Bmx bike

Justask

Bought a bike or my teenage son 10 wweks ago and have had nothing but problems with it...
The problems are constant punctures 17 in all, he is doing nothing out of the ordinary on it.
I have rang the shop they said its not there problem as its nothing to do with the bike frame. rang again and told them its not right that the child cant even go to th shop without the tyre going again. Again not their problem..

He was with me when i bought the bike, hes not a heavy child at all.

Very annoying. Was told by a local bike shop they will fix the bike for 75 euro...replace tubs and tyres.

Anyone got any advice???:mad:

(sorry if this is in the wrong place)

Captain Havoc

Is it both wheels?

Justask

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Is it both wheels?

Yes

C3PO

I'd go back to the shop and speak to the manager, explain the situation and ask him to replace the tyres and tubes. If he refuses I would go to the local bike shop, get them to do it and take the original shop to the Small Claims Court .... it's a very simple procedure! Obviously keep the original tubes and tyres!

Justask

RPL1 wrote: »

I'd go back to the shop and speak to the manager, explain the situation and ask him to replace the tyres and tubes. If he refuses I would go to the local bike shop, get them to do it and take the original shop to the Small Claims Court .... it's a very simple procedure! Obviously keep the original tubes and tyres!

Didnt really want to go down that route but maybe your right.

Should have stuck with buying it in the local shop instead of this mega bike store

Thanks

kona

RPL1 wrote: »

I'd go back to the shop and speak to the manager, explain the situation and ask him to replace the tyres and tubes. If he refuses I would go to the local bike shop, get them to do it and take the original shop to the Small Claims Court .... it's a very simple procedure! Obviously keep the original tubes and tyres!

Thats a pretty poor response all things considered, especially the fact you havnt seen the bike.

Ive had parents shout and scream at me about how much they spent (e150) on a BMX and they keep getting punctures. Blah blah blah, next minute Im pulling lumps of glass out of the tyre and they backpedal.

First off

1) Dont be a muppet, Kids buy BMX for one reason, and thats not a cycle around the road, they think they are Dave Mirra on them. Unfortunatley they are not, and the cheap bike breaks.

2) Real BMX tyres for Skate parks and concrete run upto 100 PSI, cheap BMX struggle with 40 PSI, hence snakebites etc are regular culprits.

3) I fix more punctures in a week than most people would in a year(unless your really unlucky) Id say 1% of these I cannot trace to a foreign object piercing the tube.

OP, e75 notes is too much to be paying for that, You should just need to get both tubes replaced by a competant mechanice, who will check the tyres for glass etc and pull them out, I could almost guarantee you that the punctures are not the bike shops responsibilty, they are not covered under warranty, and to be honest the small claims court probably wont decide in your favour either.

C3PO

kona wrote: »

Thats a pretty poor response all things considered, especially the fact you havnt seen the bike.

Ive had parents shout and scream at me about how much they spent (e150) on a BMX and they keep getting punctures. Blah blah blah, next minute Im pulling lumps of glass out of the tyre and they backpedal.

First off

1) Dont be a muppet, Kids buy BMX for one reason, and thats not a cycle around the road, they think they are Dave Mirra on them. Unfortunatley they are not, and the cheap bike breaks.

2) Real BMX tyres for Skate parks and concrete run upto 100 PSI, cheap BMX struggle with 40 PSI, hence snakebites etc are regular culprits.

3) I fix more punctures in a week than most people would in a year(unless your really unlucky) Id say 1% of these I cannot trace to a foreign object piercing the tube.

OP, e75 notes is too much to be paying for that, You should just need to get both tubes replaced by a competant mechanice, who will check the tyres for glass etc and pull them out, I could almost guarantee you that the punctures are not the bike shops responsibilty, they are not covered under warranty, and to be honest the small claims court probably wont decide in your favour either.

Who are you calling a Muppet ..... given your past posts I would think that handle applies more to you then me! Aren't you the gob****e who suggested (no insisted!) that Cycleways/Base weren't the Irish importer of Specialized bikes?

How do you know that it's a cheap BMX? I don't see anything in the original post that says that! A BMX bike is designed for jumping, tricks etc so should be able to do those things reliably! Warranty has nothing to do with it, anything sold by a shop has to be "fit for purpose" and arguably any bike that sustains an average of 2 punctures a week in normal use is not "fit for purpose"! I don't know whether the bike has been used "normally" but then nor do you! I would however be willing to bet that the Small Claims Court would find in the OPs favour if the facts are as described!

kona

RPL1 wrote: »

Who are you calling a Muppet ..... given your past posts I would think that handle applies more to you then me! Aren't you the gob****e who suggested (no insisted!) that Cycleways/Base weren't the Irish importer of Specialized bikes?

