Originally Posted by
3alarmer
...there's nothing on a bicycle that cannot be made to fit with a great big hammer.
Clearly you're an amateur if you're still using a hammer when those in the know are using hydraulic presses.
Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
I volunteer as a mechanic at a local bike Co-op. Over the winter, I helped a customer build up a bike from scratch from our collection of mostly vintage road parts.
At any one time, we have several dozen 'donor' bikes, and hundreds of pounds of loose shifters, bottom brackets, crankset, etc. to draw upon.
So to reiterate, the exercise was to take a decent vintage road frame, and build up a complete multi-gear bike from scratch.
It took 3 separate sessions of 3 hours each over 3 weeks, during which I had to access all of my skills. In addition to the shop parts inventory, I also had to tap into my (extensive) personal stash in order to produce a safe and cost-effective product.
During the sessions, we dodged several bullets in terms of compatibility between parts, and subtle but serious flaws in some of the used components.
The far easier and faster approach would have been to order a complete modern-day gruppo - but that would have tripled the final price.
Attempting what we did remotely, such as over the 'Web'? Nope..
BTW: our shop has every tool one could ever need.
Well, I'm not sure what a 1" hydraulic line wrench or wiggle nailer are doing in a bike shop but it's cool you guys can face nail mitered boards there.
My build is nothing like what you're describing, every single part I have is compatible I just don't know which are better. I don't have 175 pounds of shifters to choose from, I only have four and any of them would work fine. Same with the brakes, any of the four sets I have would get the job done. If I contracted the US government to do this task for me I don't think even they could turn it into a 9 hour three week long event. Okay yeah fine maybe they could but you get what I'm saying.