New bike advice needed

[Bobbybest]

I've just purchased a new Hybrid bike. The Voodoo Masara from Halfords and I've just cycled it home and the handlebars seem very stiff..

Even when I'm off the bike and push it from the saddle the handlebars hardly move? I actually went no handed on the bike and I nearly came off because the wheel didn't move when I leaned to one side to balance it..when I'm cycling I can turn all fine.

Could the guy of tightened it too tight when he was straightening the handlebars before I left? Or is this a normal thing on some bikes? Lol

Sorry if it seems obvious

[reohn2]

Sounds as if the headset bearings are too tight you can either take it back to Halfords for adjustment or you can adjust them yourself,this video shows how to adjust slack bearings but yours are too tight so it's a matter of working backwards IYSWIM:- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK5u5ioZU8M

[Cyril Haearn]

Best to take it back and get everything checked, it might have other faults

I once collected my bike after repair, the front wheel nuts were loose! You should check that yourself

[eileithyia]

Best to take it back, get it adjusted and checked for any other problems.

[crazydave789]

take it back and ask them to check for indexing.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I reckon he’s overdone the pretension in the headset before retightening the stem bolts. It’s a simple fix. Slacken off the stem bolts, undo the centre cap until the bars move freely and there’s no forward to backward play. Then retighten the stem bolts. To be fair to whoever did it though, I bought a Boardman road bike from Halfords a few years ago, and the headset pre tension was marked as 8Nm. That was enough to freeze the headset solid. So it may be that the guy has tensioned it to the marked setting, and this is too high.

[slowster]

To be fair to whoever did it though, I bought a Boardman road bike from Halfords a few years ago, and the headset pre tension was marked as 8Nm. That was enough to freeze the headset solid. So it may be that the guy has tensioned it to the marked setting, and this is too high.

8Nm is a typical maximum torque for tightening the bung in the steerer, not for loading the headset bearing.

[Marcus Aurelius]

To be fair to whoever did it though, I bought a Boardman road bike from Halfords a few years ago, and the headset pre tension was marked as 8Nm. That was enough to freeze the headset solid. So it may be that the guy has tensioned it to the marked setting, and this is too high.

8Nm is a typical maximum torque for tightening the bung in the steerer, not for loading the headset bearing.

That depends if it has an expander or a star nut. This had a star nut. Which is interesting. I think it should have had an expander, given it has a carbon steerer. That’s one mystery solved, and replaced with another. The marker is obviously for a bung, why does it have a star nut? Curiouser and curiouser.

[gregoryoftours]

This had a star nut. Which is interesting. I think it should have had an expander, given it has a carbon steerer. That’s one mystery solved, and replaced with another. The marker is obviously for a bung, why does it have a star nut? Curiouser and curiouser.

Wow, a star nut in a carbon steerer is bad news.

[Marcus Aurelius]

This had a star nut. Which is interesting. I think it should have had an expander, given it has a carbon steerer. That’s one mystery solved, and replaced with another. The marker is obviously for a bung, why does it have a star nut? Curiouser and curiouser.

Wow, a star nut in a carbon steerer is bad news.

It sure is. It explains a lot of issues I had with that bike though.