pavil

hi

i was wondering if anyone would be able to answer a quick question please? i bought a bike recently and on the first day of using it the rear brake jammed and buckled the rear wheel. the bike came in a box and required assembly (i only had to attach the front wheel, the handlebars and saddle). the rear brake and gears section were preassmbled by the manufacturer. the retailer is refusing a refund or repair as they say i "assembled the front forks incorrectly". this is what the company is now claiming despite the fact the manager never even looked at the bike and the store assistant, that did inspect it, had already said it was obviously a problem with the rear brake. im more than happy to take it to another shop to let them look at it but could anyone please tell me if this could even be possible with regards to the front forks? i know it might not be possible to say without seeing it so ive attached a few photos that may give a better idea of the damage.





i would be very grateful if anyone could give me their opinion. the bike admittedly is not expensive but i would expect it to last more than a few hours of being ridden on a cycle track.

z90

The line about the front fork is BS.

BobLoblaw

They will probably hide behind an "improper assembly" defense, meaning unless you can prove you DIDN'T dork around with the rear of the bike and thus cause the failure, you don't have a lot of hope. Unless you know what you're doing mechanically, buying a mail order bike can be a risky proposition.

BL

kycycler

A good reason to get a bike form a reputable bike shop. Not a big box store. You get what you pay for.

mulveyr 

How exactly did the wheel get tacoed? Did the brake pads dive under the rims and run into the spokes?

If so, you need the manager to explain exactly how incorrectly positioned brake pads on a rear wheel that comes already installed has anything at all to do with the front fork.

z90

Some close-up shots of the rear brake would tell us a lot about what happened

Juha

Have you got this documented? Looking at the pics, I cannot see anything wrong with the front fork. If that's the case, and they actually state that as their reason for not paying anything, that's a verifiably BS statement. It should be a good thing when taking the matter further, right?

--J

Ex Pres 

They installed the rear wheel and the rear brake, so I'd say it's their responsibility.

Homebrew01

Looks like the rear brake pads are hitting the tire, not the rim !!
But that shouldn't ruin the wheel. Are the rear spokes incredibly loose ?
I see the chain is off. Did you crash ?
Where did you buy it ? Did they claim is was ready to ride after installing the front wheel ?
Just because all the parts were attached to the bike, does not mean they were done correctly. Any bike coming in a box needs to be checked and adjusted from front to back. That's what a legitimate bike shop does when it gets bikes from the manufacturer.

slowandsteady

How in the world did you taco that wheel? The seat is twisted too. Did you crash after the brakes got screwed up? I can't imagine that the brakes getting stuck like that would be enough to taco a wheel. But who knows with these cheap bikes....

bikeman715

The problem here was the rear wheel was not true and tension on it high enough to with stand being use. It is up to the store to replace the wheel and readjust the brakes and yes It is BS about the front . If you take the bike to any LBS ,they will tell you the same and charge you for the replace wheel. As it was stated the bike was put together but it was not check over by the store for any errors and corrected by them. Take the bike back and demand a refund.

cny-bikeman

I can't imagine a scenario where a rear brake would cause a wheel to collapse like that, but nobody without their hands on the bike can tell you what happened with the rear wheel. It's impossible to tell what the spoke tension is from t he Internet. It could very well be that the wheel buckled 1st, causing the brake to jam.

zonatandem

Looks like the bike could have gone down: besides wheel that is tacoed, saddle is twisted and chain is off.
What is the name of store where you bought this Trax (a play on the name TREK?).
Some exposure as to their negative response would be good!

If what you say is true and they will not fix it, suggest the following:
Stand in front of the store on the sidewalk (public property not private) with the bike and a big cardbooard sign (like from the bike box it came in) saying in big red letters: "Ask me about this bike I bought here".
That will get store manager's and prospective customers attention.
No store wants bad publicity!

pavil

im not an expert and i could tell that the forks excuse is nonsense but just wanted some feedback to clarify it. all i know is i was riding it and then it suddenly ended up like that. luckily i didnt end up crashing it or falling although it does look like i did. i am currently taking them to court and today they have agreed to settle it partly out of court but they are still using the forks excuse to deny liability. ill take the bike to another shop so someone can actually see it close up and get a proper opinion before i respond to them.

the bike wasnt that expensive (buy cheap, pay dear i suppose) but its more of a principle thing now as they have given me three different excuses but the forks one is the excuse they have issued to the court even though it is highly unlikely to say the least. i notice some of you, or possibly none of you are in the uk but here the law states that any item that has developed a fault within six months of purchase is automatically deemed to have been sold as faulty, unless the retailer can prove otherwise, yet they have never even examined the bike properly even though ive offered them to, and as i said before, the salesperson who did look at it said in fact it was a problem with the brakes.

i guess im being naive but i dont like the fact that big corporations can just shirk the law whenever it suits them.

thank you for the input as i do appreciate your help and hopefully the matter will be resolved soon.

bikeman715

The problem is not the brakes, they are jam because the wheel is taco. Replace the wheel and the brakes will work again . As we all said the store is giving you BS about the fork . Use your pictures you have here and the court will agree with you and you will win your case . The wheel went bad which jam the brakes and cause you to lose control of the bike.