Evans cycles - the MacDonalds of bicycles?

Got my CAAD8 from there; had to for the work CTW scheme. Spent a little while going into different branches looking for one where the staff seemed to want the business; failed, so just got it from the most convenient.

Took over an hour to just pick it up - I took it for a spin to check it was the right size and built properly, then I was getting £100 of free accessories so they needed choosing but I couldn't actually pay and go until I'd tracked down a member of staff and waited in line. This when spending £1000... how much do you have to spend to get their attention?

It's not a bike shop. Just a shop that sells bikes.

I've always received good service from the Evans at Castleford (except from one member of staff) and so so from the one in Leeds.

I find their choice of stock very limited and frustrating. It seems if you want Louis Garneau whatever, then you're in luck. Giro helmet, Shimano shoes, Endura Luminite gear... no chance!

I ordered an Endura Luminite jacket to collect in store, when I picked it up it was dirty, torn and literally stuffed into a bag for delivery. Took a week to get a replacement!

I am thinking of giving Evans another chance on a bike order, my first experience was as a noob to cycling and left the store thinking all would be well, turned out the down tube had a dint and a chip out of the head tube and the gears where never right, they needed constant indexing and adjustment. I took it back when I noticed (due to snow I had done 12 miles and less than 2 weeks later) and they just said “prove it was us”, we ended up with an argument over and over but in the end I gave up, legally it was down to them to prove it but some cocksure nobber thought he was right, all because I mentioned the mech should have picked up on it.

The new BMC hybrid range is looking pretty tasty if it ever comes into stock, the top range Hoy flat bar does too, so I might be tempted back. This time I will inspect every inch and use the letter of retail laws to make sure it is running smooth for the first year without issue.

Do you think they will discount bikes for cash?

As Sasha Baron Conan as Borat would say: " I like Evans very much .............NOT."
Need proof: http://innercitymobility.blogspot.de/2013/07/viva-la-tour-evans-test-sec...
Online is ok as I was able to get Sky stuff, which was sold out on the Rapha website, in-store is like hampstead bandit said, peanuts and monkeys.

Coming to think of McD, there are two good things to say:
- the toilets are clean
- They use paper bags
BUT do they know a tea bag needs to be removed to avoid the tea getting bitter?

I've had good service from Evans online, including one bike, which came better prepared than one I got from my previous LBS; however I found a brilliant bike shop in Wareham Dorset, which is 40 miles away but has become my shop of choice. Knowledgable and helpful staff, good range of bikes, situated in a railway station and with great rides on the doorstep- take a bow, Cycleexperience; no connection other than as a satisfied customer.

Never had an issue at the Gatwick store - it's actually my LBS! Knowledgeable staff and helpful with everything I've needed. It's a big chain and I can see that other stores are not the same as Gatwick. Halfords is trying to get there and they certainly have a huge customer base and the place most go for that first bike. They are miles away from Evans and still a car accessory shop IMHO.

The thing with a LBS is that it can be intimidating for a beginner. When I decided to buy a road bike my first call was at my LBS where I found a couple of lean, wiry blokes in lycra discussing gear ratios they were planning to use on their 100 miles plus ride that weekend.
Then the assistant bewildered me with jargon (that I now understand) and insisted on trying to sell me a bike that was £300 more than my budget. I realised that this was a world I was unready to enter.
So I went to Halfords, selected a bike off the shop floor on the basis that I liked its colour and didn't feel that anyone was patronising me.
2 years later I was able to buy a bike from the LBS confident that I knew what I wanted and what the assistant was talking about.

My daughter picked up a bike from Evans a couple of weeks ago, because her firm are tied into Evans for the Bike to Work scheme.

Yes, there were a few assembly niggles; I had to sort out the bearings, retrue one of the wheels, adjust the headset, fix the mudguard, replace the seat bolt and seat both tyres properly, but I'm pragmatic about it. A couple of hours in my workshop were a lot less hassle than a protracted situation at the store.

