# Halfords and the reverse fork



## madguern (27 Apr 2011)

Hi

A newbie at work purchase a cheap bike from Halfords, he dutifully took it out on sunday for first ride. He noticed that his foot kept hitting the front wheel. Then he noticed and thought it strange that the disc brakes were on different sides of the bike. Then it dawned on him, forks were reversed.

All very funny and we all had a laff back in the office. Then it struck me , how many other bikes are out there and why is there little to no quality control from a big store such as Halfords. I can understand supermarkets and DIY stores but halfords are supposed to be a bike shop !

How many bikes are out there with reversed forks ?


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## summerdays (27 Apr 2011)

A reasonable number ... I've certainly come across quite a few myself in our school bike shed - I usually point out to the parents when I see them. There are a few bikes which are meant to be like that - Mr Summerdays Cotic Roadrat for one - but it does look odd.


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## mark barker (27 Apr 2011)

I've seen a few at schools. Also had a child turn up on a brand new Apollo bike with the seat post extended almost 3cm past the warning marks.


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## Cubist (27 Apr 2011)

I counted six bikes in Halfords last week that had the hydraulic brake hoses routed between the fork leg and the spokes.


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## madguern (27 Apr 2011)

Strangly enough the bike he bought was an Apollo, tried to get him to buy from lbs but he wanted the cheapest deal. Also tried to sell him my old Trek 7.5 2 years old but he wanted new, bah people :-)

Rob


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## Chris S (27 Apr 2011)

Unfortunatley they're not that unusual on new bikes - here's a photo I took about a month ago. 


This bike has been outside my block of flats since last year. The tyres still have the mouldings on so it can't have been ridden very far.


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## subaqua (27 Apr 2011)

Chris S said:


> Unfortunatley they're not that unusual on new bikes - here's a photo I took about a month ago.
> 
> 
> This bike has been outside my block of flats since last year. The tyres still have the mouldings on so it can't have been ridden very far.




that chain needs some lube on it too


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## festival (27 Apr 2011)

I spent some time working for Halfrauds, ( he says through clenched teeth ) most of which was very frustrating as the promises of a new dawn in staff recruitment & training etc etc failed to materialize.
There are some decent people working for them but anyone with commitment and knowledge & skill are very few and far between.

They make big statements about their 'Trained Staff' but in case you don't know, this is what it really means.

Recognised qualifications are almost non existent and most self taught, experienced staff have long gone. 

But they do have staff with little or no interest in bikes or cycling who have attended a group session of about 3 hours to show them how to take a bike out of a box, unpack it & put it up in the stand the right way round. This is the often touted 'Qualification' that customers can have peace of mind from
The are shown the correct sequence in putting it together & trouble shooting tips to adjust brakes and gears etc. If time allows the will be shown how to position the brake levers,tyre pressure and other tips.
This should be backed up with training dvds and regular assessments but generally isn't.
I am sure some of you would appreciate something like this to help kick start your home mechanics, but in reality its just a tick box exercise to get as many as possible 'qualified' for legal reasons imo.

Bear in mind many of the people who sell,build or repair bikes don't ride a bike and have no real interest in cycles so they are hardly going to make an effort to learn under their own initiative, imo


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## steve52 (27 Apr 2011)

i saw another pair yesterday and yes she got the bike from h---f---s


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## lordjenks (27 Apr 2011)

to cubist:
it is common practice to route the hose above the bridge of the fork and down the legs, most common on longer travel bikes, if you were to route the hose anyother way then you run the risk of the hose cathcing on a branch when the fork is compressed - more "slack" in the hose.
i think it was peaty in 2001 that had his routed fron the front brake and round and not through the fork above the bridge, he caught it mid run and ran the rest of the route with only a back brake


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## Cubist (28 Apr 2011)

lordjenks said:


> to cubist:
> it is common practice to route the hose above the bridge of the fork and down the legs, most common on longer travel bikes, if you were to route the hose anyother way then you run the risk of the hose cathcing on a branch when the fork is compressed - more "slack" in the hose.
> i think it was peaty in 2001 that had his routed fron the front brake and round and not through the fork above the bridge, he caught it mid run and ran the rest of the route with only a back brake


Can't quite picture this, the ones I saw had the hose running to the bridge from the bars, then under the bridge and between the fork leg and the spokes. My immediate impression was that this route means the hose is vulnerable to being caught on the spokes. All the forks I have ever fitted/used have had a routing point on the bridge itself which naturally routes the hose down the outside of the fork leg to the PM.


