I did some work on a friends bikes at the weekend. Servicing forks, swapping them between bikes, new cables, hub bearings, air can service on the shock, and general fettling. I enjoy it and she brought be a lovely cake. Everyone’s a winnah!

But I forgot to install the Poploc lever on one bike, and it was getting late, so I explained roughly how to do it (there was a removable clamp on cable stop to fit as well as the cable) and sent her off with new cable for it.

Somewhere along the line my instructions got garbled so she took the bits to her LBS.

Who couldn’t bloody fit it! Now, forgive me if this sounds wrong, but the mechanic should be sacked if he can’t do that. Really, really poor show.

So, I knocked up a ‘how to’ guide via email and I’ve just had an email saying it’s all done and working. I’ve suggested printing my guide out for the LBS……

This is THE REASON why I don’t use bike shop mechanics……..

I dont use them cos they’re dumber than car mechanics so they must be really thick…………….

Blimey, it’s hard to find a really good mechanic in an lbs…………. My LBS is bloody awesome!!!! Took a while and three different shops to find them though!

The mechanic in my LBS has IBS. 🙁

i’ve always found bike mechanics brilliant, tbh but I am quite careful where I go, so can completely understand your point PP.

Since I moved to the big smog around 5 years ago I’ve not trusted any of the bike shops down here with my bikes based on the impression of knowledge (or lack thereof) of anything other than a hybrid/commuter bike. Fair enough I guess as London has more of that type of bike than any other but would be nice to find somewhere to look over my bike(s) when I really get stumped. I have heard that Moose Cycles in Tooting are pretty good though so might take a trip there.

Things an LBS really should be able to do….

Carry some stock.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to LBS for something (usually a basic thing) to be told “I can get that for you, should be here in a couple of days”.

FFS if I wanted to wait a couple of days I could have stayed at home and ordered it myself. We’re not talking unusual items here, last visit to a LBS was for a SRAM PC991 chain, how the hell can a bikeshop not stock a selection of chains.

Couldnt or have you convienently missed out that he was busy an thus wouldnt do it in time for tarquin or jemima – dont believe for a minute that any mechanic couldnt fit it ……

If tey are anythin like my 2 lbs then they will be rammed out the door ! If they aint rammed then there in lies the answer for why they couldnt 😉

I’ve met peterpoddy a few times, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to have friends called tarquin or jemima? I may however be wrong and I may have missed your point.

Things an LBS really should be able to do…

Be local and not a 40 mile round trip and compete with online stores for price.

Never mind eh.?

my bike mechanic has been doing my bikes for years. marshalls cycles for the win

One I normally use refused to drive out the bearing from a shimano hollowtech II cup the other week – I was flabbergasted. They’re normally great and are the epitome of a rough and ready shop, drift a bearing out for you nae bother. He started talking all this bolex about how you’re not meant to remove them, they don’t come out without the bearing exploding etc. No idea what brought on this fanny-ness.

It was a driveside xtr which is sort of lipped behind the bearing – so not a simple case of just banging it with a socket or I’d have done it mesel. If he couldn’t be arsed with it / was too busy he should have just said.

To be fair you can easily smash the bearing up ad be left with just the outer race of the cartridge and a tricky job, isnt really worth doing when you can get a new one for £16

its the sales guys that get to me, go in and ask for one thing and get offered something else, if I had wanted the something else I would have asked for it 👿

fitting a polock lever should be peasy.

stocking every single possible chain just in case some STW ocd rider wants it is another matter

One of our reps saw a sign in a lbs
“if you want online prices, you get online service levels”
Or something like that.

Point is online prices are feasible because you print a label and stuff a jiffy. No chat or banter, just a warehouse, jiffy and pc.

Don’t expect your lbs to be everything to everyone with every stock option at the lowest price.

Your lbs is probably a surprisingly fragile business. Maybe we should have a national lbs day like record shop day.

I would love to support my local “fragile” bike shop but I am sure that my bank balance is just as fragile. The two that are in the town are pretty useless for anything else other than tubes, although saying that I did manage to find a star nut a few weeks back.! There is a cracking one around 20 miles away who I use now and again but factor in the petrol on top of the shop price and I struggle to justify it. I like having the tools to do the job myself, it’s the same with my cars or jobs around the house. Normally it’s nuts and bolts and not black magic.

“if you want online prices, you get online service levels”

I always thought good manners cost nothing. In my experience of lbs and online customer service, online has won everytime.

after falling out with Gear in Glasgow, where I bought my Patriot from, I went back to Behind Bars for thoses bits that I needed done, but didn’t have the tools for, and didn’t want to bodge. However, with them going bust, I was left in the dark, until I discovered Doug at Dales… what a mechanic…. no need to look elsewhere!

I am pretty lucky, I have a selection of shops near me, most of them seem to be quite good, I am using one more than the others at the moment purely because his work shop is part of the shop, so you can see everything he is doing whilst having a chat with the staff.

Either he is very fool hardy or very confident or just doesn’t get complaints. I certainly don’t have any with them.

