halford bike tubes

i bought a bike for my kid at Christmas from halfords.. she got a puncture in the front wheel last week and i took the inner tube out to repair the tube... to my amazement the inner tube was a different size to that of the wheel and had been doubled over to fit inside the Tyre... i brought the wheel and tube back to halfords to complain and get the wright sized tube...today she got a puncture in the back wheel and guess what the back wheel inner tube was also doubled over to fit in the Tyre...so is this a common thing with halfords ?..one size tube fits all ..weather doubled over to fit in a small wheel or stretched to fit in a larger one....anyone else had the same thing happen?

My buddy and fellow ats member will answer that for you when he gets here.He will be here in less then an hour.
He has worked in bike stores has raced them and is a part time bike mechanic when he isn't working as a bike courrier.
Stand by an answer will be posted within the hour.

not normal, and most likley the cause for the punture, they should gvie you 2 new free inner tubes of the correct length. you could also report this to watchdog.

[edit on 3-6-2009 by MR BOB]

Depends what bike as to who you blamebut it shouldn't be that way.

The bikes that are less than £300average come assembled and wheels pumped up so a factory in the middle east is to blame.

The more expensive bikes are usually well checked over before they leave their factory, due to the perfection nature of top MTB builders.

The Halfords bike mechanics are trained by their collegues and as they are young and in a low pay bracket they are more likely to cut corners. Although I will say my three local Halfords bike mechanics are superb and know pretty much everything, they're real enthusiasts. One of them told me your tubes should be swapped. He said sometimes tubes look bigger than wheels but don't need doubling or folding.

reply to post by fatdad

As requested by Drumsrfun i will put my input in this one.
First i worked as a bike mecanic for several years (9yrs) and has been a bike messenger for (15yrs).

When it comes to bike tubes i have repaired my share and to tell you frankly they are always a little too big.
to make sure you have the right size check the side of the tires and you should see the dimensions neccesary to go and purchase a new one it should be a reading like this(24x1.75) witch is the( diameter x width).

it is also important to follow these easy steps when installing:
- check inside tire when tube is removed to make sure there is no glass or debris stuck in your tire. that would cause another very premature flat.
-put one of the beads of the tire on the rim
- blow tube up lightly witch should take some of that slack you were referring to earlyer away.
-start by putting the valve in first.
-tuck tube in evenly as possible all around the rim
- finish by tucking the other bead in from the valve and finish opposite of the valve.
- make sure the tube is not stuck between the bead and rim before blowing the tire up to recommended pressure (pinched tube)
Let me know how things turn out!
sorry if i made any mistakes English is not my MANE language!!

Sorry for some reason it logged him into my account and we didn't notice til it was posted.
ARGH!!!!

these tubes where the wrong size and the tubes when removing them from the tire could easily be seen to be folded about 8 inchs in length... they look like mountain bike tubes installed into the smaller mountain bike tires...

reply to post by fatdad


Sounds like they ran out of the correct size and just banged those loose beauts in instead.
Probably happened in the factory although, if for some reason the bike had 2 puntures whilst in the shop, or was maybe a return then it could have happened in the shop.

[edit on 3-6-2009 by and14263]