Just a quick warning to anyone buying a bike from Halfords. Make sure you take tools with you on your first ride.

I bought a bike yesterday – it is a jolly nice bike in terms of components and appears to ride up and down hills in quite a pleasing way. It is (this one.

Anyway, I made the mistake of getting Halfords to build it up (they do it for free), and the second mistake of assuming that it would be in some way safe to ride home from there (about 10 miles, partly off road, over some small hills, but nothing scary). I then made the second mistake of forgetting my tools, not even an allen key set.

Things wrong with it:
1)One tyre at 10 PSI, the other at 50
2)Handlebar bolts loose
3)Front derailleur limit screws adjusted wrong
4)Front derailleur tension wrong.
5)Rear derailleur limit screws wrong.
6)Rear derailleur tension wrong.

The most annoying thing is that they obviously tightened up the bars just enough so that I could be 4 miles away before the bars started twisting, meaning I had to find someone with a 5mm allen key in the middle of nowhere in Derbyshire (thanks to the passing mountain biker who stopped). I sorted the tyres, seat height etc. in the shop, but I was taken by surprise by the loose bars – you would think if you sold bikes, you'd at least make sure the bars were tight, after all that's potentially pretty dangerous. I wasn't surprised by the gears, after all I knew Halfords don't have the best reputation for bike maintenance, but they did send me out with a pretty dangerous bike, which is dodgy really.

I guess having to do your own maintenance to make it safe is the price you pay for getting way way better components than any of the local shops could offer, but in some ways I wish they'd just stop pretending that they do a build up and safety check service – if I bought one again I'd probably get it sent out to me in a box.

Joe

Surprises me that you seem to know a bit about bike set up but don't take a 5mm allen key out with you

In other news: bears sh1t in woods, pope still catholic.

P.S Happy owner of a road bike from Halfords – but I knew I would have to give it a thorough once over when home.

TBH I'd give any bike I bought complete a thorough once over irrespective of source, but not tightening the handlebars is inexcusable by even the most heavily spotted hoodie adorning yoof.

Surprises me that you seem to know a bit about bike set up but don't take a 5mm allen key out with you

I do if I'm on a ride – it was just that I happened to be in town with some unexpected free time, the bike happened to be 'ready' a day early, so I popped in to pick it up. I also did an easy 10 mile ride in jeans and a t-shirt, without a helmet, with a big rucksack of shopping on my back.

I was kind of expecting anything wrong to be either obvious straight away (the things that were, I fixed in the shop, like tyre pressures), or things that were annoying, but would be fine to ride home with if I was careful (like the derailleur limit screws), not a cunning slightly loose handlebar booby trap.

Joe

but not tightening the handlebars is inexcusable by even the most heavily spotted hoodie adorning yoof.

Yeah, exactly.

TBH i woudln't say this is likely to be specific to Halfords, but i suspect due to the volume of bikes they sell they will crop up for this sort of thing more frequently.
I know their in house training for bike mechanics is pretty much non existant.
I can understand not having the mechs not set up right, but to leave handlebar bolts loose is potentially VERY dangerous.
Oh and don't pick on the OP for not having tools with him. Would you buy a new car and expect to take a socket set with you to pick it up, just in case? No thought not!

Nce looking bike Forks C**P unless your 8 stone wet thro LOL…………
Which HALFORDS was it PAL ?

i beleive you'll find this is because the bikes come part assembled. therefore the bars etc may well be attached already. and your average halfords lad therefore assumes its on tight, rather than just 'on'

i remember the days of working there when we'd have to bend the rear triangle of bikes out, just so the wheels would fit in. the tolerances on 100 quid bikes are unbeleivable!

Halfords are always hit and miss depending on the store.
I have had the same issues from my LBS – nearly died when the bars rotated forward hopping down a curb on my new BMX!

had the same thing from my LBS, they didn't do my headset nut up tight enough, riding in traffic in London I decided to make a quick right turn, cue my stem turning 90 degrees whilst the wheel stayed pointed straight… luckily I feel to the left not the right, otherwise I'd have been under a frickin taxi! Went back in there to rant and rave, just got a mumbled apology, nothing more… never been back in there since, and I spend a small fortune on bike stuff!