I worked in a bike shop off and on for 10 years. Despite having not worked there for 5 years I still use the same shop for my bike purchases and servicing. I have complete faith that every member of staff who works there could fit a pop lock lever, even the sales boys.

I wouldn’t hesitate to let the mechanics work on my bike – and i am a fussy perfectionist.

People who expect thief LBS to have the same range as crc are deluded.

I expect my LBS to be be staffed by enthusiastic and passionate mountain bikers who know their shit. It is.

Alpine bikes – Aberdeen.

You could have done the job in half the time it took to explain how to, never mind writing a ‘how to’ guide on your computer.

I wish bike shops still had fork bushing removal/fitting tools. Ask a shop nowadays if they can do this quick simple job and some spod will tell you they’ll send your forks to Tim Flooks.. WTF?

Basic fork servicing and maybe bushing replacement too.

I have a shop by me I walk in with a bike worth a good few grand and he talks to me like i dont know what am on about, does my heed in. Wouldnt mind if i was on a reebok from jjb. Stared buyin my own tools now and got myself a park tool stand and how to book in case i get stuck. Not had any problems so far and i can tinker with my commuter as much as i like for a bit of practice.

My LBS works for tea & cakes. Also has an arrangement with the cafe next door.

should be able to bleed a brake and work out how long the bloody hose needs to be!

Walked into my LBS and bought a load of bits and pieces – gear cables, outers, cable ends etc. and asked if they had a Shimano front mech spacer as this was the only way I knew how to set one up. The mechanic said it was the first bit to go in the bin, the “Sales Guy” then walked back out into the shop, threw a bike into the workstand by the till and promptly gave me a lesson in how to set front mechs up properly.. this was free and unprompted!

Based on this Cycleworks in Guildford gets my business everytime and in turn if I can show someone how to fix something or fix it for them, it is of course for free

jedi – Member
my bike mechanic has been doing my bikes for years. marshalls cycles for the win

That the shop in Hertford?

Was my LBS during my 6-month stay in Herts. We bought mrs xiphon’s road bike from them… very helpful people.

The lady who works there was a great help in finding a suitable girly road saddle for mrs xiphon too 🙂

You could have done the job in half the time it took to explain how to, never mind writing a ‘how to’ guide on your computer.

No I couldn’t! Is a 2hr return trip for a start! 😛
And I like doing them too………

FWIW, here’s the guide

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-I01c4QakqlEuydWkuN6YlPGbRO-XdACXmdsVpirZDA/edit?hl=en

TBH if I was setting up a bike shop now (I’m not) I would have repair and sales of complete bikes as the 2 cash cows. You can’t compete with the internet for prices on components.

My local bike shop are brilliant – The Cyclery in Uppermill, Saddleworth. They have no problem with me turning up with new bits of kit bought online and then fitting if I need it, but I don’t take the piss… building 2 bikes next week and they’ll probably end up getting a few hundred out of me as I know there are some bits I haven’t got and will need – cassette, chainring and a whole host of others than I don’t know about yet…

PP FTW !

That is excatly what I need. Thank you.

More of those please, they come in very, very handy at times.

I got my GF’s frame powdercoated and took it to my LBS to get the BB tapped and faced. When I tried to fit the shells (hollowtech II) they wouldn’t screw in by hand as they normally do. I had a look at the thread and theywere just a mess.
I took the bike back in and the owner had a go at putting an old BB in and agreed it wasn’t right as it pulled up tight after a couple of threads. I left it for the mechanic who had done the work to have a look at in the morning and came back the next day to find ithe BB had been installed.
I had my suspicions and had to remove one of the shells to put the plastic spacer in. Tight as you like….. Anyone with an ounce of mechanical ability could tell the thread was fubared but the idiot still bodged it on in there. I went back in and explained the situation and was told leaving it was the best thing. I’ve been going there for years so I tried the softly softly approach by going in and giving them a chance to offer to put right the damage they had caused but once again was told just leave it is the best thing. No admission of guilt. No offer to rectify the problem. No appology.
This was about 2 months ago and I’ve not had a chance to vent yet! If anyone is reading this from a bike shop in the south and it seems familiar and you haven’t seem a loyal customer of 15 years for the past couple of months, then this is the score:
From now on all my purchases will be done on line, from the cheapest retailer.
I have pretty much all the tools I’d ever need and the knowledge to use them correctly.
I’ll be purchasing a BB tap, regardless of cost, mainly out of bloody mindedness really.
I won’t be shopping with you in the future and will be doing 100% of my own servicing.
Expect a letter soon reiterating the above and naming and shaming if you still refuse to be held accountable.

“if you want online prices, you get online service levels”

While I can understand the frustration that customers with unreasonable expectations can cause to LBSs, any shop that thinks putting up a sign like that is good business deserves to go out of business…

I have to say I have had so many examples of poor work from LBS that I will never use one for any repairs again.

is your helicoil holding out tj?

❓ 🙂

TBC – check your facebook messages – just sent you one