Geekzone Cycling Thread

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#3485343 29-Apr-2026 08:27

So, 15 months ago we bought my Daughter a specialized bike for her 5.5km ride to school. Her Bike averages around 45km a week at most.

The brakes squeal and have done since a few months after purchasing it, and we delayed getting it to the bike shop for a service as they had an average of 2.5 week wait for service.

She has been complaining about the gears and brakes not really biting for a while, and she is a bit prone to complaining because she doesn't like riding to school. My son took it for a ride and said it wasn't safe to ride.

Last time the bike got attended, despite being inside it's first 12 months, the bike shop said it was an us problem and tried to charge us $300 which I pushed back on. They said the gears and chain were all covered in an unknown corrosive, but we don't touch the bike at all, it's kept under cover but not completely weather proof. It rides the same route my sons bike which is 8 years old and works perfectly despite doing 3x the number of KM's a week with his extra cirricular activities.

We have raised the issue with the bike shop who said they have a 2 week wait and said they would be looking to charge us for any remedial work because we aren't taking care of the bike.

I don't have an issue taking them to task, but I can't understand their position, not the fact the bike seems unreasonably fragile. We wouldn't have bought it knowing it was this much trouble.

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#3485404 29-Apr-2026 08:46

Sounds like you might be into Consumer Guarantees territory with the "not fit for purpose" category.

Also sounds like "Evo" behaviour with blaming the user for any number of issues which are faulty products.

They couldn't diagnose a ticking noise on my Dads bike which turned out to be a cracked rim. They blamed frame bearings despite us having isolated it to match the wheel revs.

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#3485422 29-Apr-2026 08:52

OK, There is a whole lot to unpack in there.

First. What model is the bike... Second, Given it a new-ish bike I'm assuming its got disc brakes,

Third, when you took the bike in for its "service" did they fix the brakes?... did you ask them to do that?

Now as for the bike being "fragile" what does this mean?,

As for the unknown "corrosive" on the chain and gears, The easiest fix is to clean them yourself, most bike shops have a range of degreasers, and its not hard to apply and clean these, in fact giving your own bike a good clean every few months is a good way to find any small niggles,

https://www.99bikes.co.nz/collections/degreaser?srsltid=AfmBOoq5Vg27EeDLItxv13sYNlC77ysgqRhk32d_hEgHs1pvgDU2KRMw

Gears not biting is usually a misaligned/damaged derailer/shifter, this is a reasonably easy thing to adjust or replace for a bike workshop,

BUT, if you don't feel like the shop is giving you the service you want, go somewhere else. Specialised is a common bike brand with reputable components, they can be services pretty much anywhere.

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#3485525 29-Apr-2026 13:18

Yeah I can't remember if it was a Sirrus that was bought? Disc brakes can and will squeal, they're not car brakes. But while they are almost maintenance free, they do need to be checked from time to time (aligning them is pretty easy).

First thing, flip the bike upside down. Spin the wheels, can you hear the discs rubbing on the pads at all or do the wheels spin freely until the stop?

As for the drivetrain, new bikes, the shifter cable will stretch very slightly, so there's usually a dial where the cable enters the shifter that you can turn and it will take up this slack. Depending on the drivetrain there may be another dial where the cable enters the deraileur and it essentially does the same thing

As for corrosion, sadly it's just what chains and cassettes do, they need oil and if she's not keen on looking on doing it herself, something thicker will last longer (unlike the ultralight lubes racers use). All our bikes happen to live inside, but also I'm an adult, it's my hobby and we have the room.

45kms per week is quite a decent amount. I do a little more than that on a mountainbike per week when I'm at my fittest. NB it's probably not much to anyone who does road riding. But it is enough for the chain and brakes to have to do a reasonable amount of work.

That said, I'd generally expect better from a Specialized dealer, the bikes tend to be bit pricey to begin with so they should back it up.

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#3485527 29-Apr-2026 13:23

geoffwnz:

They couldn't diagnose a ticking noise on my Dads bike which turned out to be a cracked rim. They blamed frame bearings despite us having isolated it to match the wheel revs.

My last new bike had the same tick. I'd taken the fork off, headset out, tyre off, retaped, checked spokes, hub caps off and greased, axle greased.

Took it back in, guy rode it around the carpark and just ordered me a new wheel. The seam weld on the rim was creaking on a bunch of models. Took him thirty seconds. New wheel arrived and they gave it to me and said we don't need the old one, keep it as a spare.

