Fit for Purpose - Sales of goods act

[Bicycle]

I've shopped at Evans only once... and had issues with them only once.

I found (on their Website) that they had a road bike with a tiny frame for my child some years ago (43cm).

1. I checked by phone whether it had 700c wheels. They assured me it did. I asked about putting Candy pedals on it. That wouldn't be a problem - something could be worked out with the manager of the store where I collected it.

Since it was a Trek, I had to collect it... It was sitting when I got there on 650s despite assurances to the contrary... I shrugged that off. 700cs had been a preference, but I was OK with the 650s. Then the 'no problem' Crank Bros pedals were a problem.... so I shrugged that off too....

3. Then... The first ride with keen child.... Everything is going "Grrr... Zrrrr.... Galugg-a-lugg-a-lug-a...." Nothing had been adjusted..... Nothing. There had been no PDI. Evans were very surprised to hear how unhappy I was.

The only good bit about dealing with Evans was the cheque I got against the bill for my LBS to carry out the PDI and a £10 Evans token.

I forgot to pay the cheque in and never used the token, but it was sweet gesture.

I won't shop there again.

 

[Norm]

Well that's definitely me off ever getting or even recommending a Genesis bike. Was a big fan of the Day One and Croix De Fer until now.

ARE YOU READING THIS GENESIS?

Wow. How many times have I confessed to lusting after both of those machines?

IMO, I don't expect any company to churn out 100% perfect products, but the way they act and react when a lemon is found is critical.

I was kinda discounting gaz's bike as the bad luck lemon which any manufacturer can produce. But the way that Genesis appear to have dealt with it is not the action of a company that I could ever contemplate for myself, let alone recommend to others.

 

[BentMikey]

Evans did good though, by gaz's account. They've been fine when I had to return a product too, and given me good service other times. I'll shop there again.

 

[Jezston]

Wow. How many times have I confessed to lusting after both of those machines?

IMO, I don't expect any company to churn out 100% perfect products, but the way they act and react when a lemon is found is critical.

I was kinda discounting gaz's bike as the bad luck lemon which any manufacturer can produce. But the way that Genesis appear to have dealt with it is not the action of a company that I could ever contemplate for myself, let alone recommend to others.

Quite. I have two main criteria when judging a company and it's products:

1. How much their stuff goes wrong.
2. What they do about it when it does.

For a lot of companies, such as retailers, they can't do much about 1, so what they do in the case of 2 is absolutely crucial.

 

[gaz]

Evans did good though, by gaz's account. They've been fine when I had to return a product too, and given me good service other times. I'll shop there again.

Oh yes, this is the second time i've had to deal with evans customer services (first time was minor) and on both occasions they have been fantastic.
It's obviously a shame that it came to this, I gave Evans the chance to fix it several times, and i'm just presuming that it is something so random and obscure that it couldn't be fixed. Not an issue with them.
I spoke to the manager of my local store when i returned it today, and he said he wouldn't have sold me that bike in the first place. It's a shame that he wasn't there when i bought it!
I will continue to shop there, it's a shop i choose over the likes of Geoffrey butler (which is a stones throw away from my house) and De Ver, arguable two of the best LBS' in south london.

Ok, job done, so what are you going for now?

I went for the genesis because i wanted a bike which wasn't going to need a lot of attention. It's put me right off getting anything similar. So i'm probably going to look at getting a SS/FG bike which can take full guards and potentially a rack.

 

[Meegwell]

Sonic, on your later points, i feel i could argue that brakes on a £1000 bike that need constant adjustment to provide me with me safe braking is not fit for purpose.

Anyway, i appreciate any help you can give me in resolving my issues.

My issue is with the rear brake. I set the pads up correctly and it works for a few times, but on occasions you pull the brake and you will feel the pads make contact with the rotor and I start to slow down. Then suddenly it goes past a point and it feels as if the pads just let go. As if the cable snapped but it hasn't. There is a loud clicking sound when this happens. It basically makes indicating right whilst slowing down or stopping impossible.
I felt this was originally resolved when spacers where added and the pads sat properly on the rotor.

My other issue is the constant (i'm talking 2+ times a week) need for adjustment of the pads for the brakes to operate at a satisfactory level (For me). I expect to be able to stop pretty quickly on these and i can do after i've tweaked them, it just doesn't last very long.

 

[Meegwell]

I have a Genesis Day01 with around 1200 miles on it and I've experienced the "clicking" failure on my rear Tektro Lyra brake. It's a real shocker when you effectively lose all rear braking power. Anyway, I've found that it happens or is much more likely when I tighten the cable beyond a critical point. It seems when the rotating piece that the cable pulls (sorry I don't know the proper name) passes a certain point in the counter clockwise direction that the failure happens. If you clamp the cable far enough through the anchor bolt you can make it happen all the time. So, I guess you could say I've solved my problem by ensuring sufficient slack in the cable but this is a slightly pyrrhic victory as the reason I'm mucking with the cable is in an effort to get more braking power when I pull the lever to the handle bar. As I have some pad-rotor clearance when the brake lever is not pulled to play with it seems like an intuitive adjustment. Apparently not.

