Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Northern California
Posts: 9,200
Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.
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I think it was sixtyfiver's post, when my headache was finally starting to go away. Good post!
I've seen just about al kinds of examples of wrongful work done on bikes, and have become the go-to for problems that local shops seem to have caused.
I don't blame the shops for half of these mistakes, but some of them show poor follow-up on a repeat problem. We all can make mistakes, but must be accountable and learn from them.
I do have issues with misdiagnosis in order to sell expensive parts, or "routine" replacement of good parts.
Just yesterday I took on a case of a racer's suddenly difficult-to-change tire, and it turns out that her shop removed the prescribed two layers of stan's tape from a featherweight wheel rim with a trough-shaped rim cavity.
The thick Velox tape that the shop stuffed in there just folded over at the edges since it couldn't curve both into the rim and around the rim without creasing and leaving a double-layer with sticky side up.
I was able to fix this by cutting individual pieces of Velox tape for the low-count of rather small spoke holes, and tire changing is now a hands-free affair, easier than ever.
It actually pained me to tell the customer what the other shop had done, especially since I didn't have the Stan's tape in stock and because she (the bike's owner) had emailed the wheel builder to complain about the tire fit, only to be reminded that two layers of the thin, flexible Stan's tape, as was supplied with the new wheels, was the proper way to do it.
If only she hadn't taken her wheel to this shop for a new tire(!), but I gained a new customer going forward.
EDIT, I have to say that I followed up today in finding out exactly why the good rim tape was removed, and it turns out that the actual reason was a broken spoke. Also, I had to edit because I called the Velox tape Rema tape for no good reason.
So, shop needed to remove the tape, and the Velox tape that they installed was probably the best that they had on hand.
So working on bikes can be tricky, and mistakes are bound to happen.
Last edited by dddd; 08-24-14 at 10:04 PM.