Depends on the mechanic at that particular shop. Did you get a PDI form? If so it will have the signature of the person who done it, then you can aim your rant in the right direction. Seems a bit lame to me to tarnish all Halfords the same. I know a couple of great mechanics who work at different ones – certainly better than some LBS's.

I worked for Halfords about 10 years ago, every new bike being built for a customer had to have a PDI inspection (pre delivery inspection)before it left the store, otherwise it had to leave boxed. I'd be very surprised if there isn't a newer version of the same thing.

My advice would be to take the customer copy of that form(should be in the owners manual wallet) back for a pre arranged meeting with the manager of the store, have a think about what you would consider as compensation for the poor service, and stick to your guns – if no luck then pursue through their head office.

In my time of working there i discovered that Halfords store managers would bend over backwards to avoid a complaint letter as those letters get area managers curious as well as costing the store a penalty (or at least they used to).

When i worked there i took pride in my work and ensuring every bike built by my department was above all safe and working properly when it left the store (can't comment on the state some returned in).

If you're interested i worked in Halfords Hedge end as bike mechanic then Cycle supervisor till jan 2001.

@psychle

FYI your top-cap isn't what should stop your stem rotating. The top cap should only be tightened enough to preload the headset bearings. It is the stem bolts that should be tightened firmly to stop the stem rotating.

I left my house on Saturday morning to go out for a blast on my newly built up (by me), Orange 5.

List of thing's I'd forgotten to tighten / do…

5 miles from home, stopped to tighten the shifters
6 miles from home, straighten the bars, tighten brakes, adjust the saddle.
8 miles from home…did I tighten the wheel QR's….noop!
15 miles, aha! That's why the front shifting feels funny, I hadn't tightened up the front mech!

There's bound to be something else lurking about that I've forgotten to do, but it's all part of the fun innit?

B.

"The most annoying thing is that they obviously tightened up the bars just enough so that I could be 4 miles away before the bars started twisting"

That'd be harder to do than doing it right

Out of curiosity, what led you to the Vengeance instead of the Vulcan? Vengeance has better brakes and tyres but the fork's not a patch on the Vulcan's XCM…

I think, having owned a Carrera myself, the thing to do is just think of it like a mail order bike… The prices are pretty competitive with volume mail order shifters, and you'd never complain about their assembly or mechanics as they don't have any, you'd end up in an LBS anyway. With Halfords, at least you might get a decent local store, but if you don't you're no worse off than with mail order.

My advice would be to take the customer copy of that form(should be in the owners manual wallet) back for a pre arranged meeting with the manager of the store, have a think about what you would consider as compensation for the poor service, and stick to your guns – if no luck then pursue through their head office.

Owners manual wallet? I got a receipt, and nothing else. I think they save money by not printing manuals any more.

I dunno if I can be arsed going into the shop – it isn't like I want to let their mechanics anywhere near it ever again or anything.

Joe

I had a road bike off them a few years back (a warranty replacement -I'd never buy a bike from them no matter how cheap), they charged me to build it up – gave me a checklist with it. Before I rode it I found the brake blocks were loose. Actually rotated – it was the back, but if the front could've caused a nasty over-the-bars incident.
Nuff said really.

Regardless of the bike shop, afaik they should all should do a PDI (pre-Delivery Inspection, as already mentioned) and make sure that the bike is in a road worthy condition ~ this includes reflectors, bell etc. and provide paper evidence as such

I'm sure someone from a shop will come along and tell me this is wrong but I am fairly sure this is a legal requirement – well known bike chain or not!

"There is hardly anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who consider price only are this man's lawful prey"

John Ruskin

About 2 months ago I saw a bloke on a shiney new Boardman flat bar disk brake road bike. Forks the wrong way round. Pulled up beside him at traffic lights:

Me: Hi mate. Do you realise the forks are on the wrong way round on your bike?
Him: Eh?
Me: Yes, these leg here should be the other way, and your brake calipers should be on the other side and behind the fork leg.
Him: This is the way it came from the shop.
Me: Halfords? (knowing it was – it was a boardman)
Him: Yeah
Me: Thought so. It will screwing the handling of the bike, plus it's quite dangerous – it's not designed to go that way round.
Him:
Me: I have an Allen key, I could easily turn it round for you now.
Him: No thanks
Me: OK, well make sure you take it to a decent bike shop, not halfords, and get it looked at.
Him: Will do.

