[Closed] Bike shop bodge, but now there closed

As the ex-owner of a now defunct bike shop, I expect he'll give about this much >< of a sh*t.

I ave a good mind to go round to the ex owners house and have a word.

I fell your pain but going round? Really? Good luck with that.

Bike shop bodge, but now [s]there[/s] [b]they're[/b] closed

If it was a Fr Mech it makes no difference if it was an 8sp or 9sp Mech!!

They may not have fitted it brilliantly, but there's no difference between an 8spd front mech and a 9 spd front mech.

I beg to differ, the cage on a 9spd front mech is narrower than an 8 speed, which when the rest of the kit is almost 20 years old it makes shifting difficult, any self respecting mechanic would have put a 7/8spd mech on there and seen that the shifting is much easier smoother and accurate.

I say this as an ex mechanic, (been out of the business for about 8 years) and having tried several different mechs I had lying around i can tell you the only ones that worked as they should when paying £40 for a cheap mech and fitting are the 7/8spd ones. The irony is the last time I was in his shop a good year before (as I moved away) he was complaining that nobody supported the LBS,I wonder why?

Would it have not been cheaper for your mother if you serviced the bike and sourced whatever parts online?

So it was the right mech poorly fitted?

I'm not sure giving the ex owner a piece of your mind is going to achieve much.

OP I'd hate to cross you. I imagine the ex owner probably has a world of shit in his life compared.

No it was the wrong mech, also poorly fitted.

2 screws on the top use them an save the tears

[url= http://sheldonbrown.com/front-derailers.html ]Sheldon says it normally not a problem and will probably work[/url]

So OP probably doesn't work on this bike

Hora knowing him personal he wouldn't give a hoot and as far as his life goes he's doing more than alright.

My main annoyance is that we have no comeback on services that we have payed for once a company has liquidated. and that maybe these people can learn for the future why they lost busines as i would more than happily support a LBS if they provide a quality service.

Are you called Dave by any chance? Any connection to Huddersfield?

I beg to differ, the cage on a 9spd front mech is narrower than an 8 speed, which when the rest of the kit is almost 20 years old it makes shifting difficult, any self respecting mechanic would have put a 7/8spd mech on there and seen that the shifting is much easier smoother and accurate.

LBS mechanic here.
Agreed, it's not ideal, but there's no reason it shouldn't work perfectly, if you know what you're doing. If I'd have fitted it, you'd have never realised. 🙂

EDIT
OP, where are you based? I work in west London, live in Farnborough. I'll sort it for free.

Why didn't you service the bike yourself?

Fitted incorrectly, maybe, but it definitely would have worked.

I have sorted it with some dodging, the limiter screws wouldn't move the cage enough.

scunny already said I had moved away.

and as it happens I grew up in Huddersfield and now live there once again,

My brothers 51 and called Dave too. Only joking but I do live in Huddersfield now

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-called-david-c50-52ish-from-hudds#post-5717046

Be annoyed then move on...

I beg to differ, the cage on a 9spd front mech is narrower than an 8 speed, which when the rest of the kit is almost 20 years old it makes shifting difficult, any self respecting mechanic would have put a 7/8spd mech on there and seen that the shifting is much easier smoother and accurate.

I say this as an ex mechanic, (been out of the business for about 8 years) and having tried several different mechs I had lying around i can tell you the only ones that worked as they should when paying £40 for a cheap mech and fitting are the 7/8spd ones. The irony is the last time I was in his shop a good year before (as I moved away) he was complaining that nobody supported the LBS,I wonder why?

I ran 9 speed front mechs with 8 speed chains/rear mechs for years with no problem at all.
Granted that's no help to the op.....

It is a bad show, but the poor bastard has lost his business. Have some compassion.

I'd reserve my ire for whoever got her to buy the wrong size bike.

the bike was a good size untill she damaged her back as i said we sized down to make it more comfortable for her Injury. Its sorted now i have had my roast, but next time im in the pub with said person i'll be letting him know.

Unfortunately the shop has since closed down,not a big surprise if this was the work they were doing, but they were ment to be a high end shop stocking cove, and the likes. I ave a good mind to go round to the ex owners house and have a word.

Poor service and annoying but I doubt you would get anywhere by going round his house, other than getting into a potential fight that is.

If I had a business which failed and some bloke came knocking on my door / confronted me in the pub about £40 a year down the line I doubt I would take too kindly to it!

Take it on the chin and move on - maybe he closed down because all of the work was terrible - don't make a potentially huge situation out of a small one.

I still run 8 speed on my bike. Front and rear mechs are 9 speed. Everything works perfectly for me. Be patient and set it up correctly and it works seamlessly.

Gonzy, yes it does mate. You are quite correct. But the OP doesn't want to hear that, he just wants to rant about it and not listen to anyone else.

Yep no issues with 9speed mech on 8spees set ups. Can't see how the limit screw would be any different between the two either.

But back to the point just move on

Only reason limit screws wouldnt adjust enough would be if the bb was too long/short.....but he knew that im sure after 8 years

ok comeupyou can have the mech and the bike and set it up. As i said allis sorted if you read my posts you will find I actuly know the bike shop owner personaly, But Obviously you have your head so stuck up your own arse you cant read the posts. there ended up being 3 of us trying toget it to work and I didn't all of us build bikes regularly and know what were doing.

As i also said it is now sorted and the issues was the cage was too narrow to accomodate the chain lines.

But you don't want to hear that becasue obviously you cannot be wrong.

And trail rat I did say been out the buissness for 8 years, the BB and cranks are the originals so I had never put that into the equation, but it would make sense that a shorter bb would probably have put the chain line into a better area.

