“Hello LBS, you fixed my puncture recently and it’s gone again, you’ve clearly not done it right, and I demand another repair free of charge”

– “I am sorry, while it is possible for a puncture to happen shortly after another one, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and repair it free of charge for you.”

(customer brings bike in)

– “I’m just checking the previous repair job, it seems we repaired a rear puncture, while it is now the front that is punctured?”

😳 😕

brilliant 😯

😆

The customer is always right stupid.

Fricken cyclists 🙂

That’s pretty funny

Yes, but I’ve swapped my wheels round since then to keep the wear even!

Jesus wept.

Were the tyres covered in dog poo just for good measure?
That was always my favorite from my days as a Saturday boy 😀

Make the customer feel stupid and put him off ever coming to your shop again! For just the £3 cost of a tube!

Does anybody really take their bike to a shop to get a puncture repaired? Fair enough if you don’t want to spend the time (or but the tools) for major repairs, but surely the ability to fix a puncture is a prerequisite for riding a bike. What do you do if you puncture miles from anywhere?

What do you do if you puncture miles from anywhere?

You call your friend whose enthusiasm for cycling fired your own and which led you to purchase the cheap hybrid that you ride now everywhere without a thought for maintenance. You also call when the chain comes as you’ve just had your nails done.

In fairness, she offered to wheel the bike round to me so that I could show her how to put the chain back and then finally surged through that cycling milestone of working out how to do it herself.

I will get the puncture call at some point.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and repair it free of charge for you.

There, that was your mistake 😉

In fairness, she….

Ah….so that’s why you were so helpful!

Had a similar customer to Al many years ago, fixed a puncture, even down to replacing the tyre. Said customer came back in a couple of days later, having commuted from West London to WC2 twice, complaining that they had another puncture, and it was all our fault. I politely pointed out that it was more likely to be the fault of the three inch long nail sticking through the tyre.

Puncture? That’s nothing. Wait till you get a customer drag in a carton containing one of Korea’s finest BSOs and demand that you build it up for him. While he waits. For free. “But you’re a bike shop …”

My faith in the stupidity of the general public has been restored 🙂

Does anybody really take their bike to a shop to get a puncture repaired?

I don’t know, on the club run on sunday a guy was suggesting the club put on maintenance courses so he didn’t have to take his (expensive) bike into the shop three times a year for maintenance. That’s a guy who does a couple of hundred km a week who couldn’t do anything more than fix a puncture and lube a chain – its not hard to imagine that there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t know how to do even that.

Kunstler – Member

I will get the puncture call at some point.

we’re all waiting for the tyre-booty call

Does anybody really take their bike to a shop to get a puncture repaired?

Me – although strictly speaking I didn’t intend to take it to a bike shop for a puncture repair. I’d been doing a couple of practice loops for a triathlon the next day and punctured twice on glass left over from a mini-marathon. Got back to the place I was staying and thought I’d better go grab another tube rather than rely on the fixed 23c tube.

So I popped out to find a local bike shop and as I didn’t know the area I ended up cycling 8 miles before I found a shop, in the process I got another puncture, as I had nipped out I didn’t have any tools with me and I have an Alfine bolted hub. So I bought 3 tubes, a new rear tyre and asked them to fix the back puncture.

Bloody expensive “nip out” as I was charged 8 euro a tube (In a specialized box, I should have known better), 15 euro for the repair as well as the 65 euro for the new tyre.

Shut the door, keep the fools out.

That’s nothing I know of a successful Cardio-Thorassic Consultant Surgeon (thats a chest, abdomen and throat slasher) who is unable to repair puncutres on his bike… makes you wonder, no?

agree with: if you can’t mend a puncture you shouldn’t own a bike.
Who breeds these people?

I do wonder how some folk carry out basic functions such as shopping, cooking, their job etc.

That’s nothing I know of a successful Cardio-Thorassic Consultant Surgeon (thats a chest, abdomen and throat slasher) who is unable to repair puncutres on his bike… makes you wonder, no?

Well, I can repair a puncture, but always head to my LBS when I need an aortic stent.

Last time they charged me for the tube as well as fitting it – rip off merchants.

Do you all fix punctures on your own cars? Service them too? How can you possibly drive thousands of miles in a machine without having at least the ability to carry out basic and regular maintenance? The mechanical principles are just the same 🙄

Some people just want to ride their bike to the newsagent every evening without carrying a loaded camelback, and are happy to call on the services of their LBS for routine work (which in some way goes to make up for the loss of revenue from the try-local-buy-online types here and keeps our LBS’s open)

Surely as a bike shop, stupid people are manna from heaven?

When I worked near Evans in Manchester, and popped in for anything at lunchtime, there would be a constant stream of people coming in for punctures repaired, and suchlike

Ooooh somebodies on the defensive…..

When I worked near Evans in Manchester, and popped in for anything at lunchtime, there would be a constant stream of people coming in for punctures repaired, and suchlike

I would put money on Evans not dishing out smart arse attitude to their paying customers though.

40mpg – Member
Do you all fix punctures on your own cars? Service them too?

The difference being that you can’t mend your car tyre sat on your patio with a bowl of water, a quid repair kit and a small pump.

I would put money on Evans not dishing out smart arse attitude to their paying customers though.

Oooh, really? If I was a betting man, I’d take that!

Have got a mate who can’t fix punctures. We’ve gone through the procedure on the trails and the backyard but for whatever reason he just doesn’t get it.

It always ends up like this (52 secs in)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW7xzBC-qa0[/video]

I would put money on Evans not dishing out smart arse attitude to their paying customers though.

That particular branch now seem to mostly specialise in week-long-Saturday-boy ism rather than smartarsedness, unfortunately.

we get asked to repair punctures a lot and its more a case of cant be bothered or not wanting to get dirty more than being able to do the job.

its just a basic service we do it, we charge for it and the customers are happy.
no need to judge or get shirty about it.

I do wonder how some folk carry out basic functions such as shopping, cooking, their job etc.

And breathing

Glad I had a spare tube for this one, always gets on ym nerves when out with people who can’t even mange to put a chain back on or fix a puncture, there is a line, but those two tasks are well under it

Surely as a bike shop, stupid people are manna from heaven?

There must be an ideal level of stupidity. Too stupid and you are in bso territory and they just can’t understand why they would want to spend more than 50p for your services or in fact there is a problem – you must be trying to con them. Not quite stupid enough and they know they should probably be able to do it themselves and every penny they spend with you is an attack on their manhood and capability.

how much for a puncture repair in a LBS btw?

I bought Richards bicycle book as a 14 year old to start me off with bike maintenance .To me its an all encompassing hobby .Riding ,repairing the history of the bike and racing are all just part of cycling .I am in the camp of if you cant fix a puncture you shouldnt ride a bike .There is no way my dad would have picked me up in the 70s if I had made the 2 pence phone call pleading for a lift after a puncture !

Edric 64 – Member
…There is no way my dad would have picked me up in the 70s if I had made the 2 pence phone call pleading for a lift after a puncture !

I drove 10 miles once for my son who had a puncture. Dropped off a new tube and a pump and left him to it. 🙂

I’m terrible at using a puncture repair kit, I’ve never been able to repair a puncture, they just go flat again, somewhere down the line.

So, tube in bin, new tube in the wheel, that’s how I fix punctures