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TECH NEWS
brad-dogmaPinarello ride into Halfords stores
Halfords are to start selling Pinarello cycles this spring, it has been revealed today.
The Italian bicycle brand has reached new heights of popularity in the UK since becoming the choice of Team Sky and, most famously, being ridden to Tour de France victory last year by Bradley Wiggins.
With such dominance and success at the highest level of the sport, it’s inevitable the bikes are in high demand and Halfords will help to meet this growing popularity. They’ll be stocking Pinarellos online and through a selection of their 466 stores this spring, so you’ll have to wait a couple of months until you can visit your nearest Halfords store and pick one up.
The flagship model in the range is the Dogma 65.1, but Wiggins rode the previous top-end model the Dogma 2 to victory at the Tour last year. His bike was fitted with a full complement of top drawer kit, including a Shimano Di2 electronic groupset, Dura-Ace C50 carbon fibre deep-section wheels, and PRO handlebars and stem. Have a look at our detailed profile of his bike here.
“I’m delighted that we have become an official stockist of Pinarello bikes which are among the best in the world and have an incredible pedigree of success,” commented Paul McClenaghan, Commercial Director of Halfords. "Halfords has been developing own and exclusive branded ranges for several years to cover all aspects of the market, from child and entry level cycles all the way through to performance road bikes. Our partnership with Pinarello will further extend our range at the top end.”
Pinarello’s Luciano Fusar Poli added, “Pinarello bikes have been ridden to fantastic victories by British riders through our partnerships with Team Sky and British Cycling. Cycling fans have seen our bikes in action and having Halfords, who are the UK's largest bike and accessories retailer, as an official stockist means our bikes are now more accessible to the British public. I’m looking forward to seeing more Pinarellos out on the roads of the UK as a result of this agreement with Halfords.”
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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48 comments
It sounds a rather strange move in terms of brand management. Try to imagine Rolls Royce forming an agreement with Carsupermarket.com to become the principal supplier of their vehicles. The outcome could be very harmful to their reputation.
As with every chain store there will be stores with great people who are passionate about what they do and who genuinely know their stuff and you'll get stores where the people are just there for the money.. There are far more of the former out there than the latter and whilst I agree that there have probably been some bad experiences buying bikes from chain stores, (Evans and Cycle Surgery also included) the stores who are always on form suffer from these negative experiences as people are likely to tar the rest of the company with the same brush. With independents it's the same story. Some are great, some are ok and some shouldn't even be open at all...
All the gear and no idea snobs like some of the above do the sport no favours at all. Crunching 5 gears at once on a 20% incline instead of pre-selecting gears, spraying gt85 on the cork brake pads and carbon rims to stop the squeaking and running track wheels across the entire UK is just as retarded but if I were to say anyone with a bike is an idiot then the ones who do actually have a brain cell would be up in arms. It applies to riders as well as shops..
Ask anyone who rode the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in 2012. They all rode mega expensive bikes and the riders who did trust us had no complaints and would have been totally lost without us. We had all been cherry picked by the company for our knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for the sport. As for the Pinner's, the bikes will likely only be available in the stores where this knowledge and competency is in abundance. Just speak to the guys before purchasing and you'll soon know which of the two types you're dealing with. Simple isn't it?
It's nothing to do with snobberry. It's to do with experience of shopping in halfords. They are not expertise enough to sell bikes at these price points.
If I wanted a Pinarello I would not be looking at Halfords just what where they thinking at Pinarello.
First port of call would be a real bike shop!
I've already confessed to the snob part lol.
In all honesty, some of things 'selling' I have witnessed in various halfords stores, including buying a TdF, point to the reason why I think this is bad move for pinarello.
Weird marketing decision by Pinarello. I always thought it was a premium brand. Strange choice of retail partner.
Anyone tried to get a comment from Phil Griffiths?
Too many snobs on this forum.
Halfords can source over 90% of the bicycles available on the market anyway. All you do is buy the bicycle from Halfords and take it to your favourite cycle mechanic to get it checked and set up to your own specificationsl.
Until your favourite mechanic is no longer there because he couldn't keep the business going charging you £20 for the above. The majority of bike shops are independent businesses (obviously with the exception of Halfords, Evans, Cycle Surgery), and they operate on low margins, particularly in the current economic climate.
Also, I find that in the big chain stores, they will sell it for the marked price, whereas in the little places, they're more open to negotiation and "I'll throw in some lights and a computer"-type discussions.
That would be my only issue not the fact that Halfords, Evans or even Cycle Surgery are selling any particular brand of bike. Although I do you use Cycle Surgery simply because that where my favourite mechanics are
CS also price match on all items.
