My new bike was improperly setup and dangerous... what would you do?

[Gary]

I just want to ensure that their response is appropriate to how serious this was to me in principle.

Their response to repair the issues straight away was absolutely appropriate and your compensation more than generous! as many people here have already confirmed.
I simply explained various parts of the process you clearly don't understand.
Move on.

 

[EMTBehave]

Just picked my bike back up. The guys at the shop (who have been lovely throughout the entire process), instead of giving me the voucher, gave me the nice surprise of converting my tires to tubeless, which I was going to try myself but it has saved me the job. I also added my Ergon grips from my old bike and tuned the cockpit of the entire bike with them so it now feels perfect. They also did some nice cable management.

I also had to take back and swap my existing charger as I noticed when I did a charge that they also mistakenly gave me a 2A instead of a 4A so I am now all juiced up for faster charging. In end all is good and I will know for next time to check things more carefully with them at pick up instead of blindly trusting that they have done their jobs properly. Lesson learnt, but at least now I have a good relationship with them and they will know me in future (in a good way, I was not once rude or demanding).

The ride home felt very nice, the gears were very precise when shifting and the grips made me feel like I was at home. Can't wait to get back out there and thanks to everyone who commented with something constructive to add.

 

[Pdoz]

have a good relationship with them and they will know me in future (in a good way, I was not once rude or demanding).

You think?

Sooner or later, someone from that store us going to read this.

This was pretty bad as far as negligent setups go... I was extremely lucky to not have come a cropper or had to walk many miles home.

Whether someone spends £1500 or £5500 it's reasonable to expect nothing less than an extremely diligent build and setup that does not result in any dangerous situations. There is no excuse for a mistake as glaring as not properly fixing a cassette in place. It's careless, negligent, easily avoidable and it is very possible that someone could be badly hurt as a result of it.

I remember working with a fantastic chef , she cooked with pride. You'd probably never notice the crap she smeared across steaks that were returned.

 

[EMTBehave]

You think?

Sooner or later, someone from that store us going to read this.

I remember working with a fantastic chef , she cooked with pride. You'd probably never notice the crap she smeared across steaks that were returned.

LOL... thanks for the laugh! Your chef analogy was particularly great comedy value considering it has absolutely zero to do with this situation from a logical perspective.

What I write on the forum when I am seeking objective advice and giving an assessment of a situation as I see it is obviously different to how I handle a relationship i person with someone in a shop. Considering how profusely apologetic they have been, telling me in person that it was not set up safely or correctly and being profusely apologetic, I would stand by every word I wrote even if they did read it, as it was my honest opinion at the time, so I have zero worries there.

But no worries, please go ahead and have a pointless rant if it makes you feel better... it just makes it easier for me to identify which people to ignore in future.

Thread has run its course, tie to move on.

 

[DeezNutzz]

No matter what we do nothing is better then when you work on your own bike and tighten everything to spec, you don’t have to be a mechanic when checking things there is always YouTube. If this is your hobby then you need to know your bike or at least know what your buying. My LBS goes through mechanics every year and I had my bike messed up multiple times for me to finally start wrenching myself. So the morale of this story is pick up a beer and grab some tools and start wrenching and all this won’t happen ?

 

[Pdoz]

LOL... thanks for the laugh! Your chef analogy was particularly great comedy value considering it has absolutely zero to do with this situation from a logical perspective.

What I write on the forum when I am seeking objective advice and giving an assessment of a situation as I see it is obviously different to how I handle a relationship i person with someone in a shop. Considering how profusely apologetic they have been, telling me in person that it was not set up safely or correctly and being profusely apologetic, I would stand by every word I wrote even if they did read it, as it was my honest opinion at the time, so I have zero worries there.

But no worries, please go ahead and have a pointless rant if it makes you feel better... it just makes it easier for me to identify which people to ignore in future.

Thread has run its course, tie to move on.

exactly the same..she would come out and apologise to the critic, even stay long enough to watch him enjoy the much better cooked steak.

 

[Dave_h34]

I'd be quite surprised if the cassette came loose, I'd be a lot less surprised if your cables stretched causing the indexing to go out. That said, it sounds like the cassette was ok to start with but perhaps not torqued correctly. I would doubt they would check that on "bike build" but you never know, maybe they do. So anyway, you took it back and they fixed it. And you came away with £80 into the bargain. I'd say that was more than a fair solution. Use the money to buy tools and learn how to look after the basics, its straight forward stuff, if you can put a locking tool into a wrench and turn to tighten then you've saved yourself a lot of bother. Because I can do all that stuff id not have thought twice about it, I'd have just tightened it. I've taken suspension linkages apart on new bikes to fix issues rather than deal with the pain of taking them back for some unknown quantity to look at it. Lots of the big bike shops ask to see the bike back after a few weeks to sort just this kind of issue. Forget it, go ride, go enjoy! ?

 

[Gavalar]

Hi guys. So, I bought a Cube 140 HPC Action Team last week from a sports chain (the only place that had it in stock) which cost £5500 and picked it up earlier this week. Until today I had only done a couple of rides to work (20 mins each way) so didn't notice any problems. However today I did an epic 76KM ride and about a third of the way though it the chain kept constantly slipping off of the cassette when shifting. It worst affected the middle gears, but by the late stage of the ride the highest and lowest gears too were affected. It was happening so frequently and strongly that my feet would often fly out of the pedals, which wasn't good as there was a fair bit of uphill and downhiill along the route I took. However, in the end I made it back safely (if not happily) in one piece and took it straight back to the shop.

At the shop a mechanic had a quick check after I explained the situation to him and he looked really shocked. Apparently, the cassette itself hadn't been properly fastened to the bike and was loose and in addition the chain had not been properly shortened and was way too slack for the gearing. He said whoever built the bike really messed up and did a bad job.

So, then I found the manager that sold me the bike and explained the situation. Considering how when I had collected it he had made a big show of telling me how perfect the bike was, and how it had been set up by his best mechanic, he was he was understandably mortified and apologetic and said he would sort it out and get it back to me early next week. He also said I would get an £80 voucher.

In the end of course I made it home safely but I am understandably extremely miffed that a £5500 bike was not properly and competently set up, leaving me at risk of accident and injury.

So guys, what do you think and would you be fine with an £80 voucher in this situation? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

PS: No I do not want to sue, claim or whatever. I just want to ensure that their response is appropriate to how serious this was to me in principle.

Personally I think it's 50 / 50, The manager of a sports chain, not a bike shop?, told you that your new pride and joy was perfect, you took him at his word rather than, politely, telling him you would like to take it for a quick spin to determine if everything, saddle height etc, was to your liking and if not could be adjusted rather than you having to call back to the store.
You also put yourself at more risk a third of the way through your epic ride, you knew things wre not right and yet you pushed on, either way, you don't want to claim or make a fuss and they have admitted some guilt in the situation, move on and enjoy your new bike and then maybe enrol on a basic bike maintenance course, most shops offer them, so as you can check for yourself if everything is ok before, during and after your ride.

 

[Giff]

To take a positive from a negative I think you have a good bike shop who perhaps have made a mistake, but have put it right and offered some financial recompense as well.
The mistay may help them to be more vigilant and I’m sure they will be willing to give you any tips on what to check and look out for before a ride and on a regular basis.

 

[jimbob]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

 

[CjP]

I wanna know if he learnt to wrench or if he’s still alive?

 

[thebarber]

Someone owes me a pint for distracting me to this.......

 

[Alexbn921]

My best guess is he died.

 

[chrismechmaster]

Someone owes me a pint for distracting me to this.......

You deserve one is Johnny Depp “mega pints “lol