Laseranimal

Just bought a 2020 Felt FR 30, about 200 miles in I’m hearing an intermittent thunk when the rear wheel is freewheeling/coasting. Also the RD appears to move while this is happening but I can’t replicate that when it’s on the stand but I can replicate the sound. Could it be a bearing in the free hub?

KJK

Pull the rear wheel and spin the axle with your fingers. See if it feels rough.

Bill Kapaun

I'd have it back to where you bought it pronto.
You start screwing with it and you may void a warranty if you don't know what you're doing.
I assume that you don't, since you would have it figured out if you did.

Laseranimal

helpful, thanks for that

Iride01 

You picked up the wrong helpful piece of advice. This is the important part...........

Pop N Wood

Loose bearing cones could do that. See if there is any side to side play in the rear wheel.

Pretty sure the fair trade act doesn't allow manufacturers to void warranties if someone else works on it. Won't stop them from doing so but not if they are an honest shop.

Iride01 

With certainty I use the term warranty loosely and am also implying the good will of the seller to make it right and adjust or fix the many things that wouldn't be covered under the warranty.

If I sold a bike, I'd be more inclined to help the purchaser with free service if they brought it back without first having tried fixing it themselves by hammering the cassette cog to the position they thought lined it up with the derailleur better.

Bill Kapaun

It's a matter of someone COMPETENT working on it. Screw it up because of incompetence and you'll probably have warranty issues.

Why would one take a newly purchased bike, with "issues", to a different shop than where purchased?

Juan Foote

Check the hub lock. This was a common issue with Felt some years back. I would assume the mech assembling the bike didn't check.

edit to say- not sure what it's actually called, the thing holding the freewheel mech to the hub

Pop N Wood

Why would you hammer the cog back on?

Honestly, it is pretty easy to check out wheel bearings. Especially in this so called information age. You guys need to give people more credit. Just because someone isn't an experience bike mechanic doesn't make them stupid. And the phrase "violate your warranty" is almost an abusive term used to make people think they need to get their stuff serviced by the company that sold it to them. Honoring a warranty is a hit or miss proposition even under the best of circumstances. Just fix your own bike.

Iride01 

Why would someone not take a recently purchased bike making a strange noise back to where they bought it and let them figure out if they (the shop) did something wrong putting it together or the shop might determine that the manufacturer needs to be made aware of something that might be a service issue for others?

Pop N Wood

Boy did you ask the wrong guy.

Because it is usually quicker and less hassle to fix it yourself.

I had this very problem happen with the last new bike I bought, rear axle came loose within the first month of riding. When I went to adjust the cones I could see why, the drive side lock nut was recessed in the cassette so it probably didn't get torqued right from the factory. When I took the cones off the non drive side to gain access I noticed the drive side had the smallest ball bearings I have ever seen in a hub and and even smaller contact area on the cones. Total POS. When the wheel started popping spokes a few months later it gave me the excuse I needed to upgrade to a better hub and spokes.

If I fixed it under "warranty" I would have gotten another crappy hub or worse yet, they would have just adjusted the cones and I wouldn't have learned what a POS the hub was.

Honestly, people talk about protecting their warranty like it is their virginity.

Admittedly I am the exception but when stuff breaks I take that as sign from God himself that I need to upgrade. Seriously, it is the man talking to you, are you going to listen?

I do the same thing with cars, fix them myself rather than deal with a dealership waiting room. The lying bastards are usually nothing but excuses anyway,

As a great man said it is all about getting someone COMPETENT fixing it.

Iride01 

Oh, I see you agree with taking it back to the shop. Thanks for the complement, but I don't consider myself great. <grin>

Laseranimal

So I took it back to the shop to see what's up with the bike. They want to send the wheel back to Felt under warranty but they're not sure how long that will take. They can't seem to tell me what's wrong with the wheel either only that it would be more expensive to fix it versus just sending it back to Felt. They also can't give me a timeline on how long it's going to take to get a replacement wheel sent out, which while understandable is frustrating.

Pop N Wood

Sorry to hear you will be without a bike for a time.