Take first bike to a bicycle shop?

[sorofsh]

Hi all,

I bought the RadRover 6 and it is awesome. It is however, my first bike and I am a little worried that perhaps I have messed up the assembly somewhere. I was considering taking it to a local bicycle shop to have a complete check up. However, I was said it could be about $150 since they would look at every part to see if it was correctly assembled and working correctly. Is this a good idea? Or should I wait until I have ridden the bike for some time? I have noticed that the breaks randomly are squeaky, which as I read, is most likely due to oils on the breaks. $150 feels steep but if it makes my bike safer, I am all for it. Any advice would be appricaited.

 

[pmcdonald]

Ouch.. sounds a bit pricey. Bike builds are like $60 USD in my area. Is there a bike coop or similar in your area? We have an awesome guy in our city who does repairs for next to nothing - he services the cheap bikes used by out of town university students.

Peace of mind is nice but unless there's a specific part you are worried about I'd just go over all the bolts again and check they're properly tightned. A torque wrench is invaluable for doing this.

Rotor brakes can take some time to break in, so the squeak may go away. They also may just need a realign. Plenty of youtube videos on this. The Park Tool channel is a brilliant place to start. If you're worried about any grease or oil contamination on the rotors some rubbing alcohol should clear it up.

A professional service down the track will be great to get gears dialed back in, chase down those annoying rattles and give things a general tighten up but right now your bike is probably running in close to mint shape.

Glad to hear you're loving the ride!

 

[Art Deco]

It's a high price, but I would probably still do it. Depends on how mechanically inclined you are, and how you feel about the assembly you did. A torque wrench is required. Stripping a bolt in an aluminum frame is just way too easy.

 

[sorofsh]

I think I will wait a little bit with the check up. I want to learn how to take care of it myself anyway. I will look into the coop thing, I know we have a bike den on my campus, but not sure how helpful it will be with ebikes.

Any torque wrench recommended? This one seem most popular: https://www.amazon.com/PRO-BIKE-TOO...fix=torque+wrench+for+bike,aps,89&sr=8-5&th=1 but seems expensive compared to other ones I see.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I think I will wait a little bit with the check up. I want to learn how to take care of it myself anyway. I will look into the coop thing, I know we have a bike den on my campus, but not sure how helpful it will be with ebikes.

Any torque wrench recommended? This one seem most popular: https://www.amazon.com/PRO-BIKE-TOOL-Torque-Wrench/dp/B083MRWD6Q/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3C1QR1K9Y323P&keywords=torque+wrench+for+bike&qid=1644112340&sprefix=torque+wrench+for+bike,aps,89&sr=8-5&th=1 but seems expensive compared to other ones I see.

its a good one and and I see it has went up since I bought it last year. but thats pretty typical. its calibrated with papers in the us. a little less. https://www.amazon.com/PRO-BIKE-TOO...sprefix=torque+wrench+for+bike,aps,220&sr=8-8
my only complaint it came with a t-10 torx when you need a t-20

 

[rich c]

Did you use a torque wrench to do the assembly? Do you know how to check headstock bearings? Know how to adjust brakes? Know how to adjust a derailleur? Know how to adjust or grease loose axle bearings? No to any of those questions, take it in.

 

[sorofsh]

Did you use a torque wrench to do the assembly? Do you know how to check headstock bearings? Know how to adjust brakes? Know how to adjust a derailleur? Know how to adjust or grease loose axle bearings? No to any of those questions, take it in.

Do I really need to do all this at the very beginning? IF I was reading the manual correctly, it says to do so after 100 miles, not from the get go. Also, I am willing to learn all these things, but perhaps one at a time instead all of them at once.

 

[rich c]

Most critical is the torque on all the fasteners. I had a tight pedal on the first eBike I had, so had to learn about loose ball bearings and greasing them on day 1. A traditional bike I had a long time ago had a loose fork, and learned about tightening the headstock bearing. You said a brake was squeaking, so maybe it needs adjusting or the disc is warped. Personally I think riding a bicycle is great fun, but when something comes loose I think it will hurt like hell sliding along the pavement at over 20mph. You do what you want, but I gave you my opinion.

 

[AHicks]

My advice would be to ride it a bit. If/when you discover an issue that causes a raised eyebrow on your part, ASK about it right here, or maybe do some searching on YouTube. Absolute worst case scenario, you can't figure it out, THEN use the bike shop as your backup. When/if you do that, be specific regarding what you want them to look at. Asking them to do a thorough check out has them spending way more time on your bike than necessary - which is not going to be cheap.

 

[steve mercier]

Hi all,

I bought the RadRover 6 and it is awesome. It is however, my first bike and I am a little worried that perhaps I have messed up the assembly somewhere. I was considering taking it to a local bicycle shop to have a complete check up. However, I was said it could be about $150 since they would look at every part to see if it was correctly assembled and working correctly. Is this a good idea? Or should I wait until I have ridden the bike for some time? I have noticed that the breaks randomly are squeaky, which as I read, is most likely due to oils on the breaks. $150 feels steep but if it makes my bike safer, I am all for it. Any advice would be appricaited.

All brakes squeek when they are wet. But you should learn how to change the pads yourself at the very least. The free online videos from Park Tool are great. Check them out. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzaZ1sPWEuZN-I8_XT6AH8g

 

[scottsdalecommuter]

Hi all,

I bought the RadRover 6 and it is awesome. It is however, my first bike and I am a little worried that perhaps I have messed up the assembly somewhere. I was considering taking it to a local bicycle shop to have a complete check up. However, I was said it could be about $150 since they would look at every part to see if it was correctly assembled and working correctly. Is this a good idea? Or should I wait until I have ridden the bike for some time? I have noticed that the breaks randomly are squeaky, which as I read, is most likely due to oils on the breaks. $150 feels steep but if it makes my bike safer, I am all for it. Any advice would be appricaited.

I bought my ebike and paid $100 to have it assembled at bike shop and feel it was money well spent. I took it back at 100 miles for a free tuneup and was amazed how good it felt after a 100 mile tuneup, it literally felt like a new and different bike, for example before I couldn’t ride no hands because it wasn’t balanced and after could ride forever no hands without any wiggle. Would highly suggest doing it, I’m happy to pay another 100 in a year to have it tuned up again!