new bike - need help with front derailleur

[mickle]

We should be careful. Do we know where the line is between providing someone the knowledge to fix their own bike and encouraging a person with an unknown level of mechanical ability to flail at a key component of their bike with a screwdriver?

Throwing a chain or jamming a front mech into the chainset when it slips around the seat tube could put someone under a bus. It's why we have assembly standards, and training courses for cycle mechanic qualifications.

I do not know why retailers are allowed to sell bikes which are not assembled to a standard. Especially as the kind of shoot heaps sold in boxes are the very bikes which need professional help the most!

It's about time we raised peoples expectations of bicycles. Cheap equals shoot, and shoot bikes end up in sheds, but not before they've convinced yet another poor sap that bikes are shoot.

If someone is too tight to buy a decent bike from a reputable supplier I'm not sure that they deserve the benefit of our collective knowledge.

Take. It. Back To. The. Shop.

 

[Dan_h]

I disagree, I have been flailing at my bikes with a screwdriver for a long time with no training! A front mech jamming into a chainset is unlikely to put you under a bus it might make you freewheel a bit and be a little annoying.

I spent £250 on a bike from a catalogue as it is all i can afford. Many people would call it shoot, but the next time I pass someone sitting by their 2k Italian carbon dream machine on a climb half way through a sportive I will bear in mind that my bike is shoot and ought to be in a shed!

Still, to me at least fettling my own bikes is part of the fun of cycling. Each to their own I guess. It is only a bike, therefore it is meant to be fun!

Take it back to the shop or fix it yourself, it is up to you, either way the steps to answer the initial question stay the same.

 

[murrawo]

We should be careful. Do we know where the line is between providing someone the knowledge to fix their own bike and encouraging a person with an unknown level of mechanical ability to flail at a key component of their bike with a screwdriver?

Throwing a chain or jamming a front mech into the chainset when it slips around the seat tube could put someone under a bus. It's why we have assembly standards, and training courses for cycle mechanic qualifications.

I do not know why retailers are allowed to sell bikes which are not assembled to a standard. Especially as the kind of shoot heaps sold in boxes are the very bikes which need professional help the most!

It's about time we raised peoples expectations of bicycles. Cheap equals shoot, and shoot bikes end up in sheds, but not before they've convinced yet another poor sap that bikes are shoot.

If someone is too tight to buy a decent bike from a reputable supplier I'm not sure that they deserve the benefit of our collective knowledge.

Take. It. Back To. The. Shop.

mickle now you're being rude - take a look at your burst of righteous anger for crumb sake!!

too tight = totally skint because treated like white trash when my cv is deleted.
great fun , thanks for the compliment.

 

[Dan_h]

I think it is easy to forget with cycling that it is not all about spending money. Personally I blame the magazines for perpetuating this myth - £1000 is NOT affordable for everyone. I have 4 bikes...

1) My road bike - £250 mail order - around 2500 miles this year so far including a sportive and an audax.
2) My folding bike - £35 from Gumtree
3) My mountain bike - £20 from a neighbour - an original 1986 Raleigh Maverick.
4) A Raleigh P1000 hybrid, currently in pieces - bought for £135 about 8 years ago

Murrarow, don't let cycling snobbery put you off, you really don't need to spend much to have a great ride

 

[murrawo]

thanks dan,

will check out the bike tomo - if it doesn't traverse the full
range of gears properly i will have to take it back.

good advice here - and the usual strangeness we expect on the cyber thing!

george

 

[albion]

It is what happens with mail order bikes, especially from non specialist bike retailers.

And even if all correct, adjustments are usually needed to gear cables a couple of weeks after purchase to account for cable stretch.




On the changer its best to undo both screws to their maximum. Then if the adjustment barrel on the front handlebar does not allow enough movement the cable would normally simply need undoing and adjusting at the front dérailleur.

 

[mickle]

Don't get me wrong, I am all for inexpensive bikes. My objection is with the retailers who want to cash in on cycling's popularity by selling sub standard products and selling them unassembled.

What else is wrong with the OP's bike? Are his bearings maladjusted so that they'll fail a few months down the road? Are his spokes so badly tensioned that the wheels will develop a wobble from which it wont recover? Are the rear drop-outs so mis-aligned so that they'll eventually wreck the rear axle? Is the rear derailleur limit screw set so that it cannot end up in the spokes? Are the brake pivots, pedals, seatpost etc greased so that they'll not seize after a couple of winter months?

We don't know. But these are the kind of everyday problems which you'll find on the kind of ordinary regular bikes that are sold via bike shops and which are assembled by qualified mechanics. What hope for the OP and others with even less mechanical ability?

 

[cyberknight]

Sorry i did not get to you with more details of how to get your bike to work , busy busy

Although i think Mickle could have been a bit more tactful i do agree with the spirit of his replies as the bike should have been sold working , any fiddling might cause problems with warranty depending on how funny they want to be.

Nothing wrong with cheap bikes at all, i ride a "cheap " bike for commuting and have a free one which i got working myself.Like many i came back to cycling after many years and untill i started doing maintenance myself the last job i had done on a bike was changing a tyre using kitchen spoons for tyre levers.

I hope you get your bike sorted and it gives you many miles of pleasure .

 

[marzjennings]

But Mickle makes a very valid point that, regardless of the price of a bike it should be supplied in a working condition. Spokes tight, rims true, frame straight, brakes and mechs adjusted correctly. And why it's worth putting up a bit more cash and buy from a reputable BIKE shop. At least when buying from a local shop you can always take it back if things are not working from new.

i think now with all the messing about with the OP's bike any chance of a warrenty return has gone, I wouldn't except a return where I could see tool marks. Plus while diy maintenance is cool, it should not be required on a new bike and especially not attempted if you don't have a clue what you are doing.

 

[the snail]

But Mickle makes a very valid point that, regardless of the price of a bike it should be supplied in a working condition. Spokes tight, rims true, frame straight, brakes and mechs adjusted correctly. And why it's worth putting up a bit more cash and buy from a reputable BIKE shop. At least when buying from a local shop you can always take it back if things are not working from new.

i think now with all the messing about with the OP's bike any chance of a warrenty return has gone, I wouldn't except a return where I could see tool marks. Plus while diy maintenance is cool, it should not be required on a new bike and especially not attempted if you don't have a clue what you are doing.

All true. If it was a simple adjustment I wouldn't take it back, but as the OP doesn't know how to do it, it makes more sense to get the seller to fix it, rather than risk voiding the warranty.