All I wanted them to do was true my wheels and reseat my tubeless tyres..

LBS “nahh, can’t be bothered with doing that,.. it’ll take me ages to seat the beads and it’s a faff”
Moi “eh? what about the truing of the wheels?”
LBS “Nahh, means I have to take the tyres off and then I’d have to reseal them dunnit”
Moi “erm, yeah, yeah it does, hence my question”
LBS “nahh, find someone else”

I’m not too sure I’m going back there again.

I found someone up the road to do it for £20.00 and seemed pleased to do it, and they’re a big chain (my LBS is an owners hardcore MTB’er shop.. hence my suprise at turning down the job)

Hey ho.

Name and shame them, that’s ridiculous turning away business in these times. Tell as many cyclists as you know not to use them.

Why would you have to take the tyres off to true the wheels? Can often even replace spokes without removing the tyre 🙂

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68BrauMLt_0[/video]

A similar vibe to that…? 🙂

Is the owner French? That sounds like that joyously familiar Gallic service ethic. The only nation that can out-surly the English for service ethics 😀

They surely have the right to turn down work if they have something more lucrative to do. Doesn’t every tradesman you’ve ever dealt with take the same approach?

My first thought was fully booked workshop.

And buy a spoke key!

I’m more subtle – I never turn down work, I just quote a silly price when I don’t want to do something.

Sometimes that backfires, and I have to take the money…

Ok, I’ll bite. I’m not an expert, but I can’t see how you could true a wheel with the tyre on and guarantee it’s true. The pressure of the tyre on the rim would surely affect things?

Hang on… they didn’t suspect that you were Hora, did they?

they should either tell you the workshop is booked up for ages or charge enough to make it worth their while.

Can’t be arsed with it = never go back there

You can get out side to side but not flat spots with the tyre on.

The pressure of the tyre on the rim would surely affect things?

A tiny amount, even with very high pressure tyres. And surely it’s better to be true with a tyre fitted than without?

The only bit that’s trickier to correct is radial trueness – lateral trueness is fine, radial you need to be a bit creative with the truing gauges.

‘Radial’ that’s the word I was looking for

yes what he said you cannot measure the trype for roundness so you cannot true for that just lateral off ness

You could do it but it would be, at best, half a job

I may not be using the correct technical terms

You can, actually – what you do is run the lateral gauges on the spoke side of the rim, and move the gauge arm up and down. It’s more of a faff but no less precise than using the usual gauge on the outer edge of the rim.

My LBS refused to build a wheel for me, just because it was slightly different to normal (an Alfine hub). Havent been back since. Slightly further away LBS was enthusiastic about doing something different, they now get my business.

My LBS refused to build a wheel for me, just because it was slightly different to normal (an Alfine hub). Havent been back since. Slightly further away LBS was enthusiastic about doing something different, they now get my business.

Tis possible I spose, if they are not an approved Shimano Alfine service centre, they would have invalidated the warranty on your hub.

Meh, it’s a hub.

if they were busy say ‘come back in 2 weeks we’re chocka at the mo’ or ‘try this other bike shop down there.’ Saying ‘nahhh find someone else’ is just rude.

Well I’d Luv to be Hora, I aspire to that wonderment that is the persona, but alas nahh.. I’m just obnoxious Moi…

Thing is. Thing is I’ve been going there on and off for about 10 years now. I don’t necessarily like the stuff he has in there but that’s his lot and he does well enough out of it.
But he’s a hardcore MTB’er, sells IBIS Mojo’s etc. (that’s’ his problem right there I suspect) and used to ride out with some mates of mine a while back (I’ve never ridden with him BTW) and as I do I thought I’d pop over there rather than the “chains” we have local, you know support your LBS and all that. Not like I haven’t bought stuff from in the past, in fact MrdBouy spend £200 in there buying birthday pressies for family back in April.

Al I wanted was the wheels truing up (he’s done this before on other bikes of mine) and reseating the tubeless(es) like init.
Not like the wheels are pikey eithers, Stans/Hopes 29er SS stuff, nothing out of the ordinary.. easy enough.. I just don’t have the time and I’m away for the next couple of weeks, thought I’d get them done and collect and go ride when I got back.

Anywhoo’s I know it’s his choice, I can take it or leave it. I can whine about it too.. it was just his abrupt manner and flat refusal to consider.
I’d name and shame but to be honest if you knew where I rode, you’d figure it out soon enough, no need to blast it out with a fog horn.

So my “chain” will complete my ask and as I was so pleased I bought some new ¾ bibs, two pairs of SixOne gloves, a new helmet and some more Stans fluid.

I am not Hora in disguise (honest)

Sometimes that backfires, and I have to take the money…

surely you have the “silly” amount of money in your pocket to improve your mood while you do the job 🙂

Wot jekkyl said.

The extra hassle of taking the tyres off, cleaning up the mess from the stans fluid, reseating the tyres and putting more stans in and dealing with tyres that won’t seat easily (have they a compressor in the shop?) would probably mean that the job was hardly worth the £20.

They just didn’t express it very well.

I would have taken the tyres off before taking them to the shop…

surely you have the “silly” amount of money in your pocket to improve your mood while you do the job

Yup – it’s trickier when I don’t know how to do whatever it is. I have a tendency to say “yes, no problem, I can build that” and make up a price, then have to work out how to make it later 🙂

Never failed yet, though.

Serves you right for using Tubeless 🙂

You would have been fine with normal tubed wheels.

god how hard is it to do either of those 2 jobs in the first place

I trued a wheel for the first time yesterday after watching some you tube, with the spoke key on my multi tool.

Wheel looks straight enough, so I consider that a success, although I haven’t ridden it yet. It take but a few minutes and is worth learning.

If they can refuse business (continual business) in