What is the lamest thing you have paid a bike shop to do?
#26
Semper Fi
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My apologies for the error, my misunderstanding of an older post. Still seems to be a good choice in letting them do the fix, rather than the cost of a cab, if you managed to find the minivan type,(those are all we have here anymore, for some reason,) or having to walk in the humidity. We have that type of stuff here daily, cannot say as I blame you.
Bill
Bill
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Semper Fi, USMC, 1975-1977
I Can Do All Things Through Him, Who Gives Me Strength. Philippians 4:13
Semper Fi, USMC, 1975-1977
I Can Do All Things Through Him, Who Gives Me Strength. Philippians 4:13
#27
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I wanna say a tune up, before I knew how basic a tuneup really was.
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I don't think there is anything "lame" about having a professional bicycle mechanic fix anything.
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
#29
The Left Coast, USA
This. I was on a long ride; I was tired, but clean. I wanted to relax and stay clean for the last 40 miles...and the bike store was right there. As I turned out, I got a flat again in the next 20 miles so I guess karma was in the air. Good thing I still had that fresh tube and CO2.
#32
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Yes and no. I've read a lot about maintenance, and watched videos, but there is no substitute for experience. Having someone say, "that sound is normal for friction shifters", or "this wheel is safe, and mostly true, but you'll probably replace it in a thousand miles" makes it worth it for me to pay someone $50 to check out & tune a $50 garage sale bike. Ideally, I'll learn enough to do it myself, someday. OTOH, I know I won't get that experience if I pay somebody else to fix my bike.
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Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
"I had a great ride this morning, except for that part about winding up at work."
Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
#35
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Yes and no. I've read a lot about maintenance, and watched videos, but there is no substitute for experience. Having someone say, "that sound is normal for friction shifters", or "this wheel is safe, and mostly true, but you'll probably replace it in a thousand miles" makes it worth it for me to pay someone $50 to check out & tune a $50 garage sale bike. Ideally, I'll learn enough to do it myself, someday. OTOH, I know I won't get that experience if I pay somebody else to fix my bike.
A basic shop tune up consists of turning a few barrel adjusters, making sure your wheels are true and a bit of lube. Any more than that and they charge you the extra money (sometimes wheel truing isn't part of the standard tune up). There's a difference between taking a garage sale bike to a shop for a once over and taking a bike you bought new a year ago and paying $50 for a 5-10 minute job.
Even on garage sale bikes though, if all is functioning correctly it is just overhauling a few key areas - bottom bracket, hubs and headset. Getting old brifters working again is most of the time spraying GT85 or other similar product into them to release all of the old gunked up grease - I've brought plenty of shifters back to life that way.
Sometimes specialty tools are needed, and a bike stand helps a ton, but a lot of basic maintenance can be done with a screw driver and allen wrench.
#36
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I can't say that I completely avoid bike shops nor can I say that I rely on them. The total dollar figure I've spent at bike shops for repairs and adjustments is quite low, but it's not zero either.
I've been discouraged by a few factors in dealing with bike shops in general however:
1. most shop mechanics are typically very young and have a low level of professionalism
2. they are often terribly rushed, esp. during the peak season, so there's either a big backlog of work, and/or their work is spotty because they don't have sufficient time to pay attention to each bike.
3. some mechanics have odd idiosyncratic work habits, such as over-torquing certain bolts, or putting too much lube on the chain.
4. there are still traces of the old elitism, where a few years of wrench work is used to rationalize condescension and arrogance towards less experienced customers.
I want to visit and spend at bike shops simply because the concept is cool: it's always awesome to bring fellow enthusiasts together. But when I'm actually at a shop, I usually want to leave pretty quickly.
I've been discouraged by a few factors in dealing with bike shops in general however:
1. most shop mechanics are typically very young and have a low level of professionalism
2. they are often terribly rushed, esp. during the peak season, so there's either a big backlog of work, and/or their work is spotty because they don't have sufficient time to pay attention to each bike.
3. some mechanics have odd idiosyncratic work habits, such as over-torquing certain bolts, or putting too much lube on the chain.
4. there are still traces of the old elitism, where a few years of wrench work is used to rationalize condescension and arrogance towards less experienced customers.
I want to visit and spend at bike shops simply because the concept is cool: it's always awesome to bring fellow enthusiasts together. But when I'm actually at a shop, I usually want to leave pretty quickly.
#37
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I bought a used bike off CL. Paid the cycle shop to replace the tires/tubes, install a kickstand, change out the handlebars, and put a new seat on it. Can't see anything lame about any of that. Would doing it myself make me a 'cyclist'?
#38
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There's nothing lame about having a bike shop perform bicycle repairs, adjustments or installations.
Some forum members do take pride in their mechanical skills and want to make a big to do about it.
