New bike damaged...need advice

dis00

Hi,

First post on here shame its one like this.

Anyway...

I just purchased a used bike on ebay. Seemed like a good deal and worth the risk :shock: its a Fuji SL-1 Comp SE carbon.

I took delivery of it today and when putting it together i cannot get the back wheel to go into the "holes." The rear hanger is bent which stops it from going it but when I remove the hanger I still cannot get the wheel/hub to go it. Im using all of my strength to push this in and its not happening. I'm right in saying this is a problem, right?

I've never had this problem before or even had much resistance with my mountain bike rear wheel going in. Is it fixable or even worth fixing? could the frame's strength have been affected?

Any advice would be great as I'm in the middle of a ebay dispute :oops:

thanks

Dean

lawrences

If the hanger is bent then the derailleur is in the way of the cassette?

Just let a professional take a look before you try and hammer some poor soul over Ebay just because you can't get your wheel in.

A new mech hanger is only 10 quid for most bikes.

dis00

Even with the hanger and derailleur off the frame the wheel will not go in. I mean surely I'm not gonna be that guy that takes a bike in because they can't get the wheel on! I don't want to hammer anyone but at the same time I don't want to end up paying money to fix a bike that I wouldn't have bought had I known I'd have this issue and possibly having a damaged, weakened frame. No other bike I've ever seen or owned has had this issue.

Thanks for the input though, appreciated

Dean

pinarellokid

Why don't you post a pic of the frame with the wheel nearly in place so we can see the problem

MichaelW

Is the rear wheel a standard road wheel with a 130mm OLD. Hybrid and touring wheels have wider MTB axles and won't fit.
If you have removed the hanger and a road wheel won't fit, STOP. Look closely to se if there any other obstructions, eg brakes. Don't use any force, take a decent picture that shows the nature of your problem and post it here.

rolf_f

Just to check - this has to be asked - have you opened the brakes?

Next thing - take a tape measure and measure the inside dropout spacing and tell us what it is.

And why are you already in an Ebay dispute when you haven't yet identified what the problem is?

smidsy

Hard to fathom from your description. Are you saying that the width of the wheel hub/axle is too large to fit between the rear drop outs?

Also (not actually meaning to be funny) you have opened up the scewer?

apreading

As is obvious already, the first step is to try and see where the blockage i

- is the tyre pressing against the brakes which arent wide enough for it to pass through? You need to open the brakes to clear them with the tyre, then put them back together.

- is the axle not slotting into the dropouts? This might be because Quick Release is not open/wound out to give enough room or (unlikely) that the axle on your wheel is too wide for the bike.

t4tomo

My money is on closed brake calipers, especially if OP has just had MTBs before.

Get the little plastic pointy thing on the side of the brake calipers pointing upwards.

lawrences

If any of the above are actually the problem I'll be surprised if he posts under that account name again. :P

slowbike

lawrences wrote:

If any of the above are actually the problem I'll be surprised if he posts under that account name again. :P

Hey - we've all done stupid things before. Dean has got more balls than most to come on here and admit to having a problem - as well as being unable to put his wheels in ...
So kudos to him for being man enough to ask! I hope it is something simple as he can then get on and enjoy his new bike.

Jon_1976

lawrences wrote:

If any of the above are actually the problem I'll be surprised if he posts under that account name again. :P

The way people get savaged here for asking any question that is deemed 'unworthy', I'm not surprised

blackhands

Also, a common 'problem' is that the frame has such close clearances that the wheel will only go in with the tyre deflated.

dis00

If its me being an idiot, i'll own it it

The tyres are deflated. Im not sure what size the hubs are, they came with the bike. The brakes and cassette are not stopping it going in. Here are some photos with and without the hanger. it appears that the opening of the dropout is atleast 1mm to narrow. Also, the paint is complete gone from around the dropouts which could suggest that these wheels have been forced in in the past







thanks for the help

Dean

sungod

assuming the dropouts are alloy, looks like it has had a whack and bent the dropout 'closed', also distorting the hanger

maybe it can be fixed with some extremely careful levering - i.e. that doesn't stress the junction with the stays, but you shouldn't have to take the risk

i'd go for the refund, if it wasn't in the description then you've got a valid reason to reject it, although of course it could have happened in transit

dis00

thats my thoughts too. Nothing was mentioned in the description about it but like you said it could have happened in transit but I have no idea. There are no obvious signs on the box of impact or anything. I think i'll send it back and stick to buying new

apreading

+1 to everything that sungod has said - especially the part about send it back! Even if damaged in transit, its the seller's responsibility to make sure it is packaged/shipped properly and arrives to you in good order.

I wouldnt buy a second hand bike that I wasnt picking up in person and paying cash on delivery unless there was an extreme reason to do so. Doesnt mean that you have to buy new, but dont buy unseen is good advice.

indyp

If the bike was sent by courier, was there padding/bubble wrap on the bottom of the box or was the frame just put in? I had the same problem on a bike I bought, the courier must have thrown the box around and the drop out took the hit. I used a scaffolding pole to open it back up but the frame was a single speed. You need to open it again somehow by a few mm and the wheel will go in

dis00

It was bubble wrapped but it was just wrapped around on drop out (the damaged one) and the derailleur. I'm going to send it back.

Gizmodo

dis00 wrote:

It was bubble wrapped but it was just wrapped around on drop out (the damaged one) and the derailleur. I'm going to send it back.

Don't be too hard on the seller. I sold a mountain bike via this forum last year. All I know as the seller is I sold and shipped a perfect working bike. The next thing is the buyer saying I've tried to defraud him, selling him a broken bike and he has a friend who is a lawyer and will take me to small claims court unless I give him a full refund including all the sending and receiving postage costs!

So I'm going to be £70 out of pocket with either a working bike thanks to an idiot who doesn't know how to assemble a bike, or a knackered bike thanks to Parcel Force. I told him to take it to a LBS and I ended £80 out of pocket for what he claimed needed repairing. I still don't know whether I got fleeced!

So, send it back, but don't be too hard on the seller, there is always 2 sides to every story.

Monty Dog

Looks like the frame has been damaged in transit with a significant knock to the rear mech/drop out. Contact the seller, supported by the photos and ask them what they proposed to do within a specific timescale e.g. 7 days - be reasonable. Best option would be to return it for a refund IMO.

cougie

I can't imagine what kind of knock that would have taken in transit to do that? Surely the box would have been damaged massively ?

dis00

The seller has been reasonable to be fair and has agreed to issue a full refund including postage and to split have the return postage with me. Thanks for all the advice