matlockmeat – Member

Rockhopper – Member
My local specialist bike shop in Matlock have told me many times they make most of their money on repairs.
POSTED 4 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

My local, good shop Stanely Fearns. I try to use them where ever possible.

Might see you on the trails Rockhopper, look out for an old black Cove Stiffee. What do you ride?

Hi, unlikley to see me just yet as I’m currently in Afghanistan. Home in August i think.
I ride a red Specialized M4 hardtail with Aiden built wheels! They must be ten years old now and have never needed a sigle thing doing to them.

And 15 minutes to fit a gear cable? More like 2 minutes so again. £8 for 2 minutes work is easy money.

If only it was two minutes:
3minutes as they tell you about how they tried to fix it, left it outside all winter, twiddled all the adjuster screws, and it’s a brilliant bike “only £80 from tesco”.
Book the job in
Check over the outers,, hanger alignment, mech… I have been handed bikes with cracked frames, customer had no idea.. “Gears change by themselves”… So you need to just make sure it’s all safe.
Remove old cable, often from a somewhat iffy shifter than refuses to let go easily. I have even found spiders living in old shifters.
Rehome the spiders.
Flush out the old outer, or replace it
Thread new cable
Tug on cable to get it to bed in and stretch
Attach to mech, which is covered in oily crap and needs cleaning up.
Reset all the + and – screws. Make sure they can’t shift into the spokes.
Tube the gears
Run through the gears a few times.
Reset tension.
Run through again, maybe reset again.
Trim cable,
add a nice colourful end crimp
Oil chain, because they never do.
Clean hands and the mess you have made in the workshop.
Add a sticker.
Call customer
3 minute chat whilst they pay, and tell you about another bike they might bring in
Don’t forget the 1/10th can of lube, the hand cleaner or gloves, the paper towels, the chris king coffee and hobnobs.

If it was easy they would do it themselves. Having said that these jobs are nice steady earner, and I enjoy the work. So I’m not complaining.

Can’t comment on the OP, but my guess is there was a spoke length calculation that went wrong. The guy might have thought after spending time measuring, ordering, building the wheel, getting it wrong, reverting to the original spokes, building again,… After all that he may have earned his money. But a fixed rate job is a fixed rate job even if its a loser. Some you have to take on the chin.

chief9000 – it is not me who is using a second log in account it is a guy who very early came to the LBs defence … LoCo.

He then later on page 3 of this topic uses Shepleg account to claim he knows me ( which is a blatant lie ) .. and to also claim I have a past history that suggests I would make this whole thing up.

LoCo has kinda shot himself in foot by trying this on.
Because it has brought to our attention he uses two accounts to post diff opinions on a same topic .. you now .. nice honest LoCo .. then sarcastic Shepleg … who is the real Simon Powdrill 🙄

Take a look through Shepleg history of posts if you have any doubt.

I would hope LoCo conducts his buisiness in a more honest way ..

Also the OP was ringing everyday about a wheel build that wasn’t exactly an urgent job:

If a shop says to me, “We’ll call you on x day”, if they haven’t called me by the end of x day, I’ll call them. And assuming they’re pissing around not doing things when they promised to, then probably never use them again, as being stringed along like this by bike shops was exactly what led me to buy a load of tools and start buying all parts online. It was just quicker to actually get hold of things if I went online, faster to get things done if I got the tool myself, often the cost difference made up for the tool price the very first time, and actually for most jobs I probably spend less total time than I’d spend chasing up shops to get parts and do stuff.

If you can’t reliably give people a call back when you’ve promised, then stop promising to call people back, and don’t moan about being hassled if people call you back instead. How complicated is that for people to understand. If you are limited in your ability to communicate by phone, then it is only professional to be clear about that (or put in place some kind of system to remind you to call people who you’ve promised to call, like a diary or a list of people to call at the end of the day).

