What would you do?
 

Set Back!!! Yesterday, I took the the 1984 Trek rebuild to a LBS to have the bottom bracket installed. The BB installation went well and then the tech put on the cranks on and suggested that I get a better chain then the Nashbar one I bought. I decided to pay the $15 for a SRAM chain and let him put it on and adjust the shifting. Everything looked great on the stand and I even found a pair of nice Specialized road shoes in my sons size 13.5. I took the bike back to work with me and then when I got home after work I took it for a test ride around the block. As I was cruising along around 18mph I started going through the gears and the stop for the rear derauiler must not have been set correct and the chain jumped between the cassette and the spokes. The derauiler and the chain snapped four spokes, bent several others, scratched up the hub flange badly and locked up the wheel. Luckily it did not cause me to crash as I was not wearing my helmet. I plan on taking it back to the shop today and see what their response is, I feel like they need to fix the wheel free of charge, what do you think?

Definetly! Sorry to hear that happened.

Ugh.

Why did he say you needed a new chain? That's BS, unless you had an 8 speed chain on 9 speed cogs or something.

I'd take the bike back, and let them know what happened, but I wouldn't expect to get anywhere with free wheel repair. If the mechanic is the type of guy who will replace a brand new chain with a brand new chain, he's probably also the type of guy who will weasel out of repairing a wheel for free.

It was a Nasbar chain still in the bag for 7 or 8 spd to go on 8 spd cogs. He said it had a lot of side to side play compared to a better quality chain (which I could also see). So I figured I would go ahead and get the better one for this bike and use the other on one of the Walmart bikes at home.

Oh, I get it. I didn't realize you kept the old chain, and that it wasn't installed yet. Sounds like the mechanic was working with you, not trying to screw you.

I just read through the main thread about your project - that's really cool that you're building this bike with your son. Can't wait to see the finished bike!

Did the LBS wrench adjust the derailer limits? Was he/she supposed to?

He did adjustments on both of the derauiler while I was in the shop and shifted through the gears while the bike was on the stand. He installed the BB, crank arms and chain then made adjustments. Said it was ready to go.

If this is a shop I deal with a lot, I'd expect them to make right.

You should post this to the mechanical section and see what the pro's say.

Done.

I visit 3 LBS shops in town and buy stuff from all. This particular one I have spent over $200 in the past month.

Who removed the dork disc? Assuming the OP knew this, this is one responsibility the bike owner takes riding without one, REGARDLESS of who conducted the mechanical work.

I guess the original owner of the wheels if it had one. They are Alex AT450's.

Given your initial description of the situation, I'm not sure the shop is at fault, unless part of the deal was that they adjust your rear derailler. SRAM makes good chains, although most chains that are the right size will work fine, and the Nashbar chain probably would have been fine.
That said, do you have any reason to think that what happened with your chain would *not* have happened with the Nashbar chain?

As I see it, there are two likely causes:

• the rear derailler is adjusted poorly, in its indexing and in the setting of the limit screw that keeps the der from shifting over too far into the spokes
• your rear sprockets are worn, and when you put a new chain on worn sprockets, bad things happen. Kind of like new wine in old wineskins.

Okay, I saw that the shop did derailler adjustment.
What happened to you may or may not be the fault of the shop, and it's probably one of those weird situations that will never be completely determined. That said, since the shop had just adjusted things for you and installed the new chain, I would expect them to at least replace the spokes for you and true the wheel. I wouldn't expect a new wheel though.

All new parts chain cassette and both derauilers. I took it to the shop at lunch and it looks like they will fix the wheel and I may have to pay for the parts (8 spokes). I am OK with this since it could have just been a fluke thing. He said that since he did the adjustments he would not charge me for the labor, but he said he did not like the cassette (Nashbar 8spd shimano compatible).

Wow, that's a good shop. They're standing behind their work, even though you brought in a bunch of mail-order stuff, which usually does make shop folks grumpy.

Looks like they want to keep you as a customer.

I concur on the "good shop" comment.
The Nashbar cassette should be fine - I wouldn't blame it for the problems. Probably made at same factory where the Performance cassettes are produced, and I've put those onto a couple of diff bikes and haven't had any problems. But on the other hand, if the guy is as straight-up as he otherwise sounds, he may have seen problems with these cassettes.