At the end of the day, staff at Evans are hardly the bastions of bicycle knowledge. If they were then they'd find better wages elsewhere, wouldn't they? So go easy on them. And no shop assistant likes a smartarse customer asking patently complicated questions.

Do your homework, know what you want so you can just point to the bike you want, keep your receipt, take your bike back for anything serious, but just accept that what you're buying into is only one step up from buying a partly assembled bike in a box.

For many customers, especially ones who would be intimdated by staff at a LBS, Evans is all they really need, at least for their first bike.

I bought my first/only bike from Evans' Clapham store and a number of other clothing items and accessories from a few other of their branches as well as online. I didn't have any "bad" experiences in the stores, and did encounter one girl in the Clapham branch who took the time to talk to me for half an hour all about carbon fibre and the merits and otherwise of various models, as well as taking a fair bit of time to fit me to a couple of bikes I was taking for a test ride.

Others in the same branch seemed to simply be salespeople in a bike shop. Which is what I found elsewhere as well. Overall I didn't have an unsatisfactory experience (I did when buying online though) - would have been better if I could have always dealt with that girl who knew what she was talking about and appeared to genuinely love cycling, as opposed to the opinionless salespeople I subsequently had to deal with.

When shopping around I also went to a LBS nearby the Clapham branch - can't remember the name, opposite side of the road and a bit further down. Spoke to a couple of the people there and it was a totally different experience, I was speaking to people with loads of experience and knowledge as opposed to some 18 year old salesperson. I didn't buy there in the end as I went with my work's Evans cycling scheme, but the contrast really made an impression on me.

My problem with Evans is mainly that they have a very small selection of items relative to other online retailers, and their prices are almost always more than their online competitors. And I never get items as quick from them as I do from Ribble/Wiggle. Due to these factors I stopped shopping with Evans completely, and Wiggle gets most of my custom as I've had consistently good experiences with them.

I remember going to the original Evans shop 30 years ago in The Cut, London. Even then they were highly over-priced and had an air of superiority about them. I was a schoolboy racer then. I have recently visited the Lakeside, Essex branch of Evans and the staff were like extras from The Living Dead. One guy stood near the till trying to stay awake until the end of his shift, yawning continuously. The stock is very poor though the shop is huge. I really would never use them now, it has to be the worst cycle retailer in the UK? I stick with Wiggle, Merlin Cycles, Ribble and CRC. In the old days we had great shops such as J D Whisker Willesden Lane, London and Goffs Oak Herts. Or Brian Wilkins Velosport in Epping.

I think its down to the individuals within the stores, I've never had anyone try to hard sell me anything at Evans. If they did i think i could easily deal with that one. My experience is generally a positive one on all counts. I've had many decent open conversations with them on all aspects of road cycling. When businesses get as big as they do consistency of what they deliver is a key challenge. I've been to just as many LBS's and found them arrogant and looking down their noses at you. time will tell on all these, in this day an age delivering a good customer experience is key to any business' survival and repeat custom.

I got a pair of tyres from there (click and collect) the other day because Wiggle was out of stock and they were the same price, or near enough. The idea of buying a bike from there would make me quite uncomfortable, although I had a decent chat with a mechanic at Spitalfields, who seemed to know his stuff. Going in there for advice is a total waste of time - better to go on a forum!

Like Eurotrash, I had bad experiences with Evans about 30 years ago - so much so that I have never been back. Those people I have spoken too since then have pretty much all been dissatisfied with the service they have received from Evans, most recently a friend who bought a bike a few weeks ago. Before the bike was delivered he told me he had ordered a bike from Evans and it was being delivered the following week. It was meant to be set up for him - normal and, in his case, a necessity as he is a first time cyclist. No, it arrived still in its box. He had some trouble persuading them to do something about it. The 'something' was a free service which consisted of setting up the bike as it should been in the first place plus a £20 voucher. It seems nothing much has changed over the years. At least my friend is now happily cycling.