Egged Wheel After Halfrauds Touched It

[scott21]

Hey all

basically my rear hub was destroyed and i delaced the wheel but before doing that the wheel was true and round. all the spokes was nearly flush with top of the nipples.

i relaced the wheel onto a new hub which was same as the old 1 so the flange etc was the same. I left no tension in the spokes i took the wheel to halfrauds and had it sorted but they guy who done the work claims he tried everything to remove the egg but could not do it also some spokes are half way into the nipples and some vary between 5-10mm.

how can i get rid of the egg as its proving to be a nightmare setting the maggies up.

sorry for going on

[CalopS]

Take it to a proper bike shop and see what they think?

[scott21]

Take it to a proper bike shop and see what they think?

I took it to both the lbs 1 said yer we can sort it out £25 and the other said he shouldnt be aloud to true wheels and it will cost £7-12.

[trials owns]

Seems about right for halfords from what ive heard, How much have they charged? personally id lossen all the nipples up and taking it to a experienced builder in a bike shop Even though it means having to pay twice

[scott21]

Seems about right for halfords from what ive heard, How much have they charged? personally id lossen all the nipples up and taking it to a experienced builder in a bike shop Even though it means having to pay twice

I think i will have to do that i dont like the idea of paying twice but if its going to be built the way its meant to be then i suppose its worth it.

halfrauds charged £10

[Pete.M]

Sounds like you could do a better job yourself. Or would you prefer a professional did it?

Edited December 9, 2011 by Pete.M

[Carlperkins]

are you 100% sure the lacing pattern was the same? im assuming that as you managed to lace it yourself its the same, but just thought id ask anyway.

and if i were you i would just get a spoke key and practice truing it yourself, its worth learning, a few quid now will save you having to pay others to do it in the future.

[Mark W]

It seems a lot of Halfords stores basically just don't have good mechanics. By contrast, most local bike shops do by virtue of the fact that to work in one you generally have to be interested in bikes. If you want anything technical done, go to your local bike shop - you'll almost always be better off. I know of a Halfords who couldn't work out how to assemble someone's headset so they told them that it was all wrong and they should complain. The same person took their bike to a local shop, they took one look at the bike, sorted it out instantly and didn't even charge the guy.

[Martin Reynolds]

It seems a lot of Halfords stores basically just don't have good mechanics. By contrast, most local bike shops do by virtue of the fact that to work in one you generally have to be interested in bikes. If you want anything technical done, go to your local bike shop - you'll almost always be better off. I know of a Halfords who couldn't work out how to assemble someone's headset so they told them that it was all wrong and they should complain. The same person took their bike to a local shop, they took one look at the bike, sorted it out instantly and didn't even charge the guy.

I've had that before, where my local bike shop fitted my headset cups upside down (long story) then the boss did it the right way, then didn't charge me for it. I wouldn't trust halfords for shit!

[onza pro series guy]

It seems a lot of Halfords stores basically just don't have good mechanics. By contrast, most local bike shops do by virtue of the fact that to work in one you generally have to be interested in bikes.

So very true a store manger by my way calls chainstays rear forks! There are normally one or two employees per store who are interested and actually technically minded but all the others are just randomers. The worst thing I have ever experienced is a bikehut manager dropping a headset press on my shiny new Fourplay frame, there was swearing!

[scott21]

Sounds like you could do a better job yourself. Or would you prefer a professional did it?

are you 100% sure the lacing pattern was the same? im assuming that as you managed to lace it yourself its the same, but just thought id ask anyway.

and if i were you i would just get a spoke key and practice truing it yourself, its worth learning, a few quid now will save you having to pay others to do it in the future.

it is something i would like to learn to do save me money in the future.i will have a look an see if i have any old wheels i can practice on

[winchman]

Small bike shops will be passionate about bikes, some Halfords people see it as just a job.

When you go in ask the wheel builder "how do I know you are any good"? Based on his reply you should be able to tell

[aener]

Having you guys all say LBSs are better than Halfords makes me feel bad.

