delbiker1 

In the end. regardless of what the manufacture and shop did or did not do, it is up to the rider of the bicycle to insure that all is in good working order, and everything is attached, connected is an appropriate and safe manner. The OP's user name gives a bit of a hint on what his perspective is. Not saying it is wrong, it is just opinion.

mr,grumpy 

I believe that I may have been unclear. The bicycle was professionally assembled and checked by a high quality bicycle shop of high regard. They rode it and I rode it. There was no issues to be detected in casual riding it around. It wasn't until it was "out in the wild" that the lever slipped. It didn't come off or dislodge. It slipped and remained loose. You can debate or blame place all you want but the fact remains the the factory incorrectly assembled a component that failed in use.

As for the cable rubbing the head tube, this is a problem specifically documented to drop-bar journeyers in several reviews that I read and watched prior to purchasing the bike. Perhaps this is the price to be paid for having the cables under the tape. I don't know. I do know the this is the only bike that I have had that has had that issue. I don't think that it is unreasonable to think that would be something that a major company would notice and eliminate over time.

And, again, these are just minor quibbling that caused me to reach out to the company.

The issue is:

Jared, and by extension, Salsa, LIED TO ME. He told me that the NEVER put protective vinyl on ANY bike. They put two pieces of it on MY bike.

"was that frame heat treated correctly"? Why Yes, yes it was!
"did you adjust Robot 12 to spec so the handlebars don't fall apart"? Yes we did!
"did you dump that toxic waste into the river"? No way!

who knows.

Jughed

Me at 11 years old - picked up my nice custom Skyway TA BMX bike from a local shop that did a repair that I couldn't handle. I built the bike up myself, an 11 year old kid & it worked great. Pro bike mechanic, not so much.

Rode the bike home from the shop, hit a jump... and to quote Ron White "the wheels fell of, they fell the bleep off. I guess that mechanic failed lug nut class". That hurt bad... I walked back into the shop a bloody mess, walked out with a fixed bike and a very nice new set of freestyle rims - I think they were Z Rims.

Lesson learned; life lesson learned - I don't trust any bike shop to do anything right. The shop may have a decent mechanic or two, and they may have three monkeys turning wrenches.

seypat

I'd suggest some pie or ice cream, maybe both. That should help with the situation.

shelbyfv

Moving along toward resolution, note that some like the brifter to be tight enough to be secure during normal use but not so tight that it won't move if the bike is dropped on the bars. Investigate how it attaches so you can tighten it to your preference. It's worth learning how your bike is put together so you can fix stuff like this yourself, even in the field if needed. The cable rub is common, depending how the stops are configured and even the size of the bike. As mentioned, tape and or rubber grommets. That's a nice bike and a great price with the current sale!

PeteHski

Firstly, you don’t check bolt tightness by just casually riding a bike. You use a torque wrench and set it to the specified torque setting. The shop obviously didn’t do this until you took it back to them. You can argue that the factory should have also used a torque wrench, but the buck stops with the shop not double checking it was tight enough. That’s the whole point of a shop safety check. Brakes are a primary part of a safety check. Your shop dropped the ball here. Everyone except you can see this.

I also don’t think Salsa lied to you about the cable protection. Far more likely your misunderstanding. As I read it, they said that they don’t apply any protection against cable rub. Chainstay and downtube protection is not for cable rub. Some manufacturers do apply protection patches for cable rub and some don’t. Salsa clearly don’t, which is what I believe they were telling you. A keen shop could have easily spotted the potential for cable rub and applied their own protection patches. But they didn’t bother.

For me and pretty much everyone reading this thread, your bike shop appears to be a bit slack and you are putting far too much blame on the manufacturer, even if they didn’t pay much attention to detailing like cable runs. At the very least, the shop should have checked your brake clamps properly in the first place.

jadmt

I will be sorry to see Salsa/Surly go under as I am sure the lack of your pending future purchases will surely sink Surly..

Bald Paul

By whom? Certainly not the shop, and it was up to them to do that. Certainly not you, and you should have before you rode it (read the manual that came with the bike.) Should Salsa have adjusted your seat height and installed the pedals?
It sounds more like a case of waaaa, waaaa, waaaa.

Iride01 

I'm just having trouble believing that I wouldn't have noticed a loose brake lever and tightened it before doom and gloom happened.

tomato coupe

The dude's a psychopath.

mr_pedro

No you were not unclear. Maybe all of the responses above were not clear: Tightening all bolts and screws to appropriate torque is the job of the store that sold you the bike, not the manufacturer. And riding casually back and forth is not the way to test this has been done.

The entire story about the big LIE is just so out of proportion and not even worth talking about it.

trailangel

OMG... someone lied!

nomadmax 

QUIT CRYING AND BE GLAD YOU DON'T HAVE A REAL PROBLEM.

If this is the attention you give something small; I suggest you do what you can to avoid a cancer diagnosis.

themp

On my first bicycle from a local LBS, on the first ride the handle bar fell out on a turn. I had no tools, I walked home and took it back for a refund and went to another LBS. The second LBS was wonderful and I have used them since. I always have said it was divine providence as my second bicycle has been a dream.

Black wallnut 

Another reasonable possibility is that Jared may not be aware that they put protective film on some bikes in their line or have in the past. Otherwise he was right that the shop was responsible to check all fasteners prior to delivery to you. But, yeah it's more fun to be mad at someone than to chill and go for a ride. Maybe in time you will enjoy your new bike.

