I would tend to agree with you except the first shop that worked on it has one of the highest reputations in town, with prices to go along with it. I trust both shops and really tend to believe that it is just very old parts that have warn down over the years. Now if I had regularly maintained the bottom bracket and had it repacked on a regular basis, then I might start believing both shops didn't know what they where doing, but I have let this bike site and site, then last year and this I put around 1600 miles on it with this issue. I think the real issue is the rider, not the mechanics on this one