Raleigh Roker Shipment questions

zimdba wrote:I'll throw in my $0.02.  I think that if your LBS is too afraid to bend a hanger, then they're not much of an LBS.  That should be a common skill.  Also, I would worry that it would never be as perfect as it should be.

Thus, I had Raleigh send me not only a new hanger, but a new RD as well.

Well as I posted above this isn't the LBS I wanted to go to by choice as he has little or probably no gravel bike/mt bike repair experience. I had to go to him since it was a warranty issue and he is the only Raleigh dealer around. The other LBS I use is a die hard mt. biker and every time I am in there I see him working on gravel bikes or mt bikes. The Raleigh LBS is in his early 20's and taking over the business from a relative. I think I can trust him on my road bike although a couple of years ago I wouldn't have as he messed my bike up and it failed in the middle of a 300k rando ride. He has learned the skill/trade I guess I would say. It is hard to find a good shop here in rural Pa. 

What is anybody else's opinion on whether they would have Raleigh ship them a RD as well?

zimba are you saying you had the same problem and had Raleigh send you a RD or if it was your bike that is what you would  have had done?

Thanks
Zman

What is anybody else's opinion on whether they would have Raleigh ship them a RD as well? \n \nIt's ridiculous and borderline entitlement.

dangle wrote:What is anybody else's opinion on whether they would have Raleigh ship them a RD as well? It's ridiculous and borderline entitlement.

That is all I need to hear thanks. Waiting at my end for the bike to be fixed so I hopefully can get a ride in before winter sets in. Thanks Dangle.


Zman 

Zurichman wrote:

That is all I need to hear thanks. Waiting at my end for the bike to be fixed so I hopefully can get a ride in before winter sets in. Thanks Dangle.
Zman 

Yeah Zman, same opinion here.  If there isn't obvious significant damage to the RD, then until the new hanger is installed it's probably impossible to say if there was any damage to the RD.

Cheers,
Greg

This is my first impression of the bike way before I have it out for a road test. I have a really nice road/race bike. A 2006 Lemond Victoirre of course all of which they don't make anymore because of the Lemond/Lance Armstrong feud. It's top tube is carbon until 1/2 way down and then it is glued together and the entire bottom 1/2 is all ti. It's a triple here for Pa. and for sure is a sweet riding/climbing bike.

The Roker. I had never seen one before so I was kind of shocked on how over sized/large the down tube is. I can say for a fact that it sure seems light as a feather(compared to the Tamland)and so I am really anxious to go out and climb with it to see how it does. Never having hydraulic brakes before has  me stoked also. Even if it is freezing out I probably will drive the car to the mts. with the bike in the back to get the climb in to see how it does. The road is really a nasty wash board/rough fire tower mt. road that they do no maintenance on and is pretty nasty coming off of it because of all the washboards and ruts. There are a couple of places that you have to stand up to crank a few places on the climb so it should be a good test of the bike and the tire combo. It's a 3 mile climb @ 7-8% slope.

Zman

Zman,

Here's the summary:
My Roker Sport arrived with rub marks on the box and a break by the RD.  I never did get the front brake rotor trued and non-rubbing, so I replaced it after 250 miles or so.

The bike never did shift that well, and got progressively worse as time went on.  I pulled the rear mech and hanger and put them on the flattest surface I could find.  Both of them looked bent (the hanger obviously), and I submitted a warranty claim.

As I had already put about 140 miles on the bike and gotten into the gravel bug, I wasn't willing to wait for them to send me a new hanger, find out it still doesn't shift right, then send me a new RD.  The RD is only a $20 part, so I figure that was on them to ensure that I didn't have even more miles of sloppy shifting.

Obviously we all have our own opinions.  I don't think I'll ever try to bend/true a hanger.  I'll call it a consumable part and pay $25-$30 if it ever gets bent.

As far as a road vs. gravel bike - I take both to the same mechanic.  The only differences between the two are thru-axles, disc brakes, and room for wider tires.  Otherwise, it's the same bike.

zimdba wrote:Zman,

Here's the summary:
My Roker Sport arrived with rub marks on the box and a break by the RD.  I never did get the front brake rotor trued and non-rubbing, so I replaced it after 250 miles or so.

