rydabent

My son a teenager had bought a high end racing bike. The BB bearings kept comming loose. He took it back to the LBS several times, and they would tighten it up, and started telling him he was "doing something" to make it come loose. I looked at it myself and found the BB was actually oval and the rocking of the crank was causing it to come loose. I finally had the mfg rep look at it when he was in town and confirmed I was right. He kinda got on the LBS mechanic (who thot he was Gods gift to the cycling world) for not finding the problem himself. The rep ordered out a new frame with no further questions asked.

dwellman

Dumbest thing NOT said by LBS employee: Calling me when the work is done! I mean, you want to get paid, right?

Blackwater Bike Shop (Lynchburg, VA), to their credit, did call the one time I used them but no shop anywhere around here ever called when they finished something.

Cycocross

You just gave me dejaview, That guy must have worked @ a LBS I went to!!! excellent example of of a lousy example he was. For some reason the store closed-up before I could get my money back.

Bethany

It's hard to keep heading up to the shop for a 2 minute fix because you are new at everything and that the store is 20 miles away. You feel like you are in the way just for stupid little adjustments and that the mechanic has more important things to do. I figure if I could learn some simple stuff, I wouldn't feel like I was in the way. I guess I worry about being "Great. It's THAT lady again" even if my mechanic thinks I'm not.

The book is "Complete Bike Maintenance New And Expanded Edition" by Fred Milson. After buying several other books that are more detailed, it's a waste of money. You don't need to mess with the limit screws and it's misleading that the book said to do so. It was the front deraillieur I was trying to adjust as the chain kept rubbing against it making a racket despite what gear I put it in. I figured if I just moved it over some, I'd be okay.

I really think I caught him on a bad day. He's normally very sweet, friendly and happy to help even if I feel in the way because of my insecurity. Of course it was a "2 minute" fix and off I went. I really am sick of "two minute" fixes that takes a 40 mile round trip drive though.

I'm sure as a mechanic, having people come in "adjusting" stuff that doesn't need to be can be frustrating. You've worked hard to put the bike together and make sure it's working perfectly and then someone "fixes" it. It has to be a never ending cycle of a new cyclist feeling like "I wanted to do it myself so I don't have to bother you" vs. a mechanic of "I really know what I'm doing so come and let me fix it correctly".

Now I call up, explain the problem and ask if I can fix it at home or bring it up. I do respect his knowledge and expertise.

Cycocross

Not to mention make me want to throw-up! Well not WANT to, but rather . . .shouldn't even be a feature on a bright light but they can claim longer batt life withit.

mechBgon

Buy a bike shop and it will quickly start to become obvious why they don't try to match Internet pricing, and don't try to stock everything that everyone could possibly want. When overhead is eating most of the profit margin, you have to charge what you have to charge, or you're just making money for UPS, and Shimano, and _______ (your bike brand), and your utilities company, with nothing left for yourself.

I'm not a shop owner, just a lead mechanic. If you can find a smokin' buy on the Internet, I think that's great, no sour grapes here. If you need us to get you something, however, we have to come out in the black. We can't just "bro deal" everyone, even if we like you.

Remove the headset top cap and look at the end of the tube, and you should be able to tell.


And now it's my turn In the middle of my LBS career, I took a break and worked as a systems administator. And I got a used mountain bike I wanted to commute on, but it had no rack eyelets on the seatstays. Well hey, there's a bike shop a few blocks away, I'll go buy some P-clamps.

So I go in and ask the young man at the counter for P-clamps.

Him: uhmmm... C-clamps?

Me: P-clamps. You know, to mount a rack on a frame that doesn't have eyelets.

Him: *confused look*

Me: *explains what P-clamps do, and what they look like (the letter P, geddit?)*

Him: HEY JOE!! *to guy in the shop area* Do we have any C-clamps?




Oh, THOSE things. YEAH.

