Bent Wheels

[Spud]

Has anybody had this problem or can advise.I bought a Felt Q620 last Friday which has AlexTD24 rims. Over two rides I've probably covered forty miles off road. When I finished a ride today the rear wheel was out of true by 7 or 8 mm. I took it back to Evans Cycles and the mechanic has got it back to 3 or 4mm but he says that its quite likely the wheel will bend easier now that the spokes are different tensions.
Does this sound right ? and should a wheel bend this easily ? Do you think Evans should replace the wheel under warranty?
Thanks for any help

 

[Mr Pig]

8mm out is a lot, under normal use you'd have to crash to bend a wheel that much. I don't know how it would go with the shop. Most wheels, even cheap ones, are quite tough so obviously they will assume you've done something that bent the wheel, and you can't prove otherwise. However a good shop should be happy to straighten it up for you, 4mm out is not straight, and it should be good as new. I've had bent wheels trued up and they were fine afterwards.

If the guy can't get it better than 4mm out it sounds to me like he doesn't know what he's doing. They should be able to get it bang on.

 

[Spud]

Thanks Mr Pig
To be honest I've never had much faith in Evans . It seems to be more about what they can sell you. The mechanic did sound a pretty clueless .
I felt the bike wasn't right just after I'd been through a fairly deep sandy patch which points towards tension on the wheel particularly if it was on a corner but no matter how it occured I thought these bikes and wheels were able to take a fair amount of abuse.
I'm going to keep plugging away with Evans and try and get a new wheel or at least have it trued up better.

 

[accountantpete]

Hi Spud.

Basically any new bike will take 100 miles or 2 weeks to settle in. Most reputable dealers will ask you to pop the bike in for a quick service after this period when they will check and rectify any problems with the wheels and the cable tensions for gears and brakes. This is perfectly normal as the metals tend to stretch slightly when initially put under tension.

In your case the wheels appear to have been poorly built in the first place for them to go out of true by so much. Even so they should be able to get them back into perfect shape. If they don't, I would return the bike and demand my money back.

 

[Mr Pig]

Yeah, they sound rubbish. I've bought a few bikes from Dales in Glasgow. They're not the cheapest but every time I needed something fixed they just fixed it. My current bike came from Alpine Bikes also in Glasgow and same deal. It had a lot of stupid problems but hat's off, every time I phoned they said 'no problem' and sorted the issue out without hesitation. I've never had to pay for a repair at either shop and would definitely buy from them again.

Think you're dealing with chimps mate. What you could try is phoning Felt and telling them you're not happy with the service you're getting. They might just send out a new wheel.

 

[Spud]

You're right accountantpete.
I ought to go to the shop a make a fuss in a very un-British way .
These kind of problems become a battle of wills .The onus would seem to be on the user to prove that the bike hasn't been abused which
is a bit difficult
They did tell me to bring the bike back in four or five weeks for the first service which I had already made a note to do but to have this problem so early on is a bit of a nuisance and does strike me as a manufacturing problem .But how do go about convincing Evans of this?
I might end up contacting Felt.

 

[RedBike]

If the wheel was 8mm out then your lucky that the mechanic has managed to straighten it at all. It DOES sound to me like he knows what he's doing.

The trouble is 4mm out is still not acceptable and that wheel is highly likely to fail again.

Riding off-road is increadably harsh on bikes. It doesn't really matter if you've covered 400yrds or 400miles it only takes one big knock to buckle a wheel. The question is was the wheel badly made or is your riding at fault?

 

[PpPete]

If the wheel was 8mm out then your lucky that the mechanic has managed to straighten it at all. It DOES sound to me like he knows what he's doing.

The trouble is 4mm out is still not acceptable and that wheel is highly likely to fail again.

Riding off-road is increadably harsh on bikes. It doesn't really matter if you've covered 400yrds or 400miles it only takes one big knock to buckle a wheel. The question is was the wheel badly made or is your riding at fault?

I'm inclined to agree.... up to a point.
I'm an amateur wheelbuilder, built less than ten since i started. Did my very best to destroy a pair of my own (road) wheels by taking them for a 100 km off-road along South Downs Way (shod with cyclocross tyres) on a bike without suspension.
Wheels about 1 mm out at the end of it.
I hate to think what you'd have to do to a wheel that is designed for off-road to get it 8 mm out of true.

I reckon my spine or wrists would have gone before getting that far.

For me the OP has every justification for demanding a new wheel.

 

[RedBike]

There's no doubt about it. A properly made wheel is MUCH harder to buckle.

Here's my first ride out on my first ever hardtail. Note the rather buckled wheel.

 

[02GF74]

they shouldn't do that. are the rims box-section? if not, they are cheap and will bend easier than a slice of edam.

Only time I've bent rim was in crash and the rim had worn side walls hence was weaker than new.

It may be that the rim is bent, if that is the case, trueing up the wheel isn't gonna work since aluminium stretches and won't stretch back.

doubt you'll get much joy from the shop as neither you nor the shop can prove that is it not due to accident .... but I would still recommend you go in there and cause a stink, assuming what you are saying is true that they were not accident damaged. Normal riding off road, no matter what terrian i.e. no 3 ft drop offs does not bend wheels, assuming you are not 30 + stone in weight.

 

[Globalti]

Ladybower?

 

[RedBike]

No, it was Macclesfield Forest. (Cumberland clough).

That tracks a bit rougher further up, still no drops involved though, Just rocks.

 

[Spud]

No I'm not a lard arse and I haven't even had a tumble yet.
Collected the bike back this afternoon . The shop manager told me on the phone before I arrived that the side of the rim had damage where the buckle starts , so I was half expecting to eat humble pie. However ,when he showed me the mark it was more of a scuff that had taken part of the sticker off and no dent . No even a deep scratch .
To get the wheel so buckled I'd have thought a pretty big hit on the rim would have been necessary. The mechanic has straightened it up as much as he can but now one side of spokes are really taut and the other are almost rattling.
I asked if the wheel could have been part of a bad batch but he said they check the bikes before they go out. Which is a bit of a worry because when I bought it and rode it home the first thing I had to do was realign the handlebars!
And while I'm on a rant I'll tell you something else. Just before buying I enquired about the cost of replacing disc pads as I'd never had them before. The chap (not the manager) told me that I wouldn't use them a great deal anyway.On an off road bike. The sad thing is I half nodded my head . I'd like to think I only partly heard the question and was nodding while study the bike.
Anyhow , I will probably send Evans a letter and see where that takes me.

 

[RedBike]

Disc pad wear is an odd thing. You can go months, possibly even years without wearing them out if you're just riding on the road.
Then just one single wet muddy off-road ride will kill them.

 

[Spud]

You're not trying to tell me this is off roading is going to be an expensive hobby are you ?
My wheel is knackered after six days , and my discs might not last the weekend.
I will just have to get the Penny Farthing out and pound the roads. Might be cheaper to run.