1st service @ Evans, would you bother ?

UncleMonty

I did take mine in for the free service, a guy asked if i'd had any problems with the bike and I said fine apart from a little play in the headset, he made a note of this but it was just the same when I picked it up, lol

smifffymoto

Just suppose you do the first service,after which you have a problem.You make a warrenty claim..........I'm sorry Mr X,you did the first service,are you a compitant cycle mechanic,we think not,we think your work is a contributing factor to the product failure and as such reject your claim.

weeksy59

Well i didn't drop it in Monday, however have booked it in for Sat as i'm heading not far from there fo the day.

jjojjas

biff55 wrote:

if your worried about the concequences of missing that FREE service , dont miss it.

There are no consequences of missing the free first "service". I know. I missed it on purpose as I service all of my bikes/cars etc.... and my local store is not that convenient to get too.
I serviced it my self, then took it back when there was a fault. If you ask them, they freely admit that the first service has no affect on any warranty claim. It certainly didn't on mine.

Jas

thomasali

I work in a bike shop and the first free service is very important, when the bike rolls out after our first free service its cleaned and set up properly with the wheels trued. When we build a bike the spokes are properly tensioned, but they will often need tightening up a bit after about 6 weeks use. If your spokes aren't at the proper tension your wheels will be a fair bit weaker, we get a lot of bikes from other shops where the customer missed their first service so no wheel truing has taken place (some shops don't seem to bother with any wheel truing at pdi or first service at all tho...) and the spokes are either mega loose and the wheel salvageable or some spokes may be broken at the j-bend in the spoke which will often mean a wheel rebuild. Also all your cables will need re-tightening, and not just by using the barrel adjusters - customers should be able to use the barrel adjusters when the cables start to slacken off again. Also anything thats a bit wrong when the bike comes in i.e. crossed chain, no lube on chain, too much lube on chain, low tyre pressure etc will be pointed out. Gives me an opportunity to sell some accessories sometimes, but fairly often customers have lube and a pump and they are glad of the advice (even if I have already told them while they were buying the bike!) In the we (bike shop) are here to keep you happy so you keep coming back to the shop!

Andy

thomasali

Can you try use some punctuation please?

supersonic

Also a well built wheel should not need a check... but it is useful for those that are not.

mrforgetful

I asked two large cycle stores what this service would involve before buying my current mtb (£2K). They both told me it was more a safety check than a service, simply making sure nothing has come so lose as to probably cause an injury!.
I imagine if the bike needs anything it'd not be covered by a warranty and you'd be ££ down from the off, cynical old me

PedroX64

I'd take a view on the people who will be doing the work...

I picked my new bike up from one Half***s, the staff were so disinterested that they could hardly put their phones down and stop talking about girls to take my money. I had to ask them to adjust the saddle so that I could ride home because they weren't going to offer and within a few hundred metres of leaving the shop I was adjusting the casette cable to get the gears to work properly.

My local Halfords has much more enthusiastic people, but I only took the bike in for the free service because the middle ring was bent and I wanted it sorting out. This was done, but the guy admitted that he didn't know how to bleed the brakes - just as well I already had then!

weeksy59

Well i eventually got round to it.

They checked it over and said fork pressure was too low and the chain on it's last legs..

Decent service and nice guys.. but not sure it was hugely worth it... but then again, never cost me a lot of time or effort.

llamafarmer

weeksy59 wrote:

Well i eventually got round to it.

They checked it over and said fork pressure was too low and the chain on it's last legs..

Decent service and nice guys.. but not sure it was hugely worth it... but then again, never cost me a lot of time or effort.

Your chain's on it's last legs? Is this your Commie? :shock: You've not had it long!

And how do they know your fork pressure is too low? Did they ask your weight?

weeksy59

6 weeks mate yeah. He put the tension tool on it and showed it was quite loose. I was quite suprised at this news. I rekon i've put in 250-300 miles on it.

HE bounced on the front and said "it's too soft even for me". Then checked my weight then set the pressure harder to what the sticker stated on the legs.

bomberesque

your chain appears to made of some mixture of cheese and marmite

still, worn is worn. One of those park too chain wear thingies is worth having in your toolbox, about 6 quid off CRC iirc

good on you for taking it in though, it's the right decision IMO

weeksy59

Apparently it's a Shimano item. He said they're renowned for being a bit crap.

Doesn't bother me as such, i use the bike in crappy terrain and i class chains as disposable items. Will get another few weeks out of it and the swap for something a bit more substantial

The Big Cheese

weeksy59 wrote:

Apparently it's a Shimano item. He said they're renowned for being a bit crap.

Doesn't bother me as such, i use the bike in crappy terrain and i class chains as disposable items. Will get another few weeks out of it and the swap for something a bit more substantial

chain checker - pure and simple. There are quite a few cases where people have taken in bikes for their first service and have ended up being led to believe that they are in need of replacement chain and in some cases cassette (some even after 50 miles).

Obviously NOT all stores but a few stories from Evans. Every one I have used have been shite but obviously that is not the case nation-wide

bomberesque

weeksy59 wrote:

Apparently it's a Shimano item. He said they're renowned for being a bit crap.

not teh same mechanic reported as opining that shimano brakes are crap because the use mineral oil is it? Nothing wrong with Shimano chains IME, no noticable difference in service life next to the SRAM equivalent anyway.

as cheese says, test yourself to be sure but changing chains regularly (i probably change the chain on my geared bike every 3 months) is a load cheaper than changing chainrings and cassettes once a year.

bails87

Get a chain checker and keep an eye on it yourself.

Have you got a shock pump? Again set it up for your preferences, the sticker on the side is usually way over in terms of what's needed to get 20-25% sag.

Ryan Jones

Anyone would think we're on about servicing a WW2 tank here

A little bit more tension on the rear mech, clean the chain and reapply some lube, clean the cassette, check the wheel ain't dodgy and the spokes are tight, quickly check the bolts are tight and greased and ride round the block to make sure it rides sound after a general inspection ; hardly what you could call hard is it really? And if you gotta go out of your way, find the time, pay for transport etc etc that "free service" isn't so free after all.


And with regards to warranty isues my gt bmx never went for it's free service, 3 months later cased on a jump and cracked the headtube gusset slightly, 3 months after that, that slight crack wasn't so slight and the rear wheel was still split at the seam so took it in and a week later i had a new frame kitted out with all my old aftermarket parts and a new rim no questions asked (ohh and the chainstays were dented big time,a nice ding was in the seatstay and downtube, and i'd engraved the headtube too) Now stop fretting and do it yourself !

weeksy59

bails87 wrote:

Get a chain checker and keep an eye on it yourself.

Have you got a shock pump? Again set it up for your preferences, the sticker on the side is usually way over in terms of what's needed to get 20-25% sag.

One of the lads has one. HAve to admit it did feel nicer out on the trails today so the PSI is deffo a start point on that.

Old_school_JSS

I know Evans aren't the consumer favourite but they do give it a fairly good look over at the service.

They replaced the front v brake on an old Kona FOC and tightened up a few bits, I expected them to do nothing but they proved me wrong.