Have I learnt something new at Halfrauds today?

[blackolive (Ste)]

Got the bikes out the other day and set off for a pootle round. They have hydraulic disc brakes. Mine felt like it was binding a little bit. By the time we had got about half a mile down the road, my legs felt like they were on fire, and I was blowing out of my backside I was so out of breath. The missus had stopped and I caught up with her and jumped off. The rear disc was mad hot, I must have been going uphill on the flat

Whipped the rear pads off (which are like tiny cute car pads) and bimbled home defeated.

Ive serviced them all, removed them, brake cleanered, cleaned the pistons and added a drop of lube on them and reassembled.

So its in the diary when I did them and they will be serviced regularly going forward

 

[m_c]

Halfords actually own Chain Reaction Cycles & Wiggle - 2 specialist online bicycle stores.

No they don't.
Wiggle/CRC (Wiggle bought CRC a few years ago) are owned by Bridgepoint Group PLC, who are a private equity company listed on the London Stock Exchange, just the same as Halfords PLC are.
Halfords do however own Tredz, and previously Cycle Republic, but the latter got merged with Tredz.

 

[Robotstar5]

Got the bikes out the other day and set off for a pootle round. They have hydraulic disc brakes. Mine felt like it was binding a little bit. By the time we had got about half a mile down the road, my legs felt like they were on fire, and I was blowing out of my backside I was so out of breath. The missus had stopped and I caught up with her and jumped off. The rear disc was mad hot, I must have been going uphill on the flat

A chap I worked with in the 80's was a fitness fanatic, he would adjust the brakes (the old stirrup type) so they dragged all the time to give him a workout while riding.

 

[GRW]

No they don't.
Wiggle/CRC (Wiggle bought CRC a few years ago) are owned by Bridgepoint Group PLC, who are a private equity company listed on the London Stock Exchange, just the same as Halfords PLC are.
Halfords do however own Tredz, and previously Cycle Republic, but the latter got merged with Tredz.

Ah, OK. I knew CRC & Wiggle were joined, & knew Halfords were joined with a more "serious" bike retailer- & got me wires crossed.

 

[8ob]

A chap I worked with in the 80's was a fitness fanatic, he would adjust the brakes (the old stirrup type) so they dragged all the time to give him a workout while riding.

If those brake blocks ever came loose on the front wheel they would turn and jamb in the spokes launching the rider over the handlebars, ask me how I know

Bob

 

[JEZGUZ]

I had a Hercules push bike with the Sturmy-Archer hub gears, went down to Tintagel from Coventry when I was 14 staying in youth hostels. Low gear wasn't low enough to cope with Cornish hills, it's a long walk up to the main road from Tintagel. Gave up on cycling when I discovered motorbikes.

 

[minimutly]

Got the bikes out the other day and set off for a pootle round. They have hydraulic disc brakes. Mine felt like it was binding a little bit. By the time we had got about half a mile down the road, my legs felt like they were on fire, and I was blowing out of my backside I was so out of breath. The missus had stopped and I caught up with her and jumped off. The rear disc was mad hot, I must have been going uphill on the flat

Whipped the rear pads off (which are like tiny cute car pads) and bimbled home defeated.

Ive serviced them all, removed them, brake cleanered, cleaned the pistons and added a drop of lube on them and reassembled.

So its in the diary when I did them and they will be serviced regularly going forward

Lol, progress for you...

 

[charlysays]

I popped up to Carmarthen branch today to pick up a set of pedals for grandson's bike, as well as a new chain to replace the snapped one on my tourer thing. So I cleaned the chain and took it with me, asked the guy at the desk if he had a replacement. How many speeds is it? He asked? Er, dunno 18 I think. Well he said, "the no of speeds is the number of sprockets on the back, the front one is just to line up the chain with the back set"
Well, if this is the case, surely the crank sprockets would all be the same size?? Is this a classification thing?
The one thing I agree with (which I never knew or thought about tbh, is that the chain width is dictated by the nymber of sprockets on the back. At second look we had the correct looking chain, I asked if he had a vernier - no, so eyball it was.

Greetings to another pembrokeshire welder!
I'm up near Fishguard!
Halfords can be really clueless sadly. I like halfords in a lot of ways, especially with a trade card, but yeah, some of the people just aren't well trained at all. They probably aren't paid very much so it's gonna be pot luck if you get someone who knows what they're talking about.
My Mrs bought a new bike from llanelli halfords, 600 quid odd. Took ages for them to get it ready for collection. The guy who handed the bike over was obsessing over the reflectors being tight enough. Some months later I went over the bike with a torque wrench and found most things were loose. On the handle bar clamp one bolt was overtightened and the other 3 barely more than finger tight.

 

[GRW]

Greetings to another pembrokeshire welder!
I'm up near Fishguard!
Halfords can be really clueless sadly. I like halfords in a lot of ways, especially with a trade card, but yeah, some of the people just aren't well trained at all. They probably aren't paid very much so it's gonna be pot luck if you get someone who knows what they're talking about.
My Mrs bought a new bike from llanelli halfords, 600 quid odd. Took ages for them to get it ready for collection. The guy who handed the bike over was obsessing over the reflectors being tight enough. Some months later I went over the bike with a torque wrench and found most things were loose. On the handle bar clamp one bolt was overtightened and the other 3 barely more than finger tight.

