musicgalaxyman

Well, I figured when I bought my 2007 new (old stock) Kona UTE that it being a high end service bike, that it would have been set up correctly.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that I was a pro bike mechanic, and certainly COULD have checked all out...but I didn't.

We had some deep snow here, so I decided to tear the bike apart and look at condition of all...here's what I learned about the quality of setup from factory and the "dealer."

Overall, the bike was in pretty good condition.

The HEADSET bearings had a bit of grease leftover, but benefited from a cleaning and regreasing. I normally would use marine grease on headsets, but went with some white lithium instead (because I had a tube handy.)

BOTTOM BRACKET is sealed, so no problems there.

BOLT TIGHTNESS CHECK, about 7 needed tightening a bit.

FRONT WHEEL BEARINGS: Now here's the surprise, these suckers were overtightened from factory, and I'd always wondered what effect this might have on bearings. I examined them
under glass and found the bearings were fine, so I repacked and good as new. But they were overtight from factory...and this was a bit of a surprise.

REAR WHEEL BEARINGS fine: no problem, just regreased and moved on.

PEDALS: These were very low end cage pedals and I've always wondered if they could be serviced. I went to a mechanic, he said, "I haven't a clue."

The black end caps pop off easily, but the manufacturer stamps the end of the pedal axel with and X to keep the outside race in place, and these races do not come out. I just squired in some oil and will replace with decent pedals when they go.

So...out of a new bike prep, the front wheel bearings were overtightened.

Next time out, I'm going to assume the bike needs a thorough going over prior to use.

The bike pedals easier, I can feel the difference.

Do you have a story along this line...if so, feel welcome to share.

CACycling

Picked up a pair of NIB 1992 Diamond Back Ascent EXs two years ago. Everything was well lubed and adjusted out of the box. Was expecting to have dry grease to deal with but it was quite fresh and plenty of it. Guess they took a bit more care back in the day.

cny-bikeman

When I was regularly wrenching I found it very rare to have hubs properly adjusted out of the box. Most Q/R hubs had no play, most bolt-on were tight. I remember more than one that had been torqued down so badly that the wheel had to be replaced because the cups were actually dimpled. There are still plenty of bikes that get through a bike shop assembly without proper wheel bearing adjustment. Relatively few shops remove the rear wheel to double-check bearing adjustment.

FBinNY 

The quality of assembly and set up, is rarely related to the quality of the bike, or what you paid for it. The two biggest variables are the specific factory who built it, and the shop or mechanic who set it up.

Bike factories vary in what they do assembing bikes, but whatever they do they do it the same regardless of the model or price. So a factory that greases threads greases them on all bikes, and factories that don't, don't ever.

Then there's the shop or mechanic, most will do a decent job on what's exposed and the various adjustments. Others will open and check BBs and headsets (or base that on how much they trust the source).

buffalowings

Hey, CNY-bikeman, are you in any way related to CNY bicycles? I regularly pass by the two shops situated right next to each other in the Syracuse area on my daily rides.

onbike 1939

In my experience most new builds feature badly adjusted hub cones and these are usually too tight or make no allowance for the tightening of the QR's.

Just as important though is that even expensive wheels fitted to expensive bikes have the spoke tensions all over the place. It pays dividends to check spoke tensions and to stress and de-stress all new wheels as far as I'm concerned.

rydabent

Fortunately most of the better bikes these days have sealed bearing on at least the wheels and BB. It is kind of a sad statement that even if you buy a high end bike you never seem to know what you will get.

A really good LBS will go over a high end bike and see that these problems are taken care of.

cny-bikeman

Nope - was briefly and unhappily employed at the now defunct Open Road shop, before that was in Michigan (see my profile). I do live in Syracuse and still keep my hands in the grease occasionally. I don't care for Syracuse Bicycles (formerly Wayne's/Melzer's). Advance Cyclery (Seely Ave/Erie Blvd) is a bit better but I like Epic Adventures in Fayetteville (kayaks also) or Bicycle Alley in Manlius.

FastJake

It seems like almost all wheel bearings are set too tight. Some are WAY too tight. If it is too loose, the customer will immediately notice a wobbling wheel. If it's too tight, they won't notice until their bearings are destroyed..

musicgalaxyman

thank you all for your perspectives

Al1943

When my wife's 5200 Trek was brand new out of the box I put the wheels on my truing stand. Both Bontrager wheels were out of true, radially and laterally. The spoke tension was all over the place and one rim was slightly bent. Rear dish was also bad.

chriskmurray

Nearly every hub I have seen come on a new bike has been overtightened, many times substantially.

FBinNY 

Factories ship slightly overtightened hubs for a reason. Any bearing play makes problems for the wheel building machinery. Hub play adds a variable making it impossible for an automatic aligning machine to produce consistent results.

If you consider that it's SOP to set QR hubs so there's trace play which QR compression removes, then you can see the dilemma of how to set hub bearings headed to a wheel station.

There's also the fact that bearings undergo slighter quicker wear when brand new, so many hubs that people may think are tight, are actually spot on allowing for the "break in" wear. I'm not saying that all hubs are perfect as shipped, but that many (most?) are actually right even if they don't seem so.

chriskmurray

Never thought of that being why they are usually tight but makes sense about wheelbuilding machines.

I am not talking smooth but no tiny bit of play for QR wheels, most of the ones I seem to build ship feeling almost as if the races are pitted they are so tight. Lower end bikes I usually set QR hubs without that tiny bit of play for break in because new bikes that were set up like a nicer hub or one that is broken in were coming in for the first run through with too much play.

musicgalaxyman

that's a mess

musicgalaxyman

I did not know this fact, but it makes sense

musicgalaxyman

yep