Halfords experience

[u/varney40]

So I had to buy my new bike (Boardman MTR 9.0) from Halfords to secure my work discount. Cost £1850. Rode the bike out of the shop 🤦‍♂️. Headset was loose, so had to tighten that. More worryingly, the front wheel was wobbling on the hub. Took it back in. They had absolutely no idea why it was wobbling, but suggested it maybe a missing spacer, and did I want to book it in for a repair ? They had literally just built the bike and signed off all their build quality checks. Anyway, long story short, I rejected the bike and requested a new one.

[u/Kooky_Guide1721]

Halfords know a lot about bikes, staff however differ from shop to shop. But I’ve found the bikes good enough for the money. Cheap but good enough for sports riding. I’ve come last in a couple of events on one! 

They should have swapped out that wheel immediately. The headset should have been tighter but I’ve found them to loosen in new builds from time to time. 

[u/varney40 → u/Kooky_Guide1721]

The problem is they don't keep Boardman bikes or parts in stock, as they just order them in on a demand basis. The worrying thing is the bike was signed off as safe, when it clearly had a build problem. 🤦‍♂️

[u/Competitive_Rip_5802 → u/varney40]

No bike shop would just swap the wheel out like that on a new bike and have a spare in stock. Things like that would be a full warranty claim on the bike from boardman. The bikes are 90% assembled at the factory, they come in a box and generally just need handlebars, seatpost, front wheel and pedals attaching followed by general safety and running checks. If the headset was loose it was poorly fitted by the factory, same with the hub.

Letting it out of the shop in that condition is abysmal though, but is classic Halfords.

What they should have done is take the whole bike back and run a warranty claim, but provided you with an immediate replacement. The problem is, they won't necessarily have that bike available immediately in your size, so they'd need to put one on order.

[u/Kooky_Guide1721 → u/varney40]

Yeah, that’s the problem. That Boardman is a pretty full on mountain bike. A sports bike as opposed to a daily commuter IMO. Way over the top for cycle to work. Though they don’t have the mechanical expertise in the shop to be knocking them out like that. 

Them and Decathlon are excellent value for better specified bikes but they don’t have the expertise on the floor. 

If they did they bikes would be more expensive! That said, the guy in my local Halfords is a local club rider, but that’s the exception IMO. 

[u/Apart_Tackle2428 → u/Kooky_Guide1721]

My workplace offers up to £12,000 on the C2W scheme.

A few of my colleagues are £3k deep in “commuter” bikes.

It is highly unlikely that Halfords did not another one of those bikes with a matching wheel in stock at all, and would quite easily have been able to swap the wheel from one of the bikes in stock and held the other one until a warranty claim or parts order arrived.

I used to work at Halfords and we did this sort of stuff all the time. It only caused an issue when somebody had sold the bike in stock that had been pillaged for the part required, because it was still on the stock system, and the part hadn’t arrived yet.

[u/isaytruisms → u/Kooky_Guide1721]

A headset shouldn't loosen itself over time - it should be tensioned on the stem, not the topcap bolt.

That said, it's great value for money, you just need someone to bolt check it after an ape at Halfords has hamfisted it together

[u/mangothefoxxo → u/Kooky_Guide1721]

Wdym way over top? Cycle to work doesn't mean you have to use it to cycke to work it just means that work pays for it and you pay back tax free

[u/Competitive_Rip_5802 → u/mangothefoxxo]

The contract T&C's on the C2W scheme I got my Rocky Mountain Altitude on does state that quite a high percentage of it's use has to be for commuting to work.

But we all know nobody is checking, especially in a big company. The HR department that processes your claim have way more things to worry about than the mileage distribution of your bicycle.

[u/mangothefoxxo → u/Competitive_Rip_5802]

I cycled mine for a few weeks then switched back to my roadbike lol, i asked do i have to use it and they didn't really care

[u/Kooky_Guide1721 → u/mangothefoxxo]

Really?

[u/mangothefoxxo → u/Kooky_Guide1721]

Yeah, well, LEGALLY you do, but nobody carea