The bike never did shift that well, and got progressively worse as time went on.  I pulled the rear mech and hanger and put them on the flattest surface I could find.  Both of them looked bent (the hanger obviously), and I submitted a warranty claim.

As I had already put about 140 miles on the bike and gotten into the gravel bug, I wasn't willing to wait for them to send me a new hanger, find out it still doesn't shift right, then send me a new RD.  The RD is only a $20 part, so I figure that was on them to ensure that I didn't have even more miles of sloppy shifting.

Obviously we all have our own opinions.  I don't think I'll ever try to bend/true a hanger.  I'll call it a consumable part and pay $25-$30 if it ever gets bent.

As far as a road vs. gravel bike - I take both to the same mechanic.  The only differences between the two are thru-axles, disc brakes, and room for wider tires.  Otherwise, it's the same bike.

zimba How many miles do you have on your Roker now? Was it a 2016 or a 2017 as my research showed me that the 2016 was 2x and the 2017 is 1x. What is your overall impression of the bike? Where do you live and what kind of riding do you do with it? My Tamland needed a shim or 2 by the Lbs to stop a clicking noise up front from the factory on the front brake rotor. To kind of verify that he doesn't know too much about gravel bikes he never adjusted the rear brake pads and my first ascent off my local mt. with no rear brakes scared the jeebers out of me. He is in his early 20's and really has some young kids working for him so it might be hard to tell who is working on my bike but I would hope that it is him. After I have this warranty issue fixed I will always take it to my other LBS i trust to get it worked on as he is a one man operation. I still think I am going to get Lizzard skins put on the bottom of the bike but will ask his advice and another mt. biker I know in this area.

  My plan right now is to take my Tamland over the winter to the LBS that is a mt. biker and that I trust and have him disassemble the bike and put frame saver in it to keep it from rusting from the inside. I then will call it my beater bike and will ride it in all kinds of weather including heavy rain. I probably will train with it and race with the Roker. I have been looking at some really long rides for 2018 but know from the lettle bit of experience that I have from riding and racing gravel is that you can't fake it and so yes I know I have to get some serious training in.

Thanks for any replies and a report on your Roker.

I now see going back to read your post that you have the Sport versus the Roker Comp. Yours is steel then right?
Zman

My Roker Comp showed up in the same condition... filed a warranty claim immediately while putting the bike together. Didn’t feel like waiting (put it together last Wednesday) so I bent it back straight as best I could eyeball it, reset the high/low limit, tension and b-screw since it was severely out of whack. Shifts like a dream now for the most part. 15 miles of gravel on Saturday and 60 miles on the trainer thus far and I’m loving it.

neutered10mm wrote:My Roker Comp showed up in the same condition... filed a warranty claim immediately while putting the bike together. Didn’t feel like waiting (put it together last Wednesday) so I bent it back straight as best I could eyeball it, reset the high/low limit, tension and b-screw since it was severely out of whack. Shifts like a dream now for the most part. 15 miles of gravel on Saturday and 60 miles on the trainer thus far and I’m loving it.

Welcome to the riding gravel forum as I see this is your first post. Where do you live and what kind of gravel riding or racing do you plan on doing with your Roker? You do have an interesting handle BTW. Not sure if you knew this or not but Ted Guitar I think his handle here is frontrangegravel here help Raleigh design the Tamland gravel bike and the Roker is a take off of that bike. Maybe use this thread to give some impressions of your Roker as a few people still might be looking at this bike. Did you know that the late 2017 production run of this bike was the last run of this bike for Raleigh for now as they have no plans of making it in 2018. Happy gravel riding.


Zman

Zurichman wrote:

zimba How many miles do you have on your Roker now? Was it a 2016 or a 2017 as my research showed me that the 2016 was 2x and the 2017 is 1x. What is your overall impression of the bike? Where do you live and what kind of riding do you do with it? My Tamland needed a shim or 2 by the Lbs to stop a clicking noise up front from the factory on the front brake rotor. To kind of verify that he doesn't know too much about gravel bikes he never adjusted the rear brake pads and my first ascent off my local mt. with no rear brakes scared the jeebers out of me. He is in his early 20's and really has some young kids working for him so it might be hard to tell who is working on my bike but I would hope that it is him. After I have this warranty issue fixed I will always take it to my other LBS i trust to get it worked on as he is a one man operation. I still think I am going to get Lizzard skins put on the bottom of the bike but will ask his advice and another mt. biker I know in this area.