How do you know that it's a cheap BMX? I don't see anything in the original post that says that! A BMX bike is designed for jumping, tricks etc so should be able to do those things reliably! Warranty has nothing to do with it, anything sold by a shop has to be "fit for purpose" and arguably any bike that sustains an average of 2 punctures a week in normal use is not "fit for purpose"! I don't know whether the bike has been used "normally" but then nor do you! I would however be willing to bet that the Small Claims Court would find in the OPs favour if the facts are as described!

jog on, I wasnt calling you a muppet. Your second paragraph is amusing. What do you want to bet that the bike is a cheap BMX.

I never said Cycleways were not a importer, I said that they weren't the only company you can get specialized through in Ireland. I said they were, so maybe try read what I say before having a mental breakdown.

CramCycle

I'd say its pieces of shrapnel that are laying flat against the tyre when its deflated. Take off both tyres completely and have a close visual inspection to make sure this is not the case, could even be a bit of wire from the tyre itself, it's happened to me before, was the 2nd or 3rd flat before I found it.
Also make sure if it is a cheap bike/wheel that it is not the spokes coming through and poking the tyre through the rim tape, it can happen as well, fairly common in the POS 99euro bikes.

It's worth going in and asking either for a complete inspection of the tyre and/or a replacement. You won't get the latter but it's worth asking, you never know, they should inspect it though as it's relatively new and all bike shops (generally) give minimum of one free service within the first 6 months.

I'd leave the small claims court, very unlikely to get the response you want considering your not confident about the possible cause of the issue in the first place. That said the bike shop should at least take it in and inspect the tyres to make sure they are not balding/overtly thin in places as while unlikely, it is not impossible, to tell you why it is happening so often.

Hope he's enjoying the bike anyway, I had great fun myself on a BMX when I was that age (no offroading or acting like Dave Mirra though, it was just a bike to ride to the playground on).

seamus

If you don't know how to inspect the tyres yourself, go to another bike shop, explain to them the problem and ask them to inspect the tyres and replace the tubes. If they tell you that something is faulty, then ask them for a written report and bring that to the other shop.

The most like thing which has happened here is that there's glass embedded in the tyre which keeps puncturing the tube. Insanely frustrating thing to happen because you get the bloody thing fixed and inflated, but it doesn't puncture again until you ride it for a little bit.

So unless you know for a fact that the tyres are simply faulty, you have no basis on which to say that they're unfit for purpose (oh, it was RPL1 who said that).

C3PO

seamus wrote: »

So unless you know for a fact that the tyres are simply faulty, you have no basis on which to say that they're unfit for purpose (oh, it was RPL1 who said that).

That's not actually what I said! Taking the OP at his word, I just find it very frustrating when a retailer puts his hands up and says "nothing to do with me"! This seems to be the standard response in many cases. Frankly I would be surprised, if the the OP goes and talks "face to face" with the shop manager, if he doesn't get a more positive response. It would cost them next to nothing to replace the tubes for example!

kona

RPL1 wrote: »

That's not actually what I said! Taking the OP at his word, I just find it very frustrating when a retailer puts his hands up and says "nothing to do with me"! This seems to be the standard response in many cases. Frankly I would be surprised, if the the OP goes and talks "face to face" with the shop manager, if he doesn't get a more positive response. It would cost them next to nothing to replace the tubes for example!

The OP has no experience with punctures, I wonder who fixed all 17, where I work that would work out at €255 in puncture repairs, so either the OP is fixing it or has more money than sense.
If a decent mechanic had a look at that (as mentioned under the free service, thats why there is a free service) he would be able to either find the problem, or if the tubes are ****, to get them replaced.
Obviously the OPs story is in their favour, however there is another side to it.

With going face to face with the manager about punctures, Space kadetts like this are one of the reasons shops are blunt about punctures

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056212799

seamus

RPL1 wrote: »

I just find it very frustrating when a retailer puts his hands up and says "nothing to do with me"!
...
It would cost them next to nothing to replace the tubes for example!

