New cube things to check and do?

[Stiggy]

Hi Folks
Just had a cube hybrid 140 delivered today. Two questions;
I’ve not unboxed it yet, what should I be checking when I do I.e items that are prone to shipping damage or alignment that may not be immediately obvious?
before I ride what do I need to check, brakes how do I check if they need bleeding? How do I check everything has been set up correctly? It’s 25 years since I bought a bike so any advice greatly appreciated ?

 

[Mikerb]

Probably not what you want to hear but personally I would check everything! The bike will come mostly assembled but that does not mean it has been put together properly. At the very least check that all bolts are properly tightened but do not exceed the set torque value because if you move a bolt that is thread locked you have to remove it, clean it and re apply the thread lock....so just use a small allen key. You will probably only need to sort the bars and fit the front wheel and pedals. Then do a short local test ride and check everything when you come back. The test ride will tell you if the brakes work reasonably well and if the gears are correctly indexed etc. Your brakes will need bedding in so will not be hugely effective at first but as long as you have sufficient bite ( ie the levers operate the brakes well before reaching the bars/grips, they should not need bleeding. Be careful not to operate the front brake levelr with the wheel off unless the caliper has a brake block fitted ( which it should). Bedding in your brakes it a matter of applying them quite hard for a short period of time repeatedly but do not scrub the brake because that will cause heat build up in the disc and glaze the pads. The process does not take long....you are merely transferring the sacrificial top surface of the pads to the disc.

 

[Mikerb]

Probably not what you want to hear but personally I would check everything! The bike will come mostly assembled but that does not mean it has been put together properly. At the very least check that all bolts are properly tightened but do not exceed the set torque value because if you move a bolt that is thread locked you have to remove it, clean it and re apply the thread lock....so just use a small allen key. You will probably only need to sort the bars and fit the front wheel and pedals. Then do a short local test ride and check everything when you come back. The test ride will tell you if the brakes work reasonably well and if the gears are correctly indexed etc. Your brakes will need bedding in so will not be hugely effective at first but as long as you have sufficient bite ( ie the levers operate the brakes well before reaching the bars/grips, they should not need bleeding. Be careful not to operate the front brake levelr with the wheel off unless the caliper has a brake block fitted ( which it should). Bedding in your brakes it a matter of applying them quite hard for a short period of time repeatedly but do not scrub the brake because that will cause heat build up in the disc and glaze the pads. The process does not take long....you are merely transferring the sacrificial top surface of the pads to the disc.

Ah....forgot to add, you will of course need to set up the suspension....plenty of advice on YT how to do that.

 

[Hamina]

Take photos in case you have to prove something or you want later on check ”how everything was when I bought it?”

 

[Stiggy]

Thanks folks great advice, happy to say all was good !