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Old 11-30-04, 08:26 PM
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Rowan
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You wil find that LBS "quality" bikes are delivered in exactly the same way and require exactly the same amount of assembly.

The thing with the LBS is that you are paying for the extra attention that sees a thorough examination of all parts. Even then, I've taken delivery of quite a few bikes (for my old hire and tour business) that required work so they were to my satisfation -- probably 80% of them.

The reason why the front brake is not adjusted at all is because the front wheel never goes on at the factory... the parts are just bundled together off the factory line, shrink-wrapped or whatever, and placed in the box. Machine-made wheels are *never* tensioned properly. Another thing a good LBS will do, but again I've seen this missed as well.

I've assembled a (good quality) bike-from-a-box once. It wasn't, as you observe, that difficult. But you can imagine what it would be like for a kid who's just been appointed as official bike assembler at *mart for the season trying to figure out where everything goes, let alone why things don't work.
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