So after a great PSA on the bike forum I was picking up a coat for the missus in (ahem) halfords.
Went over to the bike hut bit and a guy in front who clearly knew “not a lot” about bikes had took his carrera in to be repaired. Obviously his commuter as he wanted it repaired pronto. He’d snapped the rear mech hanger and mech was hanging off. Q bike hut “expert”
Right so we need a new hanger (fair enough), new rear mech (?) and the point where I stuck my oar in, a new chain (??). I chirped up from the queue woahh there, surely you can repair the one/two bent links by taking them out and using a repair/missing link make the chain as good as new?
Q the dirtiest look ever!
Salesman then starts doing some out loud adding up, at the point when we reach +£100 quid I say does he really need a new rear mech!
At this point I can see my bargain coat being set fire to and no longer “available”
Then the icing, he looks at me as if to say “I **** dare you” turns to the bloke and says tell you what by the time we’ve repaired all this it might be worth looking at the new model 😯

Yeah you’re quite right , appalling behaviour -BY YOU .

I’d have told the chap in front to bring it round to mine and i’ll fix it up for you for a quarter of that and quicker – It’s be worth it for the chaps expression.

did you still buy the jacket?

Cheap. Last broken rear mech hanger I had needed a new hanger, new mech, new chain and new spokes.

You sir are a tool

It has my HOW MUCH! reflex going.

Steady on.

I could see it quite plausible to replace the mech and chain along with the hanger.

My view would be that leaving a slightly bent mech hanger or kinked chain could quite easily lead to the same happening again.

Thus by replacing the lot it’s minimal risk to the store. I’m sure the customer had other options I.e. a LBS.

Labour still costs money. I would rather sell an £8.99 chain than fart fanny around with splitting oily chains and inserting a new split link etc.

Halfords serve a purpose, and I’m sure they were well chuffed with your help!

Houns, Ramsey, well put.

Bloke at my work went into a local-to-work shop in Barnard Castle with a bust spoke. Ended up with a £70-odd bill as he said to sort it if any other work needed doing.

Halfords = Kwik Fit
Some LBS = some unscrupulous garages
Most of us = clued up and can fix most of our bikes in-house

wind your neck in.

jesus wept you trying and stop them selling snake oil to a poor sap in Halfords and all the mighty of STW descend to call you names

I swapped my hanger when I did mine as it happened on the trial i could not replace everything and nor have i had to afterwards

Still at least we know who the “good customers” are for the bike shops

Bless you for outing your gullibility
nk

Bugger, so a bent rear mech that bent and snapped the chain and also broke 4 spokes didn’t need to be replaced?!!

Thanks for pointing out how gullible I am!

I thought we were discussing the one in halfords not what happened to yours…its like it did more damage to yours than to the one the OP is mentioning …wow can this actually happen 😕
even the sales person did not mention spokes

i think you intentions were admiral, you handled it in a way i wouldn’t of….

only you were there, and know exactly what was going on and i’m sure if you were in any doubt, you wouldn’t have piped up…

as long as you didn’t still buy the jacket your alright by me chap, …lol….to be honest i don’t care if you did or not, a bargain is a bargain right,…. i’m drinking vino.

I swapped my hanger when I did mine as it happened on the trial i could not replace everything and nor have i had to afterwards

There we have it then if your rear mech goes into the spokes causing the mech hanger to bend then all you ever need to replace is the hanger . Thanks for busing that myth .

lets face it – op could have turned it into a singlespeed and not bothered replacing anything

customer wanted the bike fixing correctly and reliably – not to have his chain made too short to allow use of all gears . sounds like from the queue he could accurately assess the condition of the mech – asside from the pivots possibly being bent jockey wheels worn? (which if sram often sieze up and cause mech hanger snappage) at in a cable inner and outer as it was probably kinked due to the hanger snapping.

Last mech hanger I broke killed the rear mech and chain and required madame to collect me as the bike was unrideable.

so a bent rear mech that bent and snapped the chain and also broke 4 spokes didn’t need to be replaced

I believe you’ve just pointed out how your damage differed from what the OP describes houns

TBF to halfords, it’s the safe option to prevent further damage but they coyuld be more open about it. A decent shop might have said “definitely needs a hanger – we can take out a couple of bent links and see how your chain goes (if it’s still long enough) and you’ll probably get away without a new mech but it could be bent. Safest would be to replace them all unless you’re happy with a small chance of future damage or that the gears may not work properly”

The lad in halfords needs more training

A new chain = a new rear block oh an what about the chain rings , well lets just upgrade the chainset and bb at the same time.

