Singletracks Mountain Bike News, Reviews, MTB Trails and Community › Protected: Forums › Mountain Bike Forum › New Bike; Lemon? (help please)
Tagged: Bottom Bracket, crank, creaking, help, lemon, new bike, Santa Cruz, santa cruz hightower
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June 20, 2017 at 19:28 #218705
Hello folks!
Got myself a beautiful new Santa Cruz Hightower CC+ about a month ago but have not had much opportunity to ride because after my first ride the Crank (race face turbine) quickly developed a wicked loud and awful screeching sound over the course of the first ride. My bike shop said to take it, so I did and the mechanic said something about how the factory had not tightened some bolt on the crank arm. The mechanic took 45 mins and promised that there was no additional damage and the bike would run great. He also said not to ride it for a bit to the goop he put in there could set.
At at this point I just really want to get to riding this otherwise wonderful bike so I did not ride until the next day and guess what?! My heart sank, there is a persistent clicking while peddling. I have had many bikes and know these things can develop but on a 5,000 new bike that has less than 20miles?
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? In my experience, drivetrain noises just get worse without extensive work and sometimes it’s a problem with the frame but don’t know as much about high quality mountain bikes. Should I ask for a new crank, new bike altogether or just let them keep trying to fix it? What are my rights here, I am pretty stressed at the possibility that the shop might try avoid responsibility for what is starting to look like a 5,000 lemon.
Any advice or personal anecdotes would be really appreciated.. I am not rich and really spent a lot to get a bike that I can enjoy for years to come but for it to be a month old and sound like a huffy is just heartbreaking.
Thank you.
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June 21, 2017 at 09:00 #218720
Hi Jakeerrest,
Don’t worry, man, just bring that thing back to the store and have them work it out. That’s the advantage of buying at the store and not online. You can troubleshoot a clicky drivetrain for hours, but this is a new bike so it’s up to them.
Fear not, you probably don’t have a “Lemon”. If you do, I’m sure it’s under warrently from Santa Cruz.
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June 24, 2017 at 14:02 #219023
Hey man, I have a bronson cc and a tallboy cc ( 2016-17 Hightower drivetrain), my bronson has the 10-50t drivetertain and both of them have really loud shifts and some clicking here and there. I’ve grown to live with it for the most part ( even though it still kills me). It just seems like a fantom problem, and besides from replacing the whole $800+ driveterrain, there seems to be no fix. So far I haven’t found anyone that has a similar problem with a fix, so until then good look. And let me know if you figure it out
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June 21, 2017 at 09:20 #218729
If you really haven ridden it much then I would def take it back and have them take care of it for you. That shouldn’t happen on a new bike that was hardly rode. Also like what JG said above, that’s the major advantage from buying from a brick and mortar store.
With that said, it could be something as simple as having some dirt built up in your seat post, bottom bracket and/or your pedals. I’ve had every one of these situations happen and sometimes they can be difficult to diagnose so I just tear it all down to clean and grease it all and it goes back to normal!
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June 21, 2017 at 09:51 #218756
Fear not. Have the LBS tear it down, clean it out, and put it all back together, or send back under warranty.
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June 21, 2017 at 09:54 #218757
I wonder what this mystery “goop” is that the shop applied. As the other posters mentioned, if this is a new bike, it’s up to the shop to make things right. I doubt there’s something wrong with the frame itself, but something may have been stripped on the cranks. It’s shitty that the mechanic blamed the factory for not tightening the crank arm. There are only so many bolts on a crankset, especially the Turbine cranks. And it’s the mechanic’s JOB to go over the entire bike when they’re assembling it. Otherwise, what good are they?
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June 21, 2017 at 09:55 #218759
^^^^^THAT^^^^^
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June 21, 2017 at 12:39 #218799
Hi,
I have the same cranks. They have a lot of parts compared to Shimano. My Cinch cranks made all sorts of noise even after cleaning and retorquing of the various connecting parts. They would be quite-ish for a ride or two and then play up again. I check race face and the maintenance videos but no long term improvement. So I changed to Shimano XT cranks and BB. Blisters fully quite.
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June 21, 2017 at 15:04 #218821
When my bike creaks I just go ride on a wet day. Usually takes care of the problem. 😛
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June 22, 2017 at 05:31 #218826
I’ve got the Hightower C+ and it’s far and away the most fun I’ve ever had on two wheels. That being said, mine came with Race Face Aeffect AL cranks. The CC+ build comes with SRAM X1 or XX1 cranks depending on the build. Did you go with a custom build? On the Santa Cruz site it doesn’t offer
To set your mind at ease, I ride some rugged backcountry trails out here in WV and I’m probably around 210lbs with all my gear. I beat the crap out of this bike and it keeps coming back for more. I think once you get this sorted out, you’ll be in love with this bike.
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