Indeed, from personal experience and stories on here, most Irish bike shops could do with a crash-course in the findamentals of customer service.
However, to a certain extent a shop does have to limit how much it bends over backwards for a customer.
A puncture is accepted to be an end-user problem. Just like in any vehicle, if you get a puncture, that's your problem, standard wear-and-tear. If the shop was to replace the tubes gratis, then the guy might arrive in 6 months down the line; "This chain isn't working any more, I demand a new one!".

Particularly if someone hasn't a lot of experience with bikes, they could be forgiven for thinking that a puncture is a rare event. Modern car tyres are insanely tough and you're unlucky if you get more than one or two punctures in the lifetime of a car. I haven't had a puncture in a car tyre in ten years (just jinxed myself!).
So people assume that if a bike gets frequent punctures, it's a fault.

It's also about weighing up the potential gain versus the pain that it might be. If the customer has come in and spent €1,500 on a bike, then it's in their best interests to look after him, because he'll be back to spend more money and he'll tell his cycling enthusiast friends about how the shop has looked after him.
But if he's only bought a €150 BMX, chances are they will never see him again as the bike will end up in a shed in six months time and there's no follow-on business. Even word-of-mouth business in such cases are limited - people tend to just go to the nearest/cheapest/biggest bike shop for their cheap bikes. They don't consider that there may be a difference between shops and their quality.
This is the basis on which shops likes Halfords and Hollingsworth continue to get business despite having a track record in cycling circles of poor repairs and customer service.

C3PO

seamus wrote: »

This is the basis on which shops likes Halfords and Hollingsworth continue to get business despite having a track record in cycling circles of poor repairs and customer service.

Whoa .... where did that come from?

seamus

RPL1 wrote: »

Whoa .... where did that come from?

Just making the point. If word-of-mouth was an issue, then local bike shops with poor reputations wouldn't continue to get business. But word-of-mouth doesn't seem to be an issue, hence why many shops probably see no need to indulge those who buy cheap bikes.

http://www.injury-compensation.ie/news/injured-cyclist-awarded-48000-euros-for-repair-negligence/

CramCycle

RPL1 wrote: »

Whoa .... where did that come from?

To be fair, Seamus makes a good point, I'd never go into Hollingsworths and avoid Halfords due to poor quality service being seen in both places but if word of mouth worked then they would be out of business, but they get by just fine from what I can see.

The other side is that people who do not know a huge amount bikes may interpret a reasonable comment as bad service but thats why in the good places you will see an attempt by the shop to explain the issue/possible issues and give the customer a chance to decide whether they want to pay+repair/live with the issue. Not give the customer a FO it's not our problem response.

CramCycle

At the OP, in response to your original query, it is honestly to hard to say from anyone here whether they should replace the tyre or not without inspecting it and comments either way aren't really helpful. If you can pull it off and give it a close up inspection yourself (visual and then by rubbing the inside in both directions to see are there any particulates lodged in the tyre that may be difficult to see).

If you are replacing the tyres yourself, then it could be a case of not seating the tyre right and getting pinch flats either but thats more common on road bikes AFAIK there are better people to phrase that than me around here.

Sometimes though its just bad luck, I had a pair of supposedly great tyres with my new bike that people told me where unlikely to get many punctures but I had 14 in my first month, sometimes you just have a run of bad luck..

petethedrummer

Justask wrote: »

Bought a bike or my teenage son 10 wweks ago and have had nothing but problems with it...
The problems are constant punctures 17 in all,

Answer these:
Who is fixing the punctures?
Is there 9 patches in one tyre and 8 in the other or are you replacing the tube each time?
If using patches, are they temporary stick-on or permanent?
Do they look like snake bites(two little slits side by side)?
Are they single pinholes?
Did you check for embedded debris in the tyre?
Are the tyres inflated sufficiently?
What sort of bike is it?

Justask

kona wrote: »

Thats a pretty poor response all things considered, especially the fact you havnt seen the bike.

Ive had parents shout and scream at me about how much they spent (e150) on a BMX and they keep getting punctures. Blah blah blah, next minute Im pulling lumps of glass out of the tyre and they backpedal.

First off

1) Dont be a muppet, Kids buy BMX for one reason, and thats not a cycle around the road, they think they are Dave Mirra on them. Unfortunatley they are not, and the cheap bike breaks.

2) Real BMX tyres for Skate parks and concrete run upto 100 PSI, cheap BMX struggle with 40 PSI, hence snakebites etc are regular culprits.

3) I fix more punctures in a week than most people would in a year(unless your really unlucky) Id say 1% of these I cannot trace to a foreign object piercing the tube.

