The MTB thread

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Went in to halfords to have a chat about the bike, was actually going to buy it but the knowledge..or lack off had me turning on my heels and walking out!! Couldn't believe it. I didn't expect much you know as it's halfords but jeez!!

There was 3 of them...none of them could offer any advice on what size bike I needed let alone tell me what size the bike I was sitting on!! Even after measuring it they still weren't sure.

I've got my heart set on the Boardman but will either buy it online and build it myself or try and find one elsewhere. Not letting those monkeys anywhere near a bike.

They don't do themselves any favours do they ? although I have heard that Boardman bikes are supposed to be only sold by trained halford techs, that could be bogus tbh, I bought a bottle cage off them the other week, it lasted maybe 15 miles of road riding before splitting a weld, cba to take it back in all honesty, good luck with it

[Mr Speirs]

I think someones trying to tell me something!
Trying to buy it online but the system knackered I think. Keeps emptying my basket when I press checkout!! What's going on!

[northwind]

I got my Voodoo built up by the Halfords mechanic, more or less out of curiosity But he did a bang-up job to be fair. My local one's always had good staff but the next nearest one's awful, seems like the same staff as the boy-racer section.

Originally Posted by AndyBrad

Can you suggest any way of a)improving them and b) somethingelse of similar price that might last a couple of hours?

Which ones did you get?

[Mr Speirs]

Well, managed to buy it, turns out It get built at the shop any way haha. Oh well, it's going to get a thorough check before I take it from them on Monday.
Anything I need to check specifically to make sure it's right?

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Well, managed to buy it, turns out It get built at the shop any way haha. Oh well, it's going to get a thorough check before I take it from them on Monday.
Anything I need to check specifically to make sure it's right?

Don't count on it being ready on Monday, depends how busy they are and if they've got your size in stock.

I bought mine on-line and got a phone call the next day to say they couldn't do it by the day I'd said I'd like it.

I couldn't fault my Voodoo, and when I went to Halfrauds to see the bikes, the assistants were ok, but I won't call them knowledgeable.

I did give it a severe test at Llangollen in Feb and nothing broke or stopped working, except me

[G]

To be fair, halfords on an evening will be manned by 16 year old school kids, not anyone that knows about bikes.

I've had the pleasure of working in two separate halfords and the decent bike techs worked Monday to Friday 9 - 5, never evenings, and very rarely weekends.

A decent bike tech doesn't necessarily mean the person that builds your bike, pretty much any numpty built them out of the box when I worked there, it is straight forwards though with little you can do wrong.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by G

To be fair, halfords on an evening will be manned by 16 year old school kids, not anyone that knows about bikes.

I've had the pleasure of working in two separate halfords and the decent bike techs worked Monday to Friday 9 - 5, never evenings, and very rarely weekends.

A decent bike tech doesn't necessarily mean the person that builds your bike, pretty much any numpty built them out of the box when I worked there, it is straight forwards though with little you can do wrong.

Yep, take bike out of box, fit wheels & pedals. Orientate handlebars in the right direction, tighten bolts. Job done

[Mr Speirs]

Well according to the Boardman bumph my bike will be built by a specially trained Bicycle Technician...haha yeah we'll see.

[maviczap]

Still, its a good bike to start off with, i only bought my Voodoo because they had a deal on it at the time, otherwise it would have been a Boardman

[Mr Speirs]

Yeah, I wanted to get something serious but not too serious. I thought if i spent a tiny bit of money I'd get bored of riding a **** of ****e, so this seemed like the best for me.