New rider needs help with rubish bike service.

LAW4778

Hi everyone been lurking on here for a while now, this is my first post (sorry its so long) and i am just after some advice please, having had 15 years out from mountain biking (i say mountain biking i mean going everywhere as a kid on my trusty Townsend) i recently decided it is something i would like to get back into firstly for fitness reasons and i also love the great outdoors so would love to hit the trails.

So it was obvious i needed a bike at first i thought about just going out and blowing about 500 quid on one but thought what if for whatever reason i dont get into it, it would be a waste of money, then i remembered there was my brothers old Raleigh Max in my mums shed so i went to have a look at it and it looked in good condition but the chain was rusty and had a flat tire so i thought for the sake of it i would take to my local bike shop for a service to get it up and running and in good working order, i thought they would be able to do this no probs as they are a dealer in Specialized and Giant bikes to me 2 good makes.

So after droping it off they said they would try and free the chain if not a new one would cost £6 but then there was the chance they would have to change the cassette as this would have worn to the old chain, so i just said make the bike rideable as at £100 they quoted for the work it is cheaper than buying a new one, anyway after picking the bike up from them twice it is still not right the gears aren't set up right neither are my brakes as a novice to all the mechanicals of a bike i searched the internet last night and came across bycicletutor.com as some of you may have seen this has lots of videos on it with different aspects of bike maintenance, after watching that i now know there is a lot of simple things on my bike that they shoud have checked like the brakes and gears.

I am really not happy especially as it cost me £100 and the bike isn't even worth that, my question is should i bite the bullet and try another bike shop or take it back and insist they make the bike right, can i just say at this point there is nothing wrong at all with the bike or the components the bike its self is about 7 years old and hardly used so i cant see any reason why it shoudn't run right,

The work they carried out was,

New Cassette and chain
New front crank and pedal arms (sorry i know that isn't the right terms)
New gear cables to both sets of gears
and a service

Any help on this would be much appreciated, thanks Lee

Dirtydog11

Brand new gear cables will stretch (its quite normal). Take it back and ask them to readjust the indexing.

Whats the problem with the brakes??

LAW4778

Dirtydog11 wrote:

Brand new gear cables will stretch (its quite normal). Take it back and ask them to readjust the indexing.

Whats the problem with the brakes??

The brake pads aren't in line with the rims and the brake arms are scuwiff not as i ve seen on the net, i feel as though they just put some new parts on the bike without doing anything else and they only changed the gear cables after i had set off home and the front one came completly away as it had frayed something i think they shoud have picked up first time.

butcher of bakersfield

If you're not happy, take it back down. Most of the cash would've went on the cranks though. Still, if you're paying to have things set up, you expect them to be set up properly, although some leeway has to be given to cables stretching.

Better still, learn to fix it yourself. An old bike like that is the perfect opportunity, and you'll find plenty of guidance online.

LAW4778

butcher of bakersfield wrote:

If you're not happy, take it back down. Most of the cash would've went on the cranks though. Still, if you're paying to have things set up, you expect them to be set up properly, although some leeway has to be given to cables stretching.

Better still, learn to fix it yourself. An old bike like that is the perfect opportunity, and you'll find plenty of guidance online.

Hey buther i am happy to do my own bike maintenance when it will need it but not when i have paid for them to do an initial set up for me and check everything is ok. I am only wanting it for a couple of months then i will splash some cash on a decent one when my fitness is at a better level and i feel as though it is something i want to progress in.

Dirtydog11

Take it back.

Get the gears indexed and ask them to line up your pads.

Your right, they should really have picked up on the fact that the pads where not lined up with the rims. Its a very basic check for them to have missed.

ThanksBye

CAn i ask where abouts are you based? caus this sounds like a Bike shop near me

LAW4778

tomatoevousparlour wrote:

CAn i ask where abouts are you based? caus this sounds like a Bike shop near me

A little place in west yorkshire from a place beginning with H don't want to say exactly where as they may have some customers on here and i have yet to get my bike sorted.

ThanksBye

ok, no where near me

dave_hill

LAW4778 wrote:

tomatoevousparlour wrote:

CAn i ask where abouts are you based? caus this sounds like a Bike shop near me

A little place in west yorkshire from a place beginning with H don't want to say exactly where as they may have some customers on here and i have yet to get my bike sorted.

Not the place near the bridge with the same name as a famous comedy Western by any chance?

shogunsteve

Well firstly I would say take it back.

Secondly, and this may be less welcome, I would ask why spend £100 on a bike which isnt worth it.

Perhaps they did what they could for the money and the bike was in poor shape to begin with.

£100 isnt much when you take into account the parts and the labour time.

LAW4778

dave_hill wrote:

LAW4778 wrote:

tomatoevousparlour wrote:

CAn i ask where abouts are you based? caus this sounds like a Bike shop near me

A little place in west yorkshire from a place beginning with H don't want to say exactly where as they may have some customers on here and i have yet to get my bike sorted.

Not the place near the bridge with the same name as a famous comedy Western by any chance?

No not there.

LAW4778

dave_hill wrote:

LAW4778 wrote:

tomatoevousparlour wrote:

CAn i ask where abouts are you based? caus this sounds like a Bike shop near me

A little place in west yorkshire from a place beginning with H don't want to say exactly where as they may have some customers on here and i have yet to get my bike sorted.

Not the place near the bridge with the same name as a famous comedy Western by any chance?

No not there.

LAW4778

shogunsteve wrote:

Well firstly I would say take it back.

Secondly, and this may be less welcome, I would ask why spend £100 on a bike which isnt worth it.

Perhaps they did what they could for the money and the bike was in poor shape to begin with.

£100 isnt much when you take into account the parts and the labour time.

Your quite right to ask that, at first i thought it might just need a good service which i was told would cost £50 which to get me on the road i was happy with that, then when they said it would be £100 i thought well if the bike is in good working order i should be able to sell it for £50 when i upgrade to a better bike in a few months so it is really only costing me the £50 that i was happy to spend in the first place.

I have now taken the bike back and it is now running perfect, if im honest i think the first set of work carried out was done by (the lacky) so to speak when i took it back it was the owner who did the work and it feels better for it, that is what im putting it down to anyway. I am now out riding and enjoying it.

shogunsteve

LAW4778 wrote:

shogunsteve wrote:

Well firstly I would say take it back.

Secondly, and this may be less welcome, I would ask why spend £100 on a bike which isnt worth it.

Perhaps they did what they could for the money and the bike was in poor shape to begin with.

£100 isnt much when you take into account the parts and the labour time.

Your quite right to ask that, at first i thought it might just need a good service which i was told would cost £50 which to get me on the road i was happy with that, then when they said it would be £100 i thought well if the bike is in good working order i should be able to sell it for £50 when i upgrade to a better bike in a few months so it is really only costing me the £50 that i was happy to spend in the first place.

I have now taken the bike back and it is now running perfect, if im honest i think the first set of work carried out was done by (the lacky) so to speak when i took it back it was the owner who did the work and it feels better for it, that is what im putting it down to anyway. I am now out riding and enjoying it.

Good for you. Thats really whats its all about....just getting out and riding