I'm another (though I'd feel rather fraudulent if I called myself a Welder - I'm more of a daft hobby gibbon who occasionally glues bits of metal together).
I'm somewhere between you and MM, as I live near St Clears, sort of halfway between Carmarthen and the Pembs county border.
There's another member less than 10-miles from me as well - but I can't recall his username atm cos I'm rubbish.

 

[minimutly]

When I was - oh I dunno, 14 maybe? I worked all summer on local farms chucking hay bales around, until I was out on my feet. With the money earnt I went to Carmarthen Halfords (in Lamas street iirc) with a list of items, ranging from steel balls for the headstock and crank, to wheels, chain, rear sprocket cluster, mat black drop handlebars (a new thing then) etc. I fitted all these to a scrap frame the farmer behind our house gave me, painted with humbrol enamel. My first drop handlebar 5 speed. Everything was there in the shop, even the balls.
Big change to today, but then I guess the range of types has increased drastically.
Most negative part was the teeth of the ratchet in the freewheel weren’t hardened, first I knew about it was after attempting a wheelie or two, the thing locked up. Halfords didn’t want to know, so I filed and refilled them, probably until it was useless, I forget now..

 

[minimutly]

Greetings to another pembrokeshire welder!
I'm up near Fishguard!
Halfords can be really clueless sadly. I like halfords in a lot of ways, especially with a trade card, but yeah, some of the people just aren't well trained at all. They probably aren't paid very much so it's gonna be pot luck if you get someone who knows what they're talking about.
My Mrs bought a new bike from llanelli halfords, 600 quid odd. Took ages for them to get it ready for collection. The guy who handed the bike over was obsessing over the reflectors being tight enough. Some months later I went over the bike with a torque wrench and found most things were loose. On the handle bar clamp one bolt was overtightened and the other 3 barely more than finger tight.

Most clueless thing they ever did - I went to buy tyres for the wife’s bike, with numbers written down. Picked a set off the rack, went to pay, but spotted two with matching numbers wren’t the same size. The kid said “they’ll be alright”.. well patently they wouldn’t be, so I found two that were ok, thinking it was just a marking error. Some time later I learnt that 26 inch tyres don’t fit 26 inch wheels, there is some crazy way these things are numbered, about 3 different conventions iirc - you’d think the kid might have known? But then again I didn’t.
And for @GRW - if I’d have gone online to wobbly wheels bikes or whatever they’re called I would have ended up disappointed as well as surprised.
@charlysays , thanks for calling me a welder, that I am not, but occasionally do light up the tig to melt some aluminium...

 

[GRW]

Most clueless thing they ever did - I went to buy tyres for the wife’s bike, with numbers written down. Picked a set off the rack, went to pay, but spotted two with matching numbers wren’t the same size. The kid said “they’ll be alright”.. well patently they wouldn’t be, so I found two that were ok, thinking it was just a marking error. Some time later I learnt that 26 inch tyres don’t fit 26 inch wheels, there is some crazy way these things are numbered, about 3 different conventions iirc - you’d think the kid might have known? But then again I didn’t.
And for @GRW - if I’d have gone online to wobbly wheels bikes or whatever they’re called I would have ended up disappointed as well as surprised.
@charlysays , thanks for calling me a welder, that I am not, but occasionally do light up the tig to melt some aluminium...

Haha - "Wiggle" yes. Like most online stuff Wiggle (& CRC) - (esp. with modern bicycle stuff) its the myriad different variants & model ranges of components (some compatible, others not) that cause a nightmare.

If you know what you want - then they are dead easy, and usually fast and price competitive (even their refund/replace systems are excellent if you need it). If you dont know what item you need - then its a PITA (but then so is a clueless shop assistant).

I'm old enough to well remember Halfords being on Lammas St too (dead opposite the old South Wales Electricity Shop). It's been a shoe outlet for some years last time I paid any attention.

 

[jsf55]

I too spent a summer working in a bike shop, Eric's in Aberavon, just the basics like punctures to start and then full bike rebuilds, was in the Port Talbot wheelers for some years and built all my own bikes, impressed Metalbox examiner enough to give me an apprenticeship ! Now some 50 odd years on i still prefer to work on the old stuff hence a steel framed Trek 730 for my pleasure riding

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

Ended up fitting new pads all round. Normal service resumed. The old ones are well contaminated, arent they cute though

 

[prepman]

They were not very good, thats what was wrong.
Way to fidly, unable to shift under load and only had 3 gears, which is not suitable for most touring , mountain or racing bikes.

and not as good as a bus pass.

 

[8ob]

Their expertise is amazing, a few years ago I went in looking for some red rubber brake grease for the seals on some calipers I was rebuilding "oh no sir, you need coppaslip for that"

A lot of folk are oblivious of the fact copperslip is a abrasive and not a lubricant, seen guys using it on machine pin bushes and smarming it on shafts before pushing them into lip seals .

Bob

 

[James1979]

I didn’t know that Bob. I just use it for its intended purpose, ie on threads, but I’ve seen people use it like a magic potion. Bit like WD40.