Evans Cycles

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 .

I use a bike shop for wheel builds. The geezer there has built more than 8,000 wheels. That expertise is worth paying for. I also have him fit headsets as I have yet to invest in a set of tools. I suppose Mr Smith that some of Evan's customers don't like to get their hands dirty fair play to them. However slovenly service is a business model that I find is rarely rewarded. Evans undoubedly do well due to their size and financial backing. They undoubtedly have their followers. I am not one of them.

I bought some degreaser and oil at a fairly crappy Evans yesterday. I use lots of different cycle shops, chains and indys. They're all variable and also have different things they're good at and not good at. Having said that the list up there, to us, does look a bit ... opportunistic. Like DaveH said, most will pay cos they can't/won't get their hands dirty. I still find BB's a bit of a mystery. We're all on a continuum of experience, with Sheldon at one end and Mr. 'HowDoIpPumpMyTyreUp' newb nodder at the other. So what if people need help, and everyone from Evans to Cavendish charge for it?

We have to remember that shops rely on replacement parts (and compulsive upgrades!), accessories and mechanic charges to stay afloat - the margins on complete bikes are, I gather, minimal.

As its been shown above, some people have got a lot for their £12.50 flat charge. All it takes is a little personable courtesy.

You think Evans is bad, i went to Greggs they knew fuck all about the squeek in my BB and didn't even offer to look at it!
Still ended up spending £2.99

You think Evans is bad, i went to Greggs they knew fuck all about the squeek in my BB and didn't even offer to look at it!
Still ended up spending £2.99

You could have got two steak bakes and an apple danish for that!

I went to the barber and in addition to £7 for the cut he wanted to charge me £12.50 consultation fee, £12.50 to put that sheet thing round my neck, £12.50 to ask me what I am doing for Xmas and £12.50 in 'broom charges' when he was done. And I'm nearly bald. The world has gone mad.

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.

Why can't we all just go and work in the garden?

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Hackney details

http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/workshop.htm

My experience of the Evans Cycles workshops is that their work is of low quality, poor attention to detail, bad communication and often not ready on time. On one occasion, they allowed me to leave their shop with a bike I'd bought from them, that was so poorly set up it was a serious safety risk. Other than that they're great.

At least they aren't halfords.

At least they aren't halfords.

Oh, you're on happy pills! Sorry. Yes, right, at least they're not Halfords.

Evans let me use their track pump for free once.

I think that about sums it up.

At least they aren't halfords.

While working in halfords i bought a bike from Evans and it was so poorly built i had to take it straight over to halfords and spend about 45 min setting up the brakes, truing the wheels and tightening things up.

Did i spend that long pdiing bikes for customers in halfords?

No.

I would have liked to but when you come in after a day off to find a list of usually around 10 bikes that should have been built the day before and you know the customers could walk through the door looking for them anytime you can only do so much.

Add to that incompetant management who have no concept of the length of time it takes to build a bike or do repairs or shift deliveries of 75-100 bikes each weighing 20kg+ up a flight of 40 stairs and put them away in the warehouse and whose only concern is that their shop is "faced up" every 10 minutes.

Oh yeah and then there's the employment criterium. I think it is "can you write your own name son?" "Yes? Well theres your uniform my boy, away and build some bikes for kids to risk their lives on." in halfords.

I can only speak from experience of working in halfords but i think its no wonder that "superstores" like halfords and evans turn out below par workmanship.

The whole pricing thing i don't think is a case of the stores saying "if you can't do it yourself you deserve to be fleeced" but more "we don't care if you come back because we have the volume of custom to always be able to replace you" whereas an LBS is more likely to value your custom and spend the time talking to you, do jobs for lower cost or free etc because they don't have 300 people walking though the door every day.

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.

+1

*Evans Fulham Broadway 6 months ago:*

Me: Can you remove my BB and headset cups please, i have already stripped the rest of the Bike down

Them: One minute, i will check the price for that - Hold - right sir that would be £150

Me: 150 quid, your having a laugh

Them: No sir - removal of the BB counts as a stage 2 service, which is £150 irespective of the works done

Me: Are you sure, its just a BB, no cranks to rmove etc etc

Them: Let me check with my manager - hold - yes sir that would be £150

Me: Thanks, you are the weakest link, goodbye

They have no clue in that shop - i once saw them charge a guy 20 quid to fix his rear brake, all that was wrong was that the V Brake had alipped from its cable guide, a 5 second job to do

however the MTB shop in Waterloo have always been good to me, and the staf know their shit

ok so the above is exceptional stupidity - but then if you have stripped everything else out, why not knock out the headset yourself?

