Help! Should i return this and start again....

dava13

Hi all,

Have been going through the supposedly enjoyable process of buying a new bike for arround £1200 and have an issue that i'd appreciate some 2nd opinion on.

The delivery of my new bike has been a total disaster with missed deliveries, failed promises and lots of wasted time and effort with phone calls and emails.

The bike then arrived and it had little or no air pressure in the tyres, 2 of the 4 wheel reflectors broken off (now i know i would take these off anyway but that's not the point), less than the minimum recommended air pressure in the front forks even for the lightest rider and very little air pressure in the rear shock.

I have sorted out the psi pressures and tyre pressures and now the bike has developed a creaking noise that appears to be coming from the crank/drivetrain area. I've checked the pedals and chain for issues and they are fine. I've only ridden this bike on the road/pavement so far and it's not even seen any sort of off road action.

Do you think i should just return it and start again as surely spending £1000 + on a bike you'd hope it would turn up in a proper rideable condition??

In a right quandry as it took a while to opt for this one and now i feel totally disappointed in how it's arrived and don't really have that much confidence in it in terms of it's ability to be used for the purpose it's made for.

Opinions welcome!

alexj2233

TBH not having pressure in tyres is not uncommon, it's not hard for you to pump them up.

I'm not too sure about the shocks though, i'm not sure my revelations came with air in but again it's not hard to put air in them and your going to change it anyway.

If there is obvious damage or a fault with the bike send it back.

Thewaylander

Bout to say faffing over the pressures is a nothing.

The creeaking is more of an issue. It could just be the BB in need of greecing or tightening.

dava13

Thanks for the replies so far.

My point is that the bike is meant to arrive in a rideable condition and the checklist supplied with it says pressures etc had been checked. Surely things should be tightened up to the correct torques and properly greased before being sent out?

nicklouse

often a problem with mail order bikes.

Mickey Eye

Might want to get your LBS to give it a once over.

dava13

Thanks Mickey,

Was going to get them to have a quick look for me for peace of mind etc

wombar

Sounds to me like you're always going to have a nagging doubt at the back of your mind if you keep the bike. I'm the same, if I have an issue with something the first time I use it, there's always a bit of doubt in my mind.

You've got a couple of options.

1) Pay your LBS to do a full set up and find the source of the creak. Yep it's more money, but if your LBS know what they're doing you should end up with a bike that runs flawlessly. Plus you'll have someone to take it to in the future. Or strip the bike yourself depending how handy you are, and put your mind at rest there's nothing about to fall off.

2) Send it back and get a refund if it's not going to be a massive hassle.

It depends whether this is the bike you had your heart set on, because it doesn't sound like there's anything particularly wrong with it. Air in the tyres and shocks isn't really an issue, and a creak/groan could something as simple as a non-greased crank arm or pedal. Have you been round the bike an allen key checking nothing is loose?

£1200 is a lot for a bike, and if you're not happy now, it's probably going to take a while to get happy. The first few weeks with a new bike should be all smiles IMO. If you can return the bike easily (i.e no arguments) I'd probably do that and start again.

Anonymous

i would keep it, for the sakes of the minor problems i would leave it, as you have said, the things that are "wrong" are easy to square away and something you would do anyway, i dont see the problem.

captainfly

I know full well that I'd nver rely on a bike being ready tgo ride from a shop, checking a adjusting pressures is a given, then checking bolt torque settings as some guys rely on feel :roll: and tightening up things like the seat mount (always creaks ime) Just common sense stuff that you have to do periodicaly anyway.

Raymondavalon

Thewaylander wrote:

The creeaking is more of an issue. It could just be the BB in need of greecing or tightening.

Or a "greasing".. as sending it to Athens would be expensive :roll:

underdog

Are you sure this creak you hear isn't the seat post? It's usually the source for a mystery sound that feels like it's coming from the cranks.

dunker

sounds like it was put together, probably ok then put in the box and left for 6 months or so? would explain the low pressures as they tend to breathe a little. as for the creak you could get an lbs to sort it or find it and grease it yourself, prolly all it is just some metal-metal needing some lube somewhere.

dava13

Thanks for the input everyone.

I've checked everything out and it's definitely not the seat post, had that on my other bike every now and again so checked that as one of the first things.

The bike was delayed for delivery as it was meant to be being built and fully checked which is why the low pressure tyres is a bit annoying as it was ticked as being checked.

I know some of the issues are easy to sort but spending this sort of money on a bike i thought the easy things would have been sorted, leaves you wondering about the more serious stuff?

It's pretty hassle free to send it back so i think i'll just start again, this time probably get it from the LBS or not so local LBS and get the more personal attention that you get in the shops. My LBS has always helped me out in the past so giving them the money would support them and probably be very important to them, moreso than some of the bigger volume companies? They're Merida stockists but i don't know too much about Merida except that they made the frame on my Fury.

Oh well, back to the search and hours spent recreating the list of possibles and the wants that i can't afford!!

Northwind

What bike is it? Some are just quite naturally noisy, I'm thinking mail order, squeaky, and at this price there's a reasonable chance it's a teocali or gt idrive from Paul's Cycles?

Forget about the air pressures though, that's just a nothing, you probably had to set the seatpost to the right height too, right? Same thing.

stuisnew

Tyre pressure you can;t expect to be 100% so that's not a reason to send it back.

If you're concerned about the creaking and don't want to have a look at it you could send it back. May be something simple, maybe not. I would also assume though that if you send it back they will fix and return rather than a refund which you seem to be talking about?

There's a lot to be said for local bike shops if you can find a good one