Faulty gears and bike starting to rust only brought 10wks ago.

doodlesmum

Hi,

We brought a mountain bike from Halfords on 24/11/09 for our son to do his paper round by time we had brought the lights it was not much under £200 so we thought we had brought a decent bike :eek:
As my title states 10wks on patches of rust have appeared on the bike and the gears are playing up.The bike is stored inside never been left outside in the rain and has never been left standing wet he has looked after it.
My question is i rang the Halfords i brought it from and got well bikes do rust yes i appreciate after time they would but 10wks :eek: if that case how is it going be in a couple of months and he also said has bike had it 3mth check er no it 10wks when i said about gears i have to take the bike in for them to look at on Monday after work not particulary impressed the shop is twenty miles away fourty mile round trip and he really seemed like he was trying to fob me off on the phone.

I feel this is not acceptable for a bike this new would be grateful for any advice or if anyone else has ever had issue like this.

Doodlesmum.

chrisb1357

Good you share some pics of the area you are taking about on the bike

Chris

cyberbob

Gears sometimes need some minor adjustment. What do you mean by playing up? Also where are the rust patches?

4743hudsonj

FYI No bike even sub £500 should ever be deemed "decent" average at best (with a bike like giants stp2 or brass)

I assume your son did his paper round in the snow? this will have caused the rust, even the best of bikes sometimes fall foul to snow. This has no reflection on the quality on the bike and could be construed as improper care (i suppose he failed to use some water dispersal daily on all the mechanisms during the snow? of course he did, otherwise it wouldn't have rusted)

As for gears, sub 500 bikes always have poorer gear alignment, sub 300 bikes are horrendus at the best of times and you will always have at least 2-3 gears skip if not more depending on make and model. Also the cables do stretch over time causing the gears to constantly change. This isnt a fault either.

I sell bikes at my work (not halfords, i despise them) but in this instance they are correct. Any retailer of manufacturer would put the rust down to improper care due to no use of water dispersal. The gears alignments are just traits of an inferior bike. As ever you get what you pay for and bikes are unfortunately construed by the public as being cheap £1-200 items that will last for donkeys years.

My advice, get some sand paper, strip the paint, use rust treatment K-rust is good, and re paint the bike. As for the gears get them to align them again and hope they dont shift more.

OR ask for a replacement, if you do get this though it will be exactly the same so dont hold your breath for one.

SailorSam

Anything you buy must be fit for purpose

Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet - BIS

4743hudsonj

SailorSam wrote: »

Anything you buy must be fit for purpose

Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet - BIS

this bike is most definitely fit for purpose. Satisfactory quality would be more suitable but even then, the rust is down to improper care and the gear alignment is just the tell tail sign of any cheap bike.

exup

4743hudsonj wrote: »

FYI No bike even sub £500 should ever be deemed "decent" average at best (with a bike like giants stp2 or brass)

I assume your son did his paper round in the snow? this will have caused the rust, even the best of bikes sometimes fall foul to snow. This has no reflection on the quality on the bike and could be construed as improper care (i suppose he failed to use some water dispersal daily on all the mechanisms during the snow? of course he did, otherwise it wouldn't have rusted)

As for gears, sub 500 bikes always have poorer gear alignment, sub 300 bikes are horrendus at the best of times and you will always have at least 2-3 gears skip if not more depending on make and model. Also the cables do stretch over time causing the gears to constantly change. This isnt a fault either.

I disagree -personally I wouldnt have bought a bike from Halfords or similar (motor world etc) so I asked my MTB mate for advice as he is self confessed bike snob and owns a £1000+ bike. He suggested a Giant Rock (or Boulder for a bit more money) and I found one at Dales Cycles in Glasgow for 160 (although they had increased in price last time I checked their site).
Nothing wrong with the bike at all, despite using it mainly on road and cycle routes and recreational off roading.

4743hudsonj

exup wrote: »

I disagree -personally I wouldnt have bought a bike from Halfords or similar (motor world etc) so I asked my MTB mate for advice as he is self confessed bike snob and owns a £1000+ bike. He suggested a Giant Rock (or Boulder for a bit more money) and I found one at Dales Cycles in Glasgow for 160 (although they had increased in price last time I checked their site).
Nothing wrong with the bike at all, despite using it mainly on road and cycle routes and recreational off roading.

Giant arnt actually bad, dont think much to the rock but boulder and as i mentioned brass and stp are very good for the money. If i were to buy a sub 500 bike it would be giant all the way as their quality for this price band are in a league of their own.

despite all this, if you dont use water dispersal in snow or heavy rain, your chain WILL rust. My brothers stp2 was brand new for xmas and over his paper rounds in the snow, his chain and rear sprocket has rusted beyond belief because like the op he failed to use Water dispersal.. Its common sense tbh, water plus steel equals rust unless you do something about it.

Basically this is like getting a car and saying its faulty because you fail to take care of it by checking and maintaining fluids and failing to wash and wax the car to protect the metal and paintwork from the weather.

doodlesmum

4743hudsonj wrote: »

FYI No bike even sub £500 should ever be deemed "decent" average at best (with a bike like giants stp2 or brass)

I assume your son did his paper round in the snow? this will have caused the rust, even the best of bikes sometimes fall foul to snow. This has no reflection on the quality on the bike and could be construed as improper care (i suppose he failed to use some water dispersal daily on all the mechanisms during the snow? of course he did, otherwise it wouldn't have rusted)

As for gears, sub 500 bikes always have poorer gear alignment, sub 300 bikes are horrendus at the best of times and you will always have at least 2-3 gears skip if not more depending on make and model. Also the cables do stretch over time causing the gears to constantly change. This isnt a fault either.

I sell bikes at my work (not halfords, i despise them) but in this instance they are correct. Any retailer of manufacturer would put the rust down to improper care due to no use of water dispersal. The gears alignments are just traits of an inferior bike. As ever you get what you pay for and bikes are unfortunately construed by the public as being cheap £1-200 items that will last for donkeys years.

My advice, get some sand paper, strip the paint, use rust treatment K-rust is good, and re paint the bike. As for the gears get them to align them again and hope they dont shift more.

OR ask for a replacement, if you do get this though it will be exactly the same so dont hold your breath for one.

No i took him round in the car when it was snowing as we live in a rural area and the roads are not that safe for a bike and to me that sort of money is not cheap and he does look after the bike he was brought up to repect and look after what he is given.I still feel 10wks is to soon for a bike to rust.

doodlesmum

cyberbob wrote: »

Gears sometimes need some minor adjustment. What do you mean by playing up? Also where are the rust patches?

Sometimes gears will work then they wont the rust patches are on the frame work around handlebars and around framework by seat.

doodlesmum

4743hudsonj wrote: »

this bike is most definitely fit for purpose. Satisfactory quality would be more suitable but even then, the rust is down to improper care and the gear alignment is just the tell tail sign of any cheap bike.

As i stated before the bike has not been treated with improper care at all ! And you may consider nearly £200 cheap i dont.