wafranklin

I am interested in buying a rather expensive new bike,

but I got burned pretty bad on a recent new bike purchase.


The purchase was a 2019 Giant Propel Advanced Disc for about $4000 from

the most popular local bike shop in my area.


The bike "pulled" to the right a little.

It wasn't noticeable unless riding with no hands.

When riding with no hands I had to keep my weight shifted to the left on the saddle, a little bit.

I don't know how to quantify the extent of the "pulling to the right", but it was

very noticeable while on the bike.


I had the rear wheel dish checked and it was fine.

I checked the frame alignment by running a thread from one rear drop-out,

around the front of the head tube and back to the other drop-out,

then measuring the distance from the thread to the seat tube and it was exactly equal on both sides.

Summary: there was some kind of problem but I couldn't figure it out.


The mechanic at the shop I where I bought it rode it around their little strip mall and said he

couldn't see any problem.

The shop owner rode it around their strip mall and said he couldn't see any problem either.


The mechanic and owner would have been able to detect the problem if they took the bike

for a longer ride on a straight road.

We are in Florida, there are plenty of straight roads near his shop.

I traded the bike in and my new bike rides fine so I know the problem is not with me.

I lost a lot of money on the trade.


I want to buy yet another bike but how do I protect myself if there is a subtle problem

with the new bike and the shop refuses to "see" the problem?