Christopher
New member
I have a question for an expert on bikes, mountain bikes in particular. I have a Schwinn High Timber 21-speed mountain bike that I bought not even a month ago. When I first got it, everything was working just fine, but unfortunately, when I was coming home from work about a week ago or so, this crazy idiot lady flew around a turn as I was attempting to cross the street to get to the next sidewalk and she hit me from behind with her car. Worse than that is the fact that she ended up driving off before I could get her license number. Fortunately, despite being thrown to the ground from the impact, I wasn't hurt myself at all, not even a scratch. However, the back tire was all messed up and bent. If you looked at the bike from behind, it looked like something out of some surreal painting the way the tire was bent. I took it back to Dick's Sporting Goods where I bought it and they fixed it and replaced the back tire because I had bought the two-year extended
warranty.
The problem is that I noticed after riding it that now it feels too loose when I have it set to number one for the speed and seven for the gear, which is the default setting I always would use for flat land and downhill unless I wanted to go extra fast down a hill, and I know on that setting I could get pretty good speed on flat land or downhill, particularly on flat land, but now when I have it set to one for speed and seven for the gear, it feels like it's set to one for the speed and five or maybe even four for the gear. Now I'm peddling a bunch and not going as fast on flat land as I did on that setting before the accident.
I'm not sure what's causing this because I don't know basically anything about bikes. Actually, my nephew is very knowledgeable about bikes and he rode it after I told him about this problem and he said it felt fine to him and he keeps insisting there's nothing wrong with it, but I know it doesn't feel right. I think he just doesn't want to let me know that there's something wrong with it because he figures then I would ask him to try to fix it and he doesn't feel like fooling with it anymore. He says it's supposed to be feeling loose like that, but I don't think that's right because it felt so much better when it was "tighter" before the accident because, like I said, I could go faster easier on flat land the way it was before. He tried to tell me that it must have been because they lubed it after they fixed it, but I remember that the guy repairing it *didn't* lube it, so I don't know what's actually causing it to pedal so loosely like this.
The problem is that I figure if having it set to one for speed and seven for the gear now feels like it's set to five or four for the gear, then that means to get it feeling right when I'm on flat land, I'd have to set the speed to two just to compensate for this problem, which means that if I were going downhill and wanted to go faster, I would have to set the speed to three just for it to feel like it's set on two from the way it was before the accident, which means if I wanted to go *really* fast down a hill and I wanted to set it to three, there's nothing I could do in the bike's current state to get it to go that fast because speed two would feel like one and speed three would feel like two. See what I mean?
My nephew said that it would end up tightening up over time and end up back the way it was, but I'm not sure if it will. Is that true? Even if that is true, I don't know if I want to wait however long it would take for that to happen and meanwhile I have to ride my bike with it feeling all weird like this.
What I was thinking about doing is since I just bought the bike brand new not even a month ago, I was thinking about just taking it back to Dick's Sporting Goods and returning it and then immediately buying another one of the exact same bike so that I don't have to deal with this problem anymore, and then hopefully I won't get hit by any more cars. The thing is, if I have them fix it, this time they'll probably make me use up one of my two warranty repairs, which I really don't want to do considering I just bought the bike. If I had it for a year or so and this happened, that would be different, but since I just bought it, I really don't want to use one of the free warranty repairs already, so I was thinking about just returning this one and buying another one just like it and "starting over".
If I'm going to do that, I have to do it soon, the sooner the better.
So...not meaning to sound like LeBron James, but...what should I do?
Should I just accept the bike being the way it is and hope it'll get better?
Should I take the bike back to the store and get another one just like it?
Should I say, "I am not a role model"?
...But seriously, what should I do?
warranty.
The problem is that I noticed after riding it that now it feels too loose when I have it set to number one for the speed and seven for the gear, which is the default setting I always would use for flat land and downhill unless I wanted to go extra fast down a hill, and I know on that setting I could get pretty good speed on flat land or downhill, particularly on flat land, but now when I have it set to one for speed and seven for the gear, it feels like it's set to one for the speed and five or maybe even four for the gear. Now I'm peddling a bunch and not going as fast on flat land as I did on that setting before the accident.
I'm not sure what's causing this because I don't know basically anything about bikes. Actually, my nephew is very knowledgeable about bikes and he rode it after I told him about this problem and he said it felt fine to him and he keeps insisting there's nothing wrong with it, but I know it doesn't feel right. I think he just doesn't want to let me know that there's something wrong with it because he figures then I would ask him to try to fix it and he doesn't feel like fooling with it anymore. He says it's supposed to be feeling loose like that, but I don't think that's right because it felt so much better when it was "tighter" before the accident because, like I said, I could go faster easier on flat land the way it was before. He tried to tell me that it must have been because they lubed it after they fixed it, but I remember that the guy repairing it *didn't* lube it, so I don't know what's actually causing it to pedal so loosely like this.
The problem is that I figure if having it set to one for speed and seven for the gear now feels like it's set to five or four for the gear, then that means to get it feeling right when I'm on flat land, I'd have to set the speed to two just to compensate for this problem, which means that if I were going downhill and wanted to go faster, I would have to set the speed to three just for it to feel like it's set on two from the way it was before the accident, which means if I wanted to go *really* fast down a hill and I wanted to set it to three, there's nothing I could do in the bike's current state to get it to go that fast because speed two would feel like one and speed three would feel like two. See what I mean?
My nephew said that it would end up tightening up over time and end up back the way it was, but I'm not sure if it will. Is that true? Even if that is true, I don't know if I want to wait however long it would take for that to happen and meanwhile I have to ride my bike with it feeling all weird like this.
What I was thinking about doing is since I just bought the bike brand new not even a month ago, I was thinking about just taking it back to Dick's Sporting Goods and returning it and then immediately buying another one of the exact same bike so that I don't have to deal with this problem anymore, and then hopefully I won't get hit by any more cars. The thing is, if I have them fix it, this time they'll probably make me use up one of my two warranty repairs, which I really don't want to do considering I just bought the bike. If I had it for a year or so and this happened, that would be different, but since I just bought it, I really don't want to use one of the free warranty repairs already, so I was thinking about just returning this one and buying another one just like it and "starting over".
If I'm going to do that, I have to do it soon, the sooner the better.
So...not meaning to sound like LeBron James, but...what should I do?
Should I just accept the bike being the way it is and hope it'll get better?
Should I take the bike back to the store and get another one just like it?
Should I say, "I am not a role model"?
...But seriously, what should I do?