OP, e75 notes is too much to be paying for that, You should just need to get both tubes replaced by a competant mechanice, who will check the tyres for glass etc and pull them out, I could almost guarantee you that the punctures are not the bike shops responsibilty, they are not covered under warranty, and to be honest the small claims court probably wont decide in your favour either.

Bike was 495 euro might be cheap by ur book not mine
Thanks

Justask

WOW.....

Read all the replies to my thread.. How a thread like this can resort to me been called a muppet i have no idea

But thanks to those with helpful replies.

I guess boys will be boys, just wasnt expecting the problems

studiorat

I guess the answer to the problem is in pete's questions two posts above.
Does sound like a spoke sticking through the rim or the debris not being removed when fixing.

Justask

petethedrummer wrote: »

Answer these:
Who is fixing the punctures?
Is there 9 patches in one tyre and 8 in the other or are you replacing the tube each time?
If using patches, are they temporary stick-on or permanent?
Do they look like snake bites(two little slits side by side)?
Are they single pinholes?
Did you check for embedded debris in the tyre?
Are the tyres inflated sufficiently?
What sort of bike is it?

Thanks for all these

Im fixing the punctures
They are mainly on the back wheel.
tempoary or permanant...no idea just a puncture repair kit i got in halfords lol
Yes single holes
Didnt know till i read this that there was a tyre pressure on a bike
Its a lampierre bmx..

Right im off to hang my head in shame and go to collage to learn how to own a kids bike :D

CramCycle

Justask wrote: »

tempoary or permanant...no idea just a puncture repair kit i got in halfords lol
Yes single holes

Can you recall are the holes appearing in similar areas of the tube? ie inside (side of valve, outside (facing tyre) or on the sidewall. If they are in similar spots it will give you an idea of where to focus your search.

Justask

CramCycle wrote: »

Can you recall are the holes appearing in similar areas of the tube? ie inside (side of valve, outside (facing tyre) or on the sidewall. If they are in similar spots it will give you an idea of where to focus your search.

No not in the same spot, different areas all the time.

Im going to get new tubs and a tyre pressure gauge.
And hope for the best.
Thanks a million folks for the help....They should give manuals to mums with teenage sons

kona

Justask wrote: »

Bike was 495 euro might be cheap by ur book not mine
Thanks

What bike is it? Is there a name on it?

...Just saw its a Lapierre ,

Get a competant mechanic to stick two new tubes in it along with putting in whatever the reccomended pressure for the tyres is. Sometimes puncture repair kits are not reliable, this is the reason bike shops dont use them.

If your looking for glass, a needle nosed pliers is good for removing it, and be careful of cutting yourself open.

Justask

kona wrote: »

What bike is it? Is there a name on it?

There is

kona

Justask wrote: »

They should give manuals to mums with teenage sons

Your right there, ask them for one, all bikes come with them, and have details of basic maintenance and warranty.

Justask

kona wrote: »

Your right there, ask them for one, all bikes come with them, and have details of basic maintenance and warranty.

This obviously went over your head.....:rolleyes:

The manual for the teenage boy not the bike....:)

Watch out for those muppets

kona

Justask wrote: »

This obviously went over your head.....:rolleyes:

The manual for the teenage boy not the bike....:)

Watch out for those muppets

Same way fixing a puncture went over your head :rolleyes:

Justask

kona wrote: »

Same way fixing a puncture went over your head :rolleyes:

I came onto boards to look for some advice regarding my sons bike, obviously if im looking for advice i dont know to much about bikes.... but i dont resort to calling people names thats when you know you have lost an agrument:)

Take care now

petethedrummer

Justask wrote: »

tempoary or permanant...no idea just a puncture repair kit i got in halfords lol

Sounds like a permanent patch kit, nothing wrong with the halfords ones I use them on high pressure tubes.

Justask wrote: »

Yes single holes

A snake bite would definitely mean the tyre pressure is too low. Single holes points to a foreign object.

Justask wrote: »

Didnt know till i read this that there was a tyre pressure on a bike

A track pump like the Joe Blow max from Halfords are good for getting pressure correct.

Justask wrote: »

Its a lampierre bmx..

Lapierre are good bikes.

When putting on the tyre you should you line up the valve on the tube with a logo(or something distinctive) on the side of the tyre. This will mean that the tyre is always in the same place relative to the tube. Then you can diagnose if its the same thing causing it in the same location. If its random you need to get a cat cam and hang it to your kid to see where he's really going.

