Anon - November 9, 2013
Having just spent a year working in Halfords (incidentally, the mechanics at my Halfords are great) I agree whole heartedly with the comments made. All Apollos and some of the Raleigh's are not fit to be called bicycles. Trax are just a joke. We need to have eaten our weetabix to lift the full sussers into the work stand. Trying to set up the gears on these bikes is nigh on impossible. Grip shifts are stiff on a lot and they expect kids and women to be strong enough to turn them. Wheels are always untrue. We are supposed to take 20 mins to assemble each bike out of the box which is a joke. Some can take up to an hour once you have taken wheels off to sort out hubs and re true, At Xmas we don't have time to do this so make the best of a bad job. They are an embarrassment to sell. We do our best to discourage people buying them and to spend a bit more on a Carrera which aren't bad bikes. I also personally tell them that the suspension on these bikes is a gimmick and will break if you ride it over so much as a kerb. I'd probably be sacked if the manager heard me. We are then supposed to sell bike care plans with these bikes, believe me they need it because it will break! The problem is that kids grow out of bikes, they are often thrown around and thus parents don't want to spend much money on them. They themselves know that the life expectancy is only a year and that they will throw it after a year. Thus the market is there for companies to exploit by producing cheap crap. There is no excuse for an adult to fall into the same trap though. As said, we at our branch are honest about the bike and try and explain the benefits of spending more. Unfortunately, not all Halfords staff are like this, owing to the pay, hours and lack of prospect, most mechs are straight from school using it as a fill in job whilst at uni or until something better comes along It's a shame because Halfords do sell good bikes too.
