They'd all bought i-drives, they'd all broke after 20 minutes, GT wouldn't supply any spares so they all vowed never to buy GT again.
And that's the thing. Where did the assumption come from that they'd break easily? Just because Halfords sold them I bet.
It's crap. The last one they sold, the 09 XCR is rock solid. Hell, mine's been chucked all over the place including flying down the side of trails (without a rider), hit trees, rocks, all kinds and not broken a thing.
Anyway, if you did break anything the only spares you need are the frame (which is under a 2 year warranty) and bars (bars are standard, so you get a replacement that fits). All the rest of the bike is not made of GT components but well known, well supported brands (e.g. SRAM, Shimano, Fox, FSA).
Thing is, Halfords had very little to do with the bike. At least not the XCR 09 model. The frame was from the GT factory (yes okay Taiwan). They specced components to get it to a cheap price and the bike was supplied to them and they stuck it in the shops. The only Halfords component on it is a small sticker saying it's supplied to Halfords. Few people bought them as they were expensive compared to Halfords own brand junk.
Thankfully for buyers of an i-drive from Halfords is Halfords are monkeys and don't know anything about the bikes as they are not their bikes. They just know about selling their own Apollos, so you can buy the bike and they won't mess about with it. Just don't take it back there for a "free" service. DIY.
They get good reviews too which are largely overlooked.
The year they bought out the first prod i-drive bike (xcr?).
Don't know when that was, but they have changed a lot. The Halfords supplied i-drive XCR is still basically the same but the bugs and potential breaks (wishbone for example) have been fixed. They're good bikes now and amazing value for money. You could almost just chuck the frame and it would still be a good deal on the components. Not that the frame is bad. The 6061 frame anchors the back wheel to the ground in a way that you won't get any unexpected kick and bounce off roots and rocks but still absorb the bumps.
But that's just Halfords. Now they've been dumped and GT do loads of higher spec models across the range and the 2011 range are getting some respect. The "i-drive" name has been dropped but i-drive is still the suspension used.