FWIW a few years ago it took my LBS months to get a frame replacement for my oldest son's Allez. The new frameset came with little oval clear stickers to protect the headtube where the cables might rub. It was up to the assembler to place them on the frame during or after buildup. Housing rub is a known "feature" with drop bars and under tape cable routing.

Eric F 

To echo what a bunch of folks have already said...
1. It was the bike shop's responsibility to check everything on your bike for proper and safe operation. They are the double-check after factory assembly. You are correct that the lever was possibly improperly mounted at the factory, but it is the shop's responsibility to catch that mistake.
2. Jared @ Salsa didn't lie to you. He was responding specifically to your issue, which was cable rub. To his knowledge, other manufacturers don't install vinyl protectors, either. His knowledge may or may not be accurate.
3. Cable rub happens on bikes with internal cable routing. All of my bikes with internal routing have this condition. One of them was originally built with rubber bumpers on the cables, the others were not. If this is an issue for you, there are options to mitigate it. This is up to you to deal with.

Camilo

mr,grumpy how do you like the Apex 1? I got a Journeyer Microshift Advent 1 9 speed (from REI - assembled very well I must say). I really like the Microshift shift lever design and ergonomics. I've posted before on other threads, I think it's a better design than Shimano, and as good (for me) as Sram (which has been my strong preference until now).

I bought the Advent 1X 9 speed instead of the higher cost Sram and Shimano options mostly because of cost. We wanted cheaper/simpler bikes than our high-zoot titanium, AXS Etap, hydraulic brake gravel bikes to keep with our RV which we store in another state. We're very happy with the Journeyers and I'm very happy with the Microshift stuff.

I've said enough - as have we all - about your original complaint (let it rest guys!). Please think about the unanimous opinions stated and most of all, enjoy your new bike.

msu2001la

Serious question here - do new bikes really come from the factory to shops with shifters/brakes attached to the drop bar? Are they pre-wrapped too?
I've always assumed that shops were installing shifters and cables on new bikes.

At a minimum, I'd expect my shop to check all the bolts before sending it out the door. They're still assembling other things on the bike, so this doesn't seem unreasonable to assume.

urbanknight

It has been a long time since I worked in a shop, but almost every bike I pulled out of a box was "partially assembled". The brake lever in question on this thread would likely have already been installed on the handlebar. That being said, it's still the shop's job to inspect and adjust everything.

I also don't care about protective tape. By the time I change the stem length and height, adjust the bar angle, and adjust the lever angle, the cables rub in a different place anyway and any tape applied at the factory is useless. Cable rub happens.

unterhausen

Cables are installed. The handlebars are loosely fastened to the top tube.

As far as checking bolts, I imagine this varies by shop.

Many bikes come with some kind of protective tape in the parts bag, but it's for unnamed spots on the bike. I'm pretty sure this usually goes in the trash.

urbanknight

My experience with most major brands was that they were "partially assembled". Every GT, Giant, Cannondale, etc. that ever came to the shop I worked at looked something like the video below. Still, it was also my job to inspect and adjust EVERYTHING.

genejockey 

I would not assume that the manufacturer builds the bike all the way up to rideable, then disassembles it minimally to put it in a box, unless it's being sold direct to consumers. So, yes, it is up to the SHOP to assemble the bike, set up and adjust the brakes and shifting, and make sure every fastener is properly torqued down.

And, you know, the best shops make the occasional error. And to claim they've built thousands of bikes and never made such an error? How in hell would you even know that? Did you ask their thousands of customers? Ever think that maybe the rare mistake got handled like yours, with the shop fixing it for free and sending you back on your way?

alcjphil

The answer to this is..... it depends. I have assembled hundreds of bikes from dozens of manufacturers. I have seen brake levers not installed on handlebars. I have seen the levers installed but the bars not taped. I have seen bikes come in that have the bars fully taped ready to go. My son's road bike arrived with the hydraulic brake hoses not connected. I used to work for a bike distributor whose bikes came in as bare frames, the customer could then order any build kit we stocked and the shop would build the bike from a bare frame. I certainly would not expect the manufacturer to install frame protection to protect the head tube from cable rub in advance, depending on setup, the rub area could change from one build to another. When I received my Canyon Grizl, there was no frame protection installed, but it was supplied with the parts needed to assemble the bike. I have a couple of road bikes that don't have any protection on the head tube because none is needed, they are both over 15 years old with no hint of cable rub damage in that area

indyfabz

Yes. Things can come loose during shipping. The shop should have checked that. Not any different from making sure the wheels are true after shipping.

As for the patches, yes again. I’ve never purchased a bike with them. (I can imagine the irate purchaser receiving a bike with such a “blemish.”) A good shop will ask you if you want them.

badger1

The (non-)issues the op is whingeing about have been well dealt with in this thread. I'll simply make one other point: the op (see post #28) was very well aware prior to his purchase that 'cable rub' happens on this particular frame:

"As for the cable rubbing the head tube, this is a problem specifically documented to drop-bar journeyers in several reviews that I read and watched prior to purchasing the bike."

If the op does not like the appearance of 'cable rub' all he had to do was ask his lbs to provide him with a sheet of protective patches -- I've no doubt they'd have some to give away -- and apply them for him should he not be inclined to undertake this very complex task himself.

All three of my most recent bicycles had/have some cable rub. I am by no means mechanically gifted -- far from it -- but even I managed to apply patches of protective film successfully, once I had dialled in my fit etc. As another poster pointed out, these kinds of patches would be utterly useless if factory installed -- unlike protective film on a downtube or chainstay.