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Where can I get replacement faceplate screws for a Ritchey stem. I can't find anything on their website or google, and neither my LBS, nor my local hardware stores have them. Also, how tight is 5nm (if you can explain it)? My only torque wrench is for my car, so it doesn't go small enough.

depends on what faceplate it is, but they are generally standard metric threaded allen bolts. You should be able to find these at almost any hardware store; if your immediate local hardware store doesn't have them, try another.

5nM is approximately 45 in/lbs (inch pounds) or 3 ft/lb (foot pounds), very little.

reference: https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...s-and-concepts

No kidding, thanks for the heads up, that worked a treat.

I found some that fit, but they have a different head size and don't match the others. So I shouldn't be cranking down the bolts very hard.

Dear Scrod,

If I were to go and get a Mechanic Certification or whatever they call it, should I do UBI or Barnett's? Which one do you think has the better program?

I know quite a few people who have gone to Barnett's but have been told by a few longtime pro wrenches that a certificate from there doesn't really mean much. I suppose it's better than nothing when job hunting but I'd hire people based on experience, not pieces of paper.

The size of the head wouldn't change the torque requirements/limits.

Ah. So it is, as I thought was possible, very similar to culinary school. Well then, I may just save the money and use it for a vacation. Thanks!

Seriously. Get some experience under your belt working on anything and everything, then tell your boss to kiss your ass someday and open your own shop.

As much as I used to hate seeing rusted out, crappy bikes and beat-to-**** MTBs coming in for tune ups at the last shop I worked at, those were the ones I learned the most from.

It makes sense. The $4000 Kestrel with Super Record isn't going to need as much work as the twenty year old Schwinn Frontier that sat in someone's backyard for two years. As is, I'm already doing everything other than hydraulics (we don't see that enough for me to have learned much) and I'm the default guy for anything FG/SS. Seriously, not a single person in the place knew how to install a cog and lockring, and I taught the store manager how to install and remove a cartridge BB and true a wheel. ****ing Performance, man. But I'm learning a lot. Hey, maybe this winter when we're slow I could go out to Boston for a working vacation. I hear there's a rad fixie shop out in the burbs...

Ha! You'll end up packing a lot of boxes being shipped to CA. Everything dies in the winter here too. Our advantage over the other shops in town is that we do a huge percentage of our sales online.

I've always wondered, what percent of your revenue is online? It's cool if you don't want to say.

I have no idea what the exact number is. Because we built up such a strong online presence for two years before opening the shop, it's quite a bit. If the shop were in a busier downtown location, I'm sure we'd get a lot more walk in traffic but I like being a little out of the way and 'exclusive'.

The shop I work at ran a Groupon for a full tune up this summer for $25(we got $12.50 for each bike) and I learned a lot on the horrible rusted, rotted bikes that everyone brought in. They're not fun to work on, but you really do learn the most.

If I end up going to Boston anytime soon, I am definitely going to hit you up.

Dude so like...move your shop to CA, within biking distance of me of course, then ship just a little to the east coast.

Why am I speccing out a 4x bike?

Floor guy at the downtown Portland Performance tried to tell me that the Forte Slick City was an indoor trainer tire.

Nice enough dude, but damn, don't they give these guys Performance catalogs to take home and learn?

Because you're a wild beast.

That seems to be the way of it here, sadly. Sometimes qualified people struggle to get jobs, and total d-bags end up being their bosses. If Dubya can be President of the U.S., anything can happen.

I went to UBI and a friend of mine went to Barnett's. Both were good learning experiences and we both agreed that those classes would be a waste of time of you did not already know a lot about bikes, there's a lot of info to take in. Both of our classes were paid for, so there's that. It was pretty fun

Hey Scrod,

Heard a clinking noise on the way home, thought it was my spokes or chain/cog/bb/chainring issue til I got home and saw this:





Shocked I didn't flat. Is it something I might use a tire boot for?

It most likely didn't even touch the inner layers of the tire but if you want to put a boot inside right there, it wouldn't hurt.

How do you talk a shop into hiring you if you have no professional experience? Offer to work free for two weeks?