Lol it’s Normaly to end up changing the mech and chain with a hanger , not always but faily often

I actually admire you for having the courage to speak up.
might. might have been a different story in another shop, but Halfords deserve everything they get.

There we have it then if your rear mech goes into the spokes causing the mech hanger to bend then all you ever need to replace is the hanger

Obvioulsy that was what I meant – well spotted …you are sherlock homes and i clam my £5

Why does the Halfords sales pitch not mention spokes then or the OP ?

Its like different snapping causes different amounts of damage

i also needed to change rear mech and chain for a broken mech hanger as everything twisted up when the mech come down.

Here’s me thinking I was going to get karma points for doing the right thing. How can anyone justify the fact that said specialist used the phrase “it might be cheaper to get a new **** bike”, the hanger was snapped off clean as a whistle with no other damage, admittedly from “what I could see.”
Sorry but I cannot stand by and watch someone get royally shafted in any walk of life be them poor,rich,black,white or any other.

have some from me then and I shall take some of your bad karma from the moaners on here

I dont understand why folk have got upset by you trying to help though I am sure they will be along soon enough to explain

As said last time I needed a new hanger it was that plus rear mech+chain+wheel true £100 in parts !! Did it all myself so no Labour. Halfords sound well in the ball park

I must admit trying to up sell to a new bike is a little ott , but its rerely just a hanger jut not often. £100 job

It is just possible that your parts were more expensive than Carrera parts and you did more damage – well that part is true for you damaged spokes

Is it really a £100 job on a cheap shit bike?
What is the cheapest hanger, chain and mech you can buy?

Chain £7
Mech £15
Hanger £15

So one hours labour at £60 or two hours at £30
that is not the £100 + quoted only £100

Glad i fix my own stuff if that is really what folk think is reasonable

New thread:

I fixed this guy’s bike in my garage for the price of hanger and links.

Thought I would save him a big repair bill.

Now he keeps bugging me for other things wrong on the bike he said I caused…

Too much trouble to get involved in TBH and a bit rude.
I know OP meant well.

We don’t know what the parts / spec was is so all just guesing
and I would also wager the op had not inspected the bike

I dont think it is rude to point out that a sales person is trying to sell you stuff and exploit your ignorance to make money. tbh i think it is community spirited to say something.

Decent troll.

Only on STW can someone try to point out to a bloke in Halfords that he might be being ripped off and then get lambasted for it. Halfords FFS!?

wrightyson, I’d have been thinking the same thing but have kept shtum (so as y’know, not to make a scene) then felt guilty about it afterwards.

If the parts were nesassery then its not exploitation.
Say acera rear mech rrp £25 chain 15-20 hanger 10-22 cable inner and outer just so it all works 4
Plus a little fitting

Still not £100 but we don’t know what else that include

Beer is a good thing would all arm chair mechanics please **** right off

I dont think it is rude to point out that a sales person is trying to sell you stuff and exploit your ignorance to make money. tbh i think it is community spirited to say something.

I quite agree but I think it smacks of arrogance to assume the other customer knew nothing and the OP knew more than the person who did the job for a living and who presumably was in a better position to inspect the damage to the bike .

What was the guy with the bike doing in Halfords if he knew anything?

What was the OP doing buying a coat for his missus in Halfords? Don’t they have a River Island near them?

What’s the mechanic doing working in Halfords if he knows anything? Why isn’t he working in a LBS where he can tut and moan at any poor punter who chooses to darken his door?

AWESOME 😀
Nice one yeah that is right highly informed customer with a carrera takes bike to highly skilled halfords trained technician to sort who quotes huge price and advises a new bike ..yes that is clearly informed trading at work there and only the OP was clueless

BRILLIANT.

I love this place me

Just because you work in halfords does not mean you don’t know what your doing ( I don’t ), lbs jobs can be hatdntonfindand poorly paid ( I do)

As all then info is not first hand it’s of little use

My thing dd, I don’t keep schtum, been rode over rough shod a few times in my younger years. I didn’t see the harm in pointing out the chain looked pretty good to me. But hey I’m a hairy arsed builder not a bike mechanic, but as you know i also don’t really care. Thanks to you and junkyards backing 😉

So the chain looked good from a distance so the mech that looked at it properly was wrong
Could you see from where you were of the b tension plate had ripped the little knob off the mech casting

But WTF were you doing buying an EFFING COAT IN HALFORDS?!?

Was it a MazdaSport coat from the BoyRacer section? Was it?