When I was still new to trials and scared of bleeding a Magura in case I did it wrong and broke it ( ) I took it to one of mine, where they told me "No mate, you can only get hydraulic discs. No such thing as a hydraulic rim brake" [chuckle chuckle with a condescending smirk upon his grey-bearded face].

He continued to claim as such even when I lifted my hand between our faces where I had it looped up.

They're good for everything else though. No-one had the spoke length I needed, so they cut some longer ones down and cut new threads in to the ends for no extra charge.

[winchman]

Having had a good think anbout this.

You gave halfords a new hub, spokes and a used but true rim?

If so they clearly didnt sort in so I would say under the sale of goods act you are entitld to a refund as the work was not satisfactory.

It didnt have an egg in it when it went, I assume he didnt point out "Oh I might make a mess of this and charge you anyway"?

You should then be entitld to damages IE the cost of the rim if it cant be repaired plus the cost of having th wheel rebuilt.

If you call your local trading standards they will advise and its all free.

Then write to Halfords head office, ( you could try going in to the store and politly asking for this to be sorted, as you gave them a good set of components for them to assemble and they didnt do it, charged you and possibly damaged the bits)

You may well have to allow them one last chance at repair TS will advise but from memory its repair or replace at your disdression on new items but not certain with this as its a service not an actual thing.

[scott21]

Having had a good think anbout this.

You gave halfords a new hub, spokes and a used but true rim?

If so they clearly didnt sort in so I would say under the sale of goods act you are entitld to a refund as the work was not satisfactory.

It didnt have an egg in it when it went, I assume he didnt point out "Oh I might make a mess of this and charge you anyway"?

You should then be entitld to damages IE the cost of the rim if it cant be repaired plus the cost of having th wheel rebuilt.

If you call your local trading standards they will advise and its all free.

Then write to Halfords head office, ( you could try going in to the store and politly asking for this to be sorted, as you gave them a good set of components for them to assemble and they didnt do it, charged you and possibly damaged the bits)

You may well have to allow them one last chance at repair TS will advise but from memory its repair or replace at your disdression on new items but not certain with this as its a service not an actual thing.

cheers for the advise. the guy who done my wheel claimed he used to ride trials so i guessed as he used to ride he would know how important it is for the wheel to be nearly perfect for brake setup which is proving a real pita to do,I will take a trip down there try get refund or give him the chance to try again failing that i will seek advise from TS.

[Luke Rainbird]

Don't forget that it is entirely possible to bend a rim a little when you delace it too. Not saying that it is what happened or whatever and generally if the wheel was true before then it's unlikely to have put the rim out enough to make a difference, but yeah. Whilst it's most likely some incompetent generic 'tard, it's not necessarily 100% his fault.

[scott21]

Don't forget that it is entirely possible to bend a rim a little when you delace it too. Not saying that it is what happened or whatever and generally if the wheel was true before then it's unlikely to have put the rim out enough to make a difference, but yeah. Whilst it's most likely some incompetent generic 'tard, it's not necessarily 100% his fault.

just looked over the wheel again and there is a spoke that has bottomed out on the nipple and has no tension im no wheel builder and even i know thats wrong. ive got a trialtech sport rim double wall and the spokes stick out so much they actually come past the second wall.

[weirdoku]

I love halfrauds stories, and I work in one. Our mechanic actually knows what he's doing, even though he's a bit ham fisted with things and bash things around. Another guy is about to start as head mechanic but he's been suspended for discount abuse, made me laugh. I'm sure he has some sort of attention deficit disorder too and bullshits a lot, god knows why my manager gave him the head mechanic position.

But I do agree that some people are only there for the money, a few part timers I work with really doesn't know much and the same for the 3 new guys that's been hired. Out of the 12 bikehut staff, only 5 really knows about bikes!

[Mark W]

Just to double check, did your wheel use the same size spokes on each side of the wheel?

[scott21]

Just to double check, did your wheel use the same size spokes on each side of the wheel?

yes i checked all the spokes for length they was all the same the hub is the same as the old 1.