Having said that, my experiences with shops has been pretty spotty. I'd like to say that I've been impressed 90%+ of the time, but the figure is probably a lot lower than that.
Some forum members do take pride in their mechanical skills and want to make a big to do about it.
Having said that, my experiences with shops has been pretty spotty. I'd like to say that I've been impressed 90%+ of the time, but the figure is probably a lot lower than that.
#39
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I always call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw
when anything needs to be done on my bicycle. Even straightening a stem is a job best left to professionals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw
when anything needs to be done on my bicycle. Even straightening a stem is a job best left to professionals.
#40
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The only time I had a LBS do some work for me, they couldn't. At the beginning of this year's riding season, I was not having much luck truing a wheel off my 1978 Raleigh Competition GS. I wanted to get ride this bike a lot this year so I brought the front wheel into the LBS. After waiting for two weeks and I never got a call or anything from them, I went back and asked how is my wheel. They claimed it was not fixable and they gave me my wheel back. I don't believe it is unfix-able, it was just a busy time for them and they didn't want to do it. I did order some new old wheels online from Steel Vintage Bikes to use while I am learning how to true wheels.
My Falcon, in many pieces, will not see the inside of a LBS. I am waiting to see if I can get some reproduction decals. If I can, I will strip the paint and do the prep myself. I have a buddy in the auto-body business and he said he would spray it for me, especially when he doesn't have to prep it. The only reason I am contemplating a repaint is someone has already painted it. And they did a crappy job. They didn't even take off the brakes. It is a simple paint job, baby blue with a bit of gold around the head badge. The chromed chain stays and forks look great and don't need any attention.
In a fairly short time, I have acquired the skills and the tools so I don't have to count on the LBS. There are some tasks I can't do like welding and straightening frames. If a frame needs welding or straightening, the frame will be scraped.
My Falcon, in many pieces, will not see the inside of a LBS. I am waiting to see if I can get some reproduction decals. If I can, I will strip the paint and do the prep myself. I have a buddy in the auto-body business and he said he would spray it for me, especially when he doesn't have to prep it. The only reason I am contemplating a repaint is someone has already painted it. And they did a crappy job. They didn't even take off the brakes. It is a simple paint job, baby blue with a bit of gold around the head badge. The chromed chain stays and forks look great and don't need any attention.
In a fairly short time, I have acquired the skills and the tools so I don't have to count on the LBS. There are some tasks I can't do like welding and straightening frames. If a frame needs welding or straightening, the frame will be scraped.
#41
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There really isn't that much to it. A great way to learn under supervision would be a local co op. I can do a lot of things, but sometimes I still like an experienced person to help me, at least for the first time I do something.
A basic shop tune up consists of turning a few barrel adjusters, making sure your wheels are true and a bit of lube. Any more than that and they charge you the extra money (sometimes wheel truing isn't part of the standard tune up). There's a difference between taking a garage sale bike to a shop for a once over and taking a bike you bought new a year ago and paying $50 for a 5-10 minute job.
Even on garage sale bikes though, if all is functioning correctly it is just overhauling a few key areas - bottom bracket, hubs and headset. Getting old brifters working again is most of the time spraying GT85 or other similar product into them to release all of the old gunked up grease - I've brought plenty of shifters back to life that way.
Sometimes specialty tools are needed, and a bike stand helps a ton, but a lot of basic maintenance can be done with a screw driver and allen wrench.
A basic shop tune up consists of turning a few barrel adjusters, making sure your wheels are true and a bit of lube. Any more than that and they charge you the extra money (sometimes wheel truing isn't part of the standard tune up). There's a difference between taking a garage sale bike to a shop for a once over and taking a bike you bought new a year ago and paying $50 for a 5-10 minute job.
Even on garage sale bikes though, if all is functioning correctly it is just overhauling a few key areas - bottom bracket, hubs and headset. Getting old brifters working again is most of the time spraying GT85 or other similar product into them to release all of the old gunked up grease - I've brought plenty of shifters back to life that way.
Sometimes specialty tools are needed, and a bike stand helps a ton, but a lot of basic maintenance can be done with a screw driver and allen wrench.
__________________
"I had a great ride this morning, except for that part about winding up at work."
Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
"I had a great ride this morning, except for that part about winding up at work."
Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
#42
^that guy^
Rim tape... Well, I paid for the tape... They did it for free
#43
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The behavior of bike shop employees and owners shows you why so many go out of business.
You're trying to hand over your hard earned money to them, and they refuse.
You're trying to hand over your hard earned money to them, and they refuse.