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## Muddy Ground (28 Apr 2011)

Hose routing: My Fox routes on the outside, whilst my Rockshox routes on the inside of the bridge. As long as the hose isn't excessively long and is attached properly then there shouldn't be an issue with either way surely. I've had hydraulics for 16 years now and have never had a hose go into the spokes; front or rear. And if it did, surely it would just make an horrendous noise as it bounced off?

But... Halfords I would not a bike take! 

www.muddyground.blogspot.com


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## cloggsy (28 Apr 2011)

When I was in Halfords last, a lady was collecting her bike. The forks were the wrong way round & I pointed this out to her & she got them to change it immediately; she was not best impressed with the spotty youth who was serving her!

Some staff in some Halfords are excellent, but some are down right awful!

My wife's new bike had loose cables (which I had to reconnect.) The indexing of the gears is still not 100% & I'm not convinced I should take it back to Halfords for the 6-week check; I'd rather go to a LBS and pay to have it checked properly!


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## Chrisz (28 Apr 2011)

madguern said:


> * but halfords are supposed to be a bike shop !
> *



Nope! Halfords are a car parts and accessories shop who also sell cycling equipment and camping gear.


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## Itchyfeet (28 Apr 2011)

cloggsy said:


> When I was in Halfords last, a lady was collecting her bike. The forks were the wrong way round & I pointed this out to her & she got them to change it immediately; she was not best impressed with the spotty youth who was serving her!
> 
> Some staff in some Halfords are excellent, but some are down right awful!
> 
> My wife's new bike had loose cables (which I had to reconnect.) The indexing of the gears is still not 100% & I'm not convinced I should take it back to Halfords for the 6-week check; I'd rather go to a LBS and pay to have it checked properly!




Or you could always do it yourself.

I've found this to be the best option, it lets you get to "know" your bike and the way it works.

Brian


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## madguern (28 Apr 2011)

Chrisz said:


> Nope! Halfords are a car parts and accessories shop who also sell cycling equipment and camping gear.



True, but the guy at work thought otherwise and many others like him trusted them as a legit bike shop, he could have bought better and cheaper at the LBS that I advised him to go to. We don't even have a Halfords on the island so he travelled specifically to UK to buy bike because it was on special deal.

Never mind


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## Night Train (28 Apr 2011)

Isn't this Halfords advert back to front?

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM_AyGlGUrY[/media]


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## Glover Fan (28 Apr 2011)

More concerning is that Tesco want to sell more bikes than halfords by 2015!


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## JNR (28 Apr 2011)

I recently went into Halfords to look at their Carbon range of Boardman bikes to see if the 'Elite' range were in...the normal road bikes were badly set up, no attempt to set brakes at all from what I saw and more. It makes me wonder, surely anyone buying a high end bike from them would just take it from the box and ask a LBS to sort it?

Which begs the question...why buy from them at all? Surely the savvy cyclist would avoid Chris Boardman's high end bikes and buy something set up correctly first from a LBS ensuring (mostly...) top notch customer service, set-up, sizing, fitting etc? If the mags are anything to go buy people will be paying over £3000 for one of those new top range machines!


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## madguern (29 Apr 2011)

True after seeing what they did to my workmates cheap bike would not trust them with a high end Boardman bike. I would however hopefully spot a reverse fork :-)


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## festival (30 Apr 2011)

Regards the halfrauds tv advert. 

Its a shame they don't spend as much time, money and effort on providing a good service as they do on trying to create an image that clearly doesn't match the reality. 

I made the decision some time ago to avoid spending a penny with them even, though there are times when its inconvenient to go elsewhere.
I wonder how many people on here agree with how bad they are but continue to shop there, even if its to buy an air freshener.

Clearly, there is more important issues in this world, but if more of us boycotted them the sooner the shareholders would kick some arse and things may improve.


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## Cubist (1 May 2011)

festival said:


> Regards the halfrauds tv advert.
> 
> Its a shame they don't spend as much time, money and effort on providing a good service as they do on trying to create an image that clearly doesn't match the reality.
> 
> ...


Why boycott? I went in there yesterday for an air freshener and a pair of wiper blades, plus a can of Gunk Green degreaser. Refusing to shop there even if it's inconvenient to go elsewhere is cutting your nose of to spite your face. . I buy my GT85 there as it's cheaper than the LBS, (and try pricking my conscience over 3 for 4.99 or one for £5.00!,) and if they have the old 3 for 2 I'll treat myself to a handful of inner tubes. They sell gear cables on a sunday if mine need changing etc etc etc. My Boardman bike was well put together and well set up, although I have never taken it back there, trusting myself to do the servicing. 

