New Bike has issues, what to do

[vickster]

I'm not hard to please, all I want is a functional bike, but it seems more difficult than it should me,
now under a month a go I bought a Canyon CF SL online of course, sight unseen, and every single
thing worked on it when it arrived, only had to slot in front wheel, sit on and align handlebars,
now I did check every other nut and bolt, and not a single inconsistency, I will buy a Canyon again
in their sale, can't be bothered with people or products that are not what they are supposed to be. I have an issue with Canyon though that I only recently discovered, they use non standard headset bearings, which are expensive,
expensive is ok, but, some are only getting 800 / 1200 miles out of them, not that is not
good at all.
Now saying that,

Make sure you put helicopter tape under all of the cables to stop them marking the paintwork (a common issue with Boardman and indeed potentially all new bikes)

 

[User65906]

Make sure you put helicopter tape under all of the cables to stop them marking the paintwork (a common issue with Boardman and indeed potentially all new bikes)

Too late for heli tape.
Halfords called, said bike is ready, they replaced two spokes,
and derailleur cable, and moved the left shifter cable to the left
side of the head tube.
Drove in to town, looked at the cables going around the head tube,
I asked, is this how the bike comes with cables that are in all honesty
too short and still rubbing on the frame, he said we can put on longer
ones, so I do not know if Halfords had any part in putting on the ultra
short cables of if they came with the bike in the box.

Wheeled the bike to the car, put it in the car, seats fold and loads of room for it,
was then I noticed they put a deep gouge in the rubber shifter cover,
left boot open and asked the guy who said he did the work to explain how
a perfectly new boot had now a hole almost through it, in a place he did
not even need to be working,
he took the bike out of the car, and tried to say it wasn't through, I said I know that,
but it wont be long until it is, he could not explain how it got there, it was on the inner
side of the boot, so even more difficult to put there.
And thanks to the bright sun today, three marks on the two chain-stays glistened,
two on the derailleur side where he replaced the cable, and one mark on the opposite
chain stay, where he had no work to carry out at all.

I said, you know what, its time for a refund, you have managed to turn a bike with not
a single mark on it into one that is getting more damaged every time Halfords come near
it, he said no problem, the manager refunded me, all the staff were in a tizzy, none of them
could look at me at all.

So disappointed, the Halfords team managed to mess up a bike that looked amazing,
you would have thought it was Carbon it looked so well finished,
it rode amazing, the gearing was perfect for the roads I be on,
the wheels were a little slower than narrow ones, but I knew this going in,
but they were fantastic on the badly surfaced roads I took it on last night.

A great bike for the money, well designed, well finished, maybe a tad expensive,
but ultimately worthless because of Halfords.

 

[Cycleops]

Do what to do now?

 

[User65906]

Do what to do now?

That is the one Cycleops.
The ADV ticked all the boxes for me, but it ended up like a used bike for new money,
I gave Halfords a chance, and never again, their staff talk in huddles all day long,
every time you see them they are eating or drinking together in groups, laughing,
sniggering and looking down at customers.
There was a different manager there 5 /6 years ago, when I bought three bikes,
and not a single issue on any of them, nothing at all wrong with any of them,
that is why I tried them again, but being in and out over the years I could see their
antics, and pretty much expected what I got, if I had of took the bike on day one
when I initially looked it over, then they would have had no opportunity to mess it up,
but from day one, I had an inkling they would screw up, I asked them not to build it,
yet they did, I knew then they weren't even capable of understanding a customers request,
I was paying for a non built bike, stated that, and if they listened none of the problems with
the bike would have occurred.
EDIT, Correction to the above, the handle bars on one bike rotated as I wheeled it down
the floor, but other than aligning them, myself, no other issues at all.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I hear all sorts of sorry tales involving new stuff like this. Strangely, the only two times in my life I have ever bought a new bike they were both perfect and just needed saddle/handlebar adjustments with no issues of damage or mis-assembly. The most recent occasion was about 33 years ago though, maybe the calibre of staff employed in bike shops isn't what it used to be!
TBH, aggro like this seems so common now I don't see any advantage whatsoever in buying new when there's a good chance there will be a problem discovered that requires fixing. At least when you buy used you are only paying a fraction of the new price, so a couple of faults needing to be sorted is all par for the course.

 

[User65906]

I hear all sorts of sorry tales involving new stuff like this. Strangely, the only two times in my life I have ever bought a new bike they were both perfect and just needed saddle/handlebar adjustments with no issues of damage or mis-assembly. The most recent occasion was about 33 years ago though, maybe the calibre of staff employed in bike shops isn't what it used to be!
TBH, aggro like this seems so common now I don't see any advantage whatsoever in buying new when there's a good chance there will be a problem discovered that requires fixing. At least when you buy used you are only paying a fraction of the new price, so a couple of faults needing to be sorted is all par for the course.