[winchman]

Don't forget that it is entirely possible to bend a rim a little when you delace it too. Not saying that it is what happened or whatever and generally if the wheel was true before then it's unlikely to have put the rim out enough to make a difference, but yeah. Whilst it's most likely some incompetent generic 'tard, it's not necessarily 100% his fault.

Now this is true but if you had to build the wheel first thing you do is check the components you have are correct and in good condition?

I cant knock all bike repair staff but some are good some are bad as with all professions.

cheers for the advise. the guy who done my wheel claimed he used to ride trials so i guessed as he used to ride he would know how important it is for the wheel to be nearly perfect for brake setup which is proving a real pita to do,I will take a trip down there try get refund or give him the chance to try again failing that i will seek advise from TS.

Claims to ride trials?? I used to have a trials motor bike but I am still shit at riding and truing wheels, in fact I am that bad with wheels I wont even attempt to do one, funny thing is I spent two years fixing automatic wheel building lines, that was a totally different ball game but still with wheels, so I know a fair bit about wheels but this dosnt mean I can uild or fix a wheel by hand, If you have a mach 1 Wheel building line at home then I could throw the bits in and it would make a good wheel, the people who hand build wheels in factories are a rare special breed, who are very skilled and quick, I just wish I had taken the time to watch and learn when I had chance.

.

I wonder if he considered the spoke length, wheel off set etc?

Just beware whan you complain, dont be rude and dont loose your rag, some people just dismiss you if you are too young or too old in there eyes.

If you need agood complaint letter let me know as I know a woman who is very good at this sort of thing.

[Mark W]

I wonder if he considered the spoke length, wheel off set etc?

He shouldn't really need to consider the lengths as they should be the same, theoretically. If it's the same spoke length on both sides then assuming he just laced it normally 3x it should just... well... work, basically. Just sounds like a crap build.

[scott21]

He shouldn't really need to consider the lengths as they should be the same, theoretically. If it's the same spoke length on both sides then assuming he just laced it normally 3x it should just... well... work, basically. Just sounds like a crap build.

i laced the wheel myself 3x i followed guides on the net and a lbs has also said i done a good job with the lacing just a shame about the guy that trued it.

[Matt Vandart]

So very true a store manger by my way calls chainstays rear forks! There are normally one or two employees per store who are interested and actually technically minded but all the others are just randomers. The worst thing I have ever experienced is a bikehut manager dropping a headset press on my shiny new Fourplay frame, there was swearing!

Is he old?

I would get the LBS to true it then go back to halfords show them the wheel done properly and ask for your money back.

Some LBS are dogshite as well, one particular one that is well known round here when I was building my GIANT all mountain bike, said I couldn't have post mounts on the rear of my frame and didnt know about press fit bearings even when I showed them the frame.

Then when I got some V2 brakes and phoned up and asked if they had 185mm discs for V2 brakes they said 'You cant get them and even if you could they wouldn't work' and again reminded me I needed +20 Is adaptor to fit the brakes anyway (even after I had shown them the post mounts on the actual frame).

This LBS complains about companies like tarty and CRC destroying LBS yet they don't up their game in face of a more efficient competition.

Most stuff I order from CRC or tarty comes the next day, from Ireland and Lancashire respectively yet this LBS internet site took 2 weeks to send me an Item, from 18miles away mind.

[Mark W]

Seems pretty strange grouping us in with CRC. I can understand their issues with CRC because they are price-bashing the shit out of everything MTB-related, but the stuff we carry is for the most part totally different to what everyone else does (so we're not direct competition for them), we stock almost everything at the normal RRP for that product (rather than massively undercutting people) and generally speaking most LBSs don't give a shit about trials and don't stock anything other than a few Onzas every now and again. If they order things from suppliers when you order them through your LBS, it should be pretty quick to get to them too unless they hold the order to try and make it more worth their while postage-wise, so there shouldn't really be much of an issue with speed either...