highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
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Re:
Are they really cheap though?
A quick scan of Gumtree would generally afford you a choice of a number of decent recent second hand bikes that offer much better quality and value than the bikes in question.
Guess, like many retailers, Halfords is indeed covering the whole market, and to some extent dictating it due to their market position.
So what will drive them to better quality and genuine value?
Consumer education/awareness may force them to up their game. Thing is, there will always be a bottom to the market.
We might not like it, but to a large number of the uptake in cycling a bike is just a bike. A-B and nothing more.
One of my friends is a twenty two stone giant ex pro rugger bugger. We were working together for six months over ten years ago. When he was running late I used to give him a lift and shoved his bike in the back of the car. The thing weighed a heavy tonne. It was an Apollo full susser. He used to ride this thing two and fro ten odd miles to site most days. I immediately sorted him out with a decent hardtail, and it got nicked a month or so after. He just left it outside a pub, and it was gone. Of course he never locked that Apollo and it never got lifted. He just had no emotional interest in a bike.
Last year he was with us in London and we all took Boris bikes to get into town. He loved them, while all us 'cyclists' decried the weight and clunkiness.
He is Halford's target consumer. Just doesn't care.
Halford also get the people who want Boardmans, and to some extent they are just the same kind of people, who are not really interested in looking around, but consider themselves as more enthusiastic cyclists thus worthy of something more 'pro'. The same people who might get Halfords to change their car bulbs that they pay ten times the price for in the first place and then are happy to pay them extra to fit it. Probably just because they can't be bothered, and they have plenty disposable income and little imagination.
Of course savvy consumers spy bargains sometimes, like those who pointed out Boardmans can be superb value given the spec. So they do get those customers as well, I imagine in small numbers.
But generally comparison shoppers, and bike 'experts' are minded to shop elsewhere.
My take, and I will always use a good local bike shop in preference.
Are they really cheap though?
A quick scan of Gumtree would generally afford you a choice of a number of decent recent second hand bikes that offer much better quality and value than the bikes in question.
Guess, like many retailers, Halfords is indeed covering the whole market, and to some extent dictating it due to their market position.
So what will drive them to better quality and genuine value?
Consumer education/awareness may force them to up their game. Thing is, there will always be a bottom to the market.
We might not like it, but to a large number of the uptake in cycling a bike is just a bike. A-B and nothing more.
One of my friends is a twenty two stone giant ex pro rugger bugger. We were working together for six months over ten years ago. When he was running late I used to give him a lift and shoved his bike in the back of the car. The thing weighed a heavy tonne. It was an Apollo full susser. He used to ride this thing two and fro ten odd miles to site most days. I immediately sorted him out with a decent hardtail, and it got nicked a month or so after. He just left it outside a pub, and it was gone. Of course he never locked that Apollo and it never got lifted. He just had no emotional interest in a bike.
Last year he was with us in London and we all took Boris bikes to get into town. He loved them, while all us 'cyclists' decried the weight and clunkiness.
He is Halford's target consumer. Just doesn't care.
Halford also get the people who want Boardmans, and to some extent they are just the same kind of people, who are not really interested in looking around, but consider themselves as more enthusiastic cyclists thus worthy of something more 'pro'. The same people who might get Halfords to change their car bulbs that they pay ten times the price for in the first place and then are happy to pay them extra to fit it. Probably just because they can't be bothered, and they have plenty disposable income and little imagination.
Of course savvy consumers spy bargains sometimes, like those who pointed out Boardmans can be superb value given the spec. So they do get those customers as well, I imagine in small numbers.
But generally comparison shoppers, and bike 'experts' are minded to shop elsewhere.
My take, and I will always use a good local bike shop in preference.
