then discussed a bolt and nut type affair. He spent
arouns 20 minutes looking in his "bag of bits" and produced
a nut and bolt which fit preety well, then when fitting
realised it may scratch the frame a little so fetched a
couple of washers to ensure this didnt happen. End result
it fits really well he didnt want any money for it, simply
said "remember that were here", which I of course will.

End result, the bike is fixed and I will no longer buy
anything from the LBS, any bits and pieces will be brought
from Halfords that I dont want to buy off the internet
(wiggle etc). I would of thorght in this day and age of
Internet purchasing LBS's would be willing to do anything
to gain business, I guess not.

LBS are completely hit or miss in my experience. I have
three within a 10 mile radius. One lies in utter chaos and
hasn't been opened in months if not years due to owner's
mental health taking a nasty turn for the worse, another
one has a customer service attitude that is often so
appalling [you should feel priviledged for being in here]
and the third has been a small family shop for years, it's
perfectly fine apart from the fact that they've never got
anything I need :-(

Conversely, I dropped into a LBS in Oxford [about 35 miles
away] at the weekend, and it was excellent. Cordial service
and plenty of stock. Ended up buying some SPD pedals and
shoes. Mind you, it was Oxford :-)

Sadly, the internet is just such a tempting source for the
purchase of bike bits. Guilty.

Garry

On 9 Jul 2004 08:34:26 -0700, [email hidden] (Andy) wrote
in message <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Just thorght I'd post my experience of different service
levels I recieved today,

And here's mine from Reading: Went into Halfords to buy
something, waited 20 minutes for sales staff, none appeared,
left. Went to LBS: Served immediately.

YHMV.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

"And here's mine from Reading: Went into Halfords to buy
something, waited 20 minutes for sales staff, none appeared,
left. Went to LBS: Served immediately."

Strange that.....Halfords is after all self service!! maybe thats why you waited so long!

Cheers

Matt

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 15:30:23 GMT, Mattboy
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

"And here's mine from Reading: Went into Halfords to buy
something, waited 20 minutes for sales staff, none
appeared, left. Went to LBS: Served immediately."

Quoted message said:

Strange that.....Halfords is after all self service!! maybe
thats why you waited so long!

Makes you wonder why they have staff at all, really.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

My brother works in halfords and i know that there is good and bad staff.
My local halfords has about 3 good guys who know the bikes inside out and actually have good bikes like kona's and Gt.

The bad staff are more like 16 year old neds that only know wat size of tube a customer requires.

They do have a good range of bikes but u need to order the more expensie bikes,the dearest i saw in it was a £900 Gt I-drive.

They are a little overpriced but not by that much and that is what the internet is for anyway,just take the bike there to get it fixed.

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 16:47:00 GMT, IKON
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

[re Halfwits]

Quoted message said:

They do have a good range of bikes but u need to order the
more expensie bikes,the dearest i saw in it was a £900 Gt
I-drive. They are a little overpriced but not by that much
and that is what the internet is for anyway,just take the
bike there to get it fixed.

And there you have it. If you want to buy a bike off the Web
and have it fixed by Halfords, that's certainly one way of
doing things. I prefer to use a proper bike shop, not least
because it has an incredible number of bikes on display - we
can dream, can't we? :-) Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University