Cycle Snobbery .

[Mark1978]

Correct. But over-generalising can be. Perhaps there are some really good mechanics working for Halfords, somewhere.

Which is why I said 'patchy'. There may be some excellent ones, but I know there terrible ones. Problem is you don't know which you are going to get store to store or even day to day. Whereas I know the names of most of the people in my LBS, they know me by sight and it's the same guy that works on my bike every time. You can't expect that at chain stores (and I don't just mean Halfords here, some chain cycle shops are the same)

[[XAP]Bob]

Halfords might stock the best bikes in the world - I'm told Boardmans are very decent. But I still wouldn't buy from them because their after sales knowledge is patchy.

I would - because bikes are basically home serviceable.

I pop into my LBS quite often (they know me well enough to let me walk out and then come back later to pay for the stuff I've just fitted) - but mostly it's for consumables or "this bolt has just disappeared" or "I need this specialist tool, and am likely never to use it again, here's a pack of biscuits"

[maxwellhadley]

The important thing - the really important thing - is fitness for purpose:

The Lighthouse Keeper's Bicycle
Was covered in rust and mud
The rattles were indescribable,
It shuddered from hub to hub;
But twice a night he pedals the track,
Five miles there and five miles back,
through hurricane, storm and ice until
He reaches the village Pub.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Bicycle
Was caked with salt and tar,
The brakes they were derisible,
one mudguard swung ajar;
But he beat up the track, in the North wind's teeth
(with the handlebars pointing North by East)
through hurricane, storm and ice until
His fist closed round a Jar

[mrjemm]

I have only been out on my bike a few times since removing the drops and fitting my weirdy h-bars, but it feels like I get less acknowledgement from the 'proper' cyclist since I became an 'upright' rider of what appears to be a hybrid or shopper from afar. Maybe that's all in my head of course, or perhaps it just doesn't garner the same level of curiosity without the drops (unless they actually notice how the bars are far more odd now!). The short period I had the PDW take-out basket on the front probably didn't help with separating the bike from a shopper either.

Any chance of this thread not becoming another anti Halfords re-run of sooo many other threads?

Really though, cycling is a very broad world, and as united as some groups of us are, there are as many different types of people involved as there are in any other aspect of society. There will be snobs. Why else would there be fashions in the bike world? And I am sure a lot more of us are 'guilty' of it than we would like to admit- I certainly am in some ways; wanting to 'build' ('put together' is less snobby/more honest I guess- only bought a bunch of parts) my and my partner's bikes with the best parts I can barely afford/justify, when un-named and lower spec parts would do just as well. Especially as I am more about the tinkering than the riding.

[TonyR]

Halfords might stock the best bikes in the world - I'm told Boardmans are very decent. But I still wouldn't buy from them because their after sales knowledge is patchy.

Non-existent more like.

Negative surely. Its not that they don't know anything, its their unerring ability to get it completely wrong every time .

[661-Pete]

Any chance of this thread not becoming another anti Halfords re-run of sooo many other threads?

You're too late, mate!

[edit] Snipped the quotes, in view of Vorpal's post below.

[Vorpal]

I've had some good-natured teasing from my clubmates about my grubby, tired-looking hybrid; and about doing club runs a couple of times on tyres I fitted on it for off-road riding. But when Mr. V came out on a couple of short family rides on his Apollo (uni/pub) bike, not a single person said a thing about his bike. Instead, they all said how glad they were to see him out, and they hoped he enjoyed his ride and things like that.

On the other hand, when I was looking for a cycling club, trying various clubs, and going on club runs with different groups, I came across a couple where I was offered 'advice' about my bike or gear that bordered on snobbery. I think if I had been a new cyclist, it might have been off-putting.

[Mark1978]

That's put me off even trying going out with my local club. Firstly I know I'm not yet up to the job of cycling the distances they do, but also I have no doubt I'd be the only one on a hybrid.

[Vorpal]

Please avoid making the forum a target for lawsuits

Thanks

[tatanab]

I'd be the only one on a hybrid.

What is a hybrid but a touring bike/road bike/name your genre which happens to be fitted with straight bars instead of drops? Hybrids have been around for decades before the marketing people dreampt up that niche name. For example, 25 years ago I built a lightweight touring machine for my wife. She could not get on with working brakes from the hoods because of small hands so I fitted straight bars and she was happy enough. Instant hybrid. Some years ago I down graded an old tourer to a roughstuff/hack/shopper for myself. The only major change I made was to fit straight bars.

Don't let the idea of "the wrong bike" put you off. As a tricyclist I am well used to being the odd one out.

[Sweep]

+1 to tatanab's point.

I have an old Ridgeback Hybrid (1997 - only 21 gears shock horror) and have done short tours on it. It's all good chromo and the geometry suits me.

Looking around I see that it's very similar indeed to some current year tourers.

[Cunobelin]

Everyone looks down on recumbents!

[mrjemm]

Everyone looks down on recumbents!

Yet somehow they look down on everyone else...

Joking!

[Mark1978]

+1 to tatanab's point.

I have an old Ridgeback Hybrid (1997 - only 21 gears shock horror) and have done short tours on it. It's all good chromo and the geometry suits me.

Looking around I see that it's very similar indeed to some current year tourers.

I bought a Ridgeback hybrid in 1997 too . Although it was only 18 gears (6 x triple) yours must have been the fancy model

[MarkF]

I have road bike, a hybrid and an old steel MTB, I suffer the snobbery whatever I am riding, it makes me laugh, you get it in all hobbies/pastimes. Still, it's nothing compared to the time I couldn't find the "right" badge for my vintage Vespa so used a vinyl one...........

The one thing that really winds me up though is the uber roadies who view my hybrid as an invitation to impart unsolicited "advice".