Yesterday I took my Litespeed in to my favorite LBS. I have never had the wheels trued other than a little tweaking by me and I also wanted to replace the rear wheel bearings. I usually do everything myself but I thought it would be nice to drop it off for a few days and let the owner / mechanic do it for me. I have my Poprad to ride as a spare anyway. Well, I carried my bike in the shop and the owners wife told me that the owner had to have an emergency operation to remove his gall bladder and part of his stomach and was in the hospital. After we talked about his condition for a while she asked me what I needed. I told her, bearings. She did not know what size I needed so I asked if I could take my wheel apart and see. She said sure. As I went into the work area she asked me if I knew how to adjust the shifter on a 3 speed bike. There was one in the stand and she had put a new rear tire on it but did not know how to adjust the shifting. Since I have been fixing up bikes in my garage for a local charity I have worked on a few 3 speeds so I knew a little about it. I adjusted the shifting and the brakes and took it for a test ride. It was really nice having a bike in that big heavy duty stand and having a whole bunch of Park tools all in neat order on the bench and wall to work with.
After I finished the 3 speed I took my wheel apart and figured out which bearings I needed.
Then some guy came in and we helped him pick out some tubes for his bike.
I don't think I am ready to be a "wrench" but it was fun for a little while.
If I was going to be in the bike business I would rather be out front selling things to people.
The owners wife told me that as soon as he gets out of the hospital they are putting their bike business up for sale, so if any of you would like to move to a nice little town (Crystal River Fl.) where the weather is great all year this might be the opportunity to make your dreams come true