  My plan right now is to take my Tamland over the winter to the LBS that is a mt. biker and that I trust and have him disassemble the bike and put frame saver in it to keep it from rusting from the inside. I then will call it my beater bike and will ride it in all kinds of weather including heavy rain. I probably will train with it and race with the Roker. I have been looking at some really long rides for 2018 but know from the lettle bit of experience that I have from riding and racing gravel is that you can't fake it and so yes I know I have to get some serious training in.

Thanks for any replies and a report on your Roker.

I now see going back to read your post that you have the Sport versus the Roker Comp. Yours is steel then right?
Zman

If I recall correctly, the Willard/Tamland/Roker are all the same geometry, where the Willard is aluminum, Tamland is steel, and Roker is carbon.  I went for the 2016 Roker Sport because I liked the colorway better than the 2017, and I wanted the 2x for the hills of Colorado.  Also, I like Shimano much better than SRAM.  My buddy got the same red 2017 Roker Comp as neutered10mm with the SRAM 1x.  He definitely struggles on the steeper hills, and can't keep up when we're topped-out around 32-34mph.

Very quickly I realized that I may have bought a size too small.  I ended up putting on a 110mm -6* stem and that helped.  I've also replaced the seatpost with a carbon one, and the saddle with one that's more suited to my sit-bones.  I have had the fit tweaked with a professional fitter, and I can ride all day with no pain.

I replaced the front tire with a Maxxis Rambler after not being able to seal the supplied Clement MSO's after a flat.  While you can set up the MSO's tubeless, I don't think it's a tubeless tire, and my struggles sealing it after a flat made me lose confiden ce in that tire.

As far as braking, I think the mechanical pull brakes are sufficient, but not great.  I've gone down some steep country roads, and boy the smell afterward was something.  I may plan on replacing the front brake with the TRP Hy/Rd hybrid brake.

Strava says that I've got about 960 miles on it - all but 150 of that has been in Colorado, south of Denver.  The 150 was in Kansas around the DK.  It's been a blast having fun with it and staying off the tarmac.  I'm a fair-weather rider, so I'm not really concerned with fenders or other weatherproofing.  Here's a photo from Saturday's ride.

zimdba wrote:The bike never did shift that well, and got progressively worse as time went on.  I pulled the rear mech and hanger and put them on the flattest surface I could find.  Both of them looked bent (the hanger obviously), and I submitted a warranty claim.

The hanger being a straight piece of aluminum doesn't necessarily mean it will work. It has to be straight relative to the cassette. Even if you pull a hanger out of the package, a good mechanic will still line it up with the hanger tool. EVERY shop should have that tool. It's pretty clear from this thread that lots of us home mechanic geeks already own them. IF you want to try and straighten it, but don't have the tools. A good way is to put a quick release wheel into the hole that the rear derailleur was bolted into and then adjust the QR wheel relative to the rear wheel in the bike. It's not perfect, but it's probably one of the better ways to do it without a tool.

zimdba wrote:As I had already put about 140 miles on the bike and gotten into the gravel bug, I wasn't willing to wait for them to send me a new hanger, find out it still doesn't shift right, then send me a new RD.  The RD is only a $20 part, so I figure that was on them to ensure that I didn't have even more miles of sloppy shifting.

What rear derailleur is only $20? The rear derailleur has the least to do (in the system) to do with shifting. It operates entirely at the mercy of hanger alignment, chain cleanliness, cable tension, cable/housing cleanliness, cable/housing routing, the shifter, and even cassette cleanliness. It just does what it's told/directed by the other pieces. They are really sturdy too. It's hard to legitimately bodge one up. The only one I have ever owned that couldn't be brought back to like new condition in the ultrasonic cleaner was literally ripped into multiple pieces.

zimdba wrote:Obviously we all have our own opinions.  I don't think I'll ever try to bend/true a hanger.  I'll call it a consumable part and pay $25-$30 if it ever gets bent.

