Joe Bike

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I picked up a custom built Tout Terrain bicycle with a Pinion gearbox and belt drive from Joe Bike in June, 2015 and took it to my house in Jackson Hole. This is an expensive bicycle that I use for long distance touring. First let me say the wiring was excellently done, the parts were as specified in my contract with Joe Bike, and there was no cosmetic damage on the bike. Without having ridden the bike at all, I gave it a complete inspection upon arrival in Jackson Hole. Here is what I found:



The spoke tension in both wheels varied for 30 to 80 KGF. According to Tout Terrain they should average 100 to 110 KGF.

The bike has Shimano disc brakes. The spokes were not laced as specified by Shimano for disk brakes but rather were laced for rim brakes. There is a major difference and Shimano engineers know best. The wheels were re-laced properly and spokes correctly tensioned.

The RockShox front fork was leaking air from the positive upper chamber to the negative lower chamber, a not so rare problem for new RockShox front forks that have been stored for some time. The shocks, therefore, “packed-up” after a few miles and took an hour for the build up of pressure in the lower chamber to bleed out. Obviously, the fork was never tested even thought this is a known issue. A shock overhaul cured the problem.

This bicycle has a handlebar stop. The stop clamp had one thread stripped completely so the stop was ineffective. A tread insert was installed to correct the issue.

The front fender was installed with zip ties and would strike the tire every time a bump was encountered and remain out of place dragging on the tire until repositioned. P clamps were used to replace the zip ties on the fork lower tubes to correct the problem

No thread locker was used on any fasteners that did not come with thread locker. The stand and rear fender came loose right away. All fasteners on the bike were removed and tread locker applied to correct the problem.

The gearbox shifter cable jammed after 1200 miles. The problem was over tightening the set screws that secured the cable ends to the handlebar shifter. The overly tightened set screws broke several cable strands that eventually frayed down into the cable sheath and jammed the cable. The specification from Pinion for torque on the set screws is 2 in-lbs - not much but all the is necessary. The set screws were so tight they could not be removed without damaging the drive hex recesses. The problem was solved by machining out the set screws then replacing the cable, sheaths and set screws followed by properly torquing the set screws.



In my opinion, this is an unacceptable number of serious assembly errors and reflects very poor craftsmanship. Peter White of Peter White Cycles in Hillsborough, NH was very helpful in solving the above problems. If you want a fantastic Tout Terrain bicycle, in my opinion, Peter is a better choice than Joe Bike.