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XruvqMRidXw[/video]

Seems like a simple case of lbs trying to get more cash out of someone they thought wouldn’t notice,and the loco bit is really funny!!!

joemarshall – Member

Also the OP was ringing everyday about a wheel build that wasn’t exactly an urgent job:

If a shop says to me, “We’ll call you on x day”, if they haven’t called me by the end of x day, I’ll call them. And assuming they’re pissing around not doing things when they promised to, then probably never use them again, as being stringed along like this by bike shops was exactly what led me to buy a load of tools and start buying all parts online. It was just quicker to actually get hold of things if I went online, faster to get things done if I got the tool myself, often the cost difference made up for the tool price the very first time, and actually for most jobs I probably spend less total time than I’d spend chasing up shops to get parts and do stuff.

If you can’t reliably give people a call back when you’ve promised, then stop promising to call people back, and don’t moan about being hassled if people call you back instead. How complicated is that for people to understand. If you are limited in your ability to communicate by phone, then it is only professional to be clear about that (or put in place some kind of system to remind you to call people who you’ve promised to call, like a diary or a list of people to call at the end of the day).

Nothing frustrates me more than this…

“No update mate, still no got to it”

Is WAY WAY better than no call at all.

Who gives a …. What loco does on his personal account as long as his business one is professional, not a single bad word said about his business so it’s pretty low to try and put down his business.
As a mrmoo I’m assuming you are of the miggly variety? I might be nosey and pop into said lbs and ask Tim what happened. Besides being arrogant I never really hear many complaints from people who go there.

So there is someone posting under two IDs, defending a business, talking up the business.

It depends on who is doing this, but if its the business itself posting these fake views, its flat out illegal. The law changed years ago, to stop a business planting fake reviews and endorsements of itself.

Just so you know.

My old LBS in the town where I was living previously (sadly closed now) could quite easily be accused of being frustrating for the opposite reason..
Whether it was the steel on-one with hope/flow that marked me out as a possible STW forum user, or my bearded sneer and hateful demeanour I can’t be sure.. but this guy was paranoid about providing impeccable comms..

I would get two or three calls per day whilst he was working on my bike – with updates on each and every process, thorough breakdowns of the day’s schedule and details of every conversation he had with parts distributors regarding my order..

I can only assume that it was the terror of opening a thread like this on singletrackworld that moved him to behave in this manner, and he closed the shop without notice shortly after I picked my bike up. I can only assume the stress of it all had become too much..

He was certainly the best bike mech I’ve ever met and his work was absolutely divine, like magic almost as the bike in question still runs completely silently and faultlessly three years later after 1000s of miles of utter abuse..
The last time I saw him he was delivering groceries in a Tesco van, wearing golfing attire and swigging heartily from a large bottle of Largactyl topped up with Pimms.. 🙁

I’m not following the whole double log in thing. Who is who and what did they say about who? Could someone provide an idiots guide?

Essentially frank – op moans about bike shop, loco defends said shop. Then later on in thread loco uses his second log in, shepleg (allegedly), to defend the same shop and suggest op has ‘history’.

No one, as far as i can see is suggesting loco is doing this to promote his well respected business, looking at sheplegs history, it would seem he used it to make an arsey comment about one chap in a thread where he was providing great advice as loco. None of which is a crime. I suspect in the context of this thread he was just trying to defend a mates shop. And has maybe come off looking a bit of a nob. But i would still let him service my fork.

Who gives a …. What loco does on his personal account as long as his business one is professional, not a single bad word said about his business so it’s pretty low to try and put down his business.

This. It is not hard to see why he would have one for his business and one for him to use personally tbh. Whether it is him or not he wont be able to comment either way and I have also never heard a bad word about the company or him on here until now.

I like having “professionals” on here [ perhaps not Brant 😉 ] to chat with and it is some way short of being Fruit /Superstar type actions here.

