Hi, so, I made a post a week ago asking for advice on a bike for commuting while living on a hill, and ended up buying a class 1 ebike that subbed perfectly as a regular bike and had enough power to make the upclimb home hard but possible. Bought it last week, used it yersterday all day for ~30km, and today when I took it out for a spin 1km down the road from home the front tire just fell out. Thankfully I was going very slow to take a turn and got to stop the fall with my hands, no harm done, but if it'd happened 10 seconds before… it would've been pretty nasty.
So, I called the guy that sold it to me (tbh very good attentive sales service) and he seemed very surprised, said it had never happened before and offered to send a guy to pick it up (and me, as I can't possibly drag the dissassembled 20kg bike up the hill and can't just leave it), and send a new one over in a couple hours.
Experts, what do you think? Should I trust it's a God-honest mistake and accept the new one, or should I chalk it up to the brand making cheap faulty bikes and just return it? It was almost $1000 USD and I promise you there were cheaper options, so I'd expect a bit of quality.
Is your front tire falling out common? Apparently the cause was a handle was loose (sorry I'm truly a brand new rookie to biking) but idk how that happened as no one has touched it but me since I bought it.
Thoughts and advice?
Bike for reference (listen, I live at the bottom corner of the earth and don't have access to 80% of the brands y'all talk about on here, this is a local brand with German sponsorship, your browser should give you the option to translate it): https://www.volmark.cl/product/bicicleta-electrica-volmark-modelo-bonn
by FleabagsHotPriest
11 Comments
You had a flat tyre you didn’t notice and that’s why it rolled off
Pics of the crime scene: https://imgur.com/a/w4gTOwe
I’ve never heard of a tire falling off. I’d assume unexpected catastrophic failure.
It sounds like they’re taking care of you though
Do you mean the whole wheel fell out of the fork, or the tyre came off the wheel?
If the first, then that can happen if the quick release skewer that holds the wheel in place was not fitted properly. Get the shop to show you how to use it.
If the tyre has come off the wheel, that suggests you had a puncture that you didn’t notice. That would be odd though as a front wheel puncture severely affects the handling of the bike.
EDIT: Now I’ve seen the pics, yep, that’s definitely the wheel not being properly mounted in the fork.
Had something similar happen to a friend… They bought a new bike, brought it home, asked me to take a look at it the next day as I know more about bikes than they do (not that I’m an expert), because they said it “felt weird.” I picked the bike up and the back tire rolled down the street. Like your bike, it was a quick release – and it hadn’t been tightened properly so the wheel would stay attached. Maybe something similar happened to you? Either way, I’m glad you’re okay and that the shop you bought from is making it right.
The shop should have told you how to operate and tighten the quick release. They must have assumed you already knew how to use them.
I read that the combination of quick release & disc brake specifically on a front wheel can cause the quick release to loosen after a lot of braking, thus it’s important to check the quick release more often (best before every ride or after a lot of braking and to re-tighten it just to be sure) correct me if I am wrong please, I only learned about this recently and am not sure if it’s problem that has been fixed, or if it’s what happened to you, as the quick release might just not be tightened enough from the shop to begin with.
quote: A front disc brake caliper behind the fork blade generates a powerful force tending to loosen a quick release and pull the wheel out of the fork. A special hub, and a fork with a hole rather than a slot for the axle, are needed to surmount this problem. (like for example ”thru axle” fastening)
here’s some sourcres: [sheldonbrown](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/disc-brakes.html), [bikebiz](https://bikebiz.com/disc-brakes-and-mtb-forks-independent-testers-verify-axle-slippage-and-qr-loosening/), [kinetics-online](https://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/archived/disc-brake-safety-issues/)
I regularly take the front wheel off my bike to make it easier to transport in cars. This is an awesome feature of quick release wheels but would be quite distressing if it happened without warning and especially if you didn’t already know about this feature! Not a fun first ride!
I don’t think it’s a quality issue. I honestly don’t even fault the person who sold it to you for not explaining it to you. Most people don’t take their wheels off ever. It’s unfortunate they didn’t check this before leaving it with you, but stuff happens. I would insist they give it a check and let you test ride it before they leave.
That said, I’ve found my experience biking to be much enhanced by understanding how things on my bike work and being able to do basic repairs myself. This isn’t required but it might be enjoyable. You can go into a bike shop for help with just about anything but I like knowing how things work.
Fun fact, if you jump off a curb and your quick release is loose, you can end up doing a gravity check with your face and frightening children you know and love for a few weeks.
0/10 do not recommend.
Don’t be like me; check it every time you go out.
You’ve gotta learn how these things work
This is why i disregard social boundaries and tell folkx when their QR is open. First o have to explain what a WR is.