Evans Cycles

We've had this debate before. It's not just the cost of the staff time - every charge they levy on bikes, parts, repairs, maintenance, etc. has to contribute towards the rent, business rates, insurance, utilities, wages, employer's NI, tax, etc. Try running a business in central London. Do it yourself or pay the price.

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Are you sure about that, Dr Pangloss?

I needed some help with that one Platini... Google has revealed your implication that either I am an eternal optimist, or a beggar with syphilis. Jolly good.

I needed some help with that one Platini... Google has revealed your implication that either I am an eternal optimist, or a beggar with syphilis. Jolly good.

My allusion was to the former proposition...

Lets end this thread before it turns into another bike shop bashing, its been done before and its fucking dull.

If you don't like it don't go there and learn how to do shit yourself.

But bashing Evans is cathartic for anyone who ever made the mistake of shopping there!

I think its profiteering.

Yes it is profiteering and that is what businesses have to do to survive and pay their staff these days. Without profit there is no investment and then no jobs for those who work there. Your gripe is not with Evans but with the capitalist system, which, these days, appears to be deeply flawed but without an immediate alternative ready to hand.

I've bought sale items there at good prices but that was before I knew where other shops were.
I've never used them for mechanicals after asking them about headset fitting costs.. fresh off the boat from Oz and doing a "times by 3" conversion = "holy shit!".

£12.50 is the minimum charge- and looking on the brightside Evans in Waterloo cut charged me £12.50 to remove the suspension cartridge from my headshok fork, plus pop the headset cups out.
They even re-installed these included in the same £12.50 when the frame had been polished and lacquered.

That takes some beating I think, and is part of the reason that I have no problem with Evans, and have spent a fair quantity of money in them over the years.

It's too easy to fling mud at the largest target in my opinion, and in London that target is Evans.

You'll have to fight your way past 50/14 to get into an Evans now they are stocking Pinarello.

edit And Assos

http://cms.evans-cycles.live.ominor.com/news-and-events/new-arrivals-pinarello-bikes-a37

Staff discount anybody?

I saw some nice De Rosas too in the Cut store yesterday.

Evans old me a pair of peddles with two right hand cleats.

We've had this debate before. It's not just the cost of the staff time - every charge they levy on bikes, parts, repairs, maintenance, etc. has to contribute towards the rent, business rates, insurance, utilities, wages, employer's NI, tax, etc. Try running a business in central London. Do it yourself or pay the price.

exactly.

Evans old me a pair of peddles with two right hand cleats.

Is that Evans fault or the manufacture who packed the cleats?

Nah, it'd be that scruffy cider-drinking fucker's fault..

Is that Evans fault or the manufacture who packed the cleats?

No it was the weasly student cunt who took the pedals off the shelf and the cleats out of the parts bin - he was lucky that I was in a another country before I found out - I was needing to give that useless oaf merry hell for a few days after

No it was the weasly student cunt who took the pedals off the shelf and the cleats out of the parts bin - he was lucky that I was in a another country before I found out - I was needing to give that useless oaf merry hell for a few days after

So the pedals didn't come in their own box?

Evans are like HMV; half genuinely enthusiastic and knowledgeable, half slack-jawed know-nothing chancers. I always had issues with the recruitment girl at my HMV, the pile of applications from people wanting to work there was as high as a dwarf or a small pony, and yet she still took on total plebs.

what pedals come with left and right cleats? all of mine are ambidextrous.

what pedals come with left and right cleats? all of mine are ambidextrous.

Time do.

Yes it is profiteering and that is what businesses have to do to survive and pay their staff these days. Without profit there is no investment and then no jobs for those who work there. Your gripe is not with Evans but with the capitalist system, which, these days, appears to be deeply flawed but without an immediate alternative ready to hand.

See your point Cliveo, but its not exactly what I was getting at. For starters, I dont have a personal gripe with Evans at all having never paid those prices. I want to make clear that Im not bashing Evans and created a followup post after my initial one to clarify this. My intention was more to disagree with the "deserve to be fleeced" argument which in hindsight was never actually made by anyone on the thread anyway which ultimately makes all of this bollocks on my behalf slightly pointless.

I go to an independent store with staff who give me great service and dont charge for little jobs like that, and who have spent quite a bit of time giving me advice on issues which were obviously not going to result in an immediate sale and thats why I go back.

Charging for installing lights may pay their bills, but so does repeat custom. I am simply observing a difference in business strategy between Evans and the store I go to, and exercising my right as a consumer to select a store based on the criteria which are important to me.

Evans have every right to do whatever they want. They've got a competitive advantage due to market share/penetration/range/prices due to economies of scale and so on so they are obviously doing something right. I like my little store better - its always a bit messy, and its not my closest.

Anyway, to be honest I just chipped in this morning because Im in a different time zone and its awfully dull when you guys are all asleep. Im not really overly passionate about this topic.

Telling Evan to fuck off was probably a bit OTT. Im sure he's a delightful fella.

But he can still fuck off... :)

I always used to laugh when people came in with a puncture in the back wheel on a brompton.

Seeing there faces when told it would cost them £25 to fix and 99% of the time they would pay.

Evans are like HMV; half genuinely enthusiastic and knowledgeable, half slack-jawed know-nothing chancers. I always had issues with the recruitment girl at my HMV, the pile of applications from people wanting to work there was as high as a dwarf or a small pony, and yet she still took on total plebs.

This approach is endemic! Look at the outgoing prez of the US! Supposedly the Best Man For The Job.

My employer constantly employs know-nothings over experienced people (I tried to get Fresh a job here - he had good, relevant experience - but they employed someone who's just graduated). I think they (management) don't like people who make them look stupid, so they habitually employ people who are EVEN more stupid than them.

Unfortunately, its always the shits that rise to the top.

The minimum charge is to encourage people to learn basic bicycle maintenance themselves.
...no?
Oh - okay then.

bike shop in having a business model and trying to make a profit shocker!

don't agree with it? other bike shops are available. you as a consumer have been given the power of choice and 2 legs that enable you to get to other cycling retail outlets with slightly different business models.

but the really clever thing to do is to HTFU and learn some basic bike maintainance .

So the pedals didn't come in their own box?

Yes they came in there own box. Everything was perfectly normal until I got home and realised I had 10 degree release on one foot and 15 degree release on the other. Hippy has it right, minimum wage scruffy cider drinking oaf!