Rupert

A little over a week ago I took a friend's bike to have it tuned up, and decided to get 2 estimates before choosing a bike shop. The bike is a Colnago VIP and had around 4000+ miles w/o a full tuneup so I expected quite a bit (it's had parts replaced as needed but had got pretty unrideable for safety). The first place wanted $650 which included a whole lot of brand new parts, and the second place wanted $200 with a few used parts like bolts and whatnot. I decided to go with the second place because I figured that I could always get the other work done later if i wasn't satisfied.

I picked the bike up today on the 25th even though it was promised by the 20th - had to use another bike for the weekend but no big deal. What bothered me was the front derailleur rubbing against the chain when I spun the cranks. This was pretty noticeable and I took it in after getting about 3 steps out the door. "Oh sorry not sure how that happened," was the response I got. Not a big deal I suppose.

Keep in mind I take my bike to the shop because I don't have the time or training to do it myself. So when I got home I noticed:

1) the cables had been routed differently than before. Now it seems that instead of sitting flush with the bars and going around the back (?) they jut out from the top of the brake hoods right where the palms should rest! I'm not sure how they were before but this doesn't seem right.
2)The bar tape doesn't look professional at all, and looks really sloppy with some exposed bare metal (notice most of the bar is metallic where I presume bar tape should go up until the few inches near the stem clamp are black). An end cap also seems to have easily fallen off somewhere from my car to the front door.
3) Also, there is extra brake cable hanging off the front derailleur seems super long. I've compared it with other bikes (2 factory Spec Allezs) and it looks 1"+ too long and in the way of the pedals

I've attached some pictures, not sure if I should take the bike back or tell my friend aesthetics and the cable/palm thing are negligible. Any input on the cable routing would be especially useful since it involved comfort. Maybe I'm wrong because I'm pretty picky but it just seems to me like whoever did the tuneup didn't quite think it through. The bike place is across town so I want to make sure it's a reasonable journey before i embark - thanks all!

Cable Routing:



Bar Wrap:




Extra Cable:

Metzinger

The bar tape was applied by an amateur. Even the tape itself looks mediocre. The cables should run along the inside of the bend. I don't know what they've done there, but it's not right. They likely overlapped too much as they taped and ran out before getting to the wide section of bar. Shortening the FD cable is a 10 sec job. It looks about 2" too long to me.

I'm curious to know which other replacement parts were specified for a bike with only 4000 miles on it. Because I bet they were installed wrong.

cny-bikeman

First remove both wheels and check the bearings. If they do not do not have a small amount of play that disappears when the wheels are mounted then you have an even worse job on your hands than you thought. Next take it back and insist that the bike be redone by their head mechanic, and first ask how much total shop experience the person has. If the head mechanic did it, ask for a partial refund ($50) immediately and take to the other shop.

If another person (hardly a mechanic) did the work, ask the head mechanic to tell you what is not correct on the bike. the hubs are not as I described have the mechanic check them and ask for an explanation of what's wrong with the adjustment and what's proper. If the explanation of proper adjustment is not as I described above, or if the person does not find at least as many faults as you did, ask for a substantial refund on the work done (I would say $50) and take it to the other shop.

Don't necessarily accept what the other shop wants to do - but ask for a list and an explanation of why each thing needs to be done. $650 should cover a complete teardown and rebuild, full wheel truing and significant parts as well. I agree that I can't imagine that much being needed on a bike with that small an amount of miles.

TurbineBlade

Tape looks wrapped by a new wrench at the shop, but functionally it's probably fine.

Front derailleur cable is fine so long as you aren't hitting the excess cable with your feet when pedalling...if so you can just back-bend it so it lays flush with the seat tube there. Or cut it and install another end cap, either way. I actually tend to leave my shift cables a bit longer than most mechanics do.

What else did they do for $200? That's highway robbery for a tune-up.

$650 is absolutely ridiculous...unheard of in my opinion. Unless they replace both derailleurs, shifters, or wheels or something.

bikinfool

Hard to say what the bike actually needed from your description....what is "unrideable for safety"? What exactly did they do for $200 (let alone what the other shop thought was going to be $650)? Just install new cable/housing and rewrap the bars? Wheel bearing service? Truing? Does look like a hack job on the bars and there's no reason to leave the shift cable like that.

Rupert

Thanks for the responses. The place I had the work done at changed the cables and housing, put on newer hood covers, replaced the chain, replaced a rear cog on the cassette, trued the wheels, and replaced the seatpost bolt that attached the saddle. I have to correct myself, the second place quoted me $200 but it ended up being about $185.

For $650 the place I didn't go to wanted to put on new front chainrings, a new cassette new brake hood covers, new tape, new cables and housing, new chain, new seat post, true the wheels, maybe rebuilt the front hub (would be more), and put on new tires. The mechanic was very knowledgeable but I had to question if all that stuff really needed done and went for a second opinion.

bikinfool

So what was the safety issue? So easy to do all that stuff yourself, but I guess if you have more money than time...

Rupert

Oh yes, I forgot to answer that: Mainly that the chain kept slipping off the rings (front and back) whenever accelerating from a stop, going up a hill, or any other time some real force was put on the pedals. The bike was used for hauling w/ a trailer for quite a while so the chain was all stretched. The grips and bar tape were pretty much gone too, but the main thing was the drivetrain issue.

And well, I'd rather be riding one of my other bikes than fixing this one to be honest. It's always nice to support a LBS too, especially when you're not mechanically skilled like myself. But maybe I will give it a shot next time.

cyclist2000

I can see the $185 price with the chain and cog. But did these really need replacing after 4000 miles? maybe the chain but the cassette?

LarDasse74

Cassette often needs replacing when the chain is worn... if the chain is worn beyond a certain point and still working on the cogs, a new chain will almost certainly skip under load used with same cassette.

4000 miles is not a lot, but without proper regular maintenance a drivetrain can be worn out in less.

cny-bikeman

Agreed, except it appears the LBS did not support you with a proper job. Make sure you check over the bike, or better yet have a knowledgable friend do so. Then take it back and ask for corrections. It's possible the head wrench/svc mgr does not know that a poor quality job was put out. When I was a service manager I always welcomed returns so we could educate our staff and satisfy our customers.

Rupert

Awesome, thanks again for the responses. The bike shop is across town so I might shoot them a polite email w/ pictures before I get a chance to take it in, which will probably be this weekend.

Looks like one set of cables should have been routed around the back, picture 3 shows the groove I'm guessing is for routing the cable housing:







I'll probably end up redoing the bar tape myself but perhaps this would be useful to them:

vettefrc2000

I would be super pissed! I am glad I have the tools and expertise to do my own work.

wrk101

+1 Really crappy work, I would be pissed.

reptilezs

brake cable should have been routed around the outside of the bar. your bar looks like it has the groove on the outside for the cable too. job looks super amateur. probably done by someone who only works on shimano primarily(brake goes on the inside bend for shimano mostly). yes that cable is a little on the long side of acceptable but its not as bad as the totally uncut/capped one i saw at a charity ride event that i worked. i usually leave about 2-3 finger lengths(2 inches or so).

cyclist2000

If you are going to redo the tape yourself have the shop pony up for new tape since the Cinelli tape has a sticky tape on the inside that will peel from the bar tape when removing it.