Just bought Reid Falco Elite, but poor assembly?

[vexil2]

Hi I just bought a Reid Falco Elite with the Mavic Aksium wheels, it has full shimano 105 stuff on it so it's basically the highest spec bike you can get from them. Cost was $1,148 with SPD SL pedals.
http://www.reidcycles.com.au/bicycles/r ... -bike.html

There were a few issues I've noticed , and I wouldn't mind someone's opinion on whether that's poor workmanship by perhaps an inexperienced guy assembling the bike?
1) the shifter/brakes attached to the handle bars don't seem to be extruding completely straight. The angle is just ever so slighty different between the two. That's purely cosmetic though I'd say but still not great.
2) there is quite a lot of extra length on the brake and shifter cables, so much so that one was sticking out of the pedals and would brush my leg when cycling, so I had to bend it back towards the bike. It was 7cm past the hex bolt. The rear derailler cable had 7.5 cm sticking out, and the front brakes had an extra 10cm sticking out. That seems excessive to me - is that just a lazy job or is there value to having the extra?
3) I'm having problems shifting into the bottom rear gear. All higher gears shift ok but the second bottom one is noisy, and then when I try to shift into the bottom one, the derailler moves but instead of the chain going onto the bottom cog, it just gets really noisy. I then have to press the downshifter again and finally it moves into the bottom gear. It's done this from day one. Moving back up to the second bottom gear is fine, just a single shift.

I'm a bit of a novice on Bike tech and maybe this sort of stuff is normal or happens on all new bikes, but is it a case that these Reid guys do shoddy jobs when putting their bikes together? When I picked up my bike (Melbourne Shop) there was a lady there who had brought hers back in with a few problems so I'm wondering if these guys are just hacks or something?

Also with point 3) I assume it's some sort of calibration issue, can I fix it myself? I'm pretty tech savvy with most things and I think I'd rather learn how to do it myself properly rather than let some young hack at a bike shop screw around with it if this is the standard of their work.

If this is shoddy, is it fairly normal across most bike shops, or are Reid in particular a bit shoddy. Ie should I be taking my bike elsewhere to be serviced?

Would love anyone's thoughts, comments, and tips. Thanks.

[HoldYaLine]

Its a reid, dont expect much. The only thing i wil say is if its still bothering take it to another bike shop, I have a condor for commuting and it was also set up terribly with problems similair to yours and other bike shops can fix it

[bychosis]

Point 1) budget brand, although a high spec bike, probably not a lot of care taken with assembly (in terms of low paid mechanics)
Point 2) need some cable hanging out but it seems excessive, should be cut off or able to be tucked out of the way
Point 3) it's not uncommon for a new bike to 'settle' a bit and need readjusting after a shrt while, most shops offer a free first service after you've run it in a bit.

If you picked it up from the shop, take it back and ask them to straighten up the issues. If you got it shipped to you flick them an email and let them know, then get into YouTube and Sheldonbrown.com and the park tool websites then get your hands dirty. Cut off the cables a bit and adjust your gears, adjusting the levers will take a little more if they are hiding under bar tale. Edit: TAPE you stupid autocorrect.

[AUbicycles]

Take it to a store where you can have each of these corrected. With the angle of the shifters and excess on the gear cable, it is a bit sloppy though easily corrected, when you get this to the store I hope it paases into their QC loop.

On the smooth gears, I agree, calibration can be needed and of you can, take it back and get them to explain how it works, all up it should be less than 5 minutes for a mechanic and as a new bike you shouldn't be charged.

[vexil2]

Ok I took it to store today and they fixed the shifting issues pretty easily on the spot by adjusting the tensioner on the cable. I asked them how it got missed and he said it probably got bumped along the way.

I also asked him about the shifter levers coming out of the handlebar at a slightly different angle and they had a crack at straightening it up. Seems weird that they let it go out like that. It's still not 100% but not noticeable so I'll leave it for now.

With regards to the 10cm excess wire, he said they normally do that so there's plenty to grip onto with pliers should you need to work on it later. I guess this is just their style but I would have though 5cms was plenty. Anyway I'm good to go, thanks for your comments and tips guys.

[kunalraiker]

Ok I took it to store today and they fixed the shifting issues pretty easily on the spot by adjusting the tensioner on the cable. I asked them how it got missed and he said it probably got bumped along the way.

I also asked him about the shifter levers coming out of the handlebar at a slightly different angle and they had a crack at straightening it up. Seems weird that they let it go out like that. It's still not 100% but not noticeable so I'll leave it for now.

With regards to the 10cm excess wire, he said they normally do that so there's plenty to grip onto with pliers should you need to work on it later. I guess this is just their style but I would have though 5cms was plenty. Anyway I'm good to go, thanks for your comments and tips guys.

All the best, lesson learnt ?