At the end of the day it's a shop FFS, so frothing at the mouth and calling for nationwide boycotts for fear of not pandering to the elitist "I wouldn't be seen dead in Halfords" brigade is just ridiculous. 


Shop there, buy bikes and accessories there, hold your head up high. Don't recommend them as a source of advice to novice cyclists, but how are you going to stop the "it was only 100 quid and had full suspension and everything" brigade going in there in the first place?


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## Angelfishsolo (1 May 2011)

+1


Cubist said:


> Why boycott? I went in there yesterday for an air freshener and a pair of wiper blades, plus a can of Gunk Green degreaser. Refusing to shop there even if it's inconvenient to go elsewhere is cutting your nose of to spite your face. . I buy my GT85 there as it's cheaper than the LBS, (and try pricking my conscience over 3 for 4.99 or one for £5.00!,) and if they have the old 3 for 2 I'll treat myself to a handful of inner tubes. They sell gear cables on a sunday if mine need changing etc etc etc. My Boardman bike was well put together and well set up, although I have never taken it back there, trusting myself to do the servicing.
> 
> At the end of the day it's a shop FFS, so frothing at the mouth and calling for nationwide boycotts for fear of not pandering to the elitist "I wouldn't be seen dead in Halfords" brigade is just ridiculous.
> 
> ...


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## madguern (1 May 2011)

+1 just hope the novice listens next time :-)


Cubist said:


> Why boycott? I went in there yesterday for an air freshener and a pair of wiper blades, plus a can of Gunk Green degreaser. Refusing to shop there even if it's inconvenient to go elsewhere is cutting your nose of to spite your face. . I buy my GT85 there as it's cheaper than the LBS, (and try pricking my conscience over 3 for 4.99 or one for £5.00!,) and if they have the old 3 for 2 I'll treat myself to a handful of inner tubes. They sell gear cables on a sunday if mine need changing etc etc etc. My Boardman bike was well put together and well set up, although I have never taken it back there, trusting myself to do the servicing.
> 
> At the end of the day it's a shop FFS, so frothing at the mouth and calling for nationwide boycotts for fear of not pandering to the elitist "I wouldn't be seen dead in Halfords" brigade is just ridiculous.
> 
> ...


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## festival (3 May 2011)

At the end of the day it's a shop FFS, so frothing at the mouth and calling for nationwide boycotts for fear of not pandering to the elitist "I wouldn't be seen dead in Halfords" brigade is just ridiculous. 


Shop there, buy bikes and accessories there, hold your head up high. Don't recommend them as a source of advice to novice cyclists, but how are you going to stop the "it was only 100 quid and had full suspension and everything" brigade going in there in the first place?
[/quote]


Well, it was just an opinion, seems like your the one getting excited.


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## tradesecrets (4 May 2011)

madguern said:


> Hi
> 
> A newbie at work purchase a cheap bike from Halfords, he dutifully took it out on sunday for first ride. He noticed that his foot kept hitting the front wheel. Then he noticed and thought it strange that the disc brakes were on different sides of the bike. Then it dawned on him, forks were reversed.
> 
> ...




Firstly Halfords has never been a out and out bike shop !!!! Halfords main core of business is car market


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## tradesecrets (4 May 2011)

festival said:


> Regards the halfrauds tv advert.
> 
> Its a shame they don't spend as much time, money and effort on providing a good service as they do on trying to create an image that clearly doesn't match the reality.
> 
> ...




I've no idea what line of work your in but am sure like me you have have been taught in house training and customer training ..etc product knowledge 

It's all fine well slating an outlet or a brand name but as you may haven't worked for that company like myself we really have no idea what happens to new staff , in terns of staff training and courses etc .. it may well be the fault lies in the management and training in all areas of business right down to front of house .

Does the company actually send in mystery shoppers to do spot checks on how staff actually conduct themselves and how good there knowledge and what questions to ask , etc ...

People that deal with customers that give bad service or bad advice etc doesn't happen at halfords alone ..


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## madguern (4 May 2011)

tradesecrets said:


> Firstly Halfords has never been a out and out bike shop !!!! Halfords main core of business is car market



It still sells bikes though !!! They advertise the fact that they have in-store experts ! They puts forks on a bike backwards. Yes it was probably an individual but according to others they have an issue with training in-store. Likewise B & Q and Tesco's have both been shown with reverse forks but both do not state they are experts in bikes. In fact if not wrong most supermarket bike are build your own from memory.

