Here's the low down. A friend of mine who was a bike mechanic and has been working on bikes all his life gave me a MTB bike with a 1" head tube for my kid to ride. I have an older Cannondale MTB with a 1" head tube which he built for me. I wanted a suspension fork so I found a Rock Shozx Qadra that I had hime put on it. I recently found a 1" Threaded Judy DH and had him switch it out on my bike. I had the Qadra he was going to put on my kids bike. The only thing is he is 3 hours away. I went to the local LBS and they said $15 to switch out the fork and they would have it done by the end of the day Saturday so we could go riding this weekend. I get a call saying there is a problem. I go to the shop. The mechanic says he had some problems fitting the headset on the tube. I left them the Qadra, a stem, and a 1" threadless headset. He the 1" threadless headset wasn't fitting properly so he reamed out the head tube to get it to fit and it still wouldn't fit right. Then he said it is going to cost more then the original $15 and the work is now at shop rate which is $35/hr which he already had 1 hour into it. I said stop and put it back together the way it was when I brought it in.(My buddy the mechanic would have done it for nothin, I just wanted to ride the trails with my kids this weekend). Needless to say, the LBS can't put it back together the way it was since he reamed out the head tube. Now, I am thinking he should have called me prior to reaming out the head tube because now the frame is crap because they can't get the new headset to fit right and the old headset won't fit because they reamed the tube. I am a bit upset about the entire situation and it seems like it is now going to cost me close to $100 to get his done. I feel the LBS should eat this because they screwed up the frame. They are going to have thier service manager look at this when he comes in on Tuseday. Does any one have any advice on how I should handle this witht the LBS? I don't feel I should have to pay for thier mistake. Can this frame be salvaged at this point?
He said the new headset that there is about a millimeter gap somewhere and it might hang up while turning. Does this make sense? I am glad the mechanic was honest with me about what they are going through. He did hint that the head tube was out of round when I brought it in, which I doubt because my buddy knows how to take care of a bike. He's been building them for 20+ years. Any input would be appreciated.