Vehicle mechanic and 'duty of care'?

[Lord Percy]

Recently when riding my bike I've been noticing a 'bub-bub-bub-bub-bub-bub-bub', like a constant mild bumping when riding.

Today I changed the chain and rear sprocket on my bike today (for the first time ). When everything was off and slack, the rear wheel slowly turned down to an obvious heavy point, which means that when I had a new rear tyre fitted only a few weeks ago, it can't have been balanced by the guy who did it. I even saw a balance weight on the wheel which was in such an incorrect position that it was blatantly leftover from the previous tyre.

Is it usually normal practice for a tyre to be balanced when fitted?

[c_dug]

Normally they will say price is £xxx including balancing and disposing of the old tyre or something to that effect. Whatever they say is what you've paid for. Unless the tyre is seriously out of balance I would be surprised if you can feel/hear it when riding.
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[Snorty]

Yeah it's normal practice, everywhere I've used has always balanced it.
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[Lord Percy]

Hmmm, interesting. Well in fairness I just called and asked for a tyre change. So I got what I asked for, but I just wondered what the general 'done thing' was.

I wonder what the bumping is then? I can only feel it on smooth roads, and usually it goes away when I exceed 40mph.

[Screw Loose]

Well first of all you'll have to establish a duty in the first place, this is done by applying the three part Caparo test (established in the case of Caparo V. Dickman to replace the earlier neighbour test set out in Donoghue v. Stevenson).

First of all you have to establish whether damage would be reasonably forseeable, it's clear that by a mechanic not properly fitting a tyre he is likely to cause some damage. Furthermore, the relationship between yourself and the mechanic must be proximate, and seeing as though he was in control of the situation this is clearly the case.

Finally it must be fair, just, and reasonable to apply such a breach, this is apparent.




So you can establish A duty of care you now must prove he breached it.

This would be done by comparing the mechanic with the ordinary reasonable mechanic. As it's clear that the cost and practicality of taking precautions are low (latimer) and the risk is high (Paris) it's clear that the mechanic is in breach ofbhis duties

[Lord Percy]

That's very interesting! I have no intention of causing a fuss with him over it. I was just interested in whether he'd done the right thing. In fairness I do think it's quite obviously necessary to balance a tyre. He's only recently started up I think, and unfortunately I won't be going back to him now!

[fozzym]

Did you take your bike to him and ask for a new tyre to be fitted or did you just turn up wheel in hand?

Make quite a difference in that if you just took the wheel then how does the mechanic know what you are intending to do with it afterwards.

If you ride there on your bike and ask him to fit a new tyre then he obviously knows its for that bike and you are going to ride it. The norm would be for a new tyre, valve, balancing and fitting to be included in the price.

Obviously you also have a duty to yourself and as such I'd ask your self why you didn't check the work why it was being done or run your eye over it once completed.

[Shaft]

Actually, you should go back to him and give him the opportunity to correct the fault, or at least explain what his thinking was, when he did the job.

How he deals with that, should be your test of whether or not he has the customer's interests at the forefront of his mind.

Complaining to the internet, but not to his face, achieves nothing.
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[Thelostone]

Back when I started riding only posers had their wheels balanced (with early '80s bikes with their spaghetti frames an unbalanced wheel was the least of the your problems) but when I started on decent bikes I got into the habit of asking for it when it needed doing. So as to your question as to what is normal, I don't know as I tell them if I want it doing (I don't bother with knobblies).

I hate it when till monkeys try and get me to buy extra shit which I'd be perfectly capable of asking for if I want it.

So did the mechanic:

A) fail to offer a service which you may not have realized you wanted/needed,
or
B) accord you the respect of knowing your own mind and refrained from trying to pad the bill?

Finally, are you sure the weight(s) haven't fallen or been knocked off?

[Lord Percy]

[dodgydog]

[Lord Percy]

Hmmm, interesting. Now I don't know any more . Oh well, I'll just continue as is. Seems like balancing isn't a major issue for bikes then. . Although I do still wonder if it's the 'normal' thing for professional mechanics to do or not.

[stinkwheel]

I doubt they would have balanced a wheel with the cush drive and sprocket carrier in place. They are in place now and even if it was balanced with the carrier in place, the worn sprocket has been changed. Worn sprockets tend to be slightly oval.

You'd need to take them off to check if the wheel itself is out of balance.

The rear wheel on my VFR has never been balanced because you need a special hub carrier to fit it on a balancer.
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[sickpup]

[lihp]

[devojunior]

you would never feel or hear an un blalanced wheel unless going silly speeds.

[c_dug]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Islander]

[lihp]

The balancing of a car wheel is different to that of a motorcycle wheel.

The width of a car wheel means that the balance inside and outside needs to be correct also, and the affects are much more noticeable
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[Islander]

[Pete.]