What do you do when you collect your new bike?

[w00hoo_kent]

So @Hatevessel is picking up a new bike from a franchise style bike shop tomorrow morning and it's at the budget end of the price scale. This got me thinking. What would you expect the bike shop to do with your new bike when you picked it up? How much setting up? How much tinkering when you collected it? How much information about caring and maintaining it?

Don't know if this has been covered before.

Bearing in mind I knew very little about bikes when I bought my first new one, I'm not sure I'd have had the confidence to make a stand if I felt I wasn't being treated right, and we've heard the horror stories of people being told 'well, you get what you pay for' when they complain something doesn't work properly.

When handed over, the bike should be bolted together properly. All the moving bits should work without falling off or rubbing on any other bits they aren't supposed to. The gears ought to change easily and not clack away to themselves when they slot in. Cables should run smooth and not foul on anything. Bits that should be oiled, should be oiled.

After a ride round you should be able to get basic fit stuff changed, so seat and stem height if need be, but would you expect the shop to suggest the changes, or expect you to ask for them? Would you expect them to ask about tyre pressures, or just whack in the max and leave it like that?

What else would you expect as a minimum? Or should you make sure you do. What would you consider premium treatment? How does your expectation rise as you spend more money?

 

[vickster]

Yes, if buying from a shop, I'd expect it to be properly put together and for the shop to help with basic set up

 

[_aD]

Ride to the nearest cafe for tea and cake. Or possibly a milkshake, in this weather.

Last time I brought a bike I rode it around a bit to test the frame size etc., so had already tested the brakes. I gave a quick check to the wheel QRs and other vitals then rode it a few miles before going home and checking every single nut and bolt. That way it had been checked by at least two people who could have made a mistake, and was unlikely to kill me. It's all well and good to expect, and be told, that the bike has been checked, but since you'll be attaching your accessories to it anyway, you might as well discharge your duty to ensure your vehicle is roadworthy.

 

[snorri]

I would expect to get a little book of instructions to guide me on routine maintenance issues.
I would hope for the same (high) level of customer care regardless of how much I had spent.
I would hope the staff member handing over the bike would be able to evaluate my cycling knowledge and experience and give advice accordingly. eg, i would perhaps be a little offended if given instruction on tyre inflation, but realise this would be appreciated by a newbie.
Ask them about after sales service and if they will take the bike back for a checkover after you have used it for a few weeks by which time brakes, gears, etc have settled in.
You should feel free to ask any questions.How much the shop does to ensure your satisfaction will influence your choice when looking for a place to buy your next bike!

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Yes, if buying from a shop, I'd expect it to be properly put together and for the shop to help with basic set up

I just know that with my first bike I sat on it in the shop, maybe rode it a couple of hundred yards up and down the road, then put it on the car and took it home. With my second bike, and a few thousand miles of experience, I had it up on the shops turbo trainer to test the clipless peddles, got the fit moved about a bit, decided the gear indexing wasn't crisp enough and had it tinkered with and then rode it 16 miles home. The difference being that in between I had developed a much better idea of what I expected from a bike. I know my wife collected her Croix while I was away, did very similar to what I did with my first one and took it back to the shop a day later for them to completely move the levers around and re-wrap the bars because her reach was all wrong and she hadn't realised.

I'm just wondering if there's a way to help people who are where I was be where I now am (or a lot better :-) )

 

[fossyant]

I generally pull them to bits and regrease everything. That's with the two kids bikes bought from Halfords in boxes I might add. The only shop bought bike I recently bought was built up by the LBS and wasn't an off the shelf bike, so came properly assembled.

Shops generally just ensure everything is set up on off the peg bikes. They won't be regressing the stem, bars, BB and so on as that would have been assembled at factory.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I would expect it to be ding, scratch and chip free and I'd spend ages checking this.