Totally disagree on the 'snobs' issue and the above advice. Work in an independent bike shop on a Saturday, find out what it's like operating on small margins, (wages, rates to pay etc) generating sales on £1000, £2K, £3K+ bikes. Why buy a bike from Halfords then take it to another shop you won't be popular with your favorite mechanic!! Buy from the shop direct for the full purchase, support experience.
This discussion is regarding brand suicide.
Independent Dealers fight tooth and nail to stock a 'world' leading brand, commit £K£K£K£K to stock the minimum range (inc many frame sizes) to satisfy the brand then commit to sell at least 20, maybe 30 bikes a year to keep the brand. To be 'shafted' by Pinerello supplying bikes to Halfords is criminal. Least no forget in this financial climate Independent bike shops maybe the only shop left on a high street.
On another issue 'the cycle to work scheme' the company I now work for is through Halfords. When I inquire they can't source any other brand of bikes other than what they stock in store or on line. So for a road bike that's a Chris Boardman up to £1K shame I can't purchase a Cannondale Caad8 £699 add to my Cannon collection, Caad3 & Super6 USA made (now there's a quality brand - Ed)
It's worth remembering too that the independents often give a lot better service, or they do where I live in South London anyway. Paying a little more to buy a bike can be totally offset by the free first service you get from an independent. I know most of the people in the independent shop I go to by name and have had a lot of help with little bits of this and that over the years. No Halfords store would ever do that. I do use Halfords soemtimes when buying bits, like lights or tubes or tyres and so on as the local store is convenient to where I live. I did buy a couple of bikes for my kids there when they were small. But now they're older, parts are the only things I get in Halfords.
Complete brand suicide but no doubt tempted by the sales potential in the sponsorship of team Sky boosted by the Wiggo effect. 'Sky ride bikes like these' will appeal to people in the Halfords consumer profile, i.e first time cyclists and will probably generate sales at the lower end of the Pina range. However, it absolutely kills their reputation among other more 'knowledgeable' road cyclists. I've never much cared for those wobbly lines.
Just what sort of customer experience are Pinarello trying to deliver? It's not just about the product, guys. The brand loses its value every time that Halfords - or anyone else - cocks something up at any point within the customer journey
I love bicycles and cycling but most of the replies to this story display perfectly the snobbish attitudes that a large number of you have. Halfords are not perfect and like any large chain store, quality of service is quite patchy. Their reputation goes before them and has little to do with the actuality of shopping there. Personally I wouldn't buy a Pinarello from Halfords...or anyone else.
No, sorry, this isn't just snobbery. If all you needed from a shop was for them to sell you the same box as anyone else, used in the same way, one size fits all, and be there if you needed to return it, you'd have a point. As it is, you'd get no more expertise/support from these guys than you would an online retailer that's never seen you. I'd buy bits from them the same as I buy bits from Wiggle, but a whole bike? Just as with online, you would need to be absolutely certain what you were after, spec, size, the lot.
On the down side, think about the potential for creating a truly annoying advert during theTour this year. On the up side, perhaps a chance to win a Dogma rather than a Carrera
Picking up on the Internet that the Dogma range won't be sold through Halfords only a selection of bikes will be available. Ok all Dogma owners you can breath easy now
A racing bike needs to be properly sized to be comfortable and give good performance, we all know that here.
What I can say from experience is that Halfords do not have the facilities or business model to allow for this. Hell, they couldn't even get that right with their flagship Bikehut failure which was in Brighton (I know, I worked there).
On the bright side... Oh wait.
Dear oh dear!
Every time I see someone riding a Pinarello, I'm going to ask if they got it from Halfords.
In facy, I'm just going to tweet Alan Sugar...
I had to check whether it is 1st April - even Boardman sell their top of the range bikes thorough specialists, not Halfords.
I bet one or two of our local Mamil bike snobs will be putting their Pinarello's on eBay after reading this.
They used to say that Bianchi was the Italian Raleigh - I think they've just lost that title.
Aren't Pinarello £3.5K+ framesets mass produced in China for $50 a pop? Sorry but pitch with Halfords it's another dent in Pinarello's alleged 'Italian' (errr!) heritage!
'MOST' bars & stems and wobbly bits are gonna look great on Halfords shelves. Lol!
This just makes me giggle. I *believe* that no one will die.
Oh, yes, I am also a snob btw.
There is another sound, me kissing my Tarmac Expert I bought instead of a Pinarello. They may be popular but they aren't from Halfords!
Hear that? It's the sound of 100's of independent bike shops dropping Pinarello and 1000's of Pinarello owners logging on to ebay to sell their dogma.
Well, I'd have one.
How about warranty claims and returns. Independent dealers may still support Pinarello's but in the future ditch the brand quickly? Your £3k+ frame develops a problem the Independant doesn't have to honour or hasn't the means to, cos the returns route will be with Halfords
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