Before anyone says: "Do all your own work" please understand that I do most of my own work. However, I don't always have the time or tools to do everything.

I recently dropped of a well preserved 1986 Serotta at a bike shop I've never done business with. I noticed an older bike on a stand, and the clamp was placed on the seat-tube. So I told the person writing the ticket to only put the clamp on the seat post and never on the seat-tube or any other painted surface.

Another person, who may have been higher up the seniority system, chimed in:"We never put a clamp on a seat-tube, and no customer should ever be concerned".

So I said, "If you will look behind you, you will see a bike being held by the seat-tube".

Then he said, "that's a defective frame, that is headed for scrap". I looked at the bike, and it was clearly used recently with multiple accessories attached.

Should I trust these guys?