Given that a 9 speed and 8 speed rear cassette are the same width would the chain line not be the same
8 speed chain is a little fatter than 9 so I guess could rub at the extremes but still never had an issue

Oh ok a little re read was needed opps

As i also said it is now sorted and the issues was the cage was too narrow to accomodate the chain lines.

Yeah. I know. It happens quite regularly especially on lower end bikes with poor chainring alignment. Do you know how many 7/8/9/10 speed bikes I set up a week? Do you know how many of those get a slight tweak to the front mech? Lots. Lots and lots. I've done it that many times over the 20+ years I've been working on my own bikes before I went pro I couldn't even begin to count. 9sp mechs on 8sp bikes? Every time. No problem.
So chill dude. It nothing to bother about. If you can't do it, doesn't mean nobody can. 🙂

This should be on the petty annoyances thread.

my point is the mech wasn't set upright and my other had payed at the time a high end and respect able bike shop to set it upright. And then wonder why local people don't support them.

There isn't an excuse for that even if you are closing down,this wasn't the first bit of bad service we had had from them or others had in fact it became a running joke with the owner. If you came in with some useful information on how it was could be fixed people may listen.

This is the first time i have not managed to fit a front mech and feel that a mech that you can buy for £9.99 and £30 fitting isn't acceptable.

OP ok to get back to the point of you confronting the former shop owner....this will prove what exactly other than help you get it off your chest? Its not like he's going to say sorry mate for sticking the wrong mech on and not doing a good job of it, here's your 40 quid back.
Put it this way...how would you respond if you were in his shoes?
Back to the components though...I still cant understand why it took 3 of you to get the set up to work especially when you claim to be pretty handy with the bike tools. My set up runs an 8 speed chain on 9 speed front rings and cranks. Cassette is 8 speed but rear mech is 9 speed. Rear shifter is 8 speed xt and front shifter is 8 speed stx-rc unit that is fir a 3x8 set up. My cranks run 2 rings and a bash. All of this works perfectly for me. There is no chain rub anywhere and the chain line is not interrupted at all (even when I ran 3 rings at the front).
I'm pretty competent at most bike stuff and can build my own bikes but thats as far as it goes for me. I cant bleed brakes, service suspension or build wheels. But you said you worked in a bike shop as a mechanic so I fail to understand why you found it so hard to get the set up working...
I'm not having a go at you but I do find your difficulties I this quite baffling.

As i say feel free to come and sort it I'll take the spacers I fitted out and you can try, if you bring me some forks or a wheel i'll build them or service them for you. as I say first mech I have not got to fit. And i understand that 8spd normal works with 9spd.

As I alos said I hadn't taken into acount the BB altering the chain line as I expected that with them being the organals the parts supplied in the cost would fit with a little adjusting.If the same post was made and the shop hadn't closed i'm sure most would be saying pop back in.

OP - It could be worse, you could have bought a second hand car from a massive multi franchise main dealer, who 2 weeks after they went into liquidation the turbo blew.
No one would honour the warranty leaving you with a £2000 bill.

£40 for a mech is cheap.

was the warranty not with a 3rd party?

The likes of comet sold the warenttys on so they were still valid, I'd have been fuming.

Thanks for the offer but the forks are brand new and still under warranty so I'll send into my LBS if i have any problems. The wheels are nearly 10 years old and are bombproof so I don't need to worry about them.
I'll be making8ng the change to a 2x10 soon so if have any peoblems I'll give you a shout.
As for the b/b causing problems I can understand where you're coming from but this type of problem can be solved by adjusting the limit screws on the mech.
Anyway problem solved, rant over and jobs a good un so you should leave it at that IMO. I'd stay clear of the shop owner too...not worth the hassle. If his service/workmanship was as bad as you say then its a good thing he's gone bust.

The likes of comet sold the warenttys on so they were still valid, I'd have been fuming.

Semi OT: I was in a tussle with Comet over a fridge freezer. They refused all the way up to the Directors office. Ironically they went bust the next week, the fridge freezer miraculously came to life and has worked every since.

all that time focused on your fridge freezer and they failed to see the big picture.

Hora's incessant complaining causes major electrical retailer to go bust shocker 😉

Class

Rscott what's your PayPal address, if I pay the £40 will you just go away?

*starts thread bemoaning the loss of a tenner and subsequent feelings of impotent rage*

What if the bike shop owner had died? Would you dig his grave up or pursue his widow?

I ave a good mind to go round to the ex owners house and have a word.

I have a good idea, why don't you follow him round on your bike. That way when he stops at the traffic lights you can shout threatening abuse through his window!

The price doesn't matter as that was known before the job was done.
Surely some one asked. I wonder if the OP's issues with chainline are anything to do with running extremes of cross over. Big to big is not likely to be clean . ?It can be but not always.

I have a good idea, why don't you follow him round on your bike. That way when he stops at the traffic lights you can shout threatening abuse through his window!

I Lol'd at that 🙂

OP

What is your opinion of Audi drivers stopping in ASL's in London?

Did the bike shop owner fit the mech personally or did he employ a mechanic?
Is the OP chasing the wrong person?
If so should he insist the owner gives him the mechanic's address and then accompanies him round there so they can both give the offender grief?

Or the op could sit down and have a cup of tea take a deep breath and then think about the fact that this thread has made him look a bit of a tit in the eyes of the rest of the forum then go out and ride his bike come back and have forgotten all about this and move on with his life 😀

I have a good idea, why don't you follow him round on your bike. That way when he stops at the traffic lights you can shout threatening abuse through his window!

Bad grammar. 'They're', not 'there'!