Stop it. I feel violated

Mr_A rides a Dawes shonk-wagon most of the time. He wouldn't look down on you for the brand itself, more for what Halfords represent…

…more for what Halfords represent…

Ah, we're getting to the crux are we? I'd love to support my LBS more but since I don't have one without getting on the bike for an hour or so or jumping in the car, Halfords has to do. To be honest I don't usually need anything in an emergency so most of my stuff comes from CRC/Wiggle etc. If I had a LBS that was local I'm sure I'd be in there spending my money even if it was more expensive than the internet stores.

Question? If Halfords started selling Spesh Pitch's would the Halfords naysayers and brand snobs buy it?

Now that is a good question. I'd like to see some answers to that.

You missed my point and the one Mr_A made pretty clearly I thought.

Mr_A

Plus your money is going to people who put nothing back into the sport (do they even sponsor a team?), take ethically dubious steps to protect their market share, and will probably stop making high-end mountain bikes in favour of the next craze a couple of years down the line.

Same reason I don't really like Cannondale as a company after they trademarked 'Freeride' and started issuing lawyer letters to Rocky Mountain (hence the Fro riders) and others telling them to stop using the term even though it was clearly in general use.

You may or may not agree but it's an ethical stance rather than a snobbish one…

Knew I should have kept my gob shut. 😉

There's at least one bloke who comes out digging with us who rides a Carrera, and fits the "new rider bursting with enthusiasm" box perfectly. I'd never judge someone by the bike they rode (or if I did I'd be ready to swallow my preconceptions very quickly).

But… I will say, if all LBSs in Bristol were Halfords (or CRC), chances are there wouldn't be any trail maintenance. We've had all kinds of support (including financial) from small local businesses but I've yet to hear of Halfords doing something similar anywhere in the UK. They won't even give you an empty bike box from their bins.

If you want a bargain I'd buy stuff second-hand off mates instead.

And Clubber, "shonk-wagon", how dare you. At least it's still in one piece! 😉

Specialized are also into that sort of thing, see http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com

As if anyone who wants a racey short travel full susser is going to get confused into buying a custom-made frame bag for the Iditabike. Corporate twonkery at its worst…

Question? If Halfords started selling Spesh Pitch's would the Halfords naysayers and brand snobs buy it?

I don't have a local bikeshop just as I don't have a designated local Supermarket, preferred shop for my sweets etc etc.

We live in an age now where we don't have to buy from our local area only. Do you think bikeshops only buy everything they need from their local economy?

Anyway. I wouldn't buy from Halfords due the consistent level of service I've received in their stores.

I don't own a Specialized bike or frame. My analogy was based on a similar yet time-proven evolution and design of a established and respected bike company.

Not a chain that operates from dust-blown out-of-town shopping parks who principly seems to specialise in tacky aftermarket alloys and chav bits for chav cars. 😆

Go figure- who would you give your hard earned money to?

They won't even give you an empty bike box from their bins.

That's nonsense for starters. Actually, technically it is not: they gave me two. And as for sponsorship, aren't Carrera a sub-brand of Halfords? Halfords very clearly do sponsor a lot of big events (Tour de France anyone?) not to mention sponsoring a World Cup downhill team. Now maybe "grass-roots" support isn't the same as corporate sponsorship, but isn't it all going back into this sport in some way or other?

Maybe I'm lucky in that my Halfords is in the centre of town and not some big warehouse miles away.

Remember as well that post from a few weeks back? Someone wanting advice for setting up an independent bike shop. There were a lot of comments that in terms of bike servicing most of the revenue comes from the considerably lower end of the market. Halfords I would argue both create that and support it. Some of us may not like them but I have heard very few rational arguments as to why.

We live in an age now where we don't have to buy from our local area only

True, but I'm not going to make a big trip to an independent bike shop to buy inner tubes that I can pop down to Halfords for. If the LBS was nearer then it would get more of my custom. I just value convenience as well as price. My stance was never a "support your local economy" one

would people be more likely to buy the banshee if it was a boardman? I'm surprised it isn't, to be honest, you think they'd sell more that way than as carreras?

