Righto. need to let off steam. 2 epic fails in 'my' LBS last night…

Trying to finish new bike build. Bike has come with hollowtech 2 cranks which i want off, but pre load cap wont budge (dont have proper tool – have tried all usual/cowboy ways to budge it) also need a sram powerlock and a 10spd cassette.

All fancy ish items so i email nationally known large bike shop to check stock in morning. no answer so pedal over there anyways.

Get there, have a look – no sign of £3 tool so ask fella. He wanders over and says…

'er yeh, you can't buy them seperately – they come with these (handing me a £25 long BB wrench with one in the end) if you don't wanna buy that then its… [at this point he stops talking and makes a little wave/bye bye gesture with his hand]

WTF!

anyhoo so i tell him he's wrong, that they have them on their own website and not to BS me…

'oh yeh, alright busted there then… um well the thing is you dont actually need them, you can knock it out with a screwdriver…'

brilliant!

so at this point i wander to the other bit of the shop for the cassette…

ask lad, he goes off hunting and comes back with one zip tied together and jangling about. which he offers me (as a special discount for no box etc.) for £1 more than they offer it online.

tell him, and fair enough he knocks it down. only for me to notice (luckily) that one of the spacers is missing! grrrr. 10mins of hunting and he eventually nicks one out of another box for me…

finally! ask him about powerlocks.

'er no, we sold them all a while back….' right….

the shop in question does quite a bit locally so i dont wanna knock them too much, but i just couldnt beleive it. staff are SO disenterested its unreal.

argh!… anyways. thats enough of a rant. its no wonder CRC etc. got so big.

with respect to the pre-load cap – you have undone the crank arm pinch bolts first, haven't you? That's caught me out once before.

do 9 speed chains fit on 10 speed cassettes?

Only asking as the powerlinks are related to the chain type.

yes stumpy. its off now. was assembled without grease and uber tight.

and yes BR. powerLOCK for 10spd (doesnt undo) powerlink for 9 and 8 spd.

I've never ever used one of those arm things that attach to the plastic lock cap on the end of hollowtech cranks to torque-up.

good to know. as i said. it came pre assembled and wouldnt come off.

sounds like he was trying to flog you that park tool one, Its actually a bloody good tool but at £25!!! i got mine of wiggle of £15

If you've got a chainring-bolt spanner/tool they fit perfectly.

there's supposed to be a long arm thing on the tool?, my shimano one is just round and i tighten it with me fingers

Thats all you need- finger pressure. Its sorted me out since 2003 and my cranks have been on more bikes than Intense has produced from their factory in total!

no chainring bolt spanner either. use sram kit so it has a nice allen key head on both sides. MUCH better idea.

the point for me is that the fella was like

'look, they dont exist, either spend £25 on something you haven't asked for…. or **** off'

there's supposed to be a long arm thing on the tool?, my shimano one is just round and i tighten it with me fingers

It's combined with a BB tool. I'm not convinced it's a good idea because the preload cap isn't meant to be more than finger tight, and it'll be easy to overtighten with one of those, which probably leads to lower bearing life.

hora you really are missing the point. it was pre assembled. it was stuck on. no matter how solid your fingers are it werent coming off.

not much to moan about there compared to some of the rants you get on STW

PP it wasnt combined. it was stuck in the end like a plug. also the ones that are combined (i think) revolve freely on a spigot on the end of the handle stopping you wrenching it to tight…

PP it wasnt combined. it was stuck in the end like a plug. also the ones that are combined (i think) revolve freely on a spigot on the end of the handle stopping you wrenching it to tight…

Ahh. I see. A bit crap then!

That was at the most a middle sized rant, 4/10 🙄

maybe it aint a big complaint then. but telling customers that a tool that costs £2.89 on their website cannot be bought made my blood boil. the dick.

This?

Thats out of order. Shop elsewhere.

I have two of these, neither times did the bikeshop say I had to buy that pointless tool that attaches (clicks) to it.

ironically i had vouched never to shop there again but got stuck in a tight spot (which ultiamtely they didnt help me out of…)

amusingly (praps as an indicator of things to come) my mate just ordered an axle from them. left his no. waited four weeks and no call from the shop. rang them up to ask what was going on and their response was…

'you left a mobile number, we're not allowed to call mobiles, and i guy came in that wanted it, so we sold it to him – we can order you another, it will be about 4 weeks'

what a bunch of pros.

I have a Park Tools one and the wee black bit is loosely bolted to the opposite end of the BB spanner so you can rotate it with your fingers. It would be impossible to use the BB spanner to do it up as it spins freely

It sounds like they are a pretty disgruntled bunch. From the sound of things I'm not surprised. Imagine working in retail for a boss who won't let you call customers on mobile numbers! If money is that tight, or that is the owner's attitude to customers, his attitude to his staff must be awful.

aye praps.

for balance…. shop B (other side of town)

undid the offending part for free(and remarked at how effin tight it was) as they hadnt got any of the £3 tool in stock.

then gave me a £4 powerlock for free when i bought a chain this morn, AND gave me club discount for riding locally.

MUCH better.

so at this point i wander to the other bit of the shop for the cassette…

You were still in the shop after the wavey gesture?

Bombers > Leave Store.

What LAT said. Sounds like the boss is the problem there.

Which shop is it? The blood will be on your hands if others suffer the same awful service, and you could have prevented it.

was hoping for better service elsewhere in shop. another till area/bike type. thought i might have more luck. i didnt really…

made my blood boil. the dick.

You needed more material like this in the original. 4/10

(But yeah, they were taking the piss and would've narked me right off too)

ill work on me rants, its been a few hours since it happened so ive simmered down a bit.

The one on the Park tool works well, as it made from better plastic than the Shimano one. And a decent BB tool is needed if you want to remove BB's 😉

I'd name and shame. It's what the Internet was invented for. Well, that and porn.

no need to name and shame… i live in sheffield.

not so much a massive rant as a truculent whinge 🙂

no need to name and shame… i live in sheffield

Haha. Stick with Langsett, they're good lads.

no need to name and shame… i live in sheffield

Any Sheffielder will probably know who you're talking about. I'd only lived in Sheffield for a week before I experienced their enthusiastic, helpful staff and quality customer service.

I'm guessing its JE James

Haha. Stick with Langsett, they're good lads.

bang on mate. been in about 5 times this week, got exactly what i wanted each time. no problems. reasonable prices. helpful lads.

Why can I get my car booked in for a service next week – but need to book 3 weeks in advance for my bike to get suspension bearings changed (and I am supplying the bearings…) 👿

Becuase its peak season now….they can revel knowing that bad service, etc etc doesnt mean a jot when the seasonal one-off customers come through the door.

However when the hardworking regular year-round customer comes in they are 'busy' and off with him/her.

I hoped the new edinburgh bicycle co-op would mean jejames up their game a bit. Seems not.
Many's the time I've gone to james's for something, they didn't have it, couldn't be arsed looking for it.
They must lose a lot of business to CRC/wiggle/merlin

Saying that Evans on Deansgate Manchester ALWAYS have time for me with good service to boot.

Proves that being too big doesn't always make the staff quality-dip.