Question about warranty/guarantee

[Thursday guy]

I bought a bike about 6 months ago. It's been occasionally making creaking sounds at the pedal area, so I took to a local bike shop to get it checked out. Turns out that the bottom bracket is loose and it's a £20-30 job to take everything apart and tighten up that bottom bracket which has a slight gap. Given that it probably had not been tightened enough from when I originally bought it and its within a year since, can I claim the fix under warranty?

 

[mjr]

Something like that working slightly loose in use sounds like normal wear to me, so probably not, but it depends how much you've ridden it.

I dislike modern socket-fitted bottom brackets for this reason. On older bikes, you simply put a wrench around the adjustable cup's lockring and undo it, then use a smaller wrench to tighten the adjustable cup slightly and do the lockring back up. On modern ones, you have to take the blooming crank off before you can get the socket into the nut - is this progress?

 

[Thursday guy]

Something like that working slightly loose in use sounds like normal wear to me, so probably not, but it depends how much you've ridden it.

I dislike modern socket-fitted bottom brackets for this reason. On older bikes, you simply put a wrench around the adjustable cup's lockring and undo it, then use a smaller wrench to tighten the adjustable cup slightly and do the lockring back up. On modern ones, you have to take the blooming crank off before you can get the socket into the nut - is this progress?

Honestly not sure if its just wear and tear or not. I've had the bike for 6 months though and I don't ride it much, maybe twice every week?

 

[vickster]

You can only ask if it's claimable under warranty, the Ts & Cs are down to the manufacturer
For £30, I'd just get it fixed personally, save the hassle

 

[graham bowers]

In law, goods must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. If you do have a claim, it is against the retailer. The law that applies to consumer protection has recently changed, but those principles applied before and now. Have a read of the Which guides, e.g. http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/sale-of-goods-act#relRegulations

If its a cartridge bottom bracket that has worked loose, I would agree that it was never tightened up properly in the first place and I'd contact the retailer. If its the older design of bottom bracket that has cups and cones, I'm afraid I have no experience of them, so don't know if a normal bedding in process results in looseness that would be adjusted out at the first service.

If you bought the bike locally, take it back to the retailer. If it was a mail order transaction then I'd still talk to the retailer, but it will be harder to exert your rights and you may just have to chalk it up to experience and pay for the repair yourself.

I'm not a layer btw