It'll be interesting to see what halfords do next year instead of GT – just run ownbrand bikes, bring in more Konas, or pull in another major supplier? whilst selling through halfords probably doesn't do the best for brand image, it probably shifts enough units to stop people caring?

eta – halfords is actually my nearest bike shop, at about 150 yards from my house. The next nearest is rayments, that phoned me at 5pm on a Friday, and told me that if I didn't pick my bike up from them before closing (30 mins) they'd charge me for storage (so haven't been back), Freedom, who I asked to put a quote together for a £1000 bike for C2W and never heard back from (so haven't been back) and Sids, who are reasonable, but don't sell much I like, and wouldn't take the C2W voucher I was with

Soma_Rich – you can't take cyclescheme vouchers into halfords, so you can't get a carrera voucher anyway. Halfords only take Halfords C2W vouchers. You might also find that a lot of shops won't take cyclescheme vouchers on anything other than bikes at RRP – as they lose 10% overhead to the scheme runners

I'm not going to buy innertubes from Halfords (they aren't cheap unless you buy their puncture-magnet ownbrand).

Its not 'down the road'. Its an out of two retail-park. Well the ones I've seen are.

Since the advent of the internet we don't have to be a slave to pricing or conversely poorly local run-business's. Our high street is opened up.

The company you work for- do you get all your business from within 1 mile of your doors? (assuming your not retail).

I take shopping on the internet as something different entirely. I buy most of my bikes bits on the internet, but I still enjoy browsing a real bike shop and have been known – on more than one occasion – to buy in a real shop at a higher cost than waiting to get them from Wiggle Reaction. That's not just bikes but everything. I've bought books and CDs in Smiths when I know for a fact that Amazon will have them a lot cheaper. Financially daft I know, but for the very rare times I get to "browse" around town it is nice to spend and come home with a bag of goodies. Halfords fits this model for me too because they are genuinely "down the road" and 10 seconds from a fab chippie.

(EDIT) and back to the OP, they had the best value bike for my missus

Halfords very clearly do sponsor a lot of big events (Tour de France anyone?) not to mention sponsoring a World Cup downhill team.

Halfords sponsor the ITV coverage of the Tour De France – which is supporting ITV, it does nothing for the sport!

Their DH team was unceremoniously disbanded a couple of years back when they decided they were going to close their BikeHut brand. Yes this has happened to quite a few other teams, but it really does represent a minimum level of investment in the sport compared to most other manufacturers. Compare with tiny manufacturers like Dialled Bikes, Ragley or Singular, who sponsor riders and events left right and centre.

Again, for companies like Halfords cycling is a transitory thing, to be cashed in on in the good years and then they'll move on to something else. Will you even be able to get spares for these bikes in a few years' time?

Going back to the bike, yes it's amazing value, and looks like it'll do the job very well. However a 35lb, 7" travel full susser isn't the sort of bike that most UK riders eventually settle on. I have something similar, it's fun to ride, but it really only gets used a handful of times per year. That Carrera is built to service a market rather than a need – it's the equivalent of a package holiday which is all-inclusive, exotic, and cheap as chips, but doesn't actually take you where you want to go.

Halfords sponsor the ITV coverage of the Tour De France – which is supporting ITV, it does nothing for the sport!

I disagree. The sport grows by virtue of the coverage. More people seeing bikes on mainstream telly = more people in shops buying bikes, spares, servicing etc. Some will go to Halfords – maybe even most – and some will go elsewhere. Ultimately the sport grows because money comes into it.

Again, for companies like Halfords cycling is a transitory thing, to be cashed in on in the good years and then they'll move on to something else.

I'm 36 this year and I can't remember a time when Halfords didn't do bikes. Have I got a bad memory?

However it is built to service a market rather than a need – it's the equivalent of a package holiday which is all-inclusive, exotic, and cheap as chips, but doesn't actually take you where you want to go.

