Warrantees and service after the sale

The real legal warrantee is spelled out in your owner's manual, and we can get into serious trouble if we lay people monkey with that. Please look there, and if you're unsure what it all means, compare it with the following explanation:

It's common for a good quality bike in the USA to have a warrantee of the welded or bonded parts of the frame against defects, and a separate warrantee for everything bolted onto that frame. For some of our bikes, the frame warrantee is for the life of the original owner, for others it's for five years, and there may be other variations, besides. As of January, 2003, the suspension and other parts on most of our bikes are covered for one year after the date of purchase.

Our way of looking at things: if it breaks by itself in normal, expected use within the warrantee period, there's a good chance it will be covered. If somebody broke it, forget it. If you never jump your bike and don't let it get rusty and a weld cracks, we will submit it to the manufacturer. If you whacked it on a tree and a weld cracks, you're on your own. It is not our call how warrantee obligations are fulfilled, that's up to the manufacturer.

Brattleboro Bicycle Shop does have a big part to play during the break-in period for a new bike. As things get worked into place or stretch, the gears, brakes, and wheels need readjustment to avoid premature wear. Brattleboro Bicycle Shop will adjust anything that needs adjusting on a bike you buy from us for free for 60 days after the date of sale, as often as it needs it. Fine tuning, it's free. Repairs of stuff you broke, not free.

Maintenance Schedule
How often should the bike be serviced? Some people ride for years and do nothing - bikes are very forgiving. It may take a few thousand miles for a bike to get used up if it never gets serviced. On the other hand, all machines are more pleasing to operate when regularly maintained. Here's what we do for our own bikes:

Regular maintenance
Oil the chain every three hours of riding, more if it gets wet;

Top up the tires every ride, and check for cuts that need action;

Clean and polish the frame whenever it's dirty (for a road bike that's usually every 1-200 miles, for a mountain bike it could be every ride!);

Clean the brake track of the rims with rubbing alcohol every time you see gray streaks or black smudges from the brake pads. This is also the time to dig out embedded grit from the brake pads.

Every month (mtb) or 500 miles (road) -
Measure the chain with a chain guage or ruler. With the center of a pin at zero, 24 links should be exactly 12 inches. If your chain is 1/16" over the 12, replace it. If you ride a lot in one or two gears or have a 9- or 10-speed cluster, replace it before it gets that worn. Otherwise, your shifting performance will quickly degrade and the sloppy chain will eat into the sprocket teeth until a new chain skips on them.

Make sure there's no water in the shocks.

Every 100 hrs (mtb), 2000 miles (road) or yearly -
Tune it up - Mountain bikes will need new cables and brake shoes at least once a year. For road bikes this will depend on conditions of usage.

Shock fork maintenance - If there's oil in there, change it. Lube the springs and slider bushings, drain the water that shouldn't ever be in there.

Powder up your inner tubes with talcum powder or else they'll get worn from being stuck to the tire casings. Replace them if they're old, abraded, or patched.

Repack the bearings in the wheels and maybe in the headset. If you still have a loose-ball bottom bracket (no new bike has this over $450), replace it with a cartridge and forget about it until it makes noise.