The only time I had a LBS do some work for me, they couldn't. At the beginning of this year's riding season, I was not having much luck truing a wheel off my 1978 Raleigh Competition GS. I wanted to get ride this bike a lot this year so I brought the front wheel into the LBS. After waiting for two weeks and I never got a call or anything from them, I went back and asked how is my wheel. They claimed it was not fixable and they gave me my wheel back. I don't believe it is unfix-able, it was just a busy time for them and they didn't want to do it. I did order some new old wheels online from Steel Vintage Bikes to use while I am learning how to true wheels.
My Falcon, in many pieces, will not see the inside of a LBS. I am waiting to see if I can get some reproduction decals. If I can, I will strip the paint and do the prep myself. I have a buddy in the auto-body business and he said he would spray it for me, especially when he doesn't have to prep it. The only reason I am contemplating a repaint is someone has already painted it. And they did a crappy job. They didn't even take off the brakes. It is a simple paint job, baby blue with a bit of gold around the head badge. The chromed chain stays and forks look great and don't need any attention.
In a fairly short time, I have acquired the skills and the tools so I don't have to count on the LBS. There are some tasks I can't do like welding and straightening frames. If a frame needs welding or straightening, the frame will be scraped.
My Falcon, in many pieces, will not see the inside of a LBS. I am waiting to see if I can get some reproduction decals. If I can, I will strip the paint and do the prep myself. I have a buddy in the auto-body business and he said he would spray it for me, especially when he doesn't have to prep it. The only reason I am contemplating a repaint is someone has already painted it. And they did a crappy job. They didn't even take off the brakes. It is a simple paint job, baby blue with a bit of gold around the head badge. The chromed chain stays and forks look great and don't need any attention.
In a fairly short time, I have acquired the skills and the tools so I don't have to count on the LBS. There are some tasks I can't do like welding and straightening frames. If a frame needs welding or straightening, the frame will be scraped.
#44
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Can't no way can I beat the bell thingy post, but I when I needed to change out old tires and tubes on wife's and my MTBs this past spring I took the wheels to my LBS and paid them to do it.
#46
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I haven't paid for anything in a long time, but the dumbest thing I ever SAW somebody pay for was flat repair. A friend who owns a popular shop here puts on a nearly full-time employee for a few weeks in spring to do minor fixes on bikes that sat over the winter. He lubes chains, adjust derailleurs, stuff like that--but he spends about half his time replacing tubes (they don't do patches). I think he charges $7 plus the tube. It's inconceivable to me that anyone would ride without knowing how to fix a flat.
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I don't think there is anything "lame" about having a professional bicycle mechanic fix anything.
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
#48
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Playing cards in my spokes. I didn't know whether they should face the drive side or not.
#49
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I don't think there is anything "lame" about having a professional bicycle mechanic fix anything.
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
I've learned the hard way, that ANYTHING related to bike repair is more complicated than it looks.
Bikes are so well balanced that a little change here, can affect something there.
I like to clean and lube my bike, but these days I leave all repairs to the LBS.
Oh, and my mechanic will always check out the shifters, deraillers, brakes etc, and anything I ask him to check
as part of the visit. Priceless!
Thank you! Very well said.
It is rather disgusting seeing the comments made against mechanics. Yes I am sure there are some out there that are jerks just like there is anywhere else in the world and I am sure sometimes people have bad days (I know I have) but all in all we are a hard working bunch who generally gets ****e treatment and low pay.
People assume bikes are easy to fix all the time and that things should be done yesterday and for free. Also a lot of people hate the fact they might have to wait or their bike truly cannot be fixed or fixed safely. If I work on your bike and there is a safety issue that I cannot fix or you won't give me the time and budget to fix and you get hurt then it will come back on me. I want the bike to be safe to ride and to only come back for it's annual tune up or to chat or buy new stuff.
If you treat your mechanics well, they will treat you well and you will get good service and other perks. We have a lot of regulars at our shop who keep coming back because we treat each other well and we understand things won't always be perfect but we will all try to do the best we can. I find it a pleasure to see folks back sometimes just because they are riding by and want to say hello. It is a high stress job sometimes when you have bikes piling up and more customers coming in the store and are still waiting on parts or don't have them in stock at the moment or like me don't have as much experience to diagnose certain problems (I am relatively new to wrenching and mostly have focused on sales)
I recently had an issue with my RD where I thought it was the pulleys and another mechanic friend of mine thought it was the new pulleys that I installed and finally after having our head shop mechanic take a look we found out we were both wrong it was a slight bend to the cage and also a bend in one of the bolts holding the RD together. The RD looked perfectly aligned in the stand but it needed an expert to take it apart and get it back together to find the real problem.
#50
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I'm thinking about paying a shop $15 to straighten my rim.
I can do almost anything on my bike, but damn that was a tricky job. I just made things worse lol.
I can do almost anything on my bike, but damn that was a tricky job. I just made things worse lol.