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Bodged service :(

by Sneaker22
Thu, Jul 23, 2015 11:09
7

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading posts here and there for the last couple weeks as I recently picked up a new road bike and I found this to be a forum I'd like to follow.

I was hoping I might be able to tap into some of the knowledge as I'm a bit of a noob (not sure of all the part names, but getting there!).

I put my bike through the workshop for its 6 week service with a well know high-street dealer, I must say I had my trepidations about doing it but as it was free with the purchase I would see what they're like. Seems my cynicism was not misdirected as 5 miles down the road I pushed through my front chain shifter to skip up to top chain ring and the chain came off 102 102 20 20 . It was at quite a lot of pressure and made quite a bang. I jumped off, put it on, thinking it was me being a bit heavy handed, but then same thing 2 more times. I then looked down as I was changing and could see I could fine tune it with the shifter to keep the gear on as the 'square' piece was clearly pushing the chain off of the front of the chain ring if I went for a full shift. This was causing the chain to rub a lot so for the rest of my cycle I just kept in the single lower gear so nothing was rubbing.

Anyway, long story short, I'm going to take the bike back to get them to sort it and so I can see how to fix for future, but I'm not sure if there has been any damage, and wondered if anyone can advise on what things could have been damaged from the high pressure chain fault. Front chain ring warping? damaged teeth? Is there anything it particular I should look for? wiggle??lol.... or should I sack taking the bike back and just watch a you tube vid and do it myself? 39 39

I'm weary about not taking it back in case there is damage that I (being a noob) don't' look for / see, and later it costs me some bucks, if you know what I mean....

Any help advise would be awesome!!!!! :=) 41 41

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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7 comments

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Sneaker22 | 9 years ago
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Thanks for all the advise everyone, really appreciate it. I suppose you know how it feels, with having the shiny new toy, and then something like that happens when you know it wasn't anything you necessarily did. Does kinda un-nerve me as to the level of ability at the workshop though as this was just a service, what if some real work needs doing.

Anyway, giving the benefit of the doubt and just going to see what happens when I take it there later today. Just hoping that it is just one of those one offs.

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bechdan | 9 years ago
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hardly fair to say its a bodged service is it

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Carter replied to bechdan | 9 years ago
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bechdan wrote:

hardly fair to say its a bodged service is it

I think it probably is fair to say that - if you ask someone to perform routine maintenance or repair work on something, and they hand it back with an added fault or defect it pretty much meets what I take from 'bodged'.

Might just be my interpretation though. In much the same way, I suppose, that I'd consider it a 'bodged' service on my car if it came out of the garage with a new fault that wasn't present when it went in.

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thesaladdays | 9 years ago
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Wouldn't worry, chains do come off on occasion and not likely to cause damage, front chainrings are really solid bits of kit and made to last for thousands upon thousands of kms.

Take it back and explain what happened, some of the more motivated staff may fix it for you right there and then if it's not too busy and they know what they're doing (and they should as it should be a simple adjustment). Check out GCN as mentioned earlier, and if you have the time sign up for a beginner's maintenance course, they tend not to be too expensive, and working on your bike is almost as fun as riding it! (as long as you don't have to work on it all the time!) 3

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Carter | 9 years ago
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Ditto the comment about 'it happens' and I'd certainly suggest taking it back to complain, but maybe to a different branch of the chain, given your confidence in the abilities of the mechanic at branch A.
I had a similar experience with 'a well known high Street retailer' who spent less than five minutes doing my 6 week service (which I'd only booked to guard against any future warranty disputes) and found my chain thrown off the inner ring the next time I was on a NSL dual carriageway - I nearly ended up under a truck!
I have since pretty much boycotted the retailer, let's call them Grevans, less for the dodgy servicing and more for their not-really-bothered approach to my complaint. Hopefully you'll have more luck with your retailer!

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FMOAB | 9 years ago
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Don't worry it's something you would have experienced sometime anyway 105

The problem appears to be one of the shop not road testing the changes they made. Changes made on the workstand don't necessarily reflect reflect performance on the road. I'd take it back and ask them to fix it, if they don't know they got it wrong and never get the chance to fix it, how will they ever improve. If it's any consolation, what they got wrong is likely to amount to a half turn of a screw.

I agree with Poptart about using the web to learn how to do it yourself, but as a new cyclist I doubt that you'll (yet) have the workstand that they all assume you'll have. (Get one the next time that Aldi or Lidl are selling them)

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Poptart242 | 9 years ago
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Sounds like they've set the front derailleur too far out (moved it to the right as you look down from the saddle). Not too sure about damage - check the chain rings out yourself and if they seem ok they probs are. Check anything the chain may have hit also, and the chain itself.

Front derailleurs aren't too difficult to adjust yourself though - check out something like GCN's videos on YouTube. Bit fiddly sometime to get just right but it's all experience.

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