CassidyAce
Senior Retro Guru
Time's up on the three year service agreement and, lo and behold, the bike's no longer economical to repair. It sounds like a sales assistant trying to get a new sale. If it's a Carrera Vengeance or similar, surely that's no more than £100-worth of parts + the nephew learning how to fit the parts (or asking his uncle to help out!).A typical example of my horror was aptly demonstrated 2 weeks ago when my nephews school bike went back to halfords for its final, 3rd year check....( apparently part of the purchase deal).
Sadly hes been told it needs £250 of work....new chain, sprockets, brake pads .......plus possibly a new pair of calipers....oh and possibly a new rear derailleur...but those exact ones are not available anymore.
But the good news is a new bike is £300 at the moment....so guess which skip the old ones going in! I said i would see if i could get it going to sell, but the bikes hardly worth £20 on Facebook....and then there's the grief.....
problem is not the kid riding it....he's got a retro muddy fox i gave him and he looks after his kit, its the appalling quality of the parts on the bike....oh and the frame....and wheels.....its just junk.
Companies selling this rubbish, in a world where apparently we are eco friendly and are trying to preserve resources and energy, deserve to go to the wall.
Its time for some tough lessons in sustainability.
Imho...obviously.
A friend of mine has had a woman's Carrera Vengeance for the last six years or so; as a lifestyle choice, she doesn't drive, and the bike gets used in all weathers, all year round, towing children in a trailer, and sometimes with a child seat on the top tube too. The bike is fine. Sure, it's seen better days but, functionally, it's fine.
In this case, is the problem for sustainability the quality of the bike or the quality of the advice being given? There might not be exactly the same rear mech on sale anymore, not by Halfords anyway, but I bet there's a compatible one to be found easily enough, although it doesn't sound like that was mentioned by the shop staff because there was more to be gained by not mentioning it. As the industry suffers, I wonder how many other unnecessary, unsustainable sales are being pushed on punters.