kathrot

has anyone had any experience with paramount bikes in somerville? it's closest to me, but for some reason i've never been. and for the reason below, i may need to pay a visit tonight.

i think i may have stripped my hub this morning on the way to work - hopefully it just means something came loose, but i think not.

i went to backpedal, and everything just gave out. attempts at pedaling fwd/bkwd resulted in a little pressure, and then a 'give' with the wheel not moving and the cog spinning.

any advice is, as always, appreciated. thanks guys.

Ira in Chi

Did the cog tighten back up when you pedaled forward? If so, it may not be stripped. Maybe your lockring came loose.

[edit] I should have read that closer. Sounds stripped. I'd still try to tighten it all the way. How did this happen?

kathrot

unfortunately, no. i've had a loose lockring before. p00p.

Ira in Chi

Yeah that sounds bad. I hope your hub is threaded on both sides.

jacobs

If you want, I live on the Cambridge/Somerville line and I'll help you out with it if you want.

kathrot

i would love that; thank you! will PM..

benny

let's see a picture of the paramount - what year?

kathrot

heh. an LBS in somerville is called 'paramount bikes'. i wish i had a paramount to show ya!

Essy

I actually currently refuse to go to Paramount even though it is really close by to me. Long story short, I went there looking for information regarding a build I was doing, he was chill, we shot the bull for a while and he quoted me one price for wheels, IRO hub/Sun rim combo. I went back to spec them out, he denied the first price ("no way I could do them for that, I was just talking generally") and quoted me a higher price by roughly $40, while also being kinda rude to me. Since I'm a student and also heard good things about buying from Tony, I decided to go to IRO myself for a $50 savings, but then wound up going to Paramount for rim tape. I figured he could get my business on smaller things and that would be at least some support for my LBS. I got the tape, but also got a ten minute scolding for buying IRO/Velocity wheels. ("Why would you buy those, are they handbuilt, are they going to give you lifetime truings? You should have come here, I could have made wheels that weren't crap...that's it, I might as well close up shop now, the internet is putting me out of business.") I haven't been back since that day - Ace Wheelworks is close by, I pass Cambridge bikes on my way to school, and I don't need the lecture with my purchases.

Of course, YMMV, but that was just my experience.

red house

Yeah, Tyler is the guys name...I've only dealt with him twice, someone who is a friend of a friend worked there and recommended him to me. He is a character alright, and if you catch him in one of his 'moods' -(which was what happened to me both times -over the phone, and then again in his shop), -he won't hesitate to tell ya to 'eff-off' or 'get the eff-out of his shop' before you even know what the eff you may have said or done to provoke him..But I hear he's a family man and stressed to the effin limit by the pressures that good family men often have to endure to support the family..So, I really think we should all have an intervention with the big T..so that we can make him worthy of our business, he should know that we REALLY want to help support his effin family owned business, and his family as well...-my ten cents.

Essy

Sounds about right. I actually partly went back there to get the tape because I remembered the sign he had over his register, which said something about how he wouldn't lend tools because it was food out of his son's mouth, and it made me want to give him a try again because it seemed a good, solid sentiment.

What's kinda funny is that if he had just sold me the tape with even just a small comment about how he probably could have made me comparable wheels, I would have went back there for the bottom bracket and cranks I needed, and I had my eye on a surly baked bean color steamroller he had in the window.

Now I won't go back, none of my friends will go there, and I internally hiss every time I go by.

weed eater

hi kathrot, i stripped my hub a while back. see this thread.

i ended up jb-welding the reasonably-new cog to the stripped hub, with the lockring welded down too. it now serves as a perfectly functional 18t wheel while i finish building my new wheel. yay for jbweld.

red house

I think most people would rather buy from a small family owned/operated shop like Paramount rather than a BIG warehouse type place like International Bikes -(no diss)..
I was looking to buy a frame with track drop-outs for a fixie 'project' when I called up Tyler to get directions to his store.. He answered the phone by saying "what" & then "yeah, what the 'eff' do you want?" and proceded to discourage me from 'actually' coming to his shop in person, -that I should just deal with him over the phone...and then finally let me in on the fact that he was infact closed that day (Weds)...At first I thought it may be some sort of anonymous joke, -you know, an unspected moment of the avante garde to shock us from our otherwise dull meaningless lives : )) ..I told this 'happening' to his buddy who had worked at Tylers shop and had recommended me to him in the first place...He was a little surprised but more or less said that is just a side of the Tyler that people come to know & love, and he encouraged me to go back. I went back about two weeks later and spoke with Tyler in his shop, he handed me his business card and asked me to e-mail him to let him know what I was looking for, -that he was really too busy to deal with me and that time..I looked at the business card, looked up at him and we shared an interesting ~1.5 seconds of silence..-after which he pointed to the door and turned up some ska music real loud...It was all an experience...Anyways, yeah, I would strongly recommend people to Paramount based on my two encounters..And for those who may be timid about frequenting his establishment because of mine or others or their own similar experiences..-I would say, why go some where else where you will almost certainly get service on the continuum of 'mundane' to 'very helpful'...-When, at Paramount you may experience the full spectrum of 'Horrifically shocking' to 'very helpful'...Would you prefer a monopolising franchise ice cream shop that only served vanilla, chocolate & maybe strawberry...-or, would you rather go to the only '31-flavors' in town, -where you never know what fricken wacky nutty flavor they may throw at you?...'Excitement' gentlemen, this is the stuff of life, and if you are lucky, -the folks at Paramount may provide a free helping...I put it to you thusly