Is it just a little tiny bit unreasonable to refuse to supply a partially built bike to save a few quid? Some shops seem to do it, so it’s presumably not illegal…

Halfords recently supplied mine unbuilt.

Pays your money makes your choice

Maybe they can’t be arsed with the potential warranty hassles.

Yup, Halfords will supply you with a boxed bike. There’s no discount though and you have to sign a form saying you have built it yourself and if it falls apart it’s not Halfords fault.

lots of brands state no warranty on a bike supplied unbuilt, the dealer is the last stage of QC for the brand so it’s a good idea in my mind.

To be fair I normally ask for the bike to be unbuilt as I’m usually chopping and chancing bits before I ride it and it means any bit’s I’m selling on are more likely to new and unfitted

I’ve been told in the past this is a liability insurance requirement. Un-built – the vendor has no liability if an assembley mistake causes an accident.
Fully built – Done by a trained mechanic, liability falls to vendors insurer if there is an accident.
Part-built – Was it the trained mechanic’s assembley fault or the untrained buyer? Who knows, in which case only the lawyers win. Onmishambles.

I was talking to a guy from Trek about this a while back and he said that their returns rates plummeted after they prohibited their bikes from being sold mailorder. They reckon the reduction in customer service issues actually saves the shops more time and money than the spend building every bike and handing it over ready to ride.

I’m fully aware that everyone on here is a certified master mechanic with all the correct tools and would never dream of crying warranty after FUBAR’ing their new purchase before it’s even been ridden but there’s enough of this kind of customer out there that I can understand why some shops and brands can be wary of supplying bikes un-built.