Halfords Bike Monkeys

[jonnyboy666]

@ hoegaardenadds, yeah i knew you weren't picking on me but i wanted to explain that i wasn't bashing!!

@ drcarlos, there's your example of the good halfords employee. rare thing though.

@russell, bear in mind though that a good shop would more than likely have spotted something being wrong and fixed it before the bike was leaving as opposed to someone who doesn't know what they are doing tightening something and causing more problems through lack of training or experience.

but you guys are also correct that it shouldn't have been assembled wrong in the first place. but poo happens and people in those jobs should be able to sort these issues if it is their job to do so (regardless of who the seller is)

 

[hoegaardenadds1]

poo happens. especially when you buy a (modern) kona the mercedes of the bike world.

 

[dyna-ti]

My one and only visit to halfords resulted in them attempting to lever off the upper race on my CK h/set taking off a large chunk
Then they left a circlip of the bombers resulting in an impacted rebound thread,try getting a new rebound cartridge for a Z2 bam[£70 if i remember right]
I wouldnt piss on halfords if it was alight :evil:

I agree with Johnnyboy,these monkeys would be better selling beans for as much attention as they pay the bike mechanics job

Half of them probably couldnt spell it,let alone do the job to a high[or even low] degree of professionalism

 

[Russell]

@russell, bear in mind though that a good shop would more than likely have spotted something being wrong and fixed it before the bike was leaving as opposed to someone who doesn't know what they are doing tightening something and causing more problems through lack of training or experience.

Yeah I know, I'm just bored of the Halfords bashing all the time. Especially when the real problem here seems to be with FSA and Kona.

All sounds a bit odd to me. Wrong diameter bearings supplied? Really?

 

[hoegaardenadds1]

i'm not being funny but if i owned a ferrari i wouldn't take it to quick fit for a new set of tyres.... admittedly i wouldn't let anyone do any work on my bike other than me.

 

[drcarlos]

i dont really understand halfords bashing as most of the cycle shops round me (bar 53-12 who are excellent) are rude bike snobs.

Me neither. What the OP is essentially saying is that FSA supplied Kona with a BB/Crankset that had incorrect parts and Kona fitted it poorly, but its Halfords fault that it is wrong despite the fact that he signed that he was happy with it after watching someone 'fix' it for him.

I'm pretty sure that the pre-sale checks don't include taking a vernier to bearing races.

No, actually I take exception to this, the bike should have been PDI'd correctly full stop and a vernier was not needed to diagnose the problem just to determine the extent of the error.
It is fairly simple to deduce with the correct education that a tru-axle BB should have virtually no play (this is not an old bearing an cup BB) when the axle is inserted and not tightened (there was over 2cm of movement at the end of the crank). I worked this out have never taken one apart in 5 minutes. The alarm bells should have rung with the PDIer at this point as no amount of tightening would solve the problem. What do you suggest I do in the shop after she have tightened it, refuse her work and strip it myself there and then (it did seem to have no play)? With their tools?

There is a combination of faults here, FSA for suppling incorrect parts, Kona for inadequate QC and a downright shoddy PDI from the dealer. The dealer being closest to the customer unfortunately bears the brunt of the blame as they carry the warranty.

Carl.

 

[FluffyChicken]

I was just running over this again.

This is a FSA MegaExo bottom bracket (looking at this http://www.konaworld.com/09_kula_uk.cfm ), so I am assuming similar in use to Shimano's HTII

There should be just one spacer (2.5mm) installed on the drive side. No other spacers are used anywhere.

All that is left is to place the crank through, maybe put some o-rings on (if a high end model) then used the tighten-er on the none drive crank to set the pressure against the bearing you want to be tight enough to stop wobble but not too tight that it doesn't rotate freely. Then nip up the clamping bolts.



All information is on FSA website, they are the one's that will know what bearings should be in there.

 

[Grannygrinder]

.

i don't have much experience with Halfords, but i did buy a GT from them about 9 years ago. I was living very close to the shop at the time so whenever it played up I popped in to get it sorted. Midweek the 'bike hut' bossman was a bit of a jobs worth, but at the weekend the nippers were mint. They never attempted to fix anything and just offered to upgrade the dodgy parts. Resulting in £300 Chucker having Magura Racelines, Shimano sealed bearing flatties, FSA orbit headset and an improved drive train all for free within about 3 months of purchase. I'm sure this is not common but i'd certainly ask the question about an upgrade as they've mucked you about so much.
I'd have to say that Kona are the ones at fault though as I wouldn't expect a PDI to check to involve removing the BB to check for spacers, or would it?

 

[drcarlos]

FSA don't state ID bearing size, but I did find this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28288

24mm spindle is mentioned in the specs and this is what I have on the cranks but the ID of the bearings is 25mm. Looking at the FSA site I believe it has been installed backwards too. I shall report more later hopefully whe it is fixed.

Carl.

 

[drcarlos]

Re: .

i don't have much experience with Halfords, but i did buy a GT from them about 9 years ago. I was living very close to the shop at the time so whenever it played up I popped in to get it sorted. Midweek the 'bike hut' bossman was a bit of a jobs worth, but at the weekend the nippers were mint. They never attempted to fix anything and just offered to upgrade the dodgy parts. Resulting in £300 Chucker having Magura Racelines, Shimano sealed bearing flatties, FSA orbit headset and an improved drive train all for free within about 3 months of purchase. I'm sure this is not common but i'd certainly ask the question about an upgrade as they've mucked you about so much.
I'd have to say that Kona are the ones at fault though as I wouldn't expect a PDI to check to involve removing the BB to check for spacers, or would it?

I am tempted to take a quick video showing the rock in the bearing. I agree it is poor QC from Kona and FAS but the PDI'er should have said 'Holy shit that's not right!' I wouldn't have minded if that had used that phrase to me as I would have known they were doing a good job.

Carl.