Rear derailler snapped on 7 month old bike - warranty?

Bozman

I don't understand why the op is getting shite about the state of the bike, that bike could've been in showroom condition before a ride, without mudguards that bike looks in the right state after a ride on our roads at this time of year and where's the rust?
As mentioned, clean the bike before the shop look at it and you never know what might happen.

diy

As others have said - obligation is on you to prove it was a fault present when you bought it due to the time limit. Warranty is irrelevant (I should have that in my sig).

However, you will save a fortune going to merlin or chainreaction etc. for the parts (or at least making evans price match which they will do) as they are normally 10-20% cheaper.

40 quid set of bike tools is all you need to get started. really you should be able to do a chain, cassette and mech yourself. This stuff can be quite rewarding as you get to take more time, clean everything and lube everything as you go.

but importantly when you do your own maintenance you get up close with the bike and find problems before they develop.

wiping the chain down with soapy water or paraffin every once in a while really helps to keep the crud off and stop the grit wearing everything out.

g00se

I think it's correct that its not covered by warranty - sorry - but i think the shop was taking the mickey with the repair quote.

Sounds like you stored the bike with a wet chain - not having wiped it down. Decent wet lube should have looked after this but just one of those things I guess, not enough on it, or wrong sort.

Anyway a bit of surface rust will not need it replacing, just take the chain off and clean it well, the rust will just look like dull patches after it's sorted.

An new cassette!?! After 6 months?!? How many miles have you done since you've had the bike? I would say a cassette would outlast 3 or 4 chains if the chains are replaced in a timely manner. But I can't imaging you've warn out a chain enough in six months that the cassette has had it too (if the chain is too warn, it accelerates the wearing of the cassette and chainrings).

I think the shop is being a bit over cautious (nice way of putting it).

All you need is a competent wheel guy to repair the wheel. Not a too expensive job as it's not a full build, single spoke? £20?

Keep the cassette and chain - and fit a new rear mech. You can probably get a new one with change from £40. If you can find a nearly new one taken off of a bike on ebay, it'll be nearer £20.
If you need a new hanger, it'll be another £10. I reckon you would be able to fit both yourself very easily with some basic tools and youtube.

So you could get this sorted and learn a bit of maintenance for about £50 (+ a bit more on tools that'll save you £££s in the future).

backo

i would highly recomend checking your other spokes for damage, as if they have been chipped at (by the derailler)they wont last long and you will find it very annoying to have a spoke go every week or so.

One time I had my bike serviced and they set it up wrong, the first hill I encountered the shifting threw the chain over the top of the cassette and as I was giving it some whellie to get up the hill, the chain snapped along with a spoke as I binned it with feet in pedals:) I took it back and they replaced the chain and the spoke but over the period of the next few weeks I had 4 spokes go and noticed they were all chipped/dented due to the above incident.

I have since learnt to service the bike myself! and would recommend learning yourself. Google and youtube are a massive help to learning how to fix/service bike.

keef66

+ several. Rust on the chain and cassette nothing to do with the mech snapping. Existing chain and cassette should be fine to continue using as long as the incident hasn't twisted any chain links. If so, just replace the chain. I'd also be tempted to replace the mech hanger; it's been subjected to quite a shock.

Keeping things properly adjusted is really the key.

cookeeemonster

Thanks for all your replies - I'll definately go down the home maintaince route in the future as I do a fair few miles and I dont want to be having problems like this too often!

I'm gonna let them do it this time as I dont have time this weekend to fix everything, plus they said they'd fix for the spoke for free when I took it in.

I'll start building up some tools asap. I know park tools are the best (but are expensive). Anyone have any recommendations for a starter kit so to speak? And I assume I'll need a workstand of some sort?

Might just buy a bit each month to spread the cost and not let the missis know how much I keep spending

slowbike

A workstand isn't essential ... I still don't have one.

TBH - tools for this job are screwdrivers, allen keys & chain tool ... you should have the first 2 anyway and the chain tool is cheap enough.
Spoke may be a little more daunting - not having done this yet I'll refrain from commenting!

iPip

It's probably too late now, but I think you could have stood your ground a bit longer on this one. A limited warranty period does not limit the retailers liability to sell you something fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, with a reasonable expected life. That would be more than 7 months or a couple of thousand miles for a rear mech. As such, it is their responsibility to prove it wasn't faulty, if you attemp to claim against them. You do not have to deal with the manufacturer, your consumer rights are with the retailer. If they argue that it hasn't been maintained properly, they would need to prove that they sold you the item with a recommended maintenance schedule and then offer an argument or evidence that you hadn't followed it. This often ends up being your word vs theirs, but I think it's largely in your favour as any maintenance advice I've seen in bike manuals is not specific enough to dispute over such a short period. Your local trading standards or citizens advice office can help, it may take some time, but if you genuinely believe the part could have been faulty, don't take it lying down.

redjeepǃ

Personally I'd say the bike shops having a laugh. The bikes 7 months old and you've obviously done as few things to try and keep it in good shape with the new chain, lube etc.

I'd say that unless you've fiddled with the adjustment screws, or the chain is binding, or there's some actual fault (not just a dry chain or some slight rust) then they should do something to help you out. Especially if you've had it serviced since you bought it.

Its a bike. Its being used in the British winter and you probably don't have a Team Sky bike mechanic to maintain it.

They may not agree to pay the full cost, but they should definitely give you a major discount.

Oh, and by the way, I used to be in charge of warranty for an equipment (not bike) company.

