Originally Posted by
Burton
What may NOT be as immediately apparent is some of the QC issues that your local LBS has to correct or reject or otherwise deal with to maintain some kind of QC on behalf of the brand they're selling. Specifics?
Have personally rejected bicycles with the Brand name MISSPELLED; forks that were painted and installed on new bikes even though it was obvious that the forks were badly bent even BEFORE going through the painting process (not to mention the assembly and packing processes); bikes that were delivered with road shifters completely incompatible with the rear Dyna-sys derailleur and drivetrain; cranks and chainrings fully installed on bicycles but not threaded to accept pedals; and consistantly with mounting hardware too short to mount the reflectors that come with them.
And since its for some stupid reason too common for distributers to insist on saving a couple pennies by specing galvanized cables instead of stainless ones, and unlined housing instead of lined housing - I'd find it hard to believe they wouldn't opt to save a few dollars by not facing at least one side of the BB. After all - in a cartridge bb its only the fixed cup where facing might be critical. So it would make perfect sense to skip the other side since their warranty and liability is only restricted to original components.
This points to an issue of finding a reputable quality LBS more than anything else. For the 10-years I worked for a shop in Santa Barbara, we carried brands from a varied range of distributors and dealer-direct manufacturers. Anything from generic private-label stuff from WSI to Giant, Trek and Cannondale.
Regardless of source, the bike was always rebuilt with all bearings greased and adjusted to spec, cables adjusted and fixing-bolts tightened with a torque wrench. BB-shells were
always faced. There was a 35-point build-sheet that required the manager's inspection and signature before the bike was put on the showroom floor. If you're buying a bike from a shop that doesn't face their BB-shells on any bike they sell, then yea, I would worry about quality as well and take my business elsewhere. We can guarantee the customer that their bike's BB-shell would
NEVER have to be re-faced again because it was already done properly the 1st time (barring catastrophic collisions or damage).