Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Bike shop, WTF?

Jump to Latest
41 - 60 of 127 Posts
Discussion starter · #41 ·
DrDon said:
The shop could of given two options. “Replace the drivetrain but if you can’t afford to do so, we will continue to adjust the shifting”. It’s hard to know exactly what’s going on without speaking directly to the shop. You’re the coach, so you’re the captain of the ship. How involved you want to get is your call. Personally, I would consider sending the mother links to purchase the parts and having the kid and interested teammates come over to house and show them how to replace them. Because you’re the coach, you can call the shop and introduce yourself, and ask what’s going on. If they don’t accommodate you, steer business away from them. Also get them to sponsor the team and ask them to solicit donations, including parts, for the team.
Click to expand...
I was looking back at an exchange I had 18+ months ago, but the point is they had spent hundreds of dollars at bike shops trying to get the shifting fixed, and it took me about 60 seconds with a chain checker to see the chain was shot, and then that the cassette was worn. How did multiple 'mechanics' at different bike shops not do something as simple as drop a chain checker on the chain and see it was well over 1% worn?
 
#42 ·
chiefsilverback said:
I was looking back at an exchange I had 18+ months ago, but the point is they had spent hundreds of dollars at bike shops trying to get the shifting fixed, and it took me about 60 seconds with a chain checker to see the chain was shot, and then that the cassette was worn. How did multiple 'mechanics' at different bike shops not do something as simple as drop a chain checker on the chain and see it was well over 1% worn?
Click to expand...
Guess it was a "had to be there" moment?
 
#44 ·
Yikes, being a bike mechanic reads like a thankless job going from my brief existence here.
Human error happens, mechanical defects happen and from 20 years of personal experience in a custom and repair oriented field, the finger usually gets pointed at the service provider as customers are seemingly infallible.
The simple answer is spend the 3k on bike specific tools and be your own best tech if everyone else is a disappointment.
 
#45 ·
I was put on full blast just yesterday by a mom that brought her kids POS amazon ebike back to me with yet another flat tire.

"I just had this new innertube installed yesterday and now it's flat again!! And I want another one for free!!"

After deescalating the situation with my charm and good looks, I was able to show her the 14ish goat heads that I pulled out from her precious little genius' tire and explain that was the same cause from the repair I did yesterday.

"Well, he didn't ride through thorns!"

Like, did ya follow him along his ebike ride?
 
#46 ·
PrairiePeaks said:
Yikes, being a bike mechanic reads like a thankless job going from my brief existence here.
Human error happens, mechanical defects happen and from 20 years of personal experience in a custom and repair oriented field, the finger usually gets pointed at the service provider as customers are seemingly infallible.
The simple answer is spend the 3k on bike specific tools and be your own best tech if everyone else is a disappointment.
Click to expand...
I dunno. I feel pretty appreciated when I do this semi-professionally during the warmer months.

I also give away free helmets -- which, yesterday I sold a bike I rebuilt and forgot to give the young man a helmet. He told me where he just started working, so I guess I'll have to stalk him to get him one. 😆
 
#47 ·
Wabatuckian said:
I dunno. I feel pretty appreciated when I do this semi-professionally during the warmer months.

I also give away free helmets -- which, yesterday I sold a bike I rebuilt and forgot to give the young man a helmet. He told me where he just started working, so I guess I'll have to stalk him to get him one. 😆
Click to expand...
Truthfully its nice to hear this. It certainly isn't everyone that's at fault and you're right, many are very grateful for the service, Hell, i'm one of them. I buy beer for the fellas in the backroom at least a couple times a season.
My main message was mostly for the ones that talk like nothing is ever good enough.
 
Discussion starter · #48 ·
Wabatuckian said:
I dunno. I feel pretty appreciated when I do this semi-professionally during the warmer months.
Click to expand...
I've only ever had good interactions with people whose bikes I've worked on. I think that is in part because it's a least an hour round trip to an LBS from where I live, so when someone can drop their bike 5 minutes from home it automatically puts them in a better mood.
 
#50 ·
chiefsilverback said:
I've only ever had good interactions with people whose bikes I've worked on. I think that is in part because it's a least an hour round trip to an LBS from where I live, so when someone can drop their bike 5 minutes from home it automatically puts them in a better mood.
Click to expand...
Good stuff! There is for sure a need to fill that spot in the grand scheme of things. For me though..

I have 2 specific dudes that each have full blown shops in their garages in my hood. I know they are there and I know they poach my business, which is fine. I used to do the same thing. But here's the kicker- Back a while ago, a local rider came into my shop asking for advice and ultimately asked that I work on said bike. I knew instantly where that bike had been just by looking at the grips and pedals and bits that these other guys all ride (we all have our brand parts we love, don't we). I straight up told that dude the 1. I'm not working on this bike and 2. Go back to other dudes and take your suspension issue up with him. Sorry, not sorry. I tried to be super cool about it and respectful, of course, but denied the work to the dude because I don't want my shop to inherit this issue. He is their customer, and thou shalt not cheat on thy mechanic
 
#51 ·
chiefsilverback said:
I mentioned on a thread on here a couple of weeks ago about a kid on the XC team I coach had a brand new chain fail, and that it was one of the Shimano chains that still comes with a pin, rather than a quick link. I'd wager good money that the person installing the chain drove the pin too far when they were installing it.

Talking to the kid's mother today she said she went back to the LBS that installed the chain, and they said that it must have been the kid's fault for "riding too hard". I was nearly speechless! How could anyone suggest that an 11 year old kid could put down enough power to snap a chain?

It makes me so glad that I do my own wrenching. A couple of years ago she brought the same kid's bike to me to look at it because it had shifting issues and she'd already spend several hundred dollars at different LBSs trying to fix the issue with no success. I got my chain checker out and sure enough the chain was over 1% and the cassette was worn out!
Click to expand...
You should do his work.
 
