When a bike shop says its this despite a wheel needing to be rebuilt in less than six months during which that bikes done less than 500km what can I realistically do about it? Talk to the manager for sure. Apparently its due to the wet weather!…its a **** gravel bike not a **** dry weather tt bike.

What wheel set ?

Well, it kind of depends what’s broken on it and how.

If it’s a cheap hub with not the greatest sealing that has been ridden constantly through grit for 500ks, and the races are knackered, then it’s certainly not unreasonable to think that it should have been serviced in that time.

If the rims are now oval because it’s been smashed into rocks and roots and dropped off locks, again, not unreasonable.

Some form of context would help.

No idea, came on my Diverge. I expect wheels on new bikes not to be great but they should last a year given the fact its not done massive miles. What annoys me is that I was thinking of getting new wheels and would have bought them from lbs. Now I cant see the point.

Axis Elite Disc apparently

If it’s a cheap hub with not the greatest sealing that has been ridden constantly through grit for 500ks, and the races are knackered, then it’s certainly not unreasonable to think that it should have been serviced in that time.

Clearly it should have been but imo if it needs to its not fit for purpose. The bike was serviced by the shop at 3 months and nothing was mentioned.

I’ve had loads of wheels on loads of bikes and even the cheapi ones on a £700 Defy lasted 18months.

New wheels, especially cheap ones, need a retighten after 100miles or so. Did you bring the bike back in for a service of just bring it back after 6months when you had issues?

It went in for a service after 2 or 3 months..

depends on what needs rebuilding, tbh. If it’s a freehub and / or bearings, I’d consider it reasonably shit but maybe they were dead cheap to start with and if they’ve been ridden through all sorts of slop then maybe they could have a point.

If the wheels have simply gone out of true then they just need truing; if they’re so far out of true that they need a total rebuild (and assuming they haven’t been massively abused – which I’m 99.5% sure would show in rim scrapes and dings and whatever) that to me would say either badly built or not fit for intended purpose. The other possible problem i can really see in the current weather is if they’ve been used and not cleaned well enough on salty roads and they can’t do the retension / truing job they need because of corroded alu nipples.

Whatever, discussion with the manager seems in order – maybe he’ll do a deal on a new set as compensation for the originals being useless?

I’ve had loads of wheels on loads of bikes and even the cheapi ones on a £700 Defy lasted 18months.

You’re lucky, my stock Giant wheels on my Giant TCR  were toss, the free hub seized solid after 6 months!!

They’re only going to be el cheapo if they’re Axis

If it’s a freehub and / or bearings, I’d consider it reasonably shit

This.

Whatever, discussion with the manager seems in order – maybe he’ll do a deal on a new set as compensation for the originals being useless?

Well indeed. But then you end up talking to a mechanic who seems to think I should just suck it up and pay which pisses me off and makes me wonder what the point is of using the lbs. If they sounded like they gave a shit they’d have made money out of it!

Hi had a set of Fulcrum Quattros that developed a small grinding noise on the rear wheel, on inspection the bearings were shot, the free hub was also seized when the mechanic tried separating it. In the same week the front wheel decided to start singing (a bit like when you apply a disc brake partially on in the rain)

I emailed CRC who paid for full replacement of front and rear bearings and new free hub. Over £100.

This on a set of wheels that were 8 months old and had done 4000 miles.

This was near perfect except for the slight delay in emails (48hrhrs between replies and there were 3 questions, ie Rear bearing approval, then asking for free hub, then front bearing). I sent the invoice to CRC and it was credited back to my card within 24hrs.

And everyone hates online suppliers..?