It sounds like a foreign object that you haven't removed, they can be tiny.

What you could do is try swapping the tyres round and see if the punctures start happening in the front.... though front punctures are more dangerous and more likely to result in injury. so maybe don't.

Justask

petethedrummer wrote: »

Sounds like a permanent patch kit, nothing wrong with the halfords ones I use them on high pressure tubes.


A snake bite would definitely mean the tyre pressure is too low. Single holes points to a foreign object.

A track pump like the Joe Blow max from Halfords are good for getting pressure correct.

Lapierre are good bikes.

When putting on the tyre you should you line up the valve on the tube with a logo(or something distinctive) on the side of the tyre. This will mean that the tyre is always in the same place relative to the tube. Then you can diagnose if its the same thing causing it in the same location. If its random you need to get a cat cam and hang it to your kid to see where he's really going.

It sounds like a foreign object that you haven't removed, they can be tiny.

What you could do is try swapping the tyres round and see if the punctures start happening in the front.... though front punctures are more dangerous and more likely to result in injury. so maybe don't.

Thanks a mill for your help

kona

Justask wrote: »

I came onto boards to look for some advice regarding my sons bike, obviously if im looking for advice i dont know to much about bikes.... but i dont resort to calling people names thats when you know you have lost an agrument:)

Take care now

Okay I see where this is going, been here have the Tshirt. Let me just clarify something for you.

1) I said Dont be a muppet, I never said "YOU ARE A MUPPET". If your not being a muppet then your not a muppet. If I really wanted to abuse you I would choose another word. Im sure the Mods here can back me up on that, they should know Ive been banned enough for it.

2) My reply, didnt quote you, it wasnt directed at you, it was directed at a response telling you to speak to the manager and threaten small claims court over a issue, thats not their responsibilty.

3) €495 is a fair whack on a BMX, I wish my mam had that cash to give me for my bikes, fair play.


Hope you get yourself sorted with the punctures, I might be picking you up wrong, but the replies you have directed at me are a little patronising for my liking, I dont appreciate it, I hope your not like that.


Oh yea, and just one more thing, I dont have kids, so all those in house parenting jokes will go over my head. Funnily enough, giving a manual with bikes to mothers with kids buying BMX would save shops alot of crap, thats why I give one with all the bikes I Build, It saves me from arguing with a middle aged woman(not saying you are), they will drive you insane with their Opinions on stuff they have no clue about.

Justask

kona wrote: »

Okay I see where this is going, been here have the Tshirt. Let me just clarify something for you.

1) I said Dont be a muppet, I never said "YOU ARE A MUPPET". If your not being a muppet then your not a muppet. If I really wanted to abuse you I would choose another word. Im sure the Mods here can back me up on that, they should know Ive been banned enough for it.

2) My reply, didnt quote you, it wasnt directed at you, it was directed at a response telling you to speak to the manager and threaten small claims court over a issue, thats not their responsibilty.

3) €495 is a fair whack on a BMX, I wish my mam had that cash to give me for my bikes, fair play.


Hope you get yourself sorted with the punctures, I might be picking you up wrong, but the replies you have directed at me are a little patronising for my liking, I dont appreciate it, I hope your not like that.

We will just put it down to picking each other up wrong

C3PO

Justask wrote: »

We will just put it down to picking each other up wrong

You're more charitable then me! :rolleyes:

kona

RPL1 wrote: »

You're more charitable then me! :rolleyes:

Whats your deal anyway? In my opinion gave poor advice, I told you what I thought of it, and you went off on a mad one.Then you post that? If you have a problem with me PM me or shut your face.

Justask

kona wrote: »

Whats your deal anyway? In my opinion gave poor advice, I told you what I thought of it, and you went off on a mad one.Then you post that? If you have a problem with me PM me or shut your face.

Posting things like this is just letting urself down you cant go around telling folk to 'shut your face'

Got the help I needed so i thin this thread should die now

kona

Justask wrote: »

Posting things like this is just letting urself down you cant go around telling folk to 'shut your face'

Got the help I needed so i thin this thread should die now

How? Im sorry I dont let people talk to me or address me the way he did, Never have, never will. You know the saying...If you have nothing better to say... why he felt he had to post that I dunno, as you said threads over.

easygoing39

Crazy, offensive and threatening stuff being posted on here now,time to close the thread!

get on your bike

WTF

Gavin

Justask wrote: »

Got the help I needed so i thin this thread should die now

Closing at OPs indirect request.