Returning cyclist

[Mystique]

Hi there,

I have just recently started cycling again after a long break of about 16 years or so and my main motivation is to improve my general fitness. I loved cycling in my youth and soon stopped once I learnt to drive and got myself a car.

On Friday I bought myself a Carrera Subway 1 and have been quite impressed with it so far. It's very light and nimble and surprisingly quick for such a cheap bike and the build seemed surprisingly solid by Halfords standards.

However, after having rode the bike for about 30 miles this weekend I noticed that the gears started to not change properly i.e not at all in some instances. I have since adjusted the rear and front derailliers and have corrected the issue. My noob question is this, is it common in brand new bikes that they will need some adjusting once they have been ridden in for a while? I was surprised that adjustments were required after only 30 miles or so but as I'm far from experienced with bike maintenance I need to ask the question.

Ride safe,
Mark

 

[Norm]

Greetings and welcome to CC.

The cables will stretch so it isn't that surprising, although it is slightly unusual for them to need a tweak after only 30 miles.

I think that most decent bike shops would have tensioned them before fitting, so you wouldn't need to adjust them so soon, but you should get a free service at 6 weeks.

 

[HLaB]

Hiya,

By all accounts the Subway is a well reviewed bike.

As Norm says cable stretch after a few weeks is normal, most lbs shops do a free service after 6 weeks just to adjust this sort of thing. However if that was the bikes first outing it does seem a little odd.

 

[Mystique]

Yes I was surprised at how soon this was required too which is what prompted me to ask the question. Thanks for your replies btw.

I will go for a short ride tonight to ensure the adjustments I made yesterday work under a load and go from there.

All of those 30 miles that I had done were at a very slow pace without any aggressive gear changing and what not. I had my 7 year old daughter in tow the whole time so couldn't go mad.

Maybe I am another victim of a Halfords fail fit.

 

[bauldbairn]

Hello Mystique and Welcome to the CC forums.

The Carrera Subway is a good bike - there are a few CCers with them.