I generally build/maintain my own bikes. I neeed a new bottom bracket on my 29er, and was passing a local bike shop, so thought I’d just pop in and ask if they had one.

Simple question “do you have a standard HT2 MTB BB please”

He informs me I need to know my crank size and shell size.

“Just a standard 68/73 HT2 bb please “

He states there is no such thing, and I shouldn’t be using spacers to adjust a bit!

“It’s fine, any Shimano Hollowtech 2 Mtb bb will fit”

A 5 min debate about bottom brackets ensues, including “I’ve been in the trade 40 years, I know what I’m talking about” finishing with “Oh, you want Hollowtech – 1 & 2, it’s all the same (don’t think so!) – why did you say octalink? (I bloody didn’t!!)”

After all that – nil stock – only a RF one for £40!

All LBS should be supported at every opportunity, regardless of standard of service, knowledge, quality of work, price………………

Don’t you know that?

I had similar..
I asked if they knew when Sram Eagle 1×12 was due to be available.
I got lots of smug looks and a response of “1×12 doesn’t exist, 1×11 has only just come out!”. I explained that it’s coming and they were adamant
that it wasn’t..
How can people working in an industry be so clueless?

I’d just like to say that my LBS were super-helpful when I popped in with a few issues that were stumping me as I built a bike up with Sram components featuring some new-to-me “standards”.

They’re even sending a brake I bought from a rival shop back to Madison for warranty for me (they offered, I didn’t ask).

Your LBS bloke sounds like a dick though, you should use mine.

😉

yeah, they’ve replaced ‘deore’ and ‘XT’ with numbers and letters as well now, at least on BBs they have, for no apparent reason. My LBS wanted £40 for an XT BB as well, get out of here!

I wish I had!

Conversely I used an Evans to remove cross-threaded HT2 from a bb30 shell & they were great.

Best response in that situation is simply to say “ok, I don’t think you can help me, but thanks anyway…” then turn around and leave. Lots of bad bike shop out there, lots of good ones too – you just have to hunt around!

I wanted some short 1x chainring bolts too – didn’t even start that conversation I was so bloody fuming!!

The internet now means the staff in the LBS are all on minimum wage. Poor service is to be expected.

I suspect they were on minimum wage (and lower) before the internet as well.

Aye, before the internet bike shops were making millions.

It’s because bikes that use a hollowtech type bb represent 0.0001% of their business I expect. It’s like taking your Maserati to a local tyre shop and asking him if he knows about the slipper clutch.

the internet also means they can look at the computer at ‘what they have in stock’ whilst frantically typing ‘wtf is HT2 Bottom Bracket…’ into google.

cokie – Member

I had similar..
I asked if they knew when Sram Eagle 1×12 was due to be available.
I got lots of smug looks and a response of “1×12 doesn’t exist, 1×11 has only just come out!”. I explained that it’s coming and they were adamant
that it wasn’t..
How can people working in an industry be so clueless?

I can understand it, not many retail places offer staff any sort of training on what they sell, even LBS, probably less so.

I’ve seen the same thing here, we’re in IT Support and sell loads of hardware too – when the front line guys were new they were terribly excitable, they could tell you all about the latest Intel Core processors, how many cores they had, their benchmarks score, even offer opinion on how some were better than others even with a lower benchmark score for some applications and all that. 6 months of doing it day in, day out, makes you very cynical – I don’t know anyone who works in the industry who gives a flying fig about the latest RAM speed or…. I can’t even be bothered to type the words.

I would imagine working in a bike shop is the same, you join slobbering all over the latest this and that, but after a while the shine goes off and just see tiny incremental improvements, wrapped in massive marketing nonsense.

I’m not saying it’s right, but I understand it. The Guy who does all the really hard spannering in my LBS is was riding a 3×9 26” wheeled Orange 5 with a long stem and narrow bars last time I saw him out, it was as you can imagine in perfect nick. I don’t suspect he’s wanted to pick up a copy of MBUK for a very long time though and I doubt the shop will pay them to do so.

It isn’t just bike shops, retail in general seems to struggle to get/retain decent staff.

Try asking for help in Wickes/B&Q/Sport Direct/Currys/Halfords etc and see how many people know their product, never mind when future products may or may not be released.

Bike shops will seem brilliant after that.

All true.

Good job we have a forum.

Trimix – Member
The internet now means the staff in the LBS are all on minimum wage. Poor service is to be expected.

No we’re not. I’m not what you’d call well paid, but I’m above living wage.
The thing is, it’s so difficult to get staff. You’ve got a core of astonishingly knowledge and experienced staff that mainly do it for the love of the job, but you can’t run a shop on 2 staff, so you end up, sometimes, with less than ideal. I’m lucky, I could afford the 30-40% pay cut when I was made redundant.
I’ve heard some horror stores too, including one shop that ‘didn’t do disc brakes’…… That was in Ireland if I recall correctly.
That said, I can’t possibly hope to know everything, but as someone who’s made the transition from home mechanic to LBS mechanic, it’s mind boggling how much I’ve learned in 4 years, but you have to be open minded, accept you’re wrong sometimes and learn. I also find that simply shutting up and listening can often pay off.