@ OP.
what charge out rate does your preferred lbs charge?
that is just a minimum of 30mins per job - i agree some are only two minutes to actually do, but thats swings and roundabouts.

i do work for mates, charged @£10/hr which covers aggrevation and tools and knowledge on top of that they pay parts at cost (retail, what i pay), i dont pay anything in the way of overheads as i have a real job most of the time.

On the plus side:

As my local sports superstores dont sell anything I want, and my LBS is run by rude and arrogant staff/owners. I had to go out and learn to maintain my bike, myself. I then decided to build my own bikes from now on, and source the parts myself.

I now have a serious bike habit though, so not a real plus. Infact if I had spent a few hundred having other people service my bike, I would'nt of ended up spending thousands on parts ;)

I didnt knock out the headset as i figured for the sake of a tenner or similar they would do it properly, rahter than me effing around with a punch and mallet

Mend a Bike in Fulham, who i went to after, removed the BB, Headset, shaved all the brazeons off the frame, and took the crown race off the forks for 25 quid

Once had my seatpost stolen from my MTB. Took the bike in to one of their shops, who measured up the size (irregular), tried to fit the new post, and it was too tight. They said the tube would need reaming to make it fit. I told him he was just trying to use the wrong size post, but he insisted he had measured it right, and would ream it for free. Fine, I don't mind that, and I didn't need the bike back just then.

Couldn't do it that day, so left it with them,and came back the next day. Evans said they hadn't done it, they would do it over the weekend, AND the seatpost I had chosen was too small, I will have to pay for the small one that was damaged with them trying to fit it, and for a new correct sized one.

Told them where they could put that idea, and took my bike back.

Brixton Cycles 20 minutes later, 20 seconds, new post, greased, done.

i thought it was common knowledge that evans is shite and only used by entry level and business commuters and people with mor emoney than time and no real passion

Once had my seatpost stolen from my MTB. Took the bike in to one of their shops, who measured up the size (irregular), tried to fit the new post, and it was too tight. They said the tube would need reaming to make it fit. I told him he was just trying to use the wrong size post, but he insisted he had measured it right, and would ream it for free. Fine, I don't mind that, and I didn't need the bike back just then.

Couldn't do it that day, so left it with them,and came back the next day. Evans said they hadn't done it, they would do it over the weekend, AND the seatpost I had chosen was too small, I will have to pay for the small one that was damaged with them trying to fit it, and for a new correct sized one.

Told them where they could put that idea, and took my bike back.

Brixton Cycles 20 minutes later, 20 seconds, new post, greased, done.

FFS anyone could have spotted that what you needed was an inverse shim. Idiots

i thought it was common knowledge that evans is shite and only used by entry level and business commuters and people with mor emoney than time and no real passion

You mean people who buy a bike to commute on because despite their zero mechanical skill and near enough zero biking ability, it still works out cheaper than driving or getting the bus/train in the long run?

Commuters in their shitbox Vectras and Astras may be able to do a basic service, but they're not going to bother doing it on their car they need for commuting because if they fuck it up, they risk having no car for one day. So they pay someone to do it. The fact that the guy who does it may be slightly incompetent doesn't worry them because they will get their car back in time to commute to work the next day.

The amount of times I've serviced my classic Mini only to find something wrong and need an extra day or two to put it all back together. If that was my only car I'd be buggered. Which is why I pay to get my daily driver serviced.

To intelligent people/competent people, Evans seems like a waste of money and time. To slack jawed yokels, it's worry free cycling.

On the rare occasions I've gone into any Evans it always seems to have queues of people with problems, wanting repairs done or returning stuff

I've only ever been to an Evans once and that was to buy an inner tube (punctured on Fulham Broadway and it was the nearest bike shop)

Having looked through the prices on the internet I surmised that if I ever needed parts I could mostly get them cheaper elsewhere..

If I were going to go to an Evans though it'd most likely be the one in Victoria and only because a certain cider-drinker would be more than willing and able to sort me out

does anyone know where else (if anywhere) accepts the Evans vouchers? is that even possible?

My work has set up with Evans, which probably makes sense for most people, but is irritating for me...

thanks

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