Wheel Replacement - rights?

arthur_scrimshaw

Advice wanted please

A friend of mine bought a bike from Evans in October last year on the cycle to work scheme, recently the back wheel (not sure of the make) developed a fault with the freehub. Evans have tried to repair it but have decided they cannot and have offered her a replacement wheel (a Mavic) - being ocd like me she's pleased they are going to replace it but unhappy to have different wheels front and rear (for cosmetic reasons) - does she have any rights on this or does she have to go along with their offer?

imposter2.0

Not sure whether the law requires an identical replacement (as opposed to a 'suitable' replacement) or not - if not, ask Evans for a deal on the front wheel as well Won't do any harm to have spares..

keef66

I think after nearly a year it would be unrealistic to expect an identical replacement or a complete new wheelset, and that Evans are being reasonable. Think it would be different if it was a defective seat pad on a pair of matching sofas; then I think you could argue that a mismatched replacement would be unacceptable.

If your friend's OCD isn't happy with the look, she could always buy the matching front Mavic wheel and keep the original as a spare.

(I say this as a cyclist with one black and one silver STI lever on his best bike, so maybe I'm not the best person to be offering advice about matchy-matchy stuff...)

arthur_scrimshaw

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Imposter wrote:

Not sure whether the law requires an identical replacement (as opposed to a 'suitable' replacement) or not - if not, ask Evans for a deal on the front wheel as well Won't do any harm to have spares..

Thanks for your reply, I think that's a good idea - I'll suggest that to her.

Edit - thanks as well keef66 - seems we are developing a consensus here!

Wayne Plunger

I have totally different front and back wheels, different makes / colour and after five minutes in the saddle never gave it another thought.

As long as it is fit for purpose and preferably of a similar quality to the original I wouldn't worry.

timothyw

It's pretty common even within a wheelset to have different rim depths, different spoke counts, different lacing patterns between the front and rear so they shouldn't really worry about it, but I personally would see if, as above, they can get the matching front for a competitive/cost price.

gethinceri

Take the decals off.

photonic69

I had a similar problem myself. New bike. Problem with rear wheel bearings eating themselves in the space of a few months over winter. Shop replaced ball bearings and regreased. Lasted a few more months then went again. Bike was 10 months old. They said they could replace the stock rear wheel or do me a set of DT Swiss wheels for cost price. I went with the latter as it is a much better wheelset and I was worried the same thing might happen to a replacement wheel.

Perhaps your friend could do the same and ask for the front at cost price? Or even get an upgrade at cost price?

arthur_scrimshaw

Thanks for all the helpful replies, I have an update in that after discussion Evans have decided to give her a new set of Mavic wheels so she is very happy. Kudos to Evans for some great customer service.