[Closed] Halfrauds / VooDoo

It's not a "real" voodoo.

Halfords licence the name.

They used to stock "real" voodoo bikes but IIRC that stopped around 2010.

Still corking value bikes though.

I ended up with a wanga frame while i waited for my bust decade to be replaced under warranty. The decades still in its box a year later.
Great fun bike dont know why the guy would use one to build a on-one gas pipe special.

If I were after a new bike, hardcore hardtail, I'd by this on ctw and transfer all parts onto say a new bfe! Awsome, & would only cost about £800 all told! (yes I know ctw, the bikes not yours etcetc....but I'd still do it)

I've had my wanga for about 18 months. Extremely happy with it although I have upgraded a few bits here and there. I love the way it rides and was amazed at what I got for my thousand pounds. I'm 6ft and was very glad that the 18" fitted well as the 20" looks a bit wrong imo

Cranks: Fine, I was tempted to change them for something a little more flashy but decided there wasn't any need.

Hubs: never had an issue with them but upgraded to a set of EX721s on AM4s after a year as the alex rims looked/felt a bit flimsy and I'd always wanted some flashy hope hubs.

Things I changed early on were:

Tyres: super tacky minions are ridiculously draggy, unless you're planning on only ever riding on wet rocks you'd do well to change them.

Pedals: bog standard v8 copies, felt cheap, upgraded to real V8s straight away

Seat clamp: made of cheese, replaced with a QR after a month

Headset: the bearings felt like shit out of the box, i stripped, cleaned and re-greased the so called sealed units but the bottom ACB needed replacing after not very long...its replacement is holding up well

Also swapped bars, grips, pedals (again, for v12s) and seatpost (its a 27.2 so your choice of droppers is limited) but that's mostly down to upgradeitis

here's a blurry photo:

[img] [/img]

Letmetalktomark -Joe approves the frame designs on the cheaper bikes and designs the frames for the more expensive models, no idea where that line is drawn but the words "Designed by Joe Murray" are printed on my seat tube. Halfords spec the bikes up themselves, he has no input there.

It's partly brand engineering... They parted with GT, and the assorted higher end Carreras they tried weren't that succesful even though they were good- brand snobbery. So they took on Voodoo to give an impression of brand differentiation.

This isn't a criticism, there's some lovely voodoos. Mine is a Halfords-variant of a "proper Voodoo" but I wouldn't turn my nose up at a "Halfords Voodoo"

I got a voodoo bokor, same frame just like the hoodoo and the above wanga just different spec bits.

Its taken an absolute beating from me to be honest, im 6ft2 and over 18stone and my local is afan (15 mins away) or 5 mins to get onto skyline.

Rear bearings are going tho as theyre not sealed like the fronts, but other than that everything is just normal wear and tear stuff.

I got it for under 600 quid, sale price minus a cheeky NUS discount, i cant see any other bike with 140mm air forks and that spec coming close to the money of what i paid.

I found it interesting that Joe Murray was actually riding a halfords Voodoo Zobop tho.

I got a voodoo bokor, same frame just like the hoodoo and the above wanga just different spec bits.

Not quite, they look similar but the wanga has a tapered headtube and swap-able dropouts.

Just a shame you can't see all the VooDoo range they claim to stock in store. I'm interested in the Zobop but no stores have them and they're now showing as being unavailable on the website as well.

Might look at my 2nd cheap option - Rockrider ER1, which reminds me......

Bought a Zobop during the summer. 6" travel front and rear, Revs/Monarch. Mostly XT bits but non-series chainset and noname hubs. Minions make a bit more sense on a bike like this I think. Came with a second set of rocker plates to drop rear travel to 135. Got it for £1100, threw in £100 cash plus cycle to work. Ive no problem with Halfords, I started on a Carrera, most of my mates started on Carreras/GTs too. The mechanics at my two local branches are great too, they've lent me tools, installed headsets free etc. They support our local club too.

My other option was building up a Butcher but couldnt pass this. I reckon it was by far the best value option at the time. Not sure about the fake voodoo thing, Voodoo still exist and sell frames outside the UK/Halfords including the Zobop and Bokor. The Zobop is $1000 frame only!

evillittlegoat - Member
Bought a Zobop during the summer