Why not?? How did a hanger become more expensive than a rear derailleur? Even if you throw a brand new hanger on, there's no guarantee it lines up perfectly with your cassette. While my two Raleighs (with hangers) were fine, many bikes need a little alignment straight out of the box. Fixing hangers is very commonplace outside of this forum. You will even have some people in the mountain bike world that fatigue theirs a little beforehand to make sure they do their job and an expensive RD doesn't get bent up before the hanger (or frame in some cases) breaks.

One bad thing about the wheelset - the freehub is NOT 11-speed compatible, and it's non-changeable.  So my dreams of upgrading to 11-speed Ultegra 6800 are going to have to include a compatible rear wheel or wheelset.  Disappointing that a 2016 build is not 11-speed compatible.

zimdba wrote:One bad thing about the wheelset - the freehub is NOT 11-speed compatible, and it's non-changeable.  So my dreams of upgrading to 11-speed Ultegra 6800 are going to have to include a compatible rear wheel or wheelset.  Disappointing that a 2016 build is not 11-speed compatible.

The Ultegra R8000 11-34 cassette (only the 11-34) fits a 10 speed body and works just fine with a GS dereailleur. I'm using one on a cyclocross wheelset.

Zurichman wrote:

Welcome to the riding gravel forum as I see this is your first post. Where do you live and what kind of gravel riding or racing do you plan on doing with your Roker? You do have an interesting handle BTW. Not sure if you knew this or not but Ted Guitar I think his handle here is frontrangegravel here help Raleigh design the Tamland gravel bike and the Roker is a take off of that bike. Maybe use this thread to give some impressions of your Roker as a few people still might be looking at this bike. Did you know that the late 2017 production run of this bike was the last run of this bike for Raleigh for now as they have no plans of making it in 2018. Happy gravel riding.


Zman

\n \nI’ll be using this bike to train for and ride a long unsupported stint on the C&O/GAP trails from Shepherdstown, WV to Pittsburgh, PA and back. That trip is my training goal and will be roughly 522 miles. I’m looking to train in order to complete the ride in 6 days or less. In the meantime, I’m Zwifting with it on my Kinetic trainer with the pro flywheel attached and have already noticed a substantial increase in power to the ground over my MTB with a 2.2” slick. I did my first century (107.5 miles to be exact) on the MTB riding an out and back on the C&O from Shepherdstown, WV to Hancock, MD in under 8 hours. Based on what I know now, I figure if I were on the Roker I could have easily shaved an hour or more off that time. I’ll soon find out though as I have a 150-160 mile out and back (75-80 one-way) overnighter in my near future if it doesn’t get too cold. As for now, not enough experience on the bike to give a thorough evaluation.

dangle wrote:

The hanger being a straight piece of aluminum doesn't necessarily mean it will work. It has to be straight relative to the cassette. Even if you pull a hanger out of the package, a good mechanic will still line it up with the hanger tool. EVERY shop should have that tool. It's pretty clear from this thread that lots of us home mechanic geeks already own them. IF you want to try and straighten it, but don't have the tools. A good way is to put a quick release wheel into the hole that the rear derailleur was bolted into and then adjust the QR wheel relative to the rear wheel in the bike. It's not perfect, but it's probably one of the better ways to do it without a tool.



What rear derailleur is only $20? The rear derailleur has the least to do (in the system) to do with shifting. It operates entirely at the mercy of hanger alignment, chain cleanliness, cable tension, cable/housing cleanliness, cable/housing routing, the shifter, and even cassette cleanliness. It just does what it's told/directed by the other pieces. They are really sturdy too. It's hard to legitimately bodge one up. The only one I have ever owned that couldn't be brought back to like new condition in the ultrasonic cleaner was literally ripped into multiple pieces.




Why not?? How did a hanger become more expensive than a rear derailleur? Even if you throw a brand new hanger on, there's no guarantee it lines up perfectly with your cassette. While my two Raleighs (with hangers) were fine, many bikes need a little alignment straight out of the box. Fixing hangers is very commonplace outside of this forum. You will even have some people in the mountain bike world that fatigue theirs a little beforehand to make sure they do their job and an expensive RD doesn't get bent up before the hanger (or frame in some cases) breaks.

