Road Bike, Cycling Forums banner

Tune-up conundrum

3K views 43 replies 26 participants last post by  blackfrancois 
#1 ·
I'm relatively new at biking and need help. I recently took my bike in for a tune-up and, upon returning home, found that the dynamics of the bike had changed. . . not so much that I had to shift down a gear but enough to make it quite noticeable that peddling was harder in each gear on the same routes that I ride constantly. Very irritating. The bike shop was no help. I can not determine what caused the problem. The shop that did my tune-up did the following things: new chain, new freewheel, new tires, new bottom bracket. Unfortunately, I do not have my records to determine which components are different from those that were replaced.

Which replaced components might most likely be causing this?????

Thanks for any ideas.
 
#3 ·
Difficult to say without more info, e.g. What cassette did you have? (gears on back wheel) What cassette did they put on? (likely exact same) What tires were on the bike? What tires did they put on?

Have you checked your tire pressure?
Have you checked to see that wheels are spinning freely? It's relatively easy to bump the brakes off-center (if the bike was put in the car).
Spin the crank backwards - feel for resistance

Still, guessing Pirx got this one right... probably in your head
 
#6 ·
Damn FF... last week you had a decent post. I thought you'd turned a corner. Oh well.

Perdido, just compare the old and new cassettes (may take a call to the shop), the tire pressure and that everything's moving freely - no rubbing/dragging - and report back.

oh, and ignore Factory Feel... we all do
 
#11 ·
Could be all of the above, minus the crank installation joke. I would go back to them and 1) ask exactly what they did (including comparison between any new parts and old parts on the bike), 2) clearly explain what you experienced and see what they say.

One thought not addressed above could be that your shifter cable tension was previously improperly set (or was changed while you had the bike) and the derailleur wasn't actually shifting through the correct gears (likely missing the smallest cog - since it now is harder on each gear).
 
#13 ·
. . . not so much that I had to shift down a gear but enough to make it quite noticeable that peddling was harder in each gear on the same routes that I ride constantly.
The most obvious answer is the cassette was changed, as others mentioned. You may have had a 12-30 before, and now you have an 11-28, for instance.
You can certainly see what's on there now by counting the teeth.
If the old one was the original cassette, you can usually still up the bike specs and see what it was shipped with.
 
#14 ·
Cassette? Am I the only one who shifts by feel and not by looking backwards to see which cog position I'm in?

New/different cassettes don't make any difference except if I run out on the ends because I just shift by feel and can always find an easier or harder gear.

If the new tires suck that could make a difference.
 
#30 ·
Cassette? Am I the only one who shifts by feel and not by looking backwards to see which cog position I'm in?

New/different cassettes don't make any difference except if I run out on the ends because I just shift by feel and can always find an easier or harder gear.
You are not the only one, I shift the same way.
On the other hand, I DO "run out on the end", specifically using the largest rear cog with the big front, *frequently*. This happens every time I shift to the small front cog. And on hilly routes I ride frequently, I would/do notice the difference between my 12-27 wheels and 12-30 wheels, and when/where I need to make the front shift.
Or maybe it is tires? Or wind? or ???
 
#15 ·
A change in cassette size wouldn't be the problem. That would only affect the high/low ends of the range. Not every gear.
enough to make it quite noticeable that peddling was harder in each gear on the same routes that I ride constantly.
What tires were on the bike? What tires did they put on?

Have you checked to see that wheels are spinning freely?

Spin the crank backwards - feel for resistance
Gotta be one of these things. Going from nice tires to really bad tires could be pretty noticeable.
If it's in the wheel/BB and there's that much noticeable resistance it'd be easy to feel by hand.
 
#16 ·
This is why I'm always critical of bike shop tune ups. What are the chances that this guy even needed a new cassette and chain? Those items typically last me a lot longer than a set of tires. New bottom bracket?? Those things last tens of thousands of miles. Did he even need the tires. Sounds like the bike was working fine and he got taken to the cleaners. What did they charge for all this?

Most of these have probably been mentioned ...

1. Tires -- What did you have before and what did they replace them with? Maybe they put on really cheap, heavy tires. I'm guessing they replaced the original tires on the bike. Tires that come on new bikes are usually pretty low end. Are they pumped up to where they should be? I assume you own a floor pump.
2. Cassette -- Like someone here said, a gear is a gear, so that shouldn't make any difference. A 16 tooth cog in a 12-25 feels the same as a 16 tooth cog in an 11-28.
3. Wheels -- Take them off and spin the hubs. Some hubs have grease ports and if you put too much grease in the hub, it really does create resistance.
4. Bottom bracket -- Same thing as the hubs. Do you feel resistance when you spin the cranks? Could be that someone got overzealous with the grease gun.
5. Brakes -- Check to see if the rims are centered and one of the pads isn't rubbing. I'm surprised they changed all that crap and didn't do your pads. Not that you probably needed them either.

Did the bike shop give you the parts they took off the bike? They should do that.
 
#19 ·
This is why I'm always critical of bike shop tune ups. What are the chances that this guy even needed a new cassette and chain? Those items typically last me a lot longer than a set of tires. New bottom bracket?? Those things last tens of thousands of miles. Did he even need the tires. Sounds like the bike was working fine and he got taken to the cleaners. What did they charge for all this?
+ 1,000

do the work yourself! it ain't hard!

the op also said "new freewheel," not cassette. so i assume it's an old bike.

i will guess the shop threw away a perfectly good bottom bracket so they could save a few minutes and sell you a cheapo cartridge bb for an inflated price that doesn't roll as smoothly as the overhauled original.

live and learn. it took me just one bad experience like this for the motivation to do all these simple tasks myself.
 
#26 ·
When the guy starts out saying "I'm relatively new at biking and need help." I get the impression that he just bought a bike not that long ago.

So, Perdido, did you recently buy a new bike, or a fairly old used one? Using the term "free wheel" implies an older bike -- really old bike -- or is it just a lack of modern bike terminology (i.e. thinking free wheel = cassette)?

Has all our advice led you to solving the problem? Or are you currently living under a bridge?
 
#31 ·
Using the term "free wheel" implies an older bike -- really old bike -- or is it just a lack of modern bike terminology (i.e. thinking free wheel = cassette)?
free wheel = a wheel that has a price of $0.

freewheel = rear cluster of cogs that thread onto a threaded bicycle hub.
 
#33 ·
Freewheel may just be their generic term for a cassette, cluster, cogs, gears etc, bit like "hamburger" covers a whole lot of things. It may, or may not actually be a freewheel.

Either way, they should take it back to the shop and get them to look at /fix whatever the problem is, and then, learn how to do it themselves.
 
#35 ·
Try the easy stuff first. Spin each wheel by hand. Are your brakes rubbing? Do the wheels spin free without any cyclical noises?

If the above checks OK, my guess would be your new tires are slower. What pressure are your tires inflated to?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top