 

[gaz]

I have a Genesis Day01 with around 1200 miles on it and I've experienced the "clicking" failure on my rear Tektro Lyra brake. It's a real shocker when you effectively lose all rear braking power. Anyway, I've found that it happens or is much more likely when I tighten the cable beyond a critical point. It seems when the rotating piece that the cable pulls (sorry I don't know the proper name) passes a certain point in the counter clockwise direction that the failure happens. If you clamp the cable far enough through the anchor bolt you can make it happen all the time. So, I guess you could say I've solved my problem by ensuring sufficient slack in the cable but this is a slightly pyrrhic victory as the reason I'm mucking with the cable is in an effort to get more braking power when I pull the lever to the handle bar. As I have some pad-rotor clearance when the brake lever is not pulled to play with it seems like an intuitive adjustment. Apparently not.

I've found out that this is caused because the shimano rotor is thinner than the tektro rotor that should go with the system. A fix is to remove the shimano rotor and put on a tektro lyra rotor. The best fix is to replace the whole braking system with some avid bb7's (obviously not the brake leavers)

 

[Crankarm]

A few years back I bought some MT500 over shoes from Evans. After 3 weeks the stitching was coming apart. So not being in London or near one of their stores I called them and then sent them back. I was told I would be refunded if when Endura inspected them they were found them to be faulty which is contrary to my rights under the SoGA. Within the first 6 months goods are supposed to be of sufficient quality and certainly with in the first 28 days I would be entitled to an immediate refund plus return postage costs. Seven weeks later and weeks of frozen feet I might hasten to add I was sent a replacement pair just ready for spring. No refund of my return postage costs which were £3.43 and packaging, padded bag £1.99. I contacted Evans about the non re-imbursement of my return costs as the original over shoes had been faulty and not of sufficient quality which I made clear in the letter I enclosed when I returned them. They refused which also infringed my statutory rights then I was told they would be re-imbursed me but no re-imbursement ever materialised.

I wouldn't buy ANYTHING ever from Evans ever again. Crooks.

 

[jefmcg]

I know this is an old thread but ....

If you buy faulty goods on a credit card, and you are not refunded properly and promptly, take it up with your card provider. They can claw back the money from the merchant.

 

[b5mith]

I just want to let people know that my 2013 Kona Jake was also sold with Tektro Lyra brakes, and I have this exact same problem. After some wear, the brake completely gives way. Note that I have both the Lyra calipers & discs, so it's not a problem with mismatched components.

So they seem to have been selling this product at least into 2012 and beyond. Somewhere sits a nervous Tektro executive, hoping their decision to avoid recall will not lead to lawsuits. These brakes are extremely dangerous, no amount of adjustment will change that. If you value your safety, don't ride your bike until you have installed a better braking system. I have my BB7s on order.

Ben

 

[Leodis]

I had a similar issue with BB7's on a Kaffenback 2, PX took it back.

 

[roadrider]

Well anyway I had a shortlist of 2 bikes I was interested in, a croix de fer or a tricross and I settled on the tricross.(tricross sport disk) So I rang dealer to check if my size was available as it wasn't listed on website. I got talking to a nice fella who told me that he didn't have one and specialized didn't have one in the whole world,all sold out but he also said that even if he had one he wouldn't sell it to me as they were a bad bike because of rubbish spongy brakes. He said that they still hadn't managed to get disc brakes to work properly with dropped handlebars and hopefully next year there would be something better. So is this the case? dropped handlebars and disc brakes aren't a good match? I'll have to start my bike search again if this is true.

 

[ianrauk]

Well anyway I had a shortlist of 2 bikes I was interested in, a croix de fer or a tricross and I settled on the tricross.(tricross sport disk) So I rang dealer to check if my size was available as it wasn't listed on website. I got talking to a nice fella who told me that he didn't have one and specialized didn't have one in the whole world,all sold out but he also said that even if he had one he wouldn't sell it to me as they were a bad bike because of rubbish spongy brakes. He said that they still hadn't managed to get disc brakes to work properly with dropped handlebars and hopefully next year there would be something better. So is this the case? dropped handlebars and disc brakes aren't a good match? I'll have to start my bike search again if this is true.

No it's not the case. He is talking complete bollocks.

 

[roadrider]

Good to know. Everybody's been complaining about problems with certain bikes/brakes and as gaz is in the market for a new bike along with some others i'm sure, it might be good to hear of anyone who is really happy with their dropped handlebar bike/brake combo.