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Old 09-28-07, 03:11 PM
  #14  
'nother
semifreddo amartuerer
 
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Northern CA
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A shop that gives you attitude for asking them to perform service on a bike you didn't buy there is a stupid shop, and one you should really reconsider doing business with. Sure, a tip or 6-pack or something for a job well done or for something beyond the call of duty never hurts, but you should not feel like you need to do that for regular service, whether you bought the bike there or not. That is just ********.

That having been said: learning to do your own maintenance is an extremely valuable skill, and something you should look into doing anyway. There are lots of problems with the "I'll-just-take-it-to-my-LBS" maintenance model, the biggest ones being: 1) they are frequently closed at key times when you wish they were open, i.e. the night before a ride/race, Sundays & Mondays; and 2) Even if they are open, they frequently have a backlog of other work that is ahead of you and you end up having to wait days or even weeks in prime season.

I recommend that you spend the $50-$100 or so for a decent basic bicycle toolkit and study http://parktool.com and http://sheldonbrown.com and experience LBS Independence. You will not regret it.


Oh, BTW, the Tiagra is fine, but there's nothing wrong with going for a little Ultegra bling, either.
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