collecting my new bike

[easyroller]

I assume you're joking?

Only half joking actually. The point was he has never ridden a road bike - ever - no idea how to work the brakes or gears, has no cycle maintenance knowledge and has to ride home burdened with a load of accessories either down a 70mph dual carriageway or through a hilly estate with heavy traffic. Probably best put it in the car and then practice somewhere quietly.

I've been cycling for over 30 years, commuted every day in Central London for 6 of them, and I've never once had to take wheel off when out. Not once.
Twice I have had to push the bike home- one was an unmendable puncture that wrote of the tyre as well, and the other was a catastrophic derailleur failure that bent the back forks and wrecked the back wheel.

So in 30 years of riding you've never had to replace an inner tube by the roadside?

[mjr]

So in 30 years of riding you've never had to replace an inner tube by the roadside?

I think that's believable. In 30 years of riding, I've never had to. The few times that the fairy has visited and beaten the Kevlar of modern tyres, I could either limp home, wiggler the tube out and patch, or use a foam canister. Sometimes I've chosen to replace the tube because it seemed quicker and a group was waiting on me, but I didn't have to.

[iviehoff]

If you don't even know how to take a wheel off then I don't think you should be riding home!

Dervla Murphy could never fix a puncture and she rode all the way to India.

[Mark1978]

Only half joking actually. The point was he has never ridden a road bike - ever - no idea how to work the brakes or gears, has no cycle maintenance knowledge and has to ride home burdened with a load of accessories either down a 70mph dual carriageway or through a hilly estate with heavy traffic. Probably best put it in the car and then practice somewhere quietly.

This! I remember when I first got my road bike, just remembering which way was gear up and which way was gear down, how to work the brakes - not to mention my stem was too long, was a lot to take in even just doing a lap around the block, nevermind a ride home. It's quite possible the shop will give him a bag of accessories too, far better to go about fitting them properly at home than attempting to rush the job in the shop.

[mjr]

I think it was my first road bike that I put into a field because I spent too long looking at the gear shifters. I had used a 3 speed until then... although I put that into a rose bush on the first ride because I was not ready for the acceleration of top gear. I would still ride it home and probably through the housing estate but maybe I am not the best judge of this based on first experiences

(edited to remove extra pronoun so I sound a bit less illiterate)

[easyroller]

Well he was picking it up yesterday and we haven't heard back from him yet................

[Flinders]

I assume you're joking?

Only half joking actually. The point was he has never ridden a road bike - ever - no idea how to work the brakes or gears, has no cycle maintenance knowledge and has to ride home burdened with a load of accessories either down a 70mph dual carriageway or through a hilly estate with heavy traffic. Probably best put it in the car and then practice somewhere quietly.

I've been cycling for over 30 years, commuted every day in Central London for 6 of them, and I've never once had to take wheel off when out. Not once.
Twice I have had to push the bike home- one was an unmendable puncture that wrote of the tyre as well, and the other was a catastrophic derailleur failure that bent the back forks and wrecked the back wheel.

So in 30 years of riding you've never had to replace an inner tube by the roadside?

Not once. Even when I commuted in the Smoke I never got a puncture I couldn't get home on by pumping the tyre up hard once or twice. But I am a lightweight.
I've changed tubes at home, of course, on previous bikes, but with my current HP tyres, I suspect my paws aren't strong enough to get the tyre back on. The OP might have the same problem. I carry the necessary, of course.

I did comment that I thought if the rider had clips on their shoes and wasn't used to them that I thought he should practice on a trainer first. I think that's a necessity. But when it comes to gears, I rode my current bike home with in-brake gears for the fist time with absolutely no problems at all. It's easier than it would be going the other way from in-brake gears to stem levers, I should think.

On the whole, I agree that if it is possible, I'd get the bike home through other means, like a mate's car or van, and play with the bike somewhere safe off the road. But we don;t know how much experience the OP has on other bikes. If the only difference is that they're used to a MTB they may be fine with it. Personally, I'd struggle with a MTB, having only ever had drop bar road bikes!

[Redvee]

It is a requirement on Cycle Schemes that everything be processed together - we do hundreds of them! However there is no requirement for you to take everything from the store in one go.

A work colleague had this issue last year with his C2W LoC. He went for a £700 bike but when it was time to process the LoC the bike had dropped down to £500 so had to 'spend' the balance on lights, computer and mudguards.

My C2W bike has changed again today but when I placed the original order I asked for mudguards and rack to be fitted by the shop. I'm capable of doing it myself but prefer the shop to do it.