I have no beef with halfords, we don't have one locally, I just think they need to have a system of quality checks to ensure bikes that leave their premises are safe. Likewise if they wired in my car stereo I would expect music to come out and not smoke from under the dashboard.

Toodles


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## Philjack (14 Apr 2015)

I am new to cycling and bought a Boardman MX sport from halfords, who put the bike together. Have been riding for six weeks and something was not right, foot hitting tyre, etc. I noticed wheel direction marker was going backwards. Upon inspection of Internet pics and assembled boardman bikes halfords had put the forks on back to front. Unbelievable. 

I am taking this further with halfords and Boardman. I feel such an idiot but trusted halfords to build the bike

Is it likely to have caused and structural damage to bike? Done 150 miles on mixed terrain mainly canal paths and cycle paths.


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## Pale Rider (14 Apr 2015)

I reckon damage is unlikely, assuming none is apparent.

A few days ago I saw a new mountain bike in Halfords with the stem pointing downwards.

Fine if that's what the customer wants, but the bike was built for showroom display.

I say 'built', it was clearly thrown together by someone who knows nothing about bikes.

We all have to learn, but at the very least the work should have been checked.

Crass assembly errors continue to dog Halfords, although some branches appear to know what they are doing.


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## vickster (14 Apr 2015)

And from another long-running thread building the bike yourself out of the box is not sure fire and you've little to no comeback if it goes wrong


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## Ticktockmy (14 Apr 2015)

Its not only Halfords that have problems, Some of the staff in a major cycling retailer in our town. It would seem some of there staff are somewhat lacking when one asks questions and advise.
I sometimes wonder why people don't use their local LBS if they still have one, I think for some non Cyclist it might be the perception that the LBS is for the expert cyclist, and the novice does not want to make a fool of themselves with their lack of Knowledge, whereas in Halfords and other outlets that are in the main not cycling outlets, peeps can browse and get an idea as to what they think would suit them without embarrassing themselves with their lack of knowledge.


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## annirak (14 Apr 2015)

Ticktockmy said:


> I sometimes wonder why people don't use their local LBS if they still have one.



I've had service done at two LBS's in my area. The first one failed to true my wheels, and set up V-brakes so tight that I couldn't use the quick-release. The second failed to point out a worn chain and cassette, failed to replace a set of nearly worn out brake pads after commenting that the brakes looked worn. They also charged me £55 for a wheel that goes for £25 elsewhere. They did degrease my chain, but they didn't re-lube it properly, so the next time I rode it in the wet, my chain started rusting badly.

I'm moving more and more to doing my own service. I don't own all the tools I need to bike service yet, but buying the tools to do the job is less than the cost of service plus the price difference of the parts.

Don't get me wrong, I like LBS's, but if they're not going to treat me well, I'll stop shopping there.


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## Philjack (14 Apr 2015)

Ticktockmy said:


> Its not only Halfords that have problems, Some of the staff in a major cycling retailer in our town. It would seem some of there staff are somewhat lacking when one asks questions and advise.
> I sometimes wonder why people don't use their local LBS if they still have one, I think for some non Cyclist it might be the perception that the LBS is for the expert cyclist, and the novice does not want to make a fool of themselves with their lack of Knowledge, whereas in Halfords and other outlets that are in the main not cycling outlets, peeps can browse and get an idea as to what they think would suit them without embarrassing themselves with their lack of knowledge.


Exactly why I went to halfords!


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## Cubist (14 Apr 2015)

Pale Rider said:


> I reckon damage is unlikely, assuming none is apparent.
> 
> A few days ago I saw a new mountain bike in Halfords with the stem pointing downwards.
> 
> ...


Was it a 29er?


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## Richard A Thackeray (15 Apr 2015)

I sometimes see this one at work, but not found out who owns it yet, ie; one of_ 'us'_ (the NHS), or one of _'the dark side' (_the PFI company that own the building)

it's from a couple of years ago, as that's the Ritchey stem of my old Dyna-Tech, peeking into the bottom of the frame,
(retired it from commuter duties, in June 2013)


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## annirak (15 Apr 2015)

Just take an allen wrench to work and fix it for them


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## Richard A Thackeray (15 Apr 2015)

annirak said:


> Just take an allen wrench to work and fix it for them


Always very tempting


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## gbb (15 Apr 2015)

Asda in Peterborough currecntly have a £150 racer in their entrance...with reversed forks.
I keep meaning to point it out, then think, no..its just been chucked there out of the box for display, once they sell it, they'll build it properly. Then i think...no, people will assume that's correct. I'm going there tonight...i'm gonna tell them.