As for the OP I would not be happy in his position but I am also giving you the benefit of the doubt here and assuming you are also a good egg

As for the OP I would not be happy in his position but I am also giving you the benefit of the doubt here and assuming you are also a good egg

Apart perhaps from the bitter and scathing personal vendetta that he has launched against LoCo for no discernible reason..

well I am bleeding heart liberal Yunki and as i am not personally there to give him a cuddle a thought a virtual one with a reach round would be best 😉

Apart perhaps from the bitter and scathing personal vendetta that he has launched against LoCo for no discernible reason..

I think the only reason the OP started on Shepleg/LoCo was because he (they) said that he knew the shop and OP and that the OP had some sort of history.

TBH, I’d be a bit miffed if someone said that about me and it wasn’t true.

Aaarghhh! My brain is turning to custard. Who do we burn?

– LBS – clearly ripped him off, but some think it is an honest mistake
– OP – Has the cheek to complain about being ripped off, then turns nasty on LoCo, but perhaps this is justified
– Loco – defends LBS, perhaps unfairly, pehaps not entirely transparent, but also he is a victim as his business is mentioned
– Shepsoandso – he is also not transparent, but perhaps he is, but he is LoCo.

😕

I need to lie down in a quiet room

if loco and shep are not one, id be expecting one of em to be sayin..OI mooo thats B****x , but as yet..?

no big deal but its a bit err sad to be two very different on line characters.(based on reading some history posts by both thats how the two seem)..cant see the point really..so a bit dissapointing if true as loco always comes across very well.

I know some forums won’t allow you to have more than one login. If found out by a mod you get banned. Not sure if it’s the case on here.

why did you go to
martin ashfield cycles
when PS is just up the road?

Cause ps charge a fortune?

Morning, Blimey 🙄

Yes that was a post from my old personal account, logging in on multiple machines/phone the autosave passwords etc sorry about that shepleg has now been disabled by the STW office so it doesn’t happen again, it’s pretty obvious who it is posting by web histories anyway.

I stand by the earlier post too, it should have read ‘knowing of’ not ‘knowing’

Any way I’ll leave it at that as this ones going to run & run, you won’t find any promotion of the company on the old account either.

If any one has any issues feel free to mail, call or pop up and see me. 😀

Aghh, LoCo, that is far too measured a response. Am I meant to burn you with pitchforks until you are dead or not?

shepleg – Member
Knowing both the op and shop, there is definatly more to this ‘story’ than has been posted here. Straight accusing them of theft and naming them is disgusting. With the op’s history.

So LoCo / shepleg do you know the OP (mooman)?

he knows of him and i doubt we will hear any more so lets put the pitchforks away

Ps the seals and lube arrived – for being nice to you on here I expect excellent technical support by phone when I call this week when I **** up my service 😉

for STW clarity he is not a mate I bought some stuff from him, we have never met but I know of him

Sounds like the LBS still ripped off the OP…

I would probably get irritated by people bringing me bits they’d bought from an online shop and expect me to build them. But then if that were the case I’d just quote a higher price (safe in the knowledge that the customer isn’t in a position to build a wheel himself), or just refuse the business. I wouldn’t provide a shoddy, dishonest service – There’s no excuse for that.

So we’re not going to find out what the OP’s ‘history’ is. I’ve been following this stupid thread for four pages to find that out 😥

yunki – Member

As for the OP I would not be happy in his position but I am also giving you the benefit of the doubt here and assuming you are also a good egg

Apart perhaps from the bitter and scathing personal vendetta that he has launched against LoCo for no discernible reason..

Please re-read thread. I have not launched a bitter and scathing personal vendetta against LoCo.
If you read posts – he launched one against me … suggesting he knew me .. that I had history.
Well I just looked through the posters history to see who this shepleg was, because they said they knew me.
And surprise surprise it was LoCo .. a guy I have never met. A guy I have never previously or launched a bitter and scathing personal vendetta against 🙄

Reading between the lines It seems pretty clear where he is coming from.

