Biting my tongue in Halfords

[Francesca]

Apollo, being the Halfords brand is what the staff are expected to push.

errrr..whats wng with Apollo?

 

[Francesca]

errrr..whats wng with Apollo?

wrong ...

 

[MontyVeda]

errrr..whats wng with Apollo?

I never said anything against Apollo (although the moon missions were obviously faked, but that's another thread) ... i said that halfords sales staff are expected to sell the Apollo range before selling the non halfords brands, being Boardman, Carrera, etc..

 

[Francesca]

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I never said anything against Apollo (although the moon missions were obviously faked, but that's another thread) ... i said that halfords sales staff are expected to sell the Apollo range before selling the non halfords brands, being Boardman, Carrera, etc..

Apollo, Trax and Carrera are their own brands. They have exclusive rights to sell Boardman and Voodoo in UK.

 

[Pedal pusher]

I've had a similar poor customer service experience at a lbs.

It's the same over and over again. I challenge anybody from the senior management of Halfords, to come to the forum and defend the company's appalling attitude towards people who want to spend hard earned money. Go on Halfords I dare you !!!

 

[Peteaud]

errrr..whats wng with Apollo?

Nothing at all.

My Mrs had one for 6 years and it was great, got the same abuse as my giant at the time and never went wrong, although Hellfrauds never touched touched it anyway.

 

[thelawnet]

errrr..whats wng with Apollo?

Well, cheap and nasty mainly.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-apollo-paradox-11-45210

Full-sus bike for £300, which is cheap for full-sus, but expensive for a budget-brand bike.

"Super soft springs mean you can get the rear end to full travel just by pedalling hard. Enthusiastic efforts will also flex the swingarm enough to drag the chain out of its chosen gear, leaving it better suited to being coaxed along the flat rather than charged up hills. Start hitting stuff more than an inch or so high and you unleash a deafening scrapyard soundtrack of cracks, bangs and metal-on-metal explosions as the shocks bottom-out and top-out in initial reaction and then repeated echo of any impact.

The undiluted shocks come straight through the steel bars and stem too, adding wrist and hand numbing pain to the deafening din. While travel isn’t really enough to let it bounce properly out of shape, the pogoing fork is certainly difficult to predict and control with the narrow, violently vibrating bars.
Within half-an-hour of riding relatively tame cross-country trails (roots, foot-high steps and so on) the left-hand pedal fell out of the crank taking most of the woefully soft thread metal with it. Although we bodged it back in for a while, it soon worked loose enough to fall out just by bouncing on the forks without even being on the bike."

So it's utterly unfit for the purpose that full-suspension is designed for. Compeltely and utterly useless.

And while it will work for what many buyers might use it for, which is just going to shops or something, it weighs 40lbs and costs £300, so it's a failure at that job too, as it's going to be incredibly slow and off-putting.

 

[Nearly there]

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_810707_langId_-1_categoryId_165710 Seriously

 

[2Loose]

The TDF used to be about 300quid iirc, shocking price rise imo.
You can get a full carbon with 105 for a hundred quid more from Decathlon (ok, I know its on special offer at the moment...)

 

[ohnovino]

That looks like price establishing to me. They have to occasionally advertise it at full price so they can get away with calling it a "special offer" at all other times.

 

[Leodis]

Funny thing is its not just Halfords, when I decided to join the Cyclescheme I used to pop into Evans every Friday after work to have a look at the shiney new bikes, not once out of 5 or 6 visits did anyone approach me. When I got my voucher I just walked in and said "I want this that and this other thingy and here is the discount voucher to reduce to my Cert limit", they ordered and made a mistake leading to me walking out with an extra £65 worth of kit.

 

[Francesca]

Well, cheap and nasty mainly.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-apollo-paradox-11-45210

Full-sus bike for £300, which is cheap for full-sus, but expensive for a budget-brand bike.

"Super soft springs mean you can get the rear end to full travel just by pedalling hard. Enthusiastic efforts will also flex the swingarm enough to drag the chain out of its chosen gear, leaving it better suited to being coaxed along the flat rather than charged up hills. Start hitting stuff more than an inch or so high and you unleash a deafening scrapyard soundtrack of cracks, bangs and metal-on-metal explosions as the shocks bottom-out and top-out in initial reaction and then repeated echo of any impact.

The undiluted shocks come straight through the steel bars and stem too, adding wrist and hand numbing pain to the deafening din. While travel isn’t really enough to let it bounce properly out of shape, the pogoing fork is certainly difficult to predict and control with the narrow, violently vibrating bars.
Within half-an-hour of riding relatively tame cross-country trails (roots, foot-high steps and so on) the left-hand pedal fell out of the crank taking most of the woefully soft thread metal with it. Although we bodged it back in for a while, it soon worked loose enough to fall out just by bouncing on the forks without even being on the bike."

So it's utterly unfit for the purpose that full-suspension is designed for. Compeltely and utterly useless.

And while it will work for what many buyers might use it for, which is just going to shops or something, it weighs 40lbs and costs £300, so it's a failure at that job too, as it's going to be incredibly slow and off-putting.

sorry what you mean cheap and nasty? mines fine had it for a year now and no problems with it whatsoever, ive cycled on roads, and MTB with it, and had no problems with it and one puncture, and iam sure there are loads others out there that have Apollos....yeah there are bikes out there a thousand times better designed and priced than Apollos..but to say cheap and nasty is a bit overboard there I would say..

 

[Old Plodder]

The only good thing about working in your LBS is the discount that usually goes with the lack of wage, but even so, most good mechanics can get a fair wage out of the owner.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-apollo-paradox-11-45210

Full-sus bike for £300, which is cheap for full-sus, but expensive for a budget-brand bike.

"Super soft springs mean you can get the rear end to full travel just by pedalling hard. Enthusiastic efforts will also flex the swingarm enough to drag the chain out of its chosen gear, leaving it better suited to being coaxed along the flat rather than charged up hills. Start hitting stuff more than an inch or so high and you unleash a deafening scrapyard soundtrack of cracks, bangs and metal-on-metal explosions as the shocks bottom-out and top-out in initial reaction and then repeated echo of any impact.

The undiluted shocks come straight through the steel bars and stem too, adding wrist and hand numbing pain to the deafening din. While travel isn’t really enough to let it bounce properly out of shape, the pogoing fork is certainly difficult to predict and control with the narrow, violently vibrating bars.
Within half-an-hour of riding relatively tame cross-country trails (roots, foot-high steps and so on) the left-hand pedal fell out of the crank taking most of the woefully soft thread metal with it. Although we bodged it back in for a while, it soon worked loose enough to fall out just by bouncing on the forks without even being on the bike."

I usually take commercial reviews with a pinch of salt, but having seen the spec of this one I can fully believe it. Who in the right mind would produce a £300 ("originally £419.99") full susser with 50mm travel forks weighing over 18kg in this day and age? Unbelievable!

And then who in the right mind will buy a mtb costing £3000 from the same people?

However, I think the undeniable "commercial" success, indeed growth of their business is dependent on selling much cheaper bikes than these by the truck load (think they sell about 1 million p.a. in UK), where nobody except Decathlon afaik can truly deliver superior offerings. When you think that generally retailers need to mark up cost of goods by around 100% to cover overhead and thereby breakeven, it makes you appreciate how difficult it would be to sell decent £100 bikes to Joe Public and not lose your shirt.

Would certainly love to hear comments from knowledgeable people working in the industry.