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## gbb (15 Apr 2015)

annirak said:


> Just take an allen wrench to work and fix it for them


 In my old company, i used to occasionally oil peoples chains if they were really rusty, it used to annoy the hell out of me .
One girl used to come in on a BMX, it sat there forlornly punctured one morning....so i fixed it. Never did tell her (i don't think she spoke much English anyway). I visuallised her going back to her bike that night.......i coulda sworn....


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## dr snuggles (16 Apr 2015)

Halfords did exactly the same thing to my son's bike. When I took it back the lad tried to belittle me by joking how did I manage that. Wasn't so funny when I told him it was built by them in store. Useless tw@s.


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## annirak (17 Apr 2015)

gbb said:


> In my old company, i used to occasionally oil peoples chains if they were really rusty, it used to annoy the hell out of me .
> One girl used to come in on a BMX, it sat there forlornly punctured one morning....so i fixed it. Never did tell her (i don't think she spoke much English anyway). I visuallised her going back to her bike that night.......i coulda sworn....


That's awesome! When I pass people on the way to work, I tend to tell them if their tyres are flat. I haven't started oiling peoples' chains yet, but now I want to!


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## gbb (17 Apr 2015)

annirak said:


> That's awesome! When I pass people on the way to work, I tend to tell them if their tyres are flat. I haven't started oiling peoples' chains yet, but now I want to!


 I got this vision of you cycling along, one hand on the bars, leaning out with an oilcan in the other hand, oiling someones bike as you pass em .


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## itchybeard (17 Apr 2015)

I did order some Swalbe Marathons plus last week, still awaiting delivery from store pick up.
A had my paper order, it said 700c x 38c, he came out with two tyres saying he found them BUT one was 700c x 25c (not marathon) and the other 700c x 35c (but not marathon's), both completely different...
I gave him a break, he was young and new. 
I have re-ordered and hope they will come in before 10 days time before i ride around France!
They are costing £41 for both so not bad price...


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## screenman (17 Apr 2015)

itchybeard said:


> I did order some Swalbe Marathons plus last week, still awaiting delivery from store pick up.
> A had my paper order, it said 700c x 38c, he came out with two tyres saying he found them BUT one was 700c x 25c (not marathon) and the other 700c x 35c (but not marathon's), both completely different...
> I gave him a break, he was young and new.
> I have re-ordered and hope they will come in before 10 days time before i ride around France!
> They are costing £41 for both so not bad price...



You may want to give him a break, but certainly not the stupid management that let an unskilled untrained person deal with customers.


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## ufkacbln (17 Apr 2015)

For those of us for a certain age 

There is an argument that reversing the forks adds stability
There was a recumbent called the StreetGlider designed by FutureCycles and with a reversed fork for this reason


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## CopperCyclist (17 Apr 2015)

gbb said:


> Asda in Peterborough currecntly have a £150 racer in their entrance...with reversed forks.
> I keep meaning to point it out, then think, no..its just been chucked there out of the box for display, once they sell it, they'll build it properly. Then i think...no, people will assume that's correct. I'm going there tonight...i'm gonna tell them.



How did it go?


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## gbb (18 Apr 2015)

CopperCyclist said:


> How did it go?


Went In there as usual on wednesday...it was already corrected.


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## mybike (18 Apr 2015)

Chris S said:


> Unfortunatley they're not that unusual on new bikes - here's a photo I took about a month ago.
> 
> 
> This bike has been outside my block of flats since last year. The tyres still have the mouldings on so it can't have been ridden very far.



I wonder why it hasn't been ridden very far. it looks as if the pedal will foul the wheel!


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## mybike (18 Apr 2015)

numbnuts said:


> Early (2000) Pace forks had the brake back to front
> 
> View attachment 85978



I wonder, a braking action will push the brakes in toward the forks and, providing there is no fouling, push against the forks rather than against the head of the bolt. Of course there is a twisting force on the bolt but you get that either way.


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## DEFENDER01 (24 Apr 2015)

One of the guys in Halfords told me it cost £4000 to send their fitters on a cycle training course.
Reading some of the posts here it was money well spent.


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