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#3485750 30-Apr-2026 11:29

wellygary:

As for the unknown "corrosive" on the chain and gears, The easiest fix is to clean them yourself, most bike shops have a range of degreasers, and its not hard to apply and clean these, in fact giving your own bike a good clean every few months is a good way to find any small niggles,

https://www.99bikes.co.nz/collections/degreaser?srsltid=AfmBOoq5Vg27EeDLItxv13sYNlC77ysgqRhk32d_hEgHs1pvgDU2KRMw

Gears not biting is usually a misaligned/damaged derailer/shifter, this is a reasonably easy thing to adjust or replace for a bike workshop,

BUT, if you don't feel like the shop is giving you the service you want, go somewhere else. Specialised is a common bike brand with reputable components, they can be services pretty much anywhere.

My sons bike which is probably $500 and more than 8 years old has zero issues in this regard receiving more KM's and the same amount of household maintanence. I've never owned a bike where I've done my own maintanence, as it doesn't interest me.

The bike is under warranty so we are limited to authorised service centers.

I am going to call specialised today and discuss it with them.

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#3485782 30-Apr-2026 13:54

On the topic of why I love cycling.

Since moving down to Nelson at the begining of the year my bike usage has probably increased 5 fold over living in Auckland. Whether that's popping up to the shops to pick up bread and milk, going for a leisurely spin on a Sunday morning with my wife for brunch or getting some execrise by going out for a session before work. My bike/s are my prefered mode of transport and I reach for my helmet before I reach for my car keys.

I've joined a local social cycling club through Facebook. They are always organising group rides on the weekend and often participate in organised events across the Tasman region as a group, pooling resources for travel and accomodation. Thursday night is the Rabbit Island group ride. Meeting at a local craft brewery in Richmond we head out to Rabbit Island for a ~2hr spin, roughly 50kms before returning to said craft brewery for a cold beverage and Tacos! In some respects I feel like a kid again (except for the beers!). I wake up on a Thursday and pull my gravel bike down from storage. Make sure the Garmin and lights are charged, tyre pressures are right, chain lubed etc.... Then I smash out my work day all the while I have a big grin on my face looking forward to 5:15pm when I can get on my bike to head to the meeting point.

Bikes are cool!

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#3485784 30-Apr-2026 14:00

Senecio:

On the topic of why I love cycling.

Since moving down to Nelson at the begining of the year my bike usage has probably increased 5 fold over living in Auckland. Whether that's popping up to the shops to pick up bread and milk, going for a leisurely spin on a Sunday morning with my wife for brunch or getting some execrise by going out for a session before work. My bike/s are my prefered mode of transport and I reach for my helmet before I reach for my car keys.

I've joined a local social cycling club through Facebook. They are always organising group rides on the weekend and often participate in organised events across the Tasman region as a group, pooling resources for travel and accomodation. Thursday night is the Rabbit Island group ride. Meeting at a local craft brewery in Richmond we head out to Rabbit Island for a ~2hr spin, roughly 50kms before returning to said craft brewery for a cold beverage and Tacos! In some respects I feel like a kid again (except for the beers!). I wake up on a Thursday and pull my gravel bike down from storage. Make sure the Garmin and lights are charged, tyre pressures are right, chain lubed etc.... Then I smash out my work day all the while I have a big grin on my face looking forward to 5:15pm when I can get on my bike to head to the meeting point.

Bikes are cool!

Ah I've done the Rabbit ride about half a dozen times when visiting Nelson. Twice on a MTB and it hurt like hell!! It was frantic. Nelson is interesting from a mountainbike perspective. It's kind of grade five or nothing. Fine if you can handle it, but tough on new riders. I imagine it's like driving a car for the first time but it's on the Nurburgring.

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#3485791 30-Apr-2026 14:53

I've intentionally avoided the single track around here for that reason. I made the mistake once of taking the hardtail out with the intention of finding the easiest of green trails down. Took a wrong turn and found myself comig down something that I can only describe as hell on two wheels. Later found out that I was still on a blue trail, not even a single black trail. I'm not a mountain biker!

There are some savages down here on the Rabbit ride. Its starts out nice and friendly on the way out but after the turn everyone gets the taste for beer and some serious power gets laid down. A couple of weeks back I was pushing 240W at ~32km/h and struggling to hold the back wheel of a 60yr old on a full suspension MTB bike. I can only aspire to be that strong on a bike today let alone 10yrs from now.