Ah, back on the "need" argument. As I see it no one "needs" a £2000/£3000 Spesh/Giant/Santa Cruz etc. Many people "need" an inexpensive bike for transport that they can source and have serviced locally. If the LBS cannot provide it I know somewhere that can. There are also plenty of people on this post who have a Carrera and it most certainly does take them where they want to go – at lower cost.

Mr Agreeable, I fear we may have to agree to disagree 🙂

Again, for companies like Halfords cycling is a transitory thing, to be cashed in on in the good years and then they'll move on to something else. Will you even be able to get spares for these bikes in a few years' time

Yeah, Halfords. New company in town. 😕
I'd still never buy a bike from them though (unless it was a no choice, cyclescheme purchase).
Call it (brand) snobbery, whatever. I'll admit it! And no, I wouldn't buy a Specialized from Halfords, or from Hargroves, Leisure Lakes, etc etc 🙂

True I wouldn't buy a diamond-encrusted cheap frame from Hinde.

Compare with tiny manufacturers like Dialled Bikes, Ragley or Singular, who sponsor riders and events left right and centre.

no disrespect to the little guys, but think their level of sponsor ship might be a little different to that provided by say Halfords!

Halfords who incidentially sponsor the Tour Series – http://www.tourseries.co.uk/.

Ps Halfords sells 1 in 3 bikes sold in the UK.

Yeah, Halfords. New company in town.

I don't think that Halfords will ever stop selling bikes (or more precisely, bicycle-shaped objects), but their interest in the "high end" of the sport seems to ebb and flow pretty readily.

And stilltortoise, if Halfords stopped sponsoring the ITV TdF coverage, would the event stop running?

That Carrera is built to service a market rather than a need

To be fair most bikes in the UK are….

For most cyclists you use a bike to get around, go shopping, go to the pub then nearly everthing in Evans for example is actually unsuitable or overkill…

people do not need a full sus mtb, a carbon tri bike, a bmx etc to just potter around – what they need is a dutch bike or similar…

no disrespect to the little guys, but think their level of sponsor ship might be a little different to that provided by say Halfords!

It's very much at the grass roots. Which is where it needs to be if we're not going to just have high-budget events and teams that get the plug pulled all too easily.

if Halfords stopped sponsoring the ITV TdF coverage, would the event stop running?

I have no clue, but I suspect not. However I bet without Halfords sponsorship ITV may stop showing the event, meaning fewer people seeing the Tour meaning fewer peeps in the shops buying bikes. Sponsorship money does not have to go directly into the little guy's wallet for the effect to filter down to grass roots. Would kids be running around in the bike kicking a football after school without the all-consuming presence football has in the media? I doubt it. Who ultimately pays for that coverage? Big corporate sponsors perhaps?? Not little Joe Blow making hand-stitched footballs in his shed

It's very much at the grass roots. Which is where it needs to be if we're not going to just have high-budget events and teams that get the plug pulled all too easily.

So the companies with big money sponsor the big events and the smaller companies sponsor the grass-roots events. Have I hit on something new here…?

Thought not

Sorry, I was going to duck out of this but

Again, for companies like Halfords cycling is a transitory thing

is just the biggest load of carp on this thread! How long have Halfords bees selling bikes? Longer than CRC or Wiggle, and longer than a lot of LBSs!!

I can remember buying dynamo lights form them when I was about 12 FFS!, so that's around 28 years ago.

Brain into gear before opening mouth please! 🙂

Laughing at this 'ethical' BS that's been spouted too. WGAF about some obsucre Canadian brand for a start? At least Halfords are in the UK and creating UK jobs. Get over yourselves. Jeeeeezus.

I will not be riding a Dutch bike round my local woods any time soon. Although it is sort of tempting…

Oh reeeelly?

There are bikes, and there are bikes. In some years, Halfords' top-priced MTB is some heavy bottom-of-the-range clod of a thing, and their stock-in-trade is mild steel abominations that are going to put as many people off cycling as they get into it.

