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OK, so got a 2008 Giant Trance 1, get it out of the box and notice a few problems with it:
1 - Rear mech hanger bent
2 - Front wheel was tucked inside the left crank arm which has put a scratch on the arm and stressed one of the spokes
So far, so big surprise.
But, with the bike up on the repair stand I notice that it's not as smooth/free as it should be to turn the bars. Not overly stiff, but a lot stiffer than it should be.
Any ideas?
over tightened?
You checked the headset tension? If thats ok then it could be that the headset is either not fully flush with the frame or that the headtube hasn't been faced. Either of these can cause tight spots in a headset.
Nodrog - please interpret for the idiots - how do you check the headset tension?
Undo the stem bolts, loosen the headset top cap bolt a bit, tighten the stem back up. Is it still rough? Hard to tell you how tight this bolt should be without a torque wrench.
AB - Undo top cap bolt a little, undo stem clamp bolts. Now tighten top cap bolt a little. Pull front brake and with your hand on the top headset cup, gently rock the bike backwards and forwards. If you can feel movement then tighten the top cap bolt a little more. Repeat this procedure until there is no movement from the top headset cup (the backwards and forwards bit) and also so make sure that the bars spin nice and smooth (ie you haven't tightened the top cap bolt too much). When you are happy the the headset tension is correct, tighten the stem clamp bolts back up.
Might be worth just dropping the forks out and checking all of the headset seals are correctly seated, also check to see if the headset races haven't been damaged.
Sounds like it came in the box as it would to a dealer, you're aware of the fact that voids your warranty right?
Will have a tinker when I get home, but the shop said they would replace the who thing FOC with another in the next couple of days if I wanted.
If I can get headest sorted, I may just ask them to swap the rear mech hanger and left crank arm, rather than go through the hassle of packaging it all back up again.
AB - I'd take them up on that as it sounds to me like the bike was not PDIed as it should have been and th box may have been crushed with possible hidden damage
Take the bike shop up on it's offer and swap it. I'd get them to assemble and check it first as well. New bike shouldn't come with built-in faults.