This is about non-electric bikes, but could equally apply to elctric bikes.
My surrogate daughter and her husband both have cheap MTBs - the type with that pogo rear suspension and a Y shaped frame that you can buy new from Argos for £140. His had a bent crank, which stopped the derailleur from reaching the big chainwheel , a completely shot main suspension bush and a collapsed bearing on one pedal. Hers had dodgy brakes. They decided to taake advantage of the Government £50 voucher to get them fixed.
When they got there, the guy persuaded them that for an additional £30, they could get the top of the range gold service, which normally would be £80, so they went for it. After a few weeks of chasing, Halfords finally pronounced that the bikes were ready for collection. Upon arrival, she was ordered to pay an additional £34 and he an additional £53 because parts were not included in the £80 service. He'd had a new front hub, front gear cable and 7 speed freewheel. She had a new bottom bracket and brake blocks. they were both even charged for the little ferrules that they'd put on the ends of the cables. Bear in mind that Halfords sell those BBs for about a tenner and the horrible brake blocks for a few quid.
His bike was still completely unusable because of the collapsed pedal. Halfords said that they were unable to get the right pedal for it, even though the pedal was absolutely standard, and they were unable to get him a crank/chainwheel nor the knackered bearing replacemen even though the chainwheel is a standard square taper one. That cost him effectively £133 - £7 less than a new one and it was completely unrideable.
The first time she put her front brake on hard, something slipped and rendered the brake completely inoperative. They had fitted the weirdest cheapest brake block arrangement I have ever seen. It was virtually impossible to set it up right because the screw locked it in the in and out direction and the alignment with the rim direction at the same time. There were no spacers on it to fix its position and the clamp screw wasn't enough to resist the force of using the brake, which is why it slipped.
My house is half-way between Halfords and their house, so after giving up riding their bikes home, they came to me to see if I could help.
Luckily I have plenty of spare parts, so I replaced her front brake complete with a Shimano Acera one and I replaced his cranks with a similar but good one with nice pedals on it, so at least they were able to ride their bikes home.
To be fair to Halfords, they had trued the wheels, although not very well centred and got the rear gears working nicely.
The moral of the story is to be aware of what to expect when getting a service from Halfords. Parts are not included and even if they can't fix your bike, you'll still get charged maybe as much as a new one would cost. The other moral is that when your surrogate dad offers to fix your bikes for nothing, you should take up the offer rather than go to Halfords for your free Government funded service.
The total cost to them was 2X £30 +£34 +£53 = £147, which would have been enough to buy one brand new bike the same and £7 for Wilko brake blocks which would have been a good replacement for her worn ones and a hundred times better than the weird ones that Halfords fitted.
These are the brake blocks without the weird clamping arrangement:
My surrogate daughter and her husband both have cheap MTBs - the type with that pogo rear suspension and a Y shaped frame that you can buy new from Argos for £140. His had a bent crank, which stopped the derailleur from reaching the big chainwheel , a completely shot main suspension bush and a collapsed bearing on one pedal. Hers had dodgy brakes. They decided to taake advantage of the Government £50 voucher to get them fixed.
When they got there, the guy persuaded them that for an additional £30, they could get the top of the range gold service, which normally would be £80, so they went for it. After a few weeks of chasing, Halfords finally pronounced that the bikes were ready for collection. Upon arrival, she was ordered to pay an additional £34 and he an additional £53 because parts were not included in the £80 service. He'd had a new front hub, front gear cable and 7 speed freewheel. She had a new bottom bracket and brake blocks. they were both even charged for the little ferrules that they'd put on the ends of the cables. Bear in mind that Halfords sell those BBs for about a tenner and the horrible brake blocks for a few quid.
His bike was still completely unusable because of the collapsed pedal. Halfords said that they were unable to get the right pedal for it, even though the pedal was absolutely standard, and they were unable to get him a crank/chainwheel nor the knackered bearing replacemen even though the chainwheel is a standard square taper one. That cost him effectively £133 - £7 less than a new one and it was completely unrideable.
The first time she put her front brake on hard, something slipped and rendered the brake completely inoperative. They had fitted the weirdest cheapest brake block arrangement I have ever seen. It was virtually impossible to set it up right because the screw locked it in the in and out direction and the alignment with the rim direction at the same time. There were no spacers on it to fix its position and the clamp screw wasn't enough to resist the force of using the brake, which is why it slipped.
My house is half-way between Halfords and their house, so after giving up riding their bikes home, they came to me to see if I could help.
Luckily I have plenty of spare parts, so I replaced her front brake complete with a Shimano Acera one and I replaced his cranks with a similar but good one with nice pedals on it, so at least they were able to ride their bikes home.
To be fair to Halfords, they had trued the wheels, although not very well centred and got the rear gears working nicely.
The moral of the story is to be aware of what to expect when getting a service from Halfords. Parts are not included and even if they can't fix your bike, you'll still get charged maybe as much as a new one would cost. The other moral is that when your surrogate dad offers to fix your bikes for nothing, you should take up the offer rather than go to Halfords for your free Government funded service.
The total cost to them was 2X £30 +£34 +£53 = £147, which would have been enough to buy one brand new bike the same and £7 for Wilko brake blocks which would have been a good replacement for her worn ones and a hundred times better than the weird ones that Halfords fitted.
These are the brake blocks without the weird clamping arrangement:
4 x CANTI BRAKE UNTHREADED ALL WEATHER BRAKE SHOES / PADS / BLOCKS | eBay
CANTI BRAKE BRAKE SHOES / BLOCKS. 2 x PAIRS KIDS BIKE / CHILDRENS BIKE ALL WEATHER BRAKE SHOES / PADS / BLOCKS. THESE ARE ALL WEATHER QUALITY BRAKE SHOES ! NEED NEW DISC BRAKE PADS ?. 2 PAIRS QUALITY 70mm ALL WEATHER.
www.ebay.co.uk
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