Latest Carrera bikes launched and already in Halford's stores

I too was wary of buying a bike at Halfords but when I looked at the Boardman Road Comp and compared it to other bikes at that price range I thought it was pretty unbeatable. Riding it confirms it's a class bike and, crucially, worth spending money on it in the future to upgrade components as and when.
Service in my local store was pretty good. The lad I dealt with seemed knowledgable and keen and was very helpful in getting the bike in the size I wanted quickly.
At the end of the day, if you know what you're looking for/at then the actual input from the sales person is a little secondary. My thoughts for what they're worth anyway.

Don't really understand the logic in paying more for just a name. If you know what you are doing and don't mind setting-up/maintaining your bike yourself, then all the Halfords brands are pretty much unbeatable value. I got a Carrera Virago TT a couple of years back: full carbon, SRAM Rival, Vision aero bars for less than £1k, stuck my Zipps on and ready to race. Had a few comments about a Halfords bike but all in good humour (I race triathlon and maybe, not wishing to generalize, triathletes are a little less snobbish about their bikes than roadies).
Interestingly, I now live in the US were nobody has heard of Halfords and have had nothing but interest and positive comments about the Carrera.

Warning: long rambling comment follows!

Boardman Team was amongst my shortlist of bikes and the staff at neighbourhood Halfords were surprisingly helpful as well as informed about bikes. Unfortunately, they were also strictly adhering to the Halfords policy of 'no test rides'. Now a 1K bike may be peanuts for Chris Boardman but I doubt how many people will spend that much without as much of a test ride? So, out went the Boardman.

At the other end of scale is my experience with most Evans outlets. Most of their staff, at least as per my experiences, belong in at least one of the two categories - aloof-roadie or snooty-fixie-rider. They rank near the top in my bad-customer-service list for the retail sector in the UK. On the other hand, they have a very clearly defined test ride policy and have perhaps the widest range of bikes available.

The best service I got was from the guys at Cycle Surgery. Unfortunately, they lack the one thing Evans had - a clearly defined test ride policy. The store nearest to my old place (Camden Town), allowed me to test rides without any kind of deposit as long as I left some ID (and current bike) with them. I called up another CS store to test ride a bike and they asked me to deposit the full amount if I wanted to test ride the bike! I wrote to the contact email address on their website to seek clarification and they said the policy was to pay full price before test riding, while admitting the policy wasn't there on the website.

Well, I went ahead and found the one decent guy working at my neighbourhood Evans and bought my bike from them.

Halfords is not a bike shop but a supermarket that sells bikes and car parts. Like all supermarkets, they stock some decent lines (Park, Topeak, Boardman) and employ some knowledgeable and conscientious people. But they are, at the end of the day, just another supermarket, paying supermarket wages and offering supermarket levels of service. Generally, you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Harsh, I know, but, sadly, generally true.

I imagine actual numbers sold makes the disparaging comments palatable for CB. Yes ,some , roadies can be a snooty lot.I've been into for about 4 years. And have come across it. Nothing like freewheeling past someone while riding on a "lesser" brand/model. Nothing worse than getting the same treatment the other way round though.

i agree with everyone who is criticising the knowledge aspect (although I can obv only go from my own experience and that of co-riders), and also seek some advice.
i want to get a bike on the bike-to-work scheme (ie before it's removed altogether or made so difficult to use) and would have potentially bought a boardman team at 999.99, however, as a fellow rider put it the atmosphere and feeling of buying a proper bike just isn't there (and i found they didn't know the basics. all bike shops have different levels of staff and their knowledge, but it's not the same as popping in and buying a can of oil.
So, the advice i'm seeking please: the boardman team has a bb30 and the best groupset and wheels you can expect at that price, and i hear it's a good frame - what would others recommend at that price if not this?
cheers (and apologies if i'm mis-using the forum, i just value the opinion of fellow riders)

I've bought a couple of Boardmans and to be honest the service from the people in store has been OK. The mail order side of things however, is abysmal. Twice I've ordered bikes, taken the day off work and twice they failed to deliver. told Boardman but never even got an apology, for that reason alone I'll never buy (or try to buy!) another

Dog 72 - a trifle harsh. I got an 08 Boardman pro loaded with Ritchey WCS and Dura Ace for approx £650 on Bike to Work (list £1399, reduced to £999). Just done the Etape on it in the Alps. Bike was more than up to it - the only limiting factor was the me, not the bike.

That said, they were useless / a pain in the arse to deal with when I bought it. But then until they start paying more than minimum wage, they are always going to struggle to provide any decent level of service.

'the next step is offering the right level of service.' hit the nail on the head there. I always wonder how many more Boardman's they'd sell if they employed people who knew anything about bikes.

I took my Mrs to try one of their hybrids a couple of weeks ago and had I not pointed it out to him, the grockel serving us would have happily let her ride it round the car park with no air in the tyres. (and I mean absolutely no air.)Funnily enough we went elsewhere and ended up with a Scott

Shame really - I was looking forward to borrowing the Boardman...

Still, I do quite like the look of that SE for 450 quid

...the chap responsible for all the 'premium' bikes...
interesting use of quotation marks!
bike snob? moi?

I wouldn't buy nada from Halfords, You'd be better off throwing a load of random bike parts in a Monkey enclosure along with some vials of crack & a crate of tesco value vodka. IMO You'd get better service and a safer bike.

TBF the Vanquish looks okish for £550 but I'd much prefer a Trek 1.1