http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/crash-bike-was-not-properly-put-together-says-fareham-mum-1-6225103

Of course the joy of working in Halfords is folk looming over you as you assemble their bikes because they expect to be able to walk away with it there and then.

Allegedly. Not actually proven though is it? Could be some manufacturing defect or failure. Or he could have just fallen off. There’s no information about what part supposedly wasn’t tightened properly. Not taking sides or defending anyone, I’m just saying there’s not enough information to form any kind of reliable opinion.

Hamsters?

I hate when hamsters fail. It’s messy.

I hate when hamsters fail. It’s messy.

Of course the joy of working in Halfords is folk looming over you as you assemble their bikes because they expect to be able to walk away with it there and then.

IME (wife bought a kid’s bike from them despite my direct instructions to the contrary) is that they expect it because that’s what they’ve been told to expect – i.e. a phone call that you’re bike(s) will be ready to collect at such-and-such a time, so you turn up and, not unreasonably, expect them to be ready to collect, since they’ve told you that.

Oh look, it seems that might be what happened here, too:

When she arrived at the store to pick up the bikes, Billy’s had been assembled but Jack’s was still in the box. She says staff asked her to wait for 30 minutes

I meant “your” not “you’re” of course..

So what part failed? How does she know it wasn’t put together correctly? Why didn’t she follow her own advice?

There’s a story of someone grazing their arm when then fell off their bike and that’s it. My eldest and youngest both fell off their heelies the other her scooter at the start of their hols. One scraped her arms the other their face, still enjoying their hols.

I can’t see any information in the story that suggests Halfords was at fault.

the bike she bought for her 10-year-old son collapsed when he was riding it.

I very much doubt the bike ‘collapsed’, if it did then its a manufacturer fault as the guys in the shop didn’t build the frame.

This is a total non story – child fell of bike, thats about the only info given.

“CARING mum”

‘Halfords has been building and selling bikes for over 100 years and we take the safety of our customers seriously. We apologise that it appears on this occasion we didn’t meet our usual high standards and we’re speaking to the family to resolve this.’

they’re kind of acknowledging some potential fault here though, aren’t they? but yes, he “went over the bars” – though there’s an indication that the bars rotated, in the video chat..

So we are having a pop at Halfords, who sell more bikes than any other chain in tbe country. And we are getting threads on these kinds of problem every day aren’t we?

Oh no, hang on. We aren’t. Statistically, they may have a much better success rate than some of our beloved LBS’ judging by some LBS threads.

Maybe we should wait for some facts to be confirmed before sharpening our pitchforks.

TBH its a bit of a non-story.

I Have very little faith in Halfords from prior personal dealings, but I didn’t actually read anything in that piece which unequivocally showed little Jack’s OTB incident was their fault or not…

And of course Ten year old boys have been knowns to fall off of their, perfectly functional, bikes sometimes…

No conclusion can drawn at this juncture…

/thread?

cookeaa – Member

TBH its a bit of a non-story.

I Have very little faith in Halfords from prior personal dealings, but I didn’t actually read anything in that piece which unequivocally showed little Jack’s OTB incident was their fault or not…

And of course Ten year old boys have been knowns to fall off of their, perfectly functional, bikes sometimes…

No conclusion can drawn at this juncture…

/thread?

Don’t you come here with your common sense and reason. PITCHFORKS! 😉

there’s an indication that the bars rotated, in the video chat..

at work so didn’t watch to the video, but he crashed so if the ‘caring mum’ looked at the bike post crash then the rotation could have been a result of the crash.

Its hardly conclusive evidence that the bike wasn’t built right.

Don’t you come here with your common sense and reason. PITCHFORKS!

Sorry…

HALFORDS BOOOO!!!

The description of pulled on the brakes and the handlebars moved away is well know to any BMXer who has pulled the front brake on hard instead of the back. My face remembers the moment well.

everyone knows of a woeful tale of customer service at Halfords.
I know of two people who I can see from my office chair who’ve had bike build problems.

brakes – Member

everyone knows of a woeful tale of customer service at Halfords.

True. But on balance I’ve had better service from my local Halfords than from many LBSs. With Halfords you get a bit of incompetence, but you can get that with an LBS too and I’ve never had outright thievery from Halfords.

Once you weed out the crooked, incompetent and don’t-give-a-shit “proper bike shops” things get better mind.

Won’t do him any harm, every 10 year old should have an OTB moment, I’ve couldn’t tell you how many times I went over the bars aged 10. Or 11. Or 12. Or 13, or 36 for that matter. As for halfords I bought my first proper mountain bike from them :oops:, which they assembled, and never had any problems with that could be blamed on incompetent assembly.

Reading between the lines

The handle bars probably were not tightened properly, sounds like something that happened to me when my dad assembled a bmx for me one christmas with the shitty tools supplied in The box

Riding along, pull brake , bars rotate forward in the stem , contact front wheel you go over bars.

Stil got the scars on my elbow.

How ever im not trying to sue my dad for it 🙂

It’s so nice she is doing this for the sake of all the little children – rather than the money.

shortcut – Member
It’s so nice she is doing this for the sake of all the little children – rather than the money.

I bet she doesn’t get a penny out of them ( I hope she doesn’t, anyway)
Bloody chavvy “caring mum”…..

I am currently sueing myself for hitting a rut grabbing the wrong brake lever, which resulted in the most stupid, slow speed trip over the handlebars and on to the deck 😳
The bike came in a box and I assembled it, so I must be to blame 😉

My 15 y.o. son fell off his bike last night. His fault.

Slow news day in Portsmouth then, hope something happens today.