More fool me...

I applied for a job once in this store! I'm not proud but I just wanted a break from land survey technical support! The interview consisted of a chap asking questions from a list. To be fair some of the questions were quite tricky. I remember one about what are the differences between active and passive rear suspension and another about rapid rise, it was a fair few years ago! I blustered my way through the interview and a couple of weeks later was offered a job! Stayed in land survey in the end but I could have ended up as the only retro friendly assistant in the chain.

don't knock 'em - they used to sell proper pace frames back in the day...

Halfords? Did they?

The whole retro thing is quite interesting.

When I had my BMW e24 I used to have a good relationship with the guy at the local BMW dealers parts counter, he would let me rummage around out back, give me good discount on parts and let me burn a copy of the ETK cd (BMW parts brochure, which gives part numbers to every component,including stickers and brochures, as well as exploded diagrams for every component, including stuff like the fuse box or boot lock. You have to love the germans).

Anyway, I went to another dealer once when I needed a part and was somewere else and they couldn't get me, and my old car off their premises quick enough. Down right rude.

Same with bikes, sometimes you can pop into a shop and the spotty kid behind the counter waxes lyrical about proper bikes, how nicely designed it is or how light it is, what ever. Other times they ask you why you never bought a new bike, and look at you like you have a disease if you ask for amber wall tyres!

Some appreciate us, others do not. Embrace those that do but don't shun the unbelivers, they know not what they miss.

I once happened to overhear some excellent advise given out by one of said shops expert employees. An old couple were in looking to buy a bike for their grandson, they asked the highly trained cycle expert which size of MTB they should get for a fourteen year old. The super skilled shop assistant suggested a 19" frame :roll: I couldn't let the twit get away with it, I asked the couple how tall their grandson was? Needless to say he was well under 6 feet tall...

fuzzywig":3fatf6jb said:

I once happened to overhear some excellent advise given out by one of said shops expert employees. An old couple were in looking to buy a bike for their grandson, they asked the highly trained cycle expert which size of MTB they should get for a fourteen year old. The super skilled shop assistant suggested a 19" frame :roll: I couldn't let the twit get away with it, I asked the couple how tall their grandson was? Needless to say he was well under 6 feet tall...

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Wish you had been around when I went into my old LBS to get my first mountain bike. Walked out with a 23.5" framed monster!

Iwasgoodonce":32p5uo23 said:

Wish you had been around when I went into my old LBS to get my first mountain bike. Walked out with a 23.5" framed monster!

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Did they give you breathing equipment, cus god, your head would be in the clouds on a frame that big!

Hmm, the whole Halfords knocking thing is a bit old really. Hilts analogy with cars is a good one. I own a 1979 MG, but I wouldn't have driven into an MG dealership (before they all closed) looking for parts for it. If I did take my old car into a modern dealership, they would probably try to sell me a new MG, just as the sales guy did to you in Halfords with the mech, they certainly wouldn't have the spares I require.

Retrobikes are a very small niche market, easy to forget that on this site sometimes and Halfords serves a very useful purpose of getting people out and about on bikes. My first real MTB was from Halfords and BITD they were the only store in my town that sold real Saracens, such as the Kili-comp etc.

Its more reprehensible when a novice cyclist walks into a 'pro' cycle shop and is met with a look of disdain from somebody who thinks that they know it all and have ridden it all, IMHO.

i went to halfords in lowestoft to apply for a full time mechanics job they had going i mentoned cytech they said who i explaned then got ask loads of crappy tech Q's like what part is this so i gave the madison/shimano code and then they looked at me puzzled they only wanted e to say rear mech then the two boys who worked there asked me how to set up a front mech on a double chainset with a triple shifter durrrrrhhhhhhh (as mr makky from south park say's WHAT A RETARD) they pay peanuts ou get monkeys.

Me thinks you may just be slightly over qualified for them Captain