Who builds new bikes ?

[upsidedown]

Do bikes turn up at shops ready assembled or needing some degree of building? I ask as my Dahon Cadenza had the bottom fold joint fall apart yesterday, luckily i was unfolding it on the train at the time and not riding it.
When i looked tonight the bottom joint had been assembled with the spring on the wrong side of the pivot, so that it was pushing the screw out.
The back wheel also had to be replaced because (so i was told) the spokes were straight to the rim and not crossed, so kept coming loose.

Luckily i've been able to sort it myself as the shop i bought it from seem unable to answer the phone (at any of their 3 branches) or reply to an email, funnily enough i got through on the sales line, but when they heard what it was about they transferred me to the engaged line, brilliant.

 

[monnet]

It depends. In your case it sounds like it's probably the manufacturer. The bike shops usually just bolt a few key bits together.

I recently bought a Scott road bike new and that, I was told, was built up in Belgium. This explained why the brakes were 'in the continental style'. Though I then asked for different wheels, groupset and stem so the LBS effectively built it up anyway!

 

[mickle]

Dahons are not without their assembly problems.

It's illegal to sell a bike in this country with the brakes set up for the other side of the road.

 

[Aperitif]

Dahons are not without their assembly problems.

It's illegal to sell a bike in this country with the brakes set up for the other side of the road.

Interesting Mickle - because the Planet X emails offer the 'English' or the 'Continental' setup when one specifies a build...

(Both my bikes are continental BTW)

 

[spandex]

As mickle said it is Illegal to sell a cycle in this country with the brakes the wrong way round.

 

[Aperitif]

Don't doubt it spandex:

Rear brake setup
Only applicable if you're selecting the "build it for me" option
Rear brake LEFT - like normal
Rear brake RIGHT - like the Euros

Just went to my inbox for a moment...

 

[monnet]

Two observations on the brake set up.

1) Prior to changing the groupset I was given the choice of switching the brakes back to UK style, so he wasn't going to sell it to me in the continental style regardless. That said, given the nuimber of folk I know who ride continental (especially racers) it was worth him checking.

2) Surely the illegality falls into the same bracket as reflectors on pedals etc. ie. pretty pointless, unenforced legislation made all the more difficult by the way people buy bikes to be built up (either by the shop or at home).