Southern California - Anaheim Hills bike shop made my problems worse

Of course I am sure some of the members in here will insist I buy the material and DIY !

Glad things got corrected quickly! It is great to hear good stories about local shops!

Since you are a physicist, your knowledge of string theory should make you an excellent candidate for the DIY jersey... after all, a string is a string, right? :roflmao2:

So does that mean you owe abmtnbkr a beer, or a piece of pie? :thumb:

Glad things got corrected quickly! It is great to hear good stories about local shops!

Since you are a physicist, your knowledge of string theory should make you an excellent candidate for the DIY jersey... after all, a string is a string, right? :roflmao2:

OH SNAP!


Also. DIY.

It's funny - in reading others post about this shop or that... I find myself cringing abit because I don't agree (in fact in some cases I strongly disagree), BIG however, if you have a good experience and the shop works for you, that's what matters. I have been searching for years for a good shop in Orange County. All mentioned - I've tried. I am still on my holy quest. In the meantime, I figured out how to do things for myself. That way it's done right and the bike doesn't sit in a shop for 3 weeks... :thumb:

Those idiots at A-hills are the same dudes that jacked Karrem and his new Madone a while back. Same dudes jacked a buddy of mine that bought a fine Italian bike for over 3 grand. They routed the cahin incorrectly thru the rear derailleur thrashing his fine Italina Campy components. They rerouted the chain but didn't replace the damged component. I would have sent some head roling for 3k. My bud is to nice!:mad:

I think alot of times the problem is anyone can be a wrench it seems. One LBS in particular seems to have a different 17 year old kid wrenching on something everytime I stop in.

I can't recommend a good place, BUT do not go to Santiago Cyclery in Tustin. You describe the same problems I had there. I do all my own wrenching, but I wasn't sure about getting the height right on the FD with the new compact crank I installed. So while it was there I had them change the brake pads and a couple of other things. The only thing done even close to right was the brake pad change, the front wouldn't shift and they also did something to my RD to screw that up.

I understand your position on doing your own wrenching completely, and I'm not suggesting that you start, but with the kind of people that are hired to do the wrenching at most bike shops...I think that you're in for this kind of disappointment quite often.

PS. Robert was there at the time and didn't seem to care on way or the other...maybe because my bike wasn't a Trek?

Good thinking Alicestrong..Hey Chuck! I'll have the beer!! Glad things worked out for you.

In the motorcycle world, there's a similar problem. Not much money to be had, so keeping good mechanics is hard. I can do almost any mechanical work, be it car, motorcycle or bicycle. Sometimes I choose not to. It's just not that fun for me. Except for bicycles.

Bikes need to be RIDDEN after being repaired. Not just a toot around the parking lot, but a few miles running through the gears and working the brakes. Then do a touch up. This takes valuable time. Not many shops can afford this.

I always try to fix and maintain my bike myself. Repairs that need special tools or are just to difficult, I take to Tim at Two Wheeler Dealer in Brea near the Mall. He is a good bike mechanic and has Brett who is also good. They always go the extra mile for there customers. As far as buying tools and doing it myself, Performance Bike shop in Tustin or Fountain Valley has a good supply of Park tools. Bike Nashbar also has a good selection of tools. Bikes are so simple to work on. I can't figure out how shops can screw it up so bad.

Bring it over to Pasadena -- Open Road Cyclery. Steve will fix it quick and cheap. Unbelievably cheap. Don't know how he does it.

I don't have time to fix things myself much anymore. Basic maintenance is relaxing for me. But much stuff anymore -- I don't have time. When I go by the shop anyway, there really isn't any extra time committment.

It is relaxing to crack open a cold beer and wash and detail my bike on a saturday afternoon. Every rider should know there bike, how it works, and how to keep it safe. Most riders can fix flats, most repairs are the same difficulty. Changing cables, switching out gear sets, checking the torque on seat post and stems, looking for frayed cables, adjusting streached cables, all these things are so simple..Thats the beauty of bicycles, there not complicated like autos....

"It is relaxing to crack open a cold beer and wash and detail my bike on a saturday afternoon. Every rider should know there bike, how it works, and how to keep it safe. "

That makes about as much sense as "Everyone who wears clothes should know how to sew or everyone who likes wine should become a vintner" What is relaxing to you is frustrating and a wate of time for me. If it wasn't that the teenagers in Yorba Linda were so lazy, I'd pay one of them to wash the bike and oil the chain ! What is relaxing for me is to look a charts of the S&P and to pour over annual reports...I especially enjoy the small print " notes to accounting statement". There's some real gems there. Now I could say everyone that likes money should crack a beer a do what I do for relaxation...but I'd rather you didn't.

BTW if you like to wash bikes so much I'll bring mine over anytime you like !

What is relaxing for me is to look a charts of the S&P and to pour over annual reports...I especially enjoy the small print " notes to accounting statement". There's some real gems there. Now I could say everyone that likes money should crack a beer a do what I do for relaxation...but I'd rather you didn't.

I hope people who like money crack open a beer to read financial reports... because in that realm, money needs to be injected into the system by those people buying stocks when they are 'high' so that I can make a profit!

While I don't truly enjoy reading annual reports, I do enjoy seeing numbers like ^15%, ^62%, and ^136% when looking at my investments, so I do make the time to understand the basics. The analogy is very comperable to working on bikes... I CAN accomplish most repairs/investments, but many times I am willing to pay someone to do it for me so that I have time to do things which are more enjoyable.

Fun - Not as much fun
Ride bikes - Fix bikes
Camping - Developing retirement funding strategies
Concerts - Yard work

Take it to Two Wheeler Dealer in Brea.

Chuck!!
If you love reading financial reports and that relaxes you, well then do it. I love bikes, I take lots of pride in my riding and my bikes. If a person turned over all there money to a financial advisor or broker and he lost there money, what advise would you give to them? Find another broker to lose there money, or do some reasearch themselves, get to know the markets and understand investing. I look at my bike as a investment, I'm not going to let some 17 year old snot nosed punk teenager making 8 bucks a hour work on my 4000 $ carbon fiber bike. Most shops are hurting right now, they can't afford to pay a decent wage to there help. Would you feel comfortable letting that 17 year old work on your 30,000 $ BMW. I don't think so. I live 3 miles from Anaheim Hills Bike shop. In the time it takes for me to drive there, and drop off the bike, and the time it takes to pick it up, I could of fixed all the problems you had. Again I say, for problems I can't handle or need special tools I take my bike to Two Wheeler Dealer Brea. Tim is a totally honest Owner, and has a good mechanic named Brett. He gives good deals and discounts and won't try to sell you things you don't need.

Big Tim, Fountain Valley Super Go, RIP...
One of the best so sorry he's no longer with us...

Riverside Cyclery USA have a great team and they are a bike Trek dealer. Otherwise, Jax in any city should be fine. All they sell are Trek/ Fisher.

Lester

+1 on Cycle Care in Lake Forest. Juan, a former wrench for a pro team, used to work at Edge Cyclesports (another great shop for whom he still does work) until he opened Cycle Care. He knows his stuff, plus his son races locally as a Pro. Both great guys.

That said, I do most of my own bike maintenance. Whenever I encounter something a bit more technical or just want to give my bike some extra TLC (and the LBS some business), I bring it in.