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Hurrah for Halfords!

Well, not really. Maybe a little bit.

Some of you might remember way back in the mists of time (February) I was saying that my employer was launching a cycle 2 work scheme in March and I was salivating over a Boardman road bike.

Well, I finally got my order confirmed on Monday. After months of frustration at Halfords' overwhelmed supply chain and in store incompetents promising to order a bike for me, and not, or promising to call me, and not, I tried to order a Planet X, only to learn that Halfords won't deal with Planet X.
By July I was half minded to order a Dolan Mythos, on the grounds that they could probably actually source that, and I ride a Dolan at the moment, but the spec of the Boardman still looked better.
Well last week I gave them the benefit of my spleen and got a provisional order and the promise of some SPD pedals thrown in. Eight weeks estimated delivery for my Summer bike (!).
On Friday night browsing the Halfords website I noticed there's a special edition of the Road bike to be delivered in December, so on Monday I went back to the store again and stood there while they placed the order and gave me a receipt.
New delivery estimate December 2009 - hohum.

Still, it does look quite nice. Just a shame the "Limited edition" is only a change in the colourway, unlike some of the other types of bike - the hybrid gets a carbon shainset

Anyway, looking forward to actually getting the damn thing now. Maybe.

(Damn, I've just noticed there's a Boardman cyclocross bike. Should have maybe got that instead)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_229914

Comments

  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    You know they have just bought out a £950 carbon TT bike?
  • han382han382 Posts: 80
    Hi Jules-is that genuine? I checked the Boardman website when I saw your post and there's no mention of it. Would be interesting though!!
  • agent_tiagent_ti Posts: 306
    Just a word of warning, when you do get your bike from halfords, take it straight to your LBS and get them to service it. We had a load of guys in the office guy the boardmans on the Cycle2Work scheme and one of my mates got his, in the 10 mins it took him to cycle it home from halfords his rear deflector fell off, and his front wheel got jammed because they hadn't tightened the brake calipers up! I gave it a quick look, and the headset has been tightened as much as it will go, and they hadn't indexed the gears! What a joke! I'm sure it is hit and miss and some of their mechanics are good, but honestly...
  • JaminhoJaminho Posts: 11
    Agree entirely with the post above, took me four visits to three different Halfords to get mine set up to be rideable, and it was still not 100% right. The best £30 you spend on a boardman bike is to an LBS to set it up for you.
  • I've got mine in black, and love it. But in that limited edition colourway it looks awesome. Expect a lot of interest in it when you rack it in Transition.

    Oh, and not all Halfords are bad, had mine 8 months and no problems at all.
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    han382 wrote:
    Hi Jules-is that genuine? I checked the Boardman website when I saw your post and there's no mention of it. Would be interesting though!!
    It's not a Boardman bike, it's Halfords own brand Carerra.

    Carrera Virago Carbon TT.

    The ad I saw for it suggested it had had a good review in Triathlon Plus, but I've not read the review.
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595
    I already have a TT bike, so not in the market for another. If I change it it will just be a frame upgrade, as it has a fairly slack 74 degree angle.

    They have reduced the price of the TT bike I think. I seem to remember it was launched at £999. Though a few weeks back they were doing 20% off all Carrera bikes so you could have had it at £800 which really would have been a bargain!
  • han382han382 Posts: 80
    Thanks Jules-that's why I missed it! Interesting to see it describes the frame as carbon and aluminium in the same description! I did hear Boardman were making a cheaper version of their Air TT bike-which got me excited when I read you post above. Maybe this has been put on hold as it looks like their 2010 models are out now.
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595
    In an all too predictable update, I had a call from Halfords three weeks ago to say my bike had arrived...

    Wrong model.

    *sigh*
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595
    Raaaah!
  • Sweeeeet!
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