Pinnacle Bikes

My 2019 Pinnacle Pyrolite is great fun to ride on poorly maintained local roads but after 2 years only the frame is left of the original bike. The fact that 2 bottle cage bolts fell out on the first ride around the block should indicate their build standard.

My bro bought it he 2019 arkose d3. He's had no issues so far and is really enjoying the ride. 

I bought an Arkose D3 from Evans 18 months ago. I'm still gobsmacked by the value it represented. It just keeps on putting a smile on my face, and that's even whilst it's just sitting in the shed!

When I bought it the staff at Birmingham's store were fantastic. It was between the Arkose and a Ribble (their showroom is walking distance from Evans Brum), and the service I received in store just blew Ribble out of the water.

But even then, ask them about what was happening with Ashley and they were not looking forward with relish. Now the bike is no longer listed. It popped up once under Sports Direct's name, and now sunk without trace.

I know someone who works (at quite a senior level) for Evans, and their advice is quite eye-opening - buy from anyone else you can other than Evans. In the past year or so Ashley's 'unique' management style has made some real, and by all accounts not welcome, changes to the way sales are carried out.

Shop staff can't see stock levels, or even call to find out. They don't know when an order will arrive if it's not in the shop already. There is no way to refund people when an ordered bike then turns out to be unavailable/not available for a number of weeks (or even months), unless they can get through to a helpline manned by 2 people for 55 stores.

Even if you do get a refund, that will be in the form of a credit note, which could be for the full value of the bike if you had to pay it all up front - kind of useless if there's not the bike in stock you want.

Unless you can physically see the bike in the store, do not buy it as you'll find yourself in an ever more frustrating loop of trying/failing to get a refund. Things are made even worse for people who have redeemed cycle-to-work vouchers - they're repaying for bikes they have not received, all they have is a less-than-useful credit note. 

It sounds very much like they're turning Evans into a 2-wheeled version of the rest of his stores. They make money, but they offer an absolutely zero customer experience.

It's a shame in your case, because the Arkose is/was a great bike - fantastic spec for the money. I had mine stolen a while back, and tried to get it replaced but this advice put me off going anywhere near Evans while they're run like this.

My wife has an Arkose D2 and I have a Lithium 3 (or maybe it's a 4). They're well-specked bikes for the price, and I'd be tempted with an Arkose D2 myself at some point if I get around to getting a gravel bike. 
I was nosing on Evans website recently and noticed they seemed to be low on stock of most things - I put it down to a combination of COVID and Brexit. 

Have Evans run into any problems, don't know about stock availability, but being owned by Mike Ashley is probably a problem.

Was looking at a Lithium recently, was not available on Evans website but available on sports direct.

Might be worth checking there, believe sports direct own Evans now.

Don't know if it relates to their poor stock for Pinnacle bikes but the excellent James Olsen, formerly chief of Evans' own brand offerings is now working for a new firm (something to do with electric mobility) as are a couple of the guys who worked on their own brand clothing (Universal Colours for Sigma Sport and Stolen Goat). Doesn't bode well for the good value, well thought-through highlights of the Pinnacle range going forwards. I love my Dolomite and my Iroko, but fear they may be a dying breed.