mechanic lesson/LBS lesson
 

Today I decided would be a good day to learn how to do derailleur adjustments, after all I live in the middle of nowhere have done motorcycle mechanics for years and the nearest bike shop is 30 miles away they suck and how difficult could it possibly be. Simple I say to myself and within an hour I had screwed the adjustments up so bad I couldn't find square one and to top it off I broke the rear barrel adjuster off. I called the closest shop and they wouldn't stay open for an extra 5-10 minutes to help me out, talk about pissed off. I called a shop up in st charles, 90 miles away and the owner said he'd keep the shop open until I arrived. He could have easily given me the same treatment the local gave me, but instead seems to have a better grasp on retaining customers and what is good for his business. At any rate I will not continue wrenching lessons until this winter or at least until my new bike comes in and I have a spare plus I will never drop another dime at my local shop. Sammy's shall receive all of my bike part's and maintenance business in the future just for showing the foresight to the importance of repeat business and knowing the value of a customer. Thumbs up to Sammy!

Good place to start DIY repairs: http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

It ain't rocket surgery, but I got my first bike shop job by screwing things up and then going to the bike shop to have them show me what I did wrong. 35 years later, I'm still learning, but I'm happy to pass on what I've learned so far.

In defense of the shop that would not stay open an extra 10 minutes, they do have operating hours, outside of which, shop personell may have other time commitments. They have no idea from your description on the phone what they are letting themselves in for time wise with your "5 minute" job, so if it were me, and I had a hot date waiting, your failure to plan would not constitute an emergency on my part.

T1, as Jeff suggested, it's often best to have instructions in front of you when learning procedures, and the Park Tool online ones are thorough and easily available for free. At least you found a LBS you can depend on!

+1. And not only operating hours, but possibly expenses in the form of additional hourly-wages for the employees who stay late. Plus, those 15-minute problems have a way of ballooning out of control, especially when tackled after hours. You say you broke the rear barrel adjuster? That's probably more than 15 minutes right there.

We've taught a lot of people how to fix their bikes right here on bikeforums. Stick around here, and we'll make you an expert.

triumph.1, My favorite bike shop doesn't stay open after hours and I don't hold it against them. Anyway, I always found St. Charles a very accommodating town. Hopefully it still has it's small town charm.

This forum is always open when you get to a rough spot.

Brad

You really can't blame them for not staying open. We live in a very busy world and everyone has commitments, and they are no different. They had no idea what they would be getting into, and may not even have the authourity to stay open without the owners consent so, you can't hold it against them. I'd certianly use them again, as I would not drive 90 mile just to pick up a few parts.

dont blame the shop - but - if you are planning to learn how to wrench your own bikes then you are heading in the right direction for sure - my visits to the LBSs are few and far between - and they arent for maintenance

Hey I'm not opposed to businesses having their hours and running things the way that is convenient for them, but in this particular case I guarantee it cost them a lot more in future sales than it would have to stay open for a 1/2 hour tops. Sammy's was exceptionally helpful and the mechanic even spent some time showing me basics and they did stay open late for me. They replaced a cable, rerouted a cable for smoother shifting, adjusted both derailleurs and showed me basic adjustments for 20 bucks. For the record, I was more pissed off at myself for f*****g things up and not being prepared, but was further irritated by the local shops oh well approach. I need to get another laptop so I don't have to run back and forth trying to remember what the online vids are telling me and forgetting half way back to the bike stand.:o

might not have been a "convenience" issue.

If the mechanic had one or two or more children in day care - there are often outrageous fees for picking the children up late. As in, ten minutes = $25 - 20 minutes= $50, do it a third time and they put your child out. And often there is no viable alternative.

or, perhaps had to pick a child up/deliver child on court ordered visitation in a situation with prior issues.

or perhaps the mechanic had to be on time for community service, one more late and he's out and has to be incarcerated.

And so on, there are a wide variety of possible reasons where the shop have had no viable choice but to close on time.

Your money, you buy your stuff wherever you choose.

However, the shop may have had viable reasons other than "convenience" to not stay open later.

Hi, I am a small business owner -- an automotive repair shop. The more you stay open past posted hours, the more it will be expected of you. If I was open till 11:00 PM, I would get calls at 10:58 PM asking why I couldn't stay a few extra minutes. You have to draw a line. The type of "customer" who can't understand this is not someone whose business I want or need.

Sometimes we stay late or write up service orders early, but it is OUR CHOICE, not something we will be pressured into.

When you are hungry do you beat on the doors of a closed restaurant because you see somebody in there?

Don in Austin

I'm glad you were able to get your bike fixed. However, I've seen some of the work and new bike builds that have come out of Sammy's and it leaves me less than impressed.

[QUOTE=Mayday328;13077761]I'm glad you were able to get your bike fixed. However, I've seen some of the work and new bike builds that have come out of Sammy's and it leaves me less than impressed.[/QUOTE

I have no complaints, but I've heard the same about other shops in the area as well. Perhaps it is a matter of personal perspective. It's kind of like when you take your car to a mechanic they always have something bad to say about the previous mechanics work.............I am more interested in learning how to do my own work anyway so I don't have to rely on others to fix what breaks.

be your own wrench - then you can always ask yourself to stay open late :)

Point is, you broke it and expected someone to bail you out on a moments notice...... It's a bicycle shop not the ER.

Also, check out Zinn's books and Todd Downs' book on bicycle repair and maintenance. Your library may have one or both, and if not, they cost about $15-20 each new. The nice thing about each is that they have photos and diagrams of parts, tools, etc, and give you an idea of the difficulty of each procedure. You can keep them right by your repair work area for reference, too! :D

Dude lighten up doesn't even affect you and yes there are shops that do cater to my type of ER requests. I don't do things like this often, but I didn't want to be stuck w/o a bike until sometime next week so naturally I tried to get someone to bail me out and I did it's that simple.

Whoa Trigger..... Your the one getting all up tight about them not catering to your needs. You should listen to yourself, you sound like a spoiled brat:cry:

In the end I got what I wanted now didn't I ;) I call it persistence you call it brat lets not split hairs over trivial crap.

Another reason not to open on someone's request is that it can take trouble to reopen the cash register. A local business owner recently told a story about a customer cajoling him into reopening after closing time. Then the so-called customer turned out to be a scammer. I don't remember what the scam was, but the owner's guard was down because he was tired because he was working after hours.

I am sure they had good reason for the decision, but it did not accommodate my immediate needs, so I found an alternative solution that worked for me and another dealer. Don't know what's wrong with that, but apparently certain people take offense to my position. Heck I even learned I am a spoiled brat out of the deal. :lol:

As much as I know that the shop I work at needs customers in order to stay in business, it really really really sucks to have to deal with a situation where somebody's f***ups are expected to become my emergency.

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

I didn't call a shop in Minneapolis.