[Closed] Evans cycles mechanical staff wtf!!

My god, it's taken 45 posts to finally have someone agree with my sentiment. Cheers Sam I can move on now 😉

I've returned a couple of wheels this year with exactly this problem

I am seeing on average 2-3 of these rear wheels on a weekly basis

It's not worth a rant, after all, the two people quoted above could be the odd ones out and it's a Man Bites Dog story.
Maybe STW concentrate on higher end bikes and they are not aware of failings with unbranded hubs.

I can understand you being annoying and your contract is with the shop, so you are right in expressing your disappointment to them. If I was really annoyed, I'd probably right them a letter as that way I could say how it's upset me so much without getting angry and emotional. And if I couldn't be bothered to dot hat, then it probably isn't really that bad and I'd put it down to experience.

To be fair to the shop, as everyone has said it's probably not their fault and if they work hard to sort the problem out for you then that's good. Yes, they should have checked, but the same could be said of you
And to be fair to Cannondale, it's probably not their fault it's Shimano's (or whoever). etc. If this happens a lot then it will probably get reported back to whoever is at fault and they'll be duly flogged.

Why would you ever need to go to full lock on a bike?

Manoeuvring round traffic, sticking it in a car/bike bag with the front wheel off and the bars turned.

I'd get straight on the internet and flame Evans myself.

... or maybe just let them rectify it ....

I've just dealt with a warranty through Evans- they were the closest shop to my work that dealt with my bike brand. The bike company were a bit hopeless but the shop were excellent, really surprised as I'd never used an Evans before and thought they'd be a bit duff.

I'd probably right them a letter

You might want to get someone to proofread it before posting 😛

To all the people that don't think you need cables that allow your bars to rotate all the way, what about when you fall off and your bars are forcefully spun around.

I'd have smashed loads of shifters and ripped loads of cables out if they weren't long enough to let the bars spin more than 180 degrees each way.

You might want to get someone to proofread it before posting

Surely grammar and spelling errors all add points to the rant?

I'm still waiting to hear about these new robotic members of staff, Evans are using.

Surely grammar and spelling errors all add points to the rant?

Troo.

Just asking.

Would you expect a place as big as Evans to be aware of these issues? I ask since others have suggested they occur, eg 2 - 3 times a week.

just looking for feed back

....don't feed them!

I hope you were slightly more polite when you went back in store!

If bearings were missing from a cup/cone hub it would be very very obvious

I think in general Evans Cycles mechanics are [u]very[/u] capable. Much better than the shop/stuff they sell etc.

wanmankylung - Member

Why would you ever need to go to full lock on a bike?

It's useful while crashing to avoid stuff getting damaged.

This is all stuff that Cannondale did at the factory, possibly the PDI could/should have caught it, possibly not- the wheel might not have been obvious. The cables probably should have

I do have an element of sympathy with the OP. Evans are an agent of Cannondale and thus to some extent responsible. I would have to assume that the bike was thoroughly checked over, not just having the loose bits fitted. If it wasn't ridden a few hundred yards then I would not be impressed if that was mine. Surely the wheels were checked for tightness, a hand run around the spokes etc. If not that's slapdash assembly, if so bloody awful spanner work. I agree about the cables to some extent, they were already there, but again I would expect the shop to pick up on this and correct it if a factory error had been made.
Thing is every shop is open to sloppy or ignorant staff and its more noticeable in big chains as they have more people. the only chains I frequent are Halford, yet to ever be impressed by the staff, Giant, 100% (so far) not a clue about anything not in the shop ie cycling and Evans who at my "local" branch, Cheltenham seem to be mostly trendy youngers who seem best suited to customers who don't ask anything technical.
Lets assume that its not all bad shall we?

[i]I think in general Evans Cycles mechanics are very capable. Much better than the shop/stuff they sell etc.[/i]

@Hora

the problem with Evans is that most of the good workshop staff jumped ship a few seasons ago as the company shifted its focus from having competent in-store workshop staff, to having "bike builders" and "junior mechanics".

Pay rates are poor, a high volume of bike builds, a focus on affordable bikes and a lack of proper training means its not a great environment to work in as a mechanic.

The Silver / Gold repair work in the London area is driven to the LCW facility in Bermondsey. It was a flawed experiment that is still having problems several years later.

Most Evans are lucky to have 1 experienced mechanic i.e. workshop manager or "senior mechanic".

I managed 2 of their very busy workshops in London, as the changes were going through. The rot started with shutting down their in-house Cytech training facility at LCW, Jules (Cytech examiner) left and they introduced their "Evans Training Academy" nonsense...

it was a real shame as Jules had built Evans workshops into industry leading, skilled operations with good tooling, training and staffing.

Depressingly, I probably know the answer to this, but despite gutting themselves of all the good stuff, did Evans' profits go up?

Evans profits are tiny, once interest rates go up, they will go bust

So, would they have gone bust if they hadn't turned themselves into a Halfords-lite?

I guess what I am asking is, is has there been any benefits from carrying out the plan Esher describes?

Ok quick up date, wife returned the bike and after some sarcasm from the mechanic the wheel was stripped and a large chunk of material was found to be missing from the inboard outer race. Agreeing this was a fault from Cannondale the wheel was kept and my wife left with the rest of the bike. She then went to remove the front wheel to put it in the car and discovered the drop out had cracked on the rear leg! So she returned to the shop where the mechanic said, with a unhelpful smirk 'have you dropped it?' which I suppose is fair question but considering the paint was still intact it was clear she hadn't. The bike has now been returned to Cannondale for inspection and she has chosen a Trek Lexa to replace it (all faith in Cannondale now gone).
A couple of other points: The check list states the wheel bearings were checked and the bike fully inspected, so I can only assume this happened on the first 10 mile ride (N.B. my wife is only 55kg before anyone asks!!)
Cannondale say the issues are the shops as they should have been picked up by them on delivery, and so it continues with lots of finger pointing!

and after some sarcasm from the mechanic

with a unhelpful smirk

That's some nice editorialising.

....poor show all round, though.

I was already a little pissed off when the bike was built with the gear cable outers too short and so wouldn't turn 'full lock' so to speak. So that's dodgy steering and now a wheel with about 20mm of lateral float

To be fair to the Evans guys, the cable routing design of the cannondale is fairly shocking for non-euro brake arrangement.

What do you suggest I do next?

Believing your wife next time she thinks there's a problem with her bike would be a good start!

Cannondale say the issues are the shops as they should have been picked up by them on delivery, and so it continues with lots of finger pointing!

But both agree its not the customer's issue to deal with right?

Demand a refund, buy something different...

Based on my experience of Evans mechanics fix it yourself unless it needs parts under warranty. If they fix it then it will probably come back with more problems than it started with.

I NRATS but

Amos - Member
They blame cannondale of course but surely the mechanic should of discovered this before sending the bike!?

On a build you'd never check hub bearing adjustment unless something looked odd - which may well have been the case here (I've NEVER had any issues with hubs on new bikes like this).

@cynic - al.

True. We'd only pay attention to a wheel hub during an assembly and pdi if we noticed an issue such as lateral play or binding / rough running

although rough running hubs and sticky free hubs (you see this as chain deraillment whilst back pedalling in smaller rear cogs) on brand new wheels of affordable branded bikes are not uncommon