#52 ·
twowheelmotion said:
I was put on full blast just yesterday by a mom that brought her kids POS amazon ebike back to me with yet another flat tire.

"I just had this new innertube installed yesterday and now it's flat again!! And I want another one for free!!"

After deescalating the situation with my charm and good looks, I was able to show her the 14ish goat heads that I pulled out from her precious little genius' tire and explain that was the same cause from the repair I did yesterday.

"Well, he didn't ride through thorns!"

Like, did ya follow him along his ebike ride?
Click to expand...
Oh come on, you installed that tube with a sprinkling of goatheads, didn't you? :p
 
#53 ·
twowheelmotion said:
I was put on full blast just yesterday by a mom that brought her kids POS amazon ebike back to me with yet another flat tire.

"I just had this new innertube installed yesterday and now it's flat again!! And I want another one for free!!"

After deescalating the situation with my charm and good looks, I was able to show her the 14ish goat heads that I pulled out from her precious little genius' tire and explain that was the same cause from the repair I did yesterday.

"Well, he didn't ride through thorns!"

Like, did ya follow him along his ebike ride?
Click to expand...
Don't leave us hanging. Was the mom hot and did you give her a free tube? ;)
 
#54 ·
I believe the OP. I've only used a shop twice in the past 20+ years. Both times they didn't complete the job. Forgot to put in a part on a simple oil change on a fork and didn't install the seals I paid for. I would've done it myself but I was up in Mammoth. Second was an axle change out. Went from QR to bolt on. Bearings weren't seated.

The Sram 890 chain on my main bike, a single speed, is 14 years old. I should measure it.
 
#57 ·
chiefsilverback said:
There's a point of principle though, and that the store would blame the kid for "riding too hard", and then charge them for another new chain just feels wrong. And how many other people are they treating like that, who simply don't know any better?
Click to expand...
Whether I believe the story is kinda irrelevant. That's why I said (in a different way) to "vote with your wallet". I hate spreading rumors that may or may not be true. "Constant shifting problems" aren't always because of just a chain, but can result in a broken one or other parts if left unfixed. I simply don't know with 100% certainty so suggested a non-confrontational approach that'd also be a learning opportunity. If enough people do that then that shop won't last long anyway.

These days all the info to diag and fix the problem is readily available...something that just didn't exist pre-internet. Maybe mom can help, too.
 
#58 ·
I will jump in and add to the "bike shops don't know how to do chains anymore" examples. My coworker got a new bike, 1x9 surly. Was complaining that the chain kept derailing. I went to look at it and there was a link that was completely not close. The pin had been pushed through both links but it went crooked through the back link and I could see marks from the chain tool where they had really forced it.

I realized as I was fixing it with our office chain breaker, that with the advent of quick links, chain breakers are just used for chain breaking. For sizing a chain, and that the average bike shop employee does not come from the era of actually knowing how to join a link with chain tool. Our office chain tool does not have the secondary support to balance the pin install, which shows it is only for sizing the chain, not actually driving a pinned chain.

My coworker was really lucky that chain didn't snap, take off the derailler or throw them over the bars as they were climbing the hills home.

Chain tool:
Image


Chain breaker:

Image


no secondary shelf to adjust the pin/plate connection on each side of the link.
 
#59 ·
NoCanSurf said:
As someone that has worked in LBS a few years ago for a summer (I'm in college, as a full on grown-up). All the young people at the shop couldn't care less about helping the clients or product. They lacked understanding of the bikes, tools and equipment in the shop, and frankly couldn't bother to looking up from their phones long enough to learn. Repairs were haphazard, incomplete, poorly done and never completed on time.

Staff didn't know anything about the bikes sold there and frankly they didn't care. It became quickly apparent that I was the only one that was bothering with the online training provided by the big brand that anchored the store. They gave more consideration to where they were going to order lunch from than the customers there trying to buy bikes or get help. The owner who inherited the store when his father passed years ago; he was so proud that he paid only minimum wage, even to employees that has been with him for years.

I truly hope my experience is the exception not the rule...
Click to expand...
What you miss completely is that this isn't about the employees at all, it's about the boss. You were unique in your motivation in such a low paying job, but maybe you were trying to score discount bike parts that summer, make quick money or that's just your personality. A good manager can't expect everyone to be self-motivated while earing dismal pay, they have to figure out what motivates his/ her team members and appeal to that.

Having employed about 45 different people in my time over 2 companies I've ran/ owned, I've learned that employees need a compelling reason to want to keep the job. And jobs that pay so little are instantly replaceable, so you need another carrot to keep employees. It's not always money either (although you need to be competitive there). When I had a recycling company you wouldn't believe what me spending every Friday BBQing for the guys and making them leave their stations to come and eat while on the clock did for moral. No one would even miss Friday's any longer because they wanted that meal!

Of course, you'll always have those that are no good, which is why you have to attract enough new hires so that you can afford to fire the poor performers, give the good one's days off, etc.
 
#60 ·
Its a minor miracle that society can even sustain the LBS work/repair order model. Between at least half of the 'mechanics' being incompetent hacks (my experience includes older guys too, not just kids), and at least half of customers being hopelessly ignorant of the basic tenets of the simple bicycle, utterly incompetent mechanically, and shouty.....really, I don't know how any of this even manages to function.
 
41 - 60 of 127 Posts
About this Discussion
126 Replies
43 Participants
Last post:
venturi95
Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
posts
16M
members
534K
Since
1990
A forum community dedicated to Mountain Bike owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about bike parts, components, deals, performance, modifications, classifieds, trails, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Discussion Downhill - Freeride California - Norcal Shocks and Suspension Passion