New wheels...

What a day yesterday, I managed to get my Giant home ok via the QE route I did on Tuesday.

Stats here:

Started: 28 Apr 2010 15:05:04
Ride Time: 46:33
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.77 miles
Average: 13.45 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 34.74 miles/hr
Climb: 492 feet
Calories: 885


I then chucked it in the car and drove to Northfield Cycles to have a chat about the wheel/spoke thing, but not before I'd taken it to another local bike shop to get an independant opinion. You can never be too careful can you?

I'll keep the other shop nameless and the person who advised me as I don't want to stir up any LBS ill feeling! Suffice it to say I trust this person implicitly, I've known them for years and they've always supplied a great service. I kinda wish I'd had my road bike from them, but they don't do the types I'd researched and wanted unfortunately.

The advice I'd got from nameless LBS was basically that spoke breakages of the like I'd had were not the norm, I shouldn't be charged for them and nameless LBS would have repaired them for free or in the case of continuous breakages get me a new set of wheels. Nameless LBS actually used the "Not fit for purpose" phrase which is a terrifying phrase to hear in the industry I work in! Although I'm not certain the effect it would have on some one in the bike trade.

So, over to Northfield Cycles where I spoke to young Neil. At first they said they'd put another spoke in which would cost £12. I wasn't very happy with that and said that I do only around a 100 miles a week and I've only had the bike 2 months and I shouldn't be having spoke breakages. I said that just replacing spokes wouldn't cure the issue. Neil then said that Giant considered spokes a consumable and therefore not under warranty.  A bit of to-ing and fro-ing then occured as I stated my bottom line, which was the wheel is faulty, I want a wheel that is reliable, I had lost confidence in the bike and I also shouldn't have to pay anything extra. Neil said he'd phone Giant and get back to me. I then left and drove home.

At about 1730hrs Neil called me to say that after speaking to Giant they said that they'd supply a new set of wheels for me, these Shimano ones apparently. This is good news. To say I'm happy would be a bit of an understatement. The only slight negative is that I'd planned a 50 miler on Bank Holiday Monday to Bridgenorth which will now have to wait as it's unlikely I'll get the bike back before then. But the positive is it means I'll have to go on a MTB micro adventure instead!

Also no road bike meant that it was a tow path commute in. So my Ridgeback commuter was dragged out of the garage at early O'Clock and off I went. Just as I was by the Sainsbury's Supermarket in Northfield I saw a bloke on a hybrid whizz past through the red lights I was patiently waiting at and blast off down the hill towards Selly Oak, I really hope the footage comes out, Lights to green and I was after him. I soon caught him and kept a respectable distance behind him so he could drag me up the hill, punishment for red light jumping I say, but half way up he pulled over, I'm pretty certain he didn't like me on his back wheel! I said "Morning mate" as I went past and he said he'd pulled over as he had to cross over the road. Hmm...





Onto the cut and I never saw a soul until I got to work. Apart from a bloke feeding the ducks where the canal has been diverted to allow the Selly Oak By-Pass to be completed. Apologies for the sound and the blank last 30 seconds of the vid, still learning about this stuff!

Stats here:
Started: 29 Apr 2010 05:25:21
Ride Time: 48:19
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.39 miles
Average: 11.69 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 27.63 miles/hr
Climb: 315 feet
Calories: 816

Weigh in tonight...