Cycling Help and Advice Hub

Get the answers to your cycling related queries right here with our handy cycling help and advice hub.

Whether you want to know how to teach a child to ride a bike, how to replace a bike chain or how to find the right size mountain bike, you’ve come to the right place. We cover a range of cycling topics in our expert advice articles, how to guides and buyer’s guides to help you stay clued up on all things cycling!

Cycling

Bikes will normally be boxed for ease of storage but at Halford’s we can build any bike for collection, or selected bikes can be delivered built as well as collected. You will be able to find out your delivery and build options on your chosen bike’s product page. All bikes will come boxed unless specified that you would like the bike built when you order or reserve it. You may be able to pick up your bike in as little as an hour if you collect it boxed, simply select a collection slot that suits you. Please note that bikes built and collected in store can add up to 2 days onto your collection date, and bikes built and delivered to home can add up to 5 working days onto your delivery date.

Please be aware that bikes worth over £350 can receive a full build and safety check completely free of charge. For those that are less than £350, one of our expert technicians can build the bike plus conduct a full safety check, for only £10.

A bike frame size is measured by height and inside leg. Take the inside leg measurement and deduct 13 inches for a mountain bike or similarly styled hybrid, and deduct 11 inches for a road or cyclocross bike. For children, please use the following table as a rough guide, it is dependent on the childs height.

All of our bikes come with pedals as they are a legal requirement to sell a complete bike. However, we know that our enthusiasts like to use their own pedals, especially if cleated pedals are preferred, so we ship our bikes with a set of functional pedals. These basic pedals will be fitted as part of the build process unless another pair of pedals are ordered at the same time.

If your bike has a Quick Release (QR) rear wheel, that is an axle which has a lever which folds out to, it'll fit onto a Turbo Trainer. If your bike doesn't have one, you'd need to replace your rear axle with a QR skewer, though this usually involves replacing the rear wheel as well. If the Turbo Trainer your looking at has a direct drive, meaning it has a cassette already on the base, then you won't need to worry about this. Some models don't come with a cassette included, so you may need to buy this separately. When buying a Turbo Trainer, please consider extras you may need such as a trainer tyre and a front wheel block.

Bike Care Plans were formally phased out on 10th September 2018 and replaced with CycleCare. Any Bike Care Plans bought before this date will still remain Bike Care Plans, unless renewed as the relevant CycleCare package. A CycleCare package is available for all Halfords bikes, starting from £13.33 per year when bought as a 3 year plan. It can be used in any Halfords, but not in Cycle Republic stores. A service may be required if the bike is not brand new.

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If your bike needs a little extra work to get it running smoothly, we’ll contact you first to get your approval. Don’t worry, we won’t carry out any repairs without your consent.

All work we do on your bike is guaranteed for 6 months.

Our Bike Technicians receive professional training from our expert team before they’re allowed to work on your bike. All repairs are double checked by a trained team member, so you can have complete confidence it’s safe to ride.

Absolutely! Your bike will be safe and sound with us until we’re able to perform our Free Bike Check. As soon as we know what work is required, we’ll be in touch.

During our Free Bike Check, we’ll look over your bike from top to bottom, to identify the level of service you require and any urgent repairs. It should take no more than 15 minutes, and by the end we’ll be able to provide you with an accurate estimate to get it running smoothly again.

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