Halfords Goes Upmarket!
 

We can now order Campagnolo Groupsets :)

What ! From Halfords ? The general pervayers of crap bikes and bike bits that you would not touch with a barge pole. The company that over the years must have done more to put people off cycling due the low quality of the rubbish they have peddled (or is that 'peddaled') out as 'cycle gear'

Either that, or they have moved into 'gray markets', in which case buy what you can, as it won't last long.

So how much for Campag gear at Halfords ?

(For the Americans on the forum, I believe a translation of the word 'Halfords' would be 'Huffy', but I might be wrong, I don't speak fluent American)

I have visited my local Bexhill Bikehut a few times and I was impressed. The bikes are quite good. They carry a decent touring bike as stock, and have a couple of good city/commuting models.

I was a bit disapointed at their own-brand inner tubes, they seem to leak air and need pumping up every 2 days, unlike my Michelins which last 2 weeks. The tyre range is not so good either.

They may not be a threat to good lightweight shops, but for the average corner bike shop, they are a real contender.

Off the top of my head a Veloce Gruppo cost £300 including hubs.

Brains, I really think you need to re-evaluate your opinion of Halfords - I've had to and I've worked there for 9 years. When I started, yes we were crap - I used to dread assembling some bike because I knew no matter how well setup they were they'd end up having some sort of mechanical failure. I would never have bought anything from us till about 3 years ago.


Nowadays our own brand Carrera bikes are built for us by a company called Meridia - who at the moment are involved in the production of frames etc.... for a whole host of the major manufactures. So quality is no longer a problem.

All our supplies are obtained through the normal trade routes - Madison, Zyro, Fischers etc..... So no grey trade. In fact we are also the biggest sellers of Airbourne bikes in Europe, and have such a good relationship with them that we have been able to help them to develop their packages even more - that improves things even for our competitors.

You live in Greenwich (just down the road from my sister), I seem to recall the Charlton store has been upgraded to Bikehut recently - I may be wrong. Just pop in and take a look at the special order browser - vast majority of which can be supplied within 2 days. They also offer a price match within a 20 mile radius of the store.

Also virtually all their cycle staff will be cyclists in their own right. Infact we have 2 bike squads at the moment who race in various categories. One a bonefide Pro squad, the other a team of staff sponsored by us.

Sorry to sound sycophantic!

Greg

I don't suppose you've started stocking SRAM as well have you?

How about 27" tyres?

Ellie

I too can vouch fro Bikehut, I bought my Pace forks from them..

They also stock Airbourne Ti bikes, Kona, and a host of goodies from Hope and the like.

Not too sure about Sram components, but they should stock 27" tires..

Cheers

Rich

SRAM - yep no problem - full range available to order. But I always keep a selection of their chains in stock - can't beat them.


27" tyres - We stock Michelin World Tours and a selection of cheap basic tyres. Can order Continental and possibly a few others (ie Nokian/Tioga/Panaracer)

Hope stuff is stocked in the BikeHut Stores, but arrives in 24hrs normally from Hope if they have it in stock - or 4 days if they have to make it for you. I actually spent a day with Hope in November and was highly impressed by the pride shown by their staff in their products.

I'm super impressed by their products...the Hope Hubs are fab!

Rich

Did someone mention Carrera bikes? Is that the same as the Carrera i saw being ridden by a team in the TDF. surely not!!

If that is so then Halfords have really gone up-market :confused:

a fella in halfords hendon told me to superglue new brake pads on - genius advice that might've proved DEAD wrong had I listened to him

Hendon says it all!!! :D

Rich

Glue them on.....hahahahaha everyone knows your supposed to spit on them and get them to stick that way.

I'll admit that is the one big problem in our stores is that not all the staff know everything about every product - like me - I know nothing about car audio stuff. You may have been unlucky and got such a person. Did you take the matter back up with the store? Dangerous advice needs to be acted upon, the store manager needs to be informed.

I've seen several Halfords and everytime I see nothing but **** on sale. They don't know if they want to sell chamois cloths or bikes. They don't seem particularly good at either.

Greg

Many thanks for the tip, Halfords is about 1 mile down the road, for the first time in at least 3 years I will take a look around and see what they have.

PS

Does you sister know that you are know throughout the world as 'Capapag Fetish Boy', have you even told your friends ? Or should the local sheep worry ?

Brains, are you a student at Greenwich, or do you just live there?

Rich :)

Hi CFB :D

I'm currently riding mainly Shimano gear on my bike, but would fancy a Campy groupset in the future.

In the distant past they used to do groupsets for Mountain bikes solely such as Centaur and Euclid...what do they have on offer these days for the serious MTBer?

Cheers mate

Rich

Here's a rather nice Ibis SS with Campag Record OR groupset...check out their off road pedals...this has go to be the nicest looking groupset of the time.

http://www.firstflightbikes.com/IbisSS.htm

Rich :thumbup:

Just live there, when I was still in education Greenwich University was called Woolwich Poly, my only claim to fame is I got married in what was then the Old Royal Naval College, and is now the University of Greenwich.