Beware when Buying Bikes!

As I'm a college student, my bike helps me get around town, even on the bus--which saves me a lot of gas and money. My old bike was ten years old and much too small for me and so I decided to get another bike. I had previously looked around town and picked the shop I thought would give me the best bike. I went in the store, scanned the racks of bicycles and picked out the cheapest one which was $300 and took it for a test drive around the block. It was a Diamondback bike, 18" and brand new. I bought the bike, along with a helmet and bike pump, the total came to $382.09. That was less than a week ago.

My new bike, which I paid $300 for, had already broke. The handle bars had slipped out of their metal brace while I was out for a long bike ride and I had to walk most of the way home, which was a couple of miles in the 90+ degree heat. I called the cycle shop and told them what happened. They said to bring it in and they would fix it. Since the bike was under a one year warranty it was supposed to be covered. I was exhausted when I got home but I managed to load my bike into the car. I drove to the shop and brought my bike in. It took a little while for them to help me and I told them the problem. I had also taken the bike receipt with me and said I wanted to return the bike.

"We don't usually do returns," he said.

I told him the handle bars had slipped. He adjusted the bars with a special screw driver. He mentioned the bike was fine when I had first tried it out and I agreed, everything was fine then, but since I had only ridden the bike twice it wasn't really my fault the handlebars slipped. He asked me if I had 'fiddled' with it and adjusted the handlebars. I pointed out to him that the only way I could do that was if I had a special screw driver like the one he just used to adjust the handlebars.

So the answer was, "No, I didn't 'fiddle' with it."
I couldn't believe he had tried to put the blame on me. I know nothing about bikes and I told him I wouldn't even know how to adjust the handlebars. But he just told me if it happens again, bring it in.

I didn't think having the handle bars slipping off should be a common occurrence. I wondered how many times I would have to bring it in. I tried again to return the bike and get my money back but he said no returns were possible. As I was determined to know what the exact policy was on bike returns, I went to another place, Campus Bikes. The place where I had bought my faulty bike from shall remain nameless.

The guy working at Campus Bikes told me the same thing--no returns. He explained that when you buy a bike, it's automatically considered 'used'. So I had found out that the $300 I spent on a faulty bike was wasted and wouldn't be returned to me, which was infuriating because I had spent my hard earned savings on that bike.

The warranty is still good for a year but that means I'm not allowed to take my bike to another business to get it fixed because that would void the warranty. I also can't sell my bike because I wouldn't get all my money back and even if I did sell it, the warranty doesn't transfer to the new owner. I had even registered my new bike on the National Bike Registry, which offers a free 6 month trial. But if I sold the bike I would have to take it off the registry and when you sell or give your bike away, the National Bike Registry doesn't transfer to the new owner, so they would have to get their own insurance.

So now I was stuck with an over-priced and faulty bike that I couldn't return or exchange. I also didn't want to ride it again, in case it would break or come loose while I was riding and cause serious injury. I decided I would ride my ten year old, too small bike instead, just to be safe.

Here's how you can avoid getting stuck with a faulty bike:

-Shop around for good deals. A good bike shouldn't cost more than $150. Make sure it comes with a warranty.

-Have the bike shop do a thorough check-up of the bike to make sure it's in working order before you leave the shop.

-Avoid fancy over-priced bikes that have poor designs. Anything that is not properly framed or adjusted may break or come loose. Look for a sturdy frame and have the bike shop adjust and tighten anything loose.

-Don't attempt to fix the bike yourself!--it voids the warranty. Just take it in, and if it's under warranty, the shop should fix it for free.