OK, I was off by 50%.  The Tiagra 4700 10-speed RD is $30 at Merlin.  Probably a few bucks lower than that at wholesale.  The hanger for my Diamondback was $28 after tax - retail.  So I was off on that comparison (I was on a conference call when I was typing!).

I just assume that a new hanger is perfect as delivered.  I don't have a ton of experience with it, however, only replacing 3 in my lifetime (one on each bike).  You probably know a lot more about it and thus can speak to it better than me.  I was just relating my perspective.  To me, a human with a tool seems a lot less precise than a machine pumping these out.

Thanks for the advice on the cassette.  I'm just staring at a lot of work ripping the 6800 bits off my road bike, building it with the R8000 groupset, then building up the gravel bike with the old 6800 groupset.  It's work I've just been putting off.

Just picked up my new Roker from the FedEx office! I have not unpacked it yet but the box looked like it was handled pretty aggressively! There was a small hole in the side and could see the rear derailleur sticking through the box. The other side of the box had a huge hole in the top where I could reach through with both hands and grab the front wheel. We'll see what it looks like when I unbox the bike and start putting it together.
     

zimdba wrote:I just assume that a new hanger is perfect as delivered.

Perfect relative to what?

Being straight or flat or whatever doesn't guarantee that it will give you perfect shifting. The hanger's purpose is to align your rear derailleur parallel to the cassette. This can be accomplished in ~60 seconds with the hanger tool. It will save you a few bucks, give your shop a few bucks and keep another piece of metal out of the landfill.

The two times I have had to replace a hanger with a new one, they needed a small adjustment with the hanger tool anyways. I'm not trying to attack you or anything like that; I just feel that the best solution is also cheaper, easier and more likely to be correctly aligned than sending off for a new one.

dangle wrote:
... The hanger's purpose is to align your rear derailleur parallel to the cassette. This can be accomplished in ~60 seconds with the hanger tool. It will save you a few bucks, give your shop a few bucks and keep another piece of metal out of the landfill.

Sage advice... but I must be slow as it takes me a few minutes to setup, check alignment and reinstall the derailleur.    

That said, I'm really surprised and disappointed Raleigh ships the bikes with the derailleur installed. It's so much safer if it's removed, wrapped in packing material and taped to the stay.

NoCoGreg wrote:I'm really surprised and disappointed Raleigh ships the bikes with the derailleur installed. It's so much safer if it's removed, wrapped in packing material and taped to the stay.

This does seem crazy! A few mail order bike places are trying to get the bikes as ready-to-ride out of the box as possible, but it's definitely not best practice to ship with the RD installed and not well protected.

dangle wrote:

This does seem crazy! A few mail order bike places are trying to get the bikes as ready-to-ride out of the box as possible, but it's definitely not best practice to ship with the RD installed.

Here are some thoughts from my end.

1. I am wondering if Raleigh is selling somewhat what I would call blemished bikes to the online crowd that they wouldn't sell to their dealers. My Tamland 1 had the integrated seat post collar scratched.

2. I have a Raleigh dealer really close to my house(12-13 miles) He sells a ton of Raleigh bikes but not these high end gravel bikes. Most of his/all of his customers are Mennonites that ride their bikes every day so they probably are all buying mid to lower end road bikes and lots of the bents from other brands.

3. He has asked me a lot of times how much I paid for my bike? For instance when I bought the 2016 Raleigh Tamland 1 this spring for $799 + $49 tax he was going to sell it to me for $1300.

4. After reading comments here I am guessing they are sending the bike more complete to their online customers than they are the shops because they figure/think the online crowd wouldn't know how to put the rear derailleur on. I don't think shops would put up with receiving bike after bike with bent rear derailleurs.

5. I know for a fact that they are shipping the bikes to the online customers from the same warehouse(in Ohio)that my bike shop gets his from.

6, Not sure why Raleigh wants to sell their bikes cheaper to online customers than they are to the shops but even though I believe supporting your local shop the price difference is a big jump.

7. Finally have not digested 100% why Raleigh has decided to not include the Roker in their 2018 lineup. What I think is they are gearing to selling bikes to the weekend warrior/beach boardwalk cruiser type of crowd. I hope that doesn't mean that they don't stay more in the gravel bike building scene long term.

Zman