Cycocross

Grease has mystical powers we can't possibly hope to understand.

dmbaile2

Had an LBS employee tell me my very slightly bent frame couldn't be repaired, and even if it could it would always be a dangerous point of weakness. He then went and got a fellow employee to help stroke his ego who is also a frame builder and the guy was like, sure no problem, we have the tool here. I’ll have it done in a few days. lol

steve0257

With the talk about online ordering I most have a strange LBS. There have been a couple of times they've told me they could get the item I wanted but I would do better by ordering it online.

FieldEffect

Don't believe I've ever seen "Grease" for sale. Usually it's just something incidental I run into when working on something.

DCB0

Not sure what you mean... maybe you aren't looking very hard... or maybe you are making a joke and I don't get it...

Look here
Or here
Or here
or here.....

FieldEffect

Will I appear less stupid or more stupid if I claim it was a joke?

DCB0

Either less stupid or just really bad at making jokes.

I pretty much assumed you had never gone looking, because grease is available everywhere.

Also, you didn't say "There is no such thing as grease because I have never seen it for sale!" you said "I have never seen grease for sale." There is no shame in being inexperieiced.
Saying stupid things and having other people laugh at us is how we learn.

FieldEffect

I just always thought grease was dirty oil. Like you put oil on the chain and ride around a while and it turns into this black greasy mess. So I guess I have no idea what grease really is.

Paul01

Correct! Just save all the black greasy mess that you can scrape off your chain and apply it copiously to wheel bearings, bottom brackets and headsets.

tadawdy

You should really just keep it and apply it to future chains, after removing the factory lube.



If he doesn't (or hasn't yet) service his own bearings, I can see why he wouldn't recognize actual grease.
After all, we call chainring stains "grease" marks, though they're generally not.

dwellman

You can even get it on Bluray:

Aaron_F

I once went in looking for some MTB tires that'd do a better job hooking up on leaf-covered trails. It was my first autumn riding, and my semi-slicks were letting me down. The mechanic/salesman showed me what they had in stock, and it was all pretty much just a bunch of semi-slicks similar to what I already had. He finally recommend I just use what I had, but take a rake to the trail ahead of time and clear the leaves wherever I needed to. Exactly what I wanted to do on 22mi worth of trail... Anyway, I stopped going there, and began Googling what I needed and ordering online for less cost/hassle.

Nermal

^^^ He did kind of miss the point of riding, didn't he?

no motor?

The Park Tools website has an excellent section on home repairs, and may save you some phone calls or trips to the shop. Have you looked there?

Learning the black art of derailer adjusting is as close as bicycle maintenance gets to carburetor tuning. Most anything else you're going to need to do for basic maintenance is going to be easier than that.

StephenH

I'm not sure they STILL sell it. But 20 years ago when I bought this can, they did. At the rate I'm using it, it ought to outlast me. I'll have to include it in my will, so one of my kids doesn't have to buy their own can.

mikewille

https://www.mcmaster.com/#grease/=f4a3e4

Cycocross

[/quote]I'm not sure they STILL sell it. But 20 years ago when I bought this can, they did. At the rate I'm using it, it ought to outlast me. I'll have to include it in my will, so one of my kids doesn't have to buy their own can.[/QUOTE]

EEEEWWW that's dirty looking grease, I prefer the blue kind, or the red kind, but then the green kind is nice. Better yet mix them all together and EEEEWWW that's dirty looking grease.
BTW a dirty chain mark on your leg is the poor man's tattoo.

pablosnazzy

green grease is where it's at

recumbenttoad

I've got a great shop that I frequent, so, I guess I'm lucky. I don't expect them to have everything in stock (impossible to do) and don't mind waiting a week to get something ("you're lack of planning is not my emergency" - my quote, not theirs). If I need to order something they are on the computer checking their suppliers immediately. They always greet me by name when I come in (I feel like Norm on Cheers). Plus, they are right around the corner from my house. These guys love bikes.

And, I can tell you from experience working retail for the last 8 1/2 years that sometimes those of us behind the counter are very pleased that some customers prefer to buy products using internet sources.