New Bike - buckled wheels

[doolie]

Having decided a bit of off roading was in order, I've bought my first bike for 15 years. Nothing special, entry level GT Hardtail. Upon building it (it came in the manufacturers box) I realise that all is not quite right with the wheels, not a big buckle but enough on each to be noticeable.

My question, is this normal on a non-pre built bike? Should I have to get the wheels Trued at my expense or is this sufficient cause to return them? I really don't want to return them (I want my bike working now dammit!) and it's not as though I can just take them back to the shop, 100 miles from where I live

Have sent them an email last night which I will follow up with a call today. I'd like to know what's 'normal' before I speak to them

Thanks all

[rocksteadyeddie]

The original shop should true them up for you. It's not that unusual with mass-built machine wheels that they will drop out of true.

[stu8975]

Thats machine built wheels for you. 2mm deflection either way is acceptable as far as british standards go. If its only a couple of mm its very easy to to if you have spoke key, or wait until the bike goes back for a check up (normally 4-6 weeks) as the wheels will need time to bed in anyway and may lose a small amount of tension during this period.

[neil_bolton]

Ditto the above, quite common.

Spokes 'settle' on new wheels, and whilst a good mechanic will check this before it leaves the shop during the PDI, he can do nothing about natural loosening on new wheels.

[R.P.M]

Tell me about it. My brand spanking new rear wheel (hope pro2 on mavic 721) is spinning like a doughnut. Must be the three days of beatings it took up at Fort Bill .

[shouldbworking]

My GT avalanche I bought a couple of years ago had the same problem - seems the spokes werent tensioned correctly. Local bike shop put it as right as they could and tensioned spokes correctly.