So LoCo .. why the diff attitude when you use diff log in accounts?

And is it a coincidence you only show up once somebody has offered you a lifeline to acting such a nob?

A common mistake by amateur mechanics is to think that the average bike shop repair is as simple as their average home repair. It really isn’t

This +1

As a rule if I take something to the LBS it’s because normal home tools have failed.

It might be a 15 minute job to change a BB at home, but if I drop it at the LBS it’s because I’ve already spent half an hour trying to shift it, trashed my tool and run out of propane/plusgas. And they’ll still charge the flat rate £10 to get it out!

So LoCo .. why the diff attitude when you use diff log in accounts?

Personal View Vs View of a business.

I think its fair to have a “Business” and a “Personal” log-in.

Personal View Vs View of a business.

I think its fair to have a “Business” and a “Personal” log-in.

I think I might need a ‘sober’ and ‘drunk’ log-in 😉

sorry mooman.. it really doesn’t look that way to me at all..

I appreciate that you may have had an unsatisfactory experience with your LBS, but I personally think that perhaps you should concentrate on trying to resolve it with them, rather than coming online all apocryphal and with guns blazing..

You’ve made a concerted effort to damage two (seemingly highly reputable) small businesses in one thread, which just seems a bit cheap and spiteful from where I’m sitting..
I’m sure you have your reasons but we’re definitely going to have to agree to disagree..

Personal View Vs View of a business.
I think its fair to have a “Business” and a “Personal” log-in.

this is something that I do agree with however

Just read all five pages (that’s a chunk of my life I won’t get back) and I’m staggered that the OP is the one taking crap on here.

Speculating on why the shop did what they did? Yeah, the OP might be the most annoying customer they’ve ever dealt with, ringing them up constantly, querying the cost of spokes, what a nightmare! So, scamming him is fine, yeah?

Some people jump to the LBS defence, and in some cases turning the flames on the OP and suggesting he’s the one with the problem and the “history”. And then it turns out that two of those were actually the one person. And that’s fine too, yeah? Cos, y’know, logins on different devices, yadda yadda yadda. Whatever.

OP, you were ripped off. You might be the most annoying prick in Britain and every LBS owner’s archetypal nightmare customer. No matter, you still got ripped off. If I was you, rather than “biking forum” I’d be thinking “trading standards”. Thanks for the warning on that LBS.

Oh yes, sorry, I forgot, it was probably an “honest mistake” except of course, that it clearly wasn’t and anyone trying to twist it into a scenario where it could have been has got an interesting relationship with reality imo.

You might be the most annoying prick in Britain

I think that little outburst just there settles that contest….

IIRC the OP got a refund? So all is well that ends well.

I think its fair to have a “Business” and a “Personal” log-in.

Perhaps, but isn’t there a suggestion that this isn’t the first thread where the two personas have both contributed, and apparently contributed in different “voice”? Dress it up however your like, but that’s dishonest. Not going to check the allegation, so apologies if I’m naive in taking it as so from what is posted here, but having seen the posts on this thread, I don’t buy this “accidental, logins set on different devices” story.

This just comes across as the usual “defend someone we know over someone we don’t” attitude on here, as seen with iDave, WatsonTony, the different reaction when someone known and later a newbie each promote “racing” on bridleways…

IIRC the OP got a refund? So all is well that ends well.

So it all “ends well” if there’s a LBS, apparently well respected by some on here, who deliberately rip of customers, and that’s fine because they refund it if the customer is savvy enough to spot what they’ve done?

I always thought there were two sides to every story, we have only heard from Mooman.

edlong is spot on, and I can’t see how anyone could possibly read it any other way.

Op was clearly ripped off by LBS.
Op was clearly rebuffed by multiple logins of same LBS related person.

I always thought there were two sides to every story

On one side LoCo, on the other shepleg 😉

Mooman, Sorry if my comment was misunderstood. I did not intend to point fingers at anyone using 2 logins.