[chrisbird616]

A bit of a Noob question, apologies.

I turned an occasional habit to a routine one last year and started cycling the 6 miles to work on my 25 year old Halfords Apollo hybrid every day, even through the winter.

As it became a habit I started going out on small jaunts in the evenings on weekends in the rough hill roads and tracks around where I live and on the way home from work. Started enjoying cycling just for the sake of it and got fitter.

My Apollo bike was starting to get more of a maintenance problem than it was worth, so I decided to get myself a modestly priced gravel bike for both commuting and weekend leisure. Right in the middle of the Great Bike Shortage of 2020. I couldn’t get the Boardman bike I wanted until December, so in August I ordered a cheaper Voodoo Nakisi gravel bike from Halfords instead (yes, I know other bike shops are available, but tbh they were not accomodating).

I really enjoy riding it as it is loads of fun. But I have been back and forth to Halfords almost every other week since I got it – details available on request as I won’t bore everybody by listing them here.

Currently, both wheels have very noticable wobbles in them. Nothing major, just annoying at present and I know they will have to be sorted. The front wheel I’ve already had straightened by Halfords once, about two weeks after I got the bike.

My question is, is this normal or a result of buying a cheapish bike with budget wheels? I’m not exactly testing the tolerances of the engineering IMO as I’m only back and forth on roads to work in the week and on tarmac (but rough) roads on the weekend. I’ve gone on gravel or MTB type tracks literally twice since I had the bike. I don’t think the wheels have had any bangs other than what you might expect from rough roads.

Are regular wheel wobbles something to be expected or have I got bit of a dud of a bike? Or am I maybe riding it too much like the 100kg oaf that I am? 

Topic

[TheBillder]

My immediate thought was that
My immediate thought was that you need to get to the LBS because whilst Halfords are good at supply chains and mass marketing, they are very variable on spannering skills. Some good people but I get the impression that this is despite their employer, not because of it.

But your consumer rights are all with Halfords and it’s worth keeping going on at them. They sold you a bike (and wheels) that should be of merchantable quality, and it sounds as if they are not. There are plenty of strong cheap wheels (they sell some I think) and plenty of 100 kg riders, so they ought to be able to get this right, even if they can’t get the OEM wheels to work properly.

I’m aware of a few budget brands that have gone too far on cost saving on wheels – judging by customer reviews, the French shop that sounds like Daley Thompson’s favourite place is not immune from this. It’s much easier to market a carbon frame or nicer groupset than better wheels at the budget end.

Good luck.

[chrisbird616]

It was a bit of a shame. My

It was a bit of a shame. My most local LBS is really nice and accommodating but just seemed to be struggling in terms of his suppliers. My big LBS shutdown completely during lockdown as it decided to swivel to online only for a bit, and only recently re-opened. They didn’t have much stock, either.

Halfords were much the same, I was just looking online with them a lot and saw that they suddenly had stock of a bike I could get almost immediately.

[don simon fbpe]

Got to start somewhere…

Got to start somewhere…

[mdavidford]

don simon fbpe wrote:

Shall we start a bottom bracket thread?

Would that be a threaded bottom bracket thread?

[Anonymous]

“yes, I know other bike shops

“yes, I know other bike shops are available, but tbh they were not accomodating” – 1-0 to Halfords vs LBS.  They can all improve on their customer service skills. Bike snobbery is the dumbest thing I’ve ever come across

[don simon fbpe]

I feel your pain. I’m

I feel your pain. I’m stripping a rear Campagnolo Zonda and a Campagnolo lite (Fulcrum) for bearing renewal. Zonda freehub slips off easy as anything, Fulcrum budget freehub is a screwfit. Screwfit is a bikeshop job as my shoulder isn’t up to the job.

I recall the disc brake and tubeless shenanigans on the mountain bikes a few years ago.

I haven’t started on the axle confusion yet.

Shall we start a bottom bracket thread?

[Awavey]

yes and tbf they are usually

yes and tbf they are usually rubbish wheels, or at least the hubs are,the wheels themselves maybe ok,but thats how they keep the bike price down.

Its just I bought a set of new wheels for my bike recently and they turned up setup for thru axles, and my bike takes QR skewers, so ok swap the axle end caps around,but thats not as easy as it sounds with the rear hub likely to explode into pieces if you pull too hard on the wrong bits, then its got centre lock discs which my original wheels didnt have, and then there are even two versions of centre lock lockring for discs, because hey just having one method of securing a disc to a wheel is so last year…and I thought all Id have to do is fit an inner tube with a tyre and it would be job done…oh yeah the wheels also came tubeless ready so I had to remove the tubeless valves, and remember where I end up putting them just in case I decide one day to go tubeless so I dont then have to buy replacements.which no doubt by then will come in a different diameter or some such other bike nonsense 🙂

[pablo]

Sometimes even with wheels

Sometimes even with wheels more expensive than the total cost of your bike you can get a badly tensioned set.  I had a Shimano set on a bought bike that were out of true in a couple of weeks.  I would just retrue them or take it back to Halfords for a trueing.  As for gear tuning unusally i haven’t touched a bike this year normally i have to do a bit of tweaking and i’m just under 6.5k for the year.  The only tuning that should really be required is cable tension which can be adjusted with the barrel adjusters unless you knock the derailleur.  As we’ve had a very decent summer bike maintainance has been pretty minimal other than cleaning.  Winter being here now i expect way more maintainance for far fewer miles.  

[don simon fbpe]

You get little or no choice

You get little or no choice on the wheels that come with the bike, the replacement set you select by brand and reputation, greater chance of getting a good wheel.

You’ve got this old fogie on the axle thing though…. I’d forgotten about that marketing malarkey!

[ktache]

That just seem to be a bit of

That just seem to be a bit of paint wear on that, when a chainring wears it gets proper pointy.

They are “ramped” to enable the gears to change.

I got a very old and faded 90ish purple middleburn big ring.  Ebay, it was purple. All the teeth are the same and there is quite a knack of getting the chain onto it.

[chrisbird616]

Like the chainring on my old

Like the chainring on my old bike!

[mtbtomo]

I wouldn’t worry about the
I wouldn’t worry about the chainring either. The teeth often aren’t regular heights to aid pick up when shifting gears.

They start to look more like shark fins when they are properly worn rather than being different heights.

[Awavey]

Unless the gears/chain are
Unless the gears/chain are skipping under load I wouldnt worry yet about the chain ring, my gravel bike has irregular shaped teeth all round as it’s claimed to aid gear shifting under load on irregular terrains, and I doubt I’ll ever be able to look at it and judge if its worn properly or not unless it goes needle point sharp

[Awavey]

Agreed, though even new
Agreed, though even new wheels can open up just as much pain given the cycling world cant seem to standardise on a single setup for anything and you get multiple axles,multiple hubs,multiple brake setups & fitting systems, requiring multiple tools…I often think it would be cheaper sometimes just to buy a new bike

[chrisbird616]

Found a picture of my 2 month

Found a picture of my 2 month old big chain ring.

[Author]

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