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#3485801 30-Apr-2026 15:36

mudguard:

Yeah I can't remember if it was a Sirrus that was bought? Disc brakes can and will squeal, they're not car brakes. But while they are almost maintenance free, they do need to be checked from time to time (aligning them is pretty easy).

First thing, flip the bike upside down. Spin the wheels, can you hear the discs rubbing on the pads at all or do the wheels spin freely until the stop?

I would never turn the bike upside down with disc brakes. I stopped doing that after one of my brakes went soft becuase of an air bubble, which I assumed came from that action.

Now I just lie them on the non gear side. In your case just lift the wheel and spin.

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#3485802 30-Apr-2026 15:40

netspanner:

I would never turn the bike upside down with disc brakes. I stopped doing that after one of my brakes went soft becuase of an air bubble, which I assumed came from that action.

Now I just lie them on the non gear side. In your case just lift the wheel and spin.

I wouldn't worry about that. If there's air in there, then it will need a bleed. Plus if you're on the trail or whatnot it's much easier to work on the bike when it's upside down and stable. The brakes are technically a sealed system. If they go soft, quick few pumps on the lever and it will back to how it was. But if they go soft they're due a bleed. Shimano tend to do this more than most brands. I'd have the same thing sometimes after a few days in the bike park and they'd put the bike on the back of the gondola (held by the front wheel, so vertical), get the bike off, couple of quick pumps and it's fine.

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#3485809 30-Apr-2026 16:05

Senecio:

I've intentionally avoided the single track around here for that reason. I made the mistake once of taking the hardtail out with the intention of finding the easiest of green trails down. Took a wrong turn and found myself comig down something that I can only describe as hell on two wheels. Later found out that I was still on a blue trail, not even a single black trail. I'm not a mountain biker!

Yeah it puts Nelson in a quandry in terms of being a destination for riding as it's really for the best (or bravest) riders only.

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#3486053 1-May-2026 09:37

So I called the Bike Shop in question and spoke to the GM who had a listen to my concerns and agreed to see the Bike immediately.

He had a look at the issues and could see the problems immediately.

His take is that corrosive materials are making their way onto the discs, which he explained is like having oil on the braking system. No grip and loud screeching. They are going to grind everything down and clean it and have a good look.

He seems pretty adamant it's not normal and asked a bunch of questions around where the bikes are stored (outside but mostly under cover) and where they spend time during the school day.

He owns the same bike and rates it really highly and suggested they are awesome commute bikes with low maintanence requirements.

He did wonder if there was a tiny leak in the brakes cabling or something, and he is going to inspect the whole system closely.

I've have assumed an amount of build up on the surfaces of the bike was normal, expected and shouldn't impact normal operation, but he seemed to be indicating it was far worse than normal. He took a smudge of the chain near the derailer and it did look pretty gross and greasy.

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#3486192 1-May-2026 12:18

Yeah the discs should look shiny and metallic after a ride if not all the time. If there is anything on there that has the slightest lubricating quality (CRC over spray etc) the pads will be toast.

Bike brakes are even vulnerable to all kinds of contamination, like I have the bikes on the bike rack (mine is perpendicular to the car) the discs are at risk from being sprayed from anything on the road.

I'm not tying to defend the brand but the reasons bike disc brakes can be so finicky is that virtually every other brake system on vehicles tend to drag the pads on the rotors ever so slightly which helps keeps them clean and also the sheer weight of motor vehicles can mean they generate enough heat to burn off any road grime or a little bit of oil. Pushbikes can't do this. It's even suggested to not touch the rotor surface with your fingers due to oils in your skin.

In fact the brakes can be so sensitive that if you've got something on the rotors, and you out new pads in, you can ruin those virtually instantly.

That said, if the brakes are actually leaking fluid they'll just replace the whole system. That's a pretty easy warranty decision, Shimano have had this issue where they will weep fluid very slowly and ruin pads.

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#3486230 1-May-2026 13:16

Yeah,. I mean I sort of get it, but it seems like a pretty crappy 'innovation' if it's become so prone to failure in my view. I rode most of my bikes with caliper type old style brakes for 10 years and never touched them. This thing gets a bit of stuff on it, and squeals and won't do it's actual thing like brake.

The job sheet says an inspection found no leaks, however they have replaced both brakes, which to me seems to indicate some sort of issue was found. Hopefully, the new ones are better and this is the end of the drama.

Job sheet says $300, but hopefully, they aren't going to push that on me, as they didn't seek approval for expedentiture.

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