Have seen him twice since, and it's still the same. I think he thought I was trying to steal his bike or something.

Was out riding another time, and ended up taking a look at a blokes gears for him on his brand new Carerra; they weren't indexing proerly. Source of the problem: crud catcher had been fitted, by halfords to down tube over the top of the gear cables, thus buggering up his gear changing. Fitted the crud catcher properly, problem solved.

Colleague at work got a boardman. Came out the shop with the bar ends vertical, and the brake levers horizontal, the saddle way to too low.

Moral of the story – if you get a bike from Halfords – don't trust the staff to set it up, give you advice, or service or repair it.

PDI is NOT a lawful requirement.

You may be interested in: Bicycle Shaped Object

Mate of mine used to loosen his stem to fit his bike in his car for mtb races. This particular time I was chatting to him AFTER a race when I noticed he'd got his forks facing the wrong way. Thought it was riding funny he said ??

Some halfords techs are mint depends !!
Been doing bikes up for 20+ years & i still double check stuff & forget the odd thing….

You cant say negotive stuff about them all realy some Halford guys know there stuff…

You cant say negotive stuff about them all realy some Halford guys know there stuff…

Agreed – but they're in the minority. I know – I've worked there, albeit 10+ years ago. Unless you know your particular halfords store, and know that your favourite mechanic has biult your bike, you have to assume the worst. The overall level of bike knowledge and ability in Halfords is woeful.

Any business that could let those three bikes out the door can't be regarded as a serious and knowledgable bike retailer imo.

I work there part time and I'm always asked to do repair or fix customer complaint bikes badly put together or find the problems of bikes that have been in/out 5 times from new.

Why? there are no bike trained staff. Just school dropouts unless you get a dedicated specialists which is rare.

Halfords is $hit for bikes. They are owned by a financial company who only wants to buy then sell when it pays back the loan from Halfords profits.

There are few dedicated staff who are great but I have yet to find them where I am studying.

Min wage and no training is going to get you into trouble.

Also to the OP-did you sign the PDI forms? I would complain as it could have been injury and it's the only way they will learn.

I have to say I would never trust anyone else to set up a bike for me. I would always check everything even if I bought it from my LBS. I would be disappointed if here were issues with one from my lbs but there is only one mechanic I trust – me.

Also to the OP-did you sign the PDI forms? I would complain as it could have been injury and it's the only way they will learn.

PDI forms?

Credit card machine, a big receipt, and that was it. You'll be saying there should have been a user manual with the bike next?

Joe

Last week:

My line manager asked me to sort a co*k up from someone else and call the customer and offer £20 worth of freebies.

Cough cough so what happened was that the customer came back-asked for names complaining from falling off and wanted satisfaction-freebie.

(I never said a thing to Joe to get £20 freebies cough!) 😀

At least they had the right amount of air in the tyres – just not necessarily in the right order… I picked up my ride to work bike at halfords, the thought of letting them build it never entered my head. The guy who served me wa a really sound roadie type, and he asked me if it was ok to unbox it to have a gander, perhaps I'd have been ok..

I picked up my ride to work bike at halfords, the thought of letting them build it never entered my head.

I had to get it from Halfords to mine, choices were a)have a built up bike, b)pay money to get it sent by courier (with the hassle of staying in at home), c)take a 14kg bike box on two buses.

Joe

honestly Joe, you've nothing to lose and something to gain by complaining to the store manager about this, if they've got inept staff assembling bikes then that needs to be addressed (remember i'm an ex employee). As well as adressing the unsafe standard to which your bike was prepared you may also save someone else some greater grief.

I'm pretty sure there should have been an owners manual at the very least, otherwise where's your maintenance/warranty information? I expect you'll find that it was 'accidently' left tucked under their counter.
In the defence of Halfords, there are a LOT of stores and therefore a lot of mechanics, therefore the number of bad mechanics will be greater, but not neccersarily the percentage. Also try to not confuse the 'mechanic' with the 'shop floor couldn't give a flip' staff, there's usually someone who knows their stuff, but isn't employed or paid enough to be there all the time.

Al

10psi – you sure ??? you'd notice before you started wouldn't you ?

10psi – you sure ??? you'd notice before you started wouldn't you ?

That's why I got it pumped up in the shop. With their track pump, hence I know the rough amount of air in it.

Joe