new bike assembly issues
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new bike assembly issues
I recently purchased my first two road bikes from one of those LBS places that doesn't specialize in just bikes. Both bikes seem to have shifting issues and this place can't seem to fix them. My question is, what's normally done when assembling a high-end road bike? I'm wondering it it's worth taking both of my bikes to an experienced LBS and drop some cash to have them reassembled. The two bike are a 2009 Madone 5.5 and a 2008 Madone 4.5.
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ah yes... the multi sport bicycling and rock climbing in the summer and snowboardind and skiing for the winter. if your knowledge of bikes is limited, and seeing how these are highend road machines, id take it into the LBS that only deals in bikes and hopefully highend ones at that. to answer your question, prebuilt usually means you need to throw on pedels, a wheel or two, a seat and perhaps handle bars. if i knew a little more detail on exactly what your shifting issue was, i might be a bit more usefull.
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After the $7-8K you've spent on these bikes, not to mention the value you place on the life you put at risk every time you ride, I'm surprised you're balking at spending a fraction more to have competent people do whatever adjusting/realigning/reassembling must be done. Oh well. You've been burned by these baboons posing as bike-builders. Chalk it up to experience, keep your bikes away from that shop (or any shop in which you have less than full confidence), ask your fellow locals for help picking out a mechanic or LBS, and go to your regional forum here and ask for help. Good luck.
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get to know a qualified and quantified bike mechanic-- it will help you improve in more ways than one--- i push myself to learn and so should you-- i push myself to drink, but, well , I don't suggest you do.... drink....... a lot.... nicebikes-- not Pinarellos, but nice.........
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After riding thousands of miles in club events and charity rides, I have observed that the more expensive the bike, the less the owner seems to know about it mechanically.
Please don't take this as an offense, it's just a curiosity of mine that's been lingering. I'm not a pro mechanic either, but I can usually true a wheel or adjust a derailleur in the field.
Please don't take this as an offense, it's just a curiosity of mine that's been lingering. I'm not a pro mechanic either, but I can usually true a wheel or adjust a derailleur in the field.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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Yeah. Not a big deal. You spent $4k on new bikes. Get a stand and some tools and you'll be armpit-deep in awesome technology in a weekend. You'll never have clean fingernails again.
You'll want to hit up this forum, Park Tool, and Sheldon Brown whenever you don't know what something is, how it works, or how to fix it.
You'll want to hit up this forum, Park Tool, and Sheldon Brown whenever you don't know what something is, how it works, or how to fix it.
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Most of these places hire outside mechanic services that get paid by the bike so they blow them out as fast as they can.
I've even seen some that use pneumatic tools!
To answer the original question, when I wrenched (and later managed) we would do everything! By this I mean we would check the BB to make sure it had grease (if it wasn't a cartridge unit, of course), same with the wheels, check the hub locknuts, check wheel true & spoke tension, etc. so that every part of the bike was right. Most new bikes come from factories, so the stuff that is preassembled is usually not done perfectly. We went over all of it.
Of course, my first shop also offered free tune-ups for life, so if we sent out a POS we would get it back more often, but more importantly, our bikes worked right the first time.
I've even seen some that use pneumatic tools!
To answer the original question, when I wrenched (and later managed) we would do everything! By this I mean we would check the BB to make sure it had grease (if it wasn't a cartridge unit, of course), same with the wheels, check the hub locknuts, check wheel true & spoke tension, etc. so that every part of the bike was right. Most new bikes come from factories, so the stuff that is preassembled is usually not done perfectly. We went over all of it.
Of course, my first shop also offered free tune-ups for life, so if we sent out a POS we would get it back more often, but more importantly, our bikes worked right the first time.
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