As for UK jobs, insert the words "crappy, low-paid and prospect-free" and I completely agree. I'd rather swim to Canada then work as an unpaid tea-boy and fluffer at Banshee than get a job at Halfords.

I like some of the bikes they are selling at the moment – I get overtaken by many a happy commuter whizzing along on his or her Subway – but the fact is they may not be selling these in a couple of years' time, and the LBS down the road that could have sold Joe Bloggs a nicer bike may well have closed down.

PS Pete, you chug the corporate cheesewand and you know it. 🙂

I will not be riding a Dutch bike round my local woods any time soon. Although it is sort of tempting…

obviously as stated already my point was related to most general utility cyclists rather than mtb'ers who do it as a hobby or sport.

Suppose it is a bit like normal leather shoes you wear everyday vs trainers for doing running in..

http://www.halfordscompany.com/hal/ah/history/

No actual date but they're certainly been a bike shop for longer than most:

PS Pete, you chug the corporate cheesewand and you know it.

Er LOL, I think. Whatever that means…? 😉

I just buy what I like, and stuff what everyone else thinks. 🙂

EG – Lots of non cyclist mates thought I was mad for chucking £2500 on a Yeti.
Whilst lots of people on here were appaled by the low rent kit I put on it, and then again when I swapped it for a Spesh!

Is that the one you're trying to sell? 😉

their stock-in-trade is mild steel abominations that are going to put as many people off cycling as they get into it.

I think this is a fairly sweeping and dare I say unsupported argument. If we were arguing about buying £70 full sussers from the supermarket I'd have more truck with it, but we're not. We're talking about a well-established bike shop that some of us seem to find irrationally objectionable. A quick look in a lot of bike shops and I'm sure you'd find the cheaper end of the market supporting the middle and top end. Half of us on STW may spend a lot of money on a bike but then we learn how to service it ourselves and buy the bits cheap on Wiggle et al. I'm veering into another – well discussed – argument now. damn.

I just buy what I like, and stuff what everyone else thinks.

That's fine too. I know you and I know that it would be a pointless exercise trying to change your mind!

This thread was called "would you buy a Carrera" and I'm just giving my answer to that question – in the usual roundabout STW way. 🙂

This thread was called "would you buy a Carrera" and I'm just giving my answer to that question – in the usual roundabout STW way.

😆

The most sensible thing you've said Mr A 😉

id buy that no problem looks a rather good deal.

i'd buy that carerra if i thought it was good value and rode well. Cannot see the problem myself.

how cool is that thing above.. attitude!

and for no reason i'll post this

Bloody ell, you lot have arguing staying-power!

hora – Member

"No. Specialized have won awards for their bikes with great reviews. Ergo the thinking is you could trust they have a knack now at developing how a bike rides?"

But so have Carrera, and Boardman. The Carrera Fury steamrollered one of the big mag's "budget test" despite that being a £500 bike in a £750 bike test, it still had the best spec and the best review, 5/5. The Boardman Team FS was 3rdn WMB's BOTY test last year (this year, brilliantly, it was disqualified for being too cheap, even though some of the more expensive bikes tested were those it beat last year). They don't get tested all that often but when they do they tend to shine.

If you go to the Bikeradar review archive and put in Carrera you get 9 reviews, 4 are 4/5 and five are 4.5/5. Not one lower. Which is a lot better than Specialized as it turns out!

[Devils advocate]Any ads appeared in any of their mags for Halfords or sub-brands etc?[/Devils advocate] 8)

hora – Member

[Devils advocate]Any ads appeared in any of their mags for Halfords or sub-brands etc?[/Devils advocate]

Heh, do you think Specialized don't advertise in these mags? Out of curiosity I just went and flicked through a recent WMB and MBUK, and found no halfords advertising at all, while Specialized had at least 1 full page ad in each, plus lots of other advertisers selling Specialized

One of those issues I flicked through was the one that had the Carrera humping, among others, a Hardrock. Corruption apparently is not alive and well