Evans Cycles

People who buy a bike and don't read the build completion instructions, are idiots.

All the more important for Brick and Mortar.

Halfords ditches Cycle Republic because Tredz make sense in revenue, however what they haven’t realised is the amount of Tredz bike we have to fix due to customers blundered, and do so for free as Tredz is part of Halfords.

Now as it is, Halfords store have a very basic workshop and basic staff (usually bike builders), so they’re already overwhelmed with Cycle Republic stuff, Tredz and their own stuff.

People who buy a bike and don't read the build completion instructions, are idiots.

This.

And when they are told we charge between £35 and £50 for a bike build out of a box 'It's just a couple of bolts...'

Even seen some Cannondales come in with eTap or Di2 and balked on the charges to build them up ... Spend 5k on bike, haggle for £50...

Specialized eh?

Bloody Praxis chainrings are close to £200 quid RRP! You've got a goldmine!

If you need to move on a 48 ring, I’m keen. Upgrade wouldn’t sell me a 48/34 set so now I’m running 50/36 (as I had the 36 anyway)

even experienced bike mechanics not remembering which side is which and having to offer it up to see

Bike mechanic for nearly 20 years and I couldn’t tell you which thread is left and which is right handed without really thinking about it. I know bottom brackets undo the way the pedals go round and pedals thread in if you spin the cranks backwards, that’s about as much understanding as I need.

Im 6 years in and last month was training a Saturday lad on assembly, explained about the L and the R on the axles and to always check.

Him: 'Oh yeah the left one has those little lines on is that always the case?'

ME: 'Err what?'

(Mind blown)

I'm a self trained bike guy (note the lack of the mention of mechanic), I got my basics right and ALWAYS work on a stand!

Especially with wheelie kids who'll flip their bikes upside down INSTANTLY when they step into the shop.

Got them to toe the line:

• DO NOT flip your bike, you are in a bike shop, we have stands.

• DO NOT step in with your group when only ONE of you need assistance.

• LAST but not least, no attitude, otherwise you can jog on.

• 'My S has a problem', S as in the rear derailleur, not only that, mech hanger bent, derailleur is a write off and chain twisted, 'Just bend them back', alright, I'll say, 'You know what you are doing right? Bend them back and ill give give you £50 cash'

Their response, Sheepish eyes 'How much?'

We ALWAYS do them a favour, telling them what to get, parts bin etc, IF they toe the line, usually their parents will pop by if you give them a full quote of how much it'll cost because of bad attitude.

Not so big now yeah?

usually their parents will pop by...

Or in some cases get the kids in without going in themselves to get sympathy repairs done.

Indeed... In either case I'll ask one of the senior mechanics to come upfront for a chat.

Why and how would you let your kids go out on an unsafe bike?

Back to the subject of wheelie kids, fixed one today on my off day, only did it cos he's a good kid, queued up each time, and triple queued actually as we told him to get a part from Halfords (2 hours queue) and then queued to drop it off just before we shut yesterday.

Here's a kid with good upbringing, we have adults who'll barge in demanding to be served as they are booked in and/or have a quick question and/or just picking up/dropping off a bike!

Halfords closing 60 sites:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/13/halfords-to-close-60-sites-despite-rise-in-bike-sales-in-lockdown

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jul/20/i-feel-ive-been-taken-for-a-ride-by-evans-cycles

I would not buy anything from this company unless I could pick it up,
there and then, in person. When a company the size of Evans – it has
50 stores – can’t be bothered to get its press office to investigate
letters like this, it says to me that it doesn’t place any value in
talking to its customers.

Birmingham Evans has now re-opened as a concession in House of (Ashley) Fraser.

I've been looking for a new commuter / play around bike. Evans were selling the Trek Domane AL 2 Disc for £800. Just checked today and they have put the price up to £895..

It's the price they cost.

So they cost more this week than last week? Makes sense.

It's the price advertised by Trek on their website. With shipping costs etc going up it is most likely trade price and RRP have gone up from when it was first announced to when stock actually was delivered.

Yup, we increased our price on Trek as well as many others as pre request.

This fortunately doesn’t affect preorder before price increases.

I shouldn't have waited it seems. £800 seemed like a pretty good price for that bike.

It's an across board increase for all Trek bikes.

One of the distributors I spoke to recently mentioned that freight charges for a container was 2/2.5k, It's now 10/12k...

Giant have just done this too - 10-15% increase across the range depending on the model

but we get blue passports so hey

Yup seeing it on everything jumping up, mostly from gross shipping costs drastically increasing with no notice (these ships don't sail until full or very nearly full otherwise its not really worth their time).
Only 12% increase is light, should be goods for some other industries its horrible out there

The hell going on with Evans?

Not only staffs are leaving in droves,
(I know this cause we employed a lots of them as well as other shops), the workshop no longer using computer and going back to pen and papers.

They’re apparently closing the workshop.

Word of mouths but this is from an ex evans employer.

Imagine the unavoidable hole in supply of bikes is giving them the frighteners, last year was epic, and this year will still be good for many shops. But those who pay £10k a month rent on high street premises ( and rates)who rely on selling dozens of bikes a day in order to stay afloat, will not float this year.

Seen a few shops restructure/cut hours/carefully craft peoples contracts down to less hours.

Workshops aren't safe either, ZERO 9 speed cassettes from Sram or Shimano until mid May for Shimano, and 1st week of Decemeber for Sram. DECEMEBER for a 9s 11-30 or 32t cassette. Thats mad bad.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/09/mike-ashley-owned-evans-cycles-to-axe-300-staff

How incredibly sad, 300 jobs losses and the remaining staff moved to zero-hour contracts, you stay classy Mike Ashley.

The high street in its current guise is dead. Good luck to that person who was looking to set up a shop in another thread.