My employers, Halfords, have finally woken up to what they could be. We started as a bike shop over 100 years ago and we are finally going back to respecting all cyclists as valued customers. We are currently updating a number of our stores and seperating off the cycle department and bringing in more desirable stock

In fact so good is the turnaround, I have applied for one of the new positions of Specialist Cycle Mechanic. It's a demotion for me from my current position of Bike Manager (that role doesn't exist in the new style stores) and pays about £5k extra and I get to fiddle with and sell bikes each day.

I sit behind a desk all day. YEEHAAA... NOT.

A pay raise helps make a demotion worthwhile!

There is no pay that can substitute for doing what you love.

But 5 pounds more?

You'll be having so much fun, you should be paying them 5pounds.

"Are you sure you're up to this new job, Costanza? It's a lot more work. A lot more responsability. Not much more pay..."

Oh, wait. That doesn't really apply, does it? Nevermind.

Congratulations on your demotion! May the bikes you sell be many, and the joy you dispense (in the form of bikes, of course) be plentiful.

£5k = 5000 pounds

Thats really good. An extra $8000 per year - roughly

They are paying well because they want to be able to attract people from outside the company to bring their skills in as Halfords as a real bad reputation amoungst "proper" cyclists.

Congratulations, sounds like a good move.

Don't suppose you can persuade Halfords to reconsider a move back to High Street stores rather than the out of town parks, that are a pig to get to...?

Richard

Nice one mate!!

Ride on

Rich

Ive been to the Bexhill bikehut in Halfords. Its quite a respectable bike shop, even stocking a low-end (£600) Saracen touring bike. They do a nice line in proper utility bikes as well as sport machines. This is a huge improvement over their previous image as purveyor of $99 junk bikes and 3rd party car spares.
I'll still stick to my local bike shops, one is a short walk away, and the other a few miles , is a proper lightweight bike shop.

Good luck m8. Hope they don't concentrate only on MTB and hybrids but raod and tour as well.

It would be nice to have more of a choice in components (I won't mention the "s" word)

Do the individual stores have a say in component supply or is it done on a group level?

We are just sent stock by our head office and have to display it rigidly to their specifcations.

Of course with an list of 12,000 parts available on special order I can't help myself. I have 2 cabinets filled with all sorts of decent stuff. Shimano stuff from Acera to XT and some Sora and 105 road bits, Hope Disc Brake Setups, Maguras, A selection of Rock Shox forks etc..... I also keep a small selection of Mavic/Hope wheels in-stock aswell for when I sell the Hope brakes.

I always get hassle off my store manager and area manager for keeping special order stuff in stock - some suppliers don't like our stores stocking their products on display.

Since Christmas I've ordered in a handfull of Konas and stocked up on 2001 model GT and Schwinns which we are selling at reasonably low prices.

Er, uh,