Indeed, it is almost impossible in my area to find good staff, no matter what environment
you work in, I attended many training courses over the years, and to almost everyone else
there they were an excuse to mess around, annoy the instructors and generally get in the
way of those who do want to progress, fast forward to now, these fine specimens are employed
around me, with no values, skills or interest in anything,
they do however survive in vast numbers thus they do not see themselves
for they are only competing with others lets say as intelligent as themselves,
end times cant be far off, this circus can't continue without imploding.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Employment practices do bear some of the blame though. Poor pay & conditions,, zero hours contracts, no sick pay etc.
When I started my job it was regarded as a job for life if you wanted to stay that long. My employer invested a very large amount of money in training me straight from school, with no guarantee that I would stay afterwards. However, because you had a good pension, holidays, sick pay, overtime & unsocial hours premiums, it was worth being loyal.
I regularly now see new staff get taken on, under far worse contracts than mine, they get "trained" (if you can call it that) stay a year or two, then leave to work for someone else - usually a rival company. My employer is now kept going by an ever-declining number of very experienced and well-trained staff, who are gradually being replaced by an expanding pool of ill-trained and less committed staff with a far higher attrition rate. The senior managers who chose to try and dumb things down and pay as little as possible, have brought the unfolding situation they will face in the coming years, entirely on themselves.

 

[bpsmith]

If we added up the posts about problematic brand new bikes, and compared that to the number of CC members, I wonder what the ratio would be?

I am guessing it would be pretty low.

 

[PaulSB]

Support your LBS.

 

[Kajjal]

Halfords is very hit and miss with their bike mechanics. It is only due to luck you get one in your local store that has some idea what they are doing. Not their fault just a symptom of a cheaper business model.

 

[bpsmith]

Cheaper business model based on everyone wanting cheaper products?

 

[User65906]

Cheaper business model based on everyone wanting cheaper products?

Not any more, they have bikes in their that cost as much as Trek Cannondale and many other brands.
In fact it has nothing to do with cost, in my case it all had to do with damaging a very well designed
and put together bike,
another fact, I previously bought three other bikes from Halfords, all were perfect,
cheapest on was 450, dearest was 600, they were bought 5 to 6 years ago,
they could be called budget bikes, depending on deep your pockets are,
but they still functioned very well, and had no faults.

I not about a customer getting a cheaper product, its more about companies getting greedier
by the day, they are now getting their products built in countries where labour is very cheap,
they can get their frames made a lot cheaper too, the only thing they can't manipulate too
much are component manufacturers, for just like them selves, these companies are keeping
their prices up, they call it business, but a lot if it is greed.

I bought a Canyon a few weeks back, no problems with it, I bought the Boardman, no problems
with it, I left it in Halfords until as I tried to arrange discount credits, during this time they started
to scratch it up, and continued until I eventually said enough is enough and asked for my 1200 back,
these people are a walking disaster, no two ways about it.

 

[User65906]

Halfords is very hit and miss with their bike mechanics. It is only due to luck you get one in your local store that has some idea what they are doing. Not their fault just a symptom of a cheaper business model.

Oh every bit of what happened in my case was the fault of the Halfords staff,
they chipped paint off the wheels and the frame, put a large indentation in the
rubber boot that covers the sifters, and put the cables on the wrong side of the
head tube.

 

[User65906]

Support your LBS.

I am trying to, just found a Cube dealer locally, will visit him at the weekend.

 

[bpsmith]

Not any more, they have bikes in their that cost as much as Trek Cannondale and many other brands.
In fact it has nothing to do with cost, in my case it all had to do with damaging a very well designed
and put together bike,
another fact, I previously bought three other bikes from Halfords, all were perfect,
cheapest on was 450, dearest was 600, they were bought 5 to 6 years ago,
they could be called budget bikes, depending on deep your pockets are,
but they still functioned very well, and had no faults.

I not about a customer getting a cheaper product, its more about companies getting greedier
by the day, they are now getting their products built in countries where labour is very cheap,
they can get their frames made a lot cheaper too, the only thing they can't manipulate too
much are component manufacturers, for just like them selves, these companies are keeping
their prices up, they call it business, but a lot if it is greed.

I bought a Canyon a few weeks back, no problems with it, I bought the Boardman, no problems
with it, I left it in Halfords until as I tried to arrange discount credits, during this time they started
to scratch it up, and continued until I eventually said enough is enough and asked for my 1200 back,
these people are a walking disaster, no two ways about it.

You missed my point. It wasn’t about the bikes being cheap/rubbish as that’s not my opinion. My point was that they pay less to keep costs down in order to sell their stuff at the prices that people are prepared to pay.

If what you’re saying about greed is to be believed, then these companies must be making increased profits over previous years, rather than trying to maintain the same profit level. I see no evidence of such chains making bigger profits recently. The opposite, if anything, is true.