CiB

From what I know of Evans they'll do anything to wriggle out of a valid warranty claim, all the way to calling the customer a liar, triumphantly waving the book that came with the bike in the air when they spot a completely irrelevant phrase in it that apparently lets them off the hook, and then banning said punter from the shop when the C word is directed in their direction. Yes - saying cobblers in response to some vacuous claim that they've made is deemed to be so offensive to the staff and so far beyond what any reasonable customer who's been accused of lying and not looking after the bike in accordance with the book would even think of saying out loud that it warrants a ban from their shop. Then they phone you an hour later to confirm their decision. Bunch of baboons.

You should expect 2 - 3 chains per cassette; learn to do everything that ever needs doing on your bike yourself so that you can always be confident that it's in tip-top fettle and that you know it's safe cos you did it not some semi-literate school leaver with more interest in his furking haircut than your brakes, and that if something does need sorting you can do it when the weather forecast is on East Midlands Today not three weeks on Tuesday sir that'll be £48.90 plus the VAT sir. And buy a spoke key. Unless you've totally screwed your wheels truing them is as easy as adjusting the brakes, and 7.5 times as satisfying.

jordan_217

I experienced the very same thing on the *first* ride out on a TT bike I bought from Evans about 6 years ago. Rear mech, hanger, chain and a few spokes all needed replacing. Turns out the chain had snapped as one of the link pins wasn't pushed all the way home, putting all the stress on one end of the pin, subsequently it sheared off. My mech went straight through the spokes, the bike locked up and I was thrown into a verge (luckily a soft landing). I initially thought I'd been hit by a car....

After walking 3 miles home I contacted Evans main customer service number. They took all the details and said they'd call me back. Never got a call so after a quick google I contacted the Milton Keynes store (where I bought it) directly. Had to speak to two zero-experienced 'mechanics' who eventually (under duress) put me on to the Manager. He basically couldn't care less, saying it's got nothing to do with them and I could ask for a *discount* on the replacement parts through head office but they don't normally do that type of thing. I asked how much they'd charge me to bring it in and fix everything (me thinking he'd maybe do a good deal). Turns out he was asking the SRP for every part and was going to also charge some stupid workshop fee on top of that. Can't remember the exact number but it was around £200 as my LBS charged me just over £100 and I remember it was over half the price of the quote from Evans.

In summary, Evans are as much use as a c0ck flavor lollipop.

Just look on Ribble they have a 10% off offer on at the mo.

diy

CookeeeMonster wrote:

I'll start building up some tools asap. I know park tools are the best (but are expensive). Anyone have any recommendations for a starter kit so to speak? And I assume I'll need a workstand of some sort?

halfords, Argos, Lidl all do a basic bike maintenance kit for about 40 quid.
e.g.
http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/38 ... l-kit.html
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/13065251 ... sbar&cbt=y

Most kits will include a cassette tool, a chain whip, a chain tool, pedal spanners etc bb tool. The rest are just things like hex keys and spanners.

Icetoolz are not bad. You don't need a stand (though I have one and they are very useful),, a couple of tubes suspended from the garage ceiling hooked around the saddle and bars, will keep the bike at eye level.

CiB

jordan_217 wrote:

after a quick google I contacted the Milton Keynes store (where I bought it) directly. Had to speak to two zero-experienced 'mechanics' who eventually (under duress) put me on to the Manager. He basically couldn't care less, saying it's got nothing to do with them

Spooky. It's almost like... Well. Oddly I know of three other people who've also been informed that they're not welcome in that same store. It must be something in the tea there.

jordan_217

CiB wrote:

jordan_217 wrote:

after a quick google I contacted the Milton Keynes store (where I bought it) directly. Had to speak to two zero-experienced 'mechanics' who eventually (under duress) put me on to the Manager. He basically couldn't care less, saying it's got nothing to do with them

Spooky. It's almost like... Well. Oddly I know of three other people who've also been informed that they're not welcome in that same store. It must be something in the tea there.

It's RAG* syndrome




*Roundabouts and grids

explosifpete

Apologies if someone has already said this (i haven't read all 3 pages) but the reason for this to happen it due to the limit screw or the derailer being adjusted properly. normally if it left the shop like this it would put the derailer in to the wheel the first time you changed in to the largest sprocket on the cassette.
There reasons for not wanting to repair your bike would be as if you have fiddled with the screws or if your mech hanger had been bent (as this could also cause mech to go in to the wheel, although you would notice the poor shifting before hand

Gren82

Same thing happened with my 4 month old Boardman Team road bike, they swapped it out for a new RD no quibble. In my mind I'd never even considered they could refuse to repair it as I was sure it was a manufacturing fault. Its about the only good thing I've got to say about Halfords tbh.

Inutero

JSCL wrote:

I had this issue on my Dogma a few weeks ago. Was hammering a recently added chain and new cassette and sheared the thing right off at high speed. Scary stuff.



Not a warranty job. Just an issue with how the gearing was lined up.

Had a similar a few weeks back on my Trek. Hit black ice going around a corner/ down a slope. Bike fell and slid all the way down on the derailleur side. Picked myself up, had a look and all i could see was the chain had fell off. Put chain back on and continued on my ride, another 30 miles, back to the start of the hill i slid down, only going up it this time. The bike was in the big ring at the front since the fall, stuck it in the small one to get up the hill and snap. The bracket that holds the rear derailleur onto the frame snapped. 10 mile walk home

Took it into LBS i got it from, and as no other damage was done, it cost me £25 to get fixed. Was quite relieved.