Mrs TJ got a new bike on cycle to work – very nice but I am unimpressed at how it arrived from the shop.

Front brake hose far too long.

Brake levers at a weird angle and mounting bolts very very overtightened – I ( clumsily) rounded one of the heads setting them up correctly. Every bolt I have come to is well overtightened and dry.

Gripshift was ordered with it – they were told specifically not to fit it but did fit it and cut down the grips which we did not want.

so – should I ask for them to shorten the brake hose? complain about the other minor stuff or just ignore it?

I have had my dislike of bike shop mechanics reinforced and am going to strip the entire bike to check it and assemble it properly. I don't have the correct stuff to bleed the tektro brakes tho.

did they build up the bike as a custom order for you or is it a stock model?

if the latter, I don't think I'd expect them to shorten hoses

similarly for other stuff really – if yuo know it was them that cut down the grips against your instructions then, yes, they should replace

Stock model – but the hose is stupidly too long. Not just me being fussy.

Its nice to get others perspective tho. Ta

EBC by any chance?

this too happened to mine and i paid nearly £170 for mine! i wont be going to argos again, never!

Good guess steve.

Sounded like every bike I've had from EBC (and I've had quite a few!) and the ones my colleagues have had. Overtightening seems to be very common, especially on pedals.

Picking up my bike-to-work from them tomorrow and expecting it to be the same. Even more annoying because they've had the bike for a couple of weeks but wouldn't let me have it until their workshop has mangled it, and that couldn't be scheduled until now. Told them the first thing I'd do would be to strip it down and built it up properly but they still wouldn't hand it over.

More or less the same conversation I had.

I was impressed to see copaslip on the pedals that they installed tho. I am only guessing it was them who overtightened the dry bolts in the controls

My one shouldn't be coming with pedals on so won't have that problem this time. I've got a BFO pedal spanner now though!

TandemJeremy – Member
More or less the same conversation I had.
I was impressed to see copaslip on the pedals that they installed tho. I am only guessing it was them who overtightened the dry bolts in the controls

dry bolts on the controls, what do you mean….. Shifters & brake levers?

I ( clumsily) rounded one of the heads setting them up correctly.

I am going to strip the entire bike to check it and assemble it properly.

Lets hope you do better than your initial efforts of assembling it properly 😉

dry bolts on the controls

TJ – To be honest, I wouldn't expect an LBS to treat any threads on a bike apart from maybe the pedals. There's too many to do, and removing and reinstalling every one would be a faff.

I fully expect to spend an hour setting up every bike I buy brand new, because there's no way they're gonna get it right for most people. I usually adjust all the controls, the saddle, seapost & brakes, check all the bolts, then pop the hubs open and add a big blob of decent grease (This is a massive help for longevity IME) and readjust the cones (Shimano cones are either too tight or the locknuts too loose). Even when I build a bike myself, I'll take it out for a pootle on my own with a multi tool in my pocket, because some stuff doesn't become apparent until you ride the damned thing properly! 🙂
That said, the best I've has so far was my Carerra Subway from Halfords! IIRC I only greased the hubs and rolled the bars forewards a bit….

To be fair, none of what you've described would bother me in the slightest apart from the gripshift issue. 🙂

+1 wot PP said. I'd expect to do all sort of stuff. Which I why I buy frames not built bikes

many bikes come pre assembled from the importer, so grips may have already been cut, but if you made special request the shop should have at least checked it for you

most bikes arrive pretty much screwed together. they really only have to put the bars on and fit the wheels and pedals.

Why woudl they take every last bolt out to check it's been greased or threadlocked and they won't cut hoses and bleed brakes as it'll take too long and there's no margin in it.

Why woudl they take every last bolt out to check it's been greased or threadlocked and they won't cut hoses and bleed brakes as it'll take too long and there's no margin in it.

Exactly. If you know what you're doing there's no problem. Only an untrained gorilla rounds off bolts, right…? 😉

TJ – To be honest, I wouldn't expect an LBS to treat any threads on a bike apart from maybe the pedals. There's too many to do, and removing and reinstalling every one would be a faff.

You should buy a bike from Beyond then, they do all of them, even your bottle boss bolts get a smear of grease!

I wouldn't expect hoses to be shortened though, that potentially leads to brake bleeding and all sorts of other things not part of a build. It's going to take 10 seconds to take out a bolt, grease, and reintstall, cutting hoses could take 5 seconds, or it could take 20 minutes, I guess that's reason enough not to get involved!

As for the overtightened bolts, they often come from the factory like that. It makes a mockery of the Cytech view that all bolts should be tightened to an exact torque to prevent overstressing components, that said I have worked with other mechanics who think that if it's not on the point of stripping the thread then it's not tight enough.

Things like controls come tightened from the factory, and some factories overtighten stuff (I know Trek can be a bugger for this). Same usually goes for cranks, but usually you have to tighten stem/seat/headset/frontwheel/brake calipers.

Ta chaps – so the overtightened dry bolts are not the shops fault really then. ( apart from the levers they had to move to fit the gripshift) I wouldn't expect them to dismantle ready assembled parts for sure. The brake hose annoys me – its not just a bit untidy – there is a big loop sticking out – its clearly the wrong length by quite a lot.

Grips definitely cut by the shop as they installed the gripshift that they were told not to – the grips are rubbish anyway.

Ok – so me being a bit over fussy or not really the shops fault for most of it. I don't think its very professional to send a bike out in that condition tho.

Ta

Are you a union member? 😆

From a ease of production point of view they probably buy all the front brakes with identical length of brake hose so will fit an XL frame so it'll be too long for a smaller frame.

From their perspective having different length hoses for different frame sizes would be a nightmare as invariably in these situations you end up with lots of stock of ones that are too short for the frames you want to use

Are you a union member?

WTF has that got to do with anything? 🙄

Re the hose: if it's too long, it might be a hazard as it could get caught up in something whilst out on the trails. The bikeshop has a legal duty to provide a bike in a roadworthy condition, and fit for purpose. Overtightening bolts stems from a paranoia of all bike shops; overtight is better than it coming loose once the customer is out off down the road… As for grease on every bolt, pfft.

You should buy a bike from Beyond then, they do all of them, even your bottle boss bolts get a smear of grease!

They must have a fair amount of spare time. I can't see any busy city bike shop having the time to do that to every stock bike they sell.

The grips thing is crap. Take it back, tell them you're not happy, and tell them to sort it out, or you'll want a refund. Usually works.

Picked my new bike up now. Surprised to see it does have pedals fitted (cheapo toeclip things) so the no doubt the big pedal spanner will be called into action later!

Picked up my new bike (from the same shop) now and given it a quick check over:

Pedals: Overtightened, but did manage to get them off eventually with the big spanner. The pedal threads had been greased however.

Front Brake: Hose resting and rubbing on front tyre, brake so badly adjusted it had barely any effect and was also rubbing on the disk.

Rear Brake: Poorly adjusted with limited braking available

Seatpost: Has bits of packing tape gunge over it, plus the saddle bolt was on very, very tight (and had to be adjusted as the saddle was in a nose up attitude). Had been greased but somewhat over-enthusiastically so there is grease all over the place now.

Gears: Out of adjustment

Front tyre: 25psi low

Rear tyre: 50psi low

Controls: Poorly positioned (fouling top tube when bars turned) and over-tightened

Ok no harm done but I wouldn't have wanted to ride it home in that state and the brakes were definitely a safety issue. Shame I had to wait nearly two weeks for them to set it up as well…