New (cheap!) Halfords bike – damaged by them putting it together? – a few newbie qus

[mrBishboshed]

Sounds like a bit of a mare, when all you really want to do is get out and ride in this fine October weather.

Good luck, I hope you sort it soon.

 

[Roadrider48]

Just picked up my new Carrera TDF as a commuter bike and an intro to road biking (never been on a road bike before!).

Just spent an evening fitting lights, reflectors, mud guards, helicopter tape to protect various bits etc.

Last thing I did was to attempt to fit my clip in pedals but they had fitted the standards ones in so tight that I had to use a 1 metre extension bar on the spanner to undo the Crank Arm – it was so tight it has ground into the Crank arm metal by a good mm (ie where the pedal meets the crank arm).

One new pedal fitted OK but on the other (non sprocket side) the thread has been damaged and I cannot get the new pedal back on.

So my qus:
- Halfords sell a LHS replacement crank arm – its only £5.99. Will this be an adequate replacement (ie as good as the old one)??
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_792663_langId_-1_categoryId_165545

- Will my Aldi ‘crank arm remover’ do the job?

- How do I know how well / badly they have set the bike up? The tyres were down on pressure, there seems to be no grease on the chain, handlebar tape is a bit slap-dash etc. Are they incapable of actually doing this or just lazy? Do I need to take it elsewhere to be set-up? I don’t know enough about bikes to know if the gears/brakes are well set-up.

I would rather not return the bike due to having fitted everything and I’m keen to start using it this week (plus it has come with the later shifters and a replacement may not)

TIA!

As Dan says. Seeing as it's new, make them do it for free!!

 

[da_murphster]

Well, credit where credit due - Halfords were very good. Seems that its sheer chance on who is working but the guy there knew bikes and how to service them etc.

They attempted to re-thread the crank no no avail so then swapped out my crank with a bike on display.

I also voiced my concerns about how the bike had been setup (or not) so they stuck it in the stand and re-did it (it was all over the place - everything catching, gears not lined up etc)

All done on the spot dispite them being busy - I was in at 7 and left with fixed bike 45mins later.

They do assemble the bike in store and are told to do up the crank tight enough to 'burr the metal' - the guy yesterday said he didnt agree with that but the monkey that put my bike together (they knew exactly who it was) was doing as he was told.

Cycled in this morning - whay hay!

 

[Doyleyburger]

Had the same issue with halfords.
Picked up my bike from store and didn't really check it, was eager to get home and get out on the damn thing !
Turns out when I got it back the handlebars where at least a 20degree angle away from being straight, the brake pads when compressed were on the tyres and not the rims, and the chain was constantly running on the derailer and like yours the tyre pressure was down significantly. I emailed halfords and I got a £15 voucher ( woohoo !!!!!.... Not )
I debated taking mine somewhere else for its first service but as it was free I decided to see if halfords could redeem themselves ...... no they couldn't. It came back worse than when it went in. They even dropped my bars by a one spacer......why the hell would they do that without me asking them to. My daughter is due a new bike for Xmas this year but I will be ordering it online from somewhere else. Plus when I come to upgrade my bike in a year it two I will not be going to halfords, where I originally thought I'd get a carbon Boardman !

 

[Nick Stone]

You can get the Boardmans at other retailers now

 

[Hip Priest]

Been there.

My Carrera has been great, but I had to get the LBS to set it up properly. Gears, brakes, cables...etc were all set up badly.

 

[02GF74]

forget about retapping the thread - sounds like there is not eough metal to hold it in place.

replace th crank arm -but if you have square taper bottom brake spindle, ensure the orientation of the square hole is th same for both cranks, otherwise L and R cranks will not be diametrically oposite.

 

[da_murphster]

Been there.

My Carrera has been great, but I had to get the LBS to set it up properly. Gears, brakes, cables...etc were all set up badly.

How do I know if its set up well or not?

Gears work, brakes work, nothing is rubbing?

Need to figure out angle handlebars should be at (seem too high to me) and not figured out correct height and seat position yet.

 

[Hip Priest]

How do I know if its set up well or not?

If everything works properly, you're fine.

On mine, the gears weren't indexed correctly, the brakes were spongy and there was about 6 inches of spare cable everywhere.

 

[RFATaff]

I got a Carrera from Halfords in Ayr and they set it up properly! They even measured me up so that the bike was set up for me rather than a generic fit. I think the experience with halfords varied greatly from store to store.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

It's possible to rethread a crank arm that's badly damaged....

But a helicoil insert costs more than a crank arm, so it would be a pointless exercise. A bit like a Halfords service.