Argos bicycle returns policy

Gavlaar

I bought a new bike from Argos approximately 3 months ago, the last time I was out riding on it the left hand pedal seemed extremely wobbly and after a few miles the crank arm fell off the shaft. I have unsuccessfully attempted to replace the crank arm back on its shaft but there is a huge amount of play in it, on inspection it appears the square tapered part of the crank arm is worn so I need a replacement crank arm

Am I within my rights to go back to Argos to ask for a replacement crank arm? Surely they shouldnt wear out in 3 months, the crank arm was already attached to the bike when I bought it so didnt require assembling by myself

valk_scot

Do you know that the left hand crank on a bike screws on with a reverse thread? This might help.

As to a replacement crank, I'd take the whole bike back and get my money back tbh. Best place to buy a bike is a proper bike shop. Even Halfords (which is barely a bike shop in my snobby opinion ) does a six week after sales checkup, where they tighten everything up once the bike has been run in a little.

wealdroam

I would say riding a bike with a 'wobbly crank' for more that a yard or two is getting close to negligence.

If you rode the bike in this condition for miles, then of course things are going to wear significantly.

Your maintenance regime should've spotted this before any real damage.

Gavlaar

wealdroam wrote: »

I would say riding a bike with a 'wobbly crank' for more that a yard or two is getting close to negligence.

If you rode the bike in this condition for miles, then of course things are going to wear significantly.

Your maintenance regime should've spotted this before any real damage.

I personally wouldnt expect a machined piece of metal to wear out on a brand new item after 3 months bearing in mind it was assembled like that on the unit prior to being sold - this seems like shoddy workmanship

wealdroam

Gavlaar wrote: »

I personally wouldnt expect a machined piece of metal to wear out on a brand new item after 3 months bearing in mind it was assembled like that on the unit prior to being sold - this seems like shoddy workmanship

As hinted in post #2, did you or anyone else do any sort of service after six weeks or so?

Maybe checking that components were correctly tightened, etc?

damsmi2002

I really wish people would learn the basics of how a bike works before throwing accusations. Just because it was attached to the bike when it arrived, doesn't mean that it was assembled. It would have came in a box and required part assembly by yourself, one part of this is to ensure that all bolts are torqued up correctly. You assumed wrongly that as it was attached that it was secure. You should have read the manual and it would have stated that it needed to be torqued to 40nm.
Also, all bikes require running in, and rechecking. As previously mentioned even halfords offer a free service after 6 weeks to ensure all has settled in correctly, did you perform this same check? If you had have correctly you would have noticed that the bolt was coming loose.
Finally, after all this has been said, a left hand crank arm will set you back £5 from halfords and is only 2 minute job to fix correctly.