For the "everything Halfords sells is crap" brigad

[IDB1]

Shame you're not closer.. I have a girly bike in the shed my Mum bought for one of ours (from Satans Shop)

She outgrew it before she'd ridden it half a dozen times :roll:

Going to clean it up and ebay it when I get round to it.. .. ..

 

[FSR-Si]

as opposed to someone wanting to go to their LBS and find out what's best.

Not my experience but my mates, he went into a local bike shop last year and they offered him a price match on a GT that halfords were selling so he bought it, they built it, he rode it, i fixed it. list of errors were...

Front wheel loose
front disc binding
rear disc binding
seat loose
gears didn't work
bars 1/2" out of alignment in the stem

all this was on the 1st ride out just 3 hours after he bought it, and this was from a local well established cyclelife dealer

 

[barry2017]

I think a lot of bike shops want to go out of business, not just Halfords.

Lots of them have been good. For several years, my LBS of choice was Halfords, because the lads in there were bloody good and never charged me. But Halfords made them do a new contract where they had to accept part-time hours so they all left. I haven't been back.

 

[Andy B]

Ahh, Cyclelife, almost a mini Halfords in the way some of them are run.

My Local Cyclelife dealer is also a Motor Factors

Our shop has been selling Raleigh for over 40 years, then Raleigh in their infinite wisdom decide to make a motor factors (200 yds away) a Cyclelife dealer. The guys in there know nothing about bikes nor do they stock spares, they even come in to our shop to buy parts.

Way to go Raleigh, instant devaluation of your brand, not that the brand is anything like as prestigious as it once was.

 

[jimihendrix]

I'd sooner go to Halfords than my LBS, ordered a Campag BB tool from them on a Saturday morning, "it'll be here on Tuesday" the guy said, went in the following Saturday to collect it, was'nt there, (different) guy there knew nothing at all about it :roll: , they sold me an inner brake cable with the barrel end snipped off (did'nt notice till i got home, could'nt be bothered taking it back), took them a staggering four weeks to get the parts in for a single speed conversion (guy kept blaming his supplier) could have got the same parts quicker and cheaper of E-bay, they quoted me £129 to build two wheels (hubs and rims supplied), took them to an LBS in the next town and got them done for £70.

Support your LBS ?, dont think so, get most stuff off the net now :roll:

 

[velomaniac]

Halfords are my LBS, they have a great selection of stuff from cheapo to pricey all laid out supermarket style so shoppings easy.

The staff however dont know a bicycle from a donkey !!!!!!!!!

You want bike bits they're good, you want bike knowledge they're not :roll:

 

[FSR-Si]

what makes me laugh about the halfords v's lbs is the snobbery of cyclists that pure and simple wont buy from halfords because well its halfords :? even if the parts/bikes are cheaper/better than the local bike shop

 

[dyna-ti]

Do you go to your local butcher for meat or Tescos/Sainsbury's/Asda etc..?

Tesco or Morrisons

More fool you

what makes me laugh about the halfords v's lbs is the snobbery of cyclists that pure and simple wont buy from halfords because well its halfords :? even if the parts/bikes are cheaper/better than the local bike shop

I think thats a bit harsh and not strictly true

 

[IDB1]

Do you go to your local butcher for meat or Tescos/Sainsbury's/Asda etc..?

Tesco or Morrisons

More fool you

Butcher's way too expensive.. :?


For the other thing (LBS vs Halfords and snobbery), there's a quote on p.1 of this thread that kinda validates that point..

 

[legrandefromage]

I know where Tesco get their meat from, it aint pretty. Meat shouldnt be that red either, it means is been exposed to the atmosphere at some point, fresh meat is more purple in colour.


Halfords are just a big store selling 'stuff' - theres very few people who work there that actually know or care about what they sell because its a big business and profit is what matters.