I bought a Dawes Lightning 1200 this winter on an EBay closeout. I took it out after having a buddy tune it. It wasn't too bad except the rear wheel was over tightened and had to be taken apart. If you spun the axel with your hand it did not move very well but after some adjustments we were able to get it spinning pretty good and trued with the excption of one tiny hop that was not noticeable when riding.

So after I got it tuned I took it for a ride and had a shifting mishap that ended up breaking the rear derailer hanger, bent the rear derailer, and bent the chain. I sent several emails to both the email address on the Dawes USA site as well as the bikesdirect.com website and did not receive a response. Even if none of this was covered under warranty I would have appreciated an email telling me this.

I did end up buying a new/used 105 derailer and a new chain for a reasonable price. Lets face it if I wanted to spend alot of money I wouldn't have bought a dawes right.

Now my problem is that I do not have a replacement rear derailer hanger. Since I am not sure how this bike was rebranded I don't know how to obtain one on my own since I can not seem to get a response from these bikesdirect people. Can anybody point me in the right direction.

Garrett

Hi,
I am not sure how bikedirect would be responsible for your bike as they do not sell on e-bay. What about your LBS for the derrailer hanger?

I thought BD (through seller name "bikesdirectbikes") sold quite a bit on eBay actually.

I'm not surprised that the derailleur, etc. damage would not be a warranty item since it usually happens as a result of maladjustment. Did the bike come with a spoke protector/dork disc in the back, and if so did you remove it?

But you certainly do deserve assistance in finding a replacement derailleur hanger. Have you tried PM'ing BD through this site? (A rep. has an account)

if the bike, was new BD should be the first approach. if it was used, they should still be helpful in getting you the information you need to fix it.
disappointing showing by BD, lets see if they pick up on the thread and get their act together.
check some of the other threads--mike from BD is a member of the board and you can contact him directly.

This is the second thread (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=88738) in just a few weeks with people not getting a response from BD when all they want is a derailer hanger.

I wonder if one of the reasons they push so many bikes via ebay instead of BD is to save on warranty issues.

Of course these posters could just be shills for other low end e-tailers:thumbsup:

How would I go about PMing the BD guy about a derailer hanger?

It is not a good feeling to know that I can not get a replacement derailer hanger if this one breaks. I saw that they compare bikes like these to the Trek 1000 but I am sure that I wouldn't have to post messages on a forum to get a part. I would be will to pay for one as well as shipping. Better yet I would like to buy two of them since shipping is probably as much as the part.

You should have bought a Mercier Draco, they come with two!

he goes by the user name bikesdirect in this forum.

I bought a Dawes Lightning 1200 this winter on an EBay closeout. I took it out after having a buddy tune it. It wasn't too bad except the rear wheel was over tightened and had to be taken apart. If you spun the axel with your hand it did not move very well but after some adjustments we were able to get it spinning pretty good and trued with the excption of one tiny hop that was not noticeable when riding.

So after I got it tuned I took it for a ride and had a shifting mishap that ended up breaking the rear derailer hanger, bent the rear derailer, and bent the chain. I sent several emails to both the email address on the Dawes USA site as well as the bikesdirect.com website and did not receive a response. Even if none of this was covered under warranty I would have appreciated an email telling me this.

I did end up buying a new/used 105 derailer and a new chain for a reasonable price. Lets face it if I wanted to spend alot of money I wouldn't have bought a dawes right.

Now my problem is that I do not have a replacement rear derailer hanger. Since I am not sure how this bike was rebranded I don't know how to obtain one on my own since I can not seem to get a response from these bikesdirect people. Can anybody point me in the right direction.

Garrett

Garrett

Hi

I am sorry your bike has issues; I can not tell from your description if it was caused by the factory. UPS, or your friend's setup. But that does not really matter. We give people rr der hangers all the time. [you can PM me here with your address or email at bikesdirectbikes@aol.com to me]

on site email -- my staff answers every single email we get; which is thousands a week. However, they do not work on weekends AND some percentage of the emails we return are boucned or catch in spam filters. We are working on a way to address the issue even though it only effects a small percentage of the emails we get.

we have tons of spare parts that we keep around and send out to customers all the time; no big deal for us; just let me know what you need

mike
bikesdirect

Somewhat off topic but how do you exactly get a wheel on "too tight"?