Just bought a brand new 14″ wheel Raleigh kids bike – all boxed up from Go Outdoors. Put it together this week, and couldn’t believe how overtightened everything was. Bottom bracket and wheel hubs could barely turn without grinding, catching and generally running rough as a dog.
How can they sell a bike like this? It took me ten minutes to even get the cones loose on the hubs, they were that tight. Fortunately I know a bit about getting a bike to run smoother, but I imagine the vast majority of parents would be none the wiser and would have no idea that all their kids’ pedalling effort was doing little more than grinding the bearings into dust.
Or am I just oversensitive to these things after spending hours sorting out the smooth running of my own bikes? All I know is that I wouldn’t dream of riding a bike running as rough as that, so I shouldn’t expect my 4 year-old son to.
Anyone else had this with a new bike, or was I just unlucky in getting the one that the factory work experience kid with an oversized monkey wrench was let loose on?
