There’s a “cycle surgey” on the piazza, apparently. Great. I need a new chain putting on and I’m time poor and willing to pay.

Couple of hippies and a bike stand.

OK, so – me: “Hi. Can you put a chain on my bike? Do you have spare chains?”

He: “Yeah, but…”

Me: “What?”

He: “You’ll probably need a new sprocket set as well because when the chain wears down it also…”

Me: “Yeah, I know, but I just want you to put a new chain on, O.K.? How long are you here for?”

He: “’til 4”.

Me: “Great, can I bring it up about 2?”

He: “Yeah, but we should talk about a new sprocket…”

ME (thinks – give it one more go): “I just need you to put on a new chain. Can you do that?”

He: “You really should have a new spro…”

Me (needs to avoid shouting, so brings it to an end): “Oh, forget it, I’ll go elsewhere”.

He: “Well, that was easy…” (simpering dreadlocked companion looks on in amusement at his wit).

Me: (Angry) “Actually no, you’ve just completely wasted my time and lost a sale. ‘bye.”

Aaaaand – breathe.

I need a new chain putting on and I’m time poor and willing to pay.

You’d have had it done in the time it took to type that Wopster. And kept your blood pressure down 😆

trolly troll is an obvious troll today ……

he is only doing his job am afraid. youll be the one bad mouthing him when the lot slips.

*double post*

You should work for him, you know so much about it. 🙄

Why didn’t you want a new sprocket? What’s wrong with you?
Premature Chain Wear Isn’t Funny.

There’s nothing wrong with the sprocket, it just needs a new chain. If it was slipping, I wouldn’t be riding the damn thing, would I?

Yep, that’s a picture me…

This is what happens when well-meaning hippies collide with the brutish forces of time-poor, cash-rich capitalism.

been there done that , fed up with folk with poor people skills talking down to be like they know better and informing me that they are “an engineer”

least in my current job when someone says trust me im an engineer – they are actually an engineer not a desk jockey.

More like you wasting his time…

Why do I care?

I’ll do it.

Should take me about 5 minutes (including removing the links from the new chain)

I charge a very reasonable £100 an hour labour (minimum .5 hours for any job)

Do you get bike shops to change tubes for you too? 😆

If it was slipping, I wouldn’t be riding the damn thing, would I?

I think you should edit that 😉

Do you get bike shops to change tubes for you too?

Naah, he just buys a new set of wheels when he gets a puncture 😆

least in my current job when someone says trust me im an engineer – they are actually an engineer not a desk jockey.

We all know you have to have a copy of The Sun on the dashboard of your Transit to qualify as an Engineer here, you can be sure of that.

Seems like you interrupted him 2 or 3 times while he was trying to give you some good advice.

Who wasted the others time ?

One of the participants in that conversation sounds like a bit of a tool. I’ll leave it up to you to decide to which one I am referring.

You don’t wanna do it like that……

What’s a “cycle surgery” ?
Is it some sort of charity thing or is it a sort of market stall run and staffed by a local shop ?

Edit;
I had to look up Piazza as well.
Apparently it’s ” a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions.”
I’d say you were lucky to find an English speaking bike mechanic at all.

Seems like you interrupted him 2 or 3 times while he was trying to give you some good advice

What part of “yeah, I know, but I just want you to change the chain..” d’you suppose he was incapable of understanding?

I’m struggling to understand why you couldn’t just explain to him why you didn’t want or need a new sproket as well.

Would have been just as easy as continually ignoring him and repeating the same thing.

guess its a bit like people who dont change waterpumps and tensioners when they change their timing belt ….. its ALWAYS the tradesman thats out to rip you off….

Explain? To someone with dreadlocks? Are you mad? Do you know who he is? 😆

Wopster… when you go abroad, and you need something DO… YOU… SPEAK… SLOWLY… DELIBERATELY… AND LOUDLY… IN… THE… QUEENS… ENGLISH

On a technical note – the idea that you need to change the sprocket set every time you change the chain is something put about by bike shops to maximise their dirty capitalist profits. In my opinion.

😆 at binners. 😉

so they werent hippies then ? they were capitalists ?

I am confused. Time poor cash rich bloke gets chain changed(or not) and accuses mechanics of being filthy capitalists.

the idea that you need to change the sprocket set every time you change the chain is something put about by bike shops to maximise their dirty capitalist profits. In my opinion

See, now you’ve thought of that witty retort, go back and say it to him.

Did he really call it a “sprocket set”?

Yep…

Dezb in irony recognition failure. 😆

As always 😀

DezB in having-too-much-time-on-his-hands shocker.. 😉

How long before we all realise in the time it’s taken to argue about this on the Internet the chain could have been changed…

How long before we all realise in the time it’s taken to argue about this on the Internet the chain could have been changed…

Pfft, it would have also started slipping by now..

How long before we all realise in the time it’s taken to argue about this on the Internet the chain could have been changed…

💡

Woppit decides to go to cyclesurgery at Southwark Bridge, buy a bike chain, come back and do it himself, shocka… 🙄

Sounds like someone pulling your chain.

and it’s still not changed…. I wonder what the next bike mech/hippie will tell you when you ask for their help ??