But yeah, you’ve gotta keep up with the general technology that’s being released. If you don’t know what a HT2 BB is these days you need shooting.
I work in a family/commuter LBS, but I’m in charge of my own stock and I know that if I’ve got it, I can sell it. I’ve got all sizes of square taper, road and MTB HT2, 41 and 42mm press fit, one Italian thread HT2, BB30 bearings and Mega Exo rebuild kits. No Octalink though. Very rarely see them. 🙂

And PP’s shop is my LBS 8) . Always good service, always knowledgeable. It’s why I pay a premium for some items.

It isn’t just bike shops, retail in general seems to struggle to get/retain decent staff.

All down to the T&Cs. They get the staff they deserve.

Am I really? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the compliment. 🙂

one Italian thread HT2

I’ve got half of one of those you can add to your stockpile if you like, after I trashed the other half, my thumb (with the shards of metal it spewed out) and – almost – my frame, when trying to install it into an English-threaded BB shell. I never made that mistake again 😀

All down to the T&Cs. They get the staff they deserve.

But that’s also our fault as customers, the simple truth is we don’t want to pay…

I’ve got a new bike….I have no idea what sort of bottom bracket* is in it, except that I think it’s a ‘Boost’ one. Yep, I fell for that bit of marketing. I certainly don’t feel any extra boost as I’m dragging my fat arse up the hills! 😆 Oh, and my old hardtail has an Octalink BB in it. I think I’m stuffed.

C.

*To be honest, I don’t even know what sort of headset is in the darned thing and I’ve been riding, building and maintaining my mountain bikes for 30yrs now. Buying a complete, new bike, has left me hopelessly clueless now! 😛

I didn’t really have a problem with him not knowing, it was the “I’ve been in this trade 40 years – I know what I’m talking about” whilst spouting shit that got me. Oh, and he’s the owner apparently, according to local mates!!

@PeterPoddy – you’ve pretty well hit the nail on the head with that list of BB options: the lack of standardisation means that shops have to carry (or at least have to hand) and have knowledge of such a huge number of parts and that’s before you go into the various Deore/LX/XT/XTR type levels.

But that’s also our fault as customers, the simple truth is we don’t want to pay…

But if they all took care of their staff we wouldn’t have the choice but to pay (or go without). I’d be happy with that.

So really LBS staff need to be members on this forum 🙂

except that I think it’s a ‘Boost’ one.

no it isn’t that’s yer hubs 🙂

BB is Raceface – the cheese edition…. 😀

Mine’s really good. But I keep asking for stuff from way before their time.

no it isn’t that’s yer hubs

And his cranks. 2.5mm (I think) wider chainkine because the cassette is further out. Shimano and SRAM both make boost cranks.
Doesn’t affect the BB though. AFAIK….!

But that’s also our fault as customers, the simple truth is we don’t want to pay…

I think the shareholders (in the bigger retail outlets at least) also have a big say in it.

Heaven forbid that their end of year dividend be impacted.

The internet now means the staff in the LBS are all on minimum wage. Poor service is to be expected

I don’t expect poor service because someone is on minimum wage.
The internet hits the prices meaning the LBS cannot be competitive so all they offer is service.

However, finding people who are genuinely interested in bikes and are happy to work for minimum wage may be another issue. I know a lot about bikes and would happily work in a bike shop if I could afford to. Maybe when I retire….

But that’s also our fault as customers, the simple truth is we don’t want to pay…

Or can’t.

Not everyone get’s to the end of the month and thinks “you know what, I’ll pay my LBS two days wages to fit a BB when I could buy one for £15 and DIY”.

The other issue I could me across sometimes is a customer has spent weeks researching a bike, reading reviews, asking on forums etc and there’s no way you can have that depth of knowledge on the hundreds or thousands of bikes we stock. I think I know my onions reasonably well but memorising tt lengths of individual sizes of models is a bit more than I can manage. I do try and keep up with current trends etc though.

On the matter of shops not being able to stock everything…..

I called into a shop in N Wales when on a mob trip last year, after a tyre in the defunct 26″ wheel size (!)

The guy in the shop was very helpful but also very apologetic – he only had one tyre in stock that would fit – just the stock/cash impact of multiple tyre sizes causes a small shop a problem – sort adding in BB, headset, cassette, brake pads, etc……a small cash fortune is required just to stock a few basic parts…almost impassible for a small LBS to manage*

* I realise this is a slightly different issue form that raised by the OP and is no excuse for bad service/attitude!

Now we have the internet we seem to have forgotten what it was like back in the day when all we had were LBS.

They could only sell what they had in stock back then and it was less than you could see in the magazines.

We moaned about it then 🙂

I went in my lbs for a short chainring bolt. Lad dug me one out the spares bucket and I gave him a packet of hobnobs. We were both very happy with the result 🙂

They could only sell what they had in stock back then and it was less than you could see in the magazines.

We moaned about it then

True, but we didn’t have the plethora of standards for parts that we do now.

True 🙂

Plus we only knew what the LBS told us. So it was easier for them to sell us crap bikes.

I actually think its better now:

Forums for more info/reviews/videos than you could ever get in a mag.
Online retailers for midnight shopping, next day delivery at the best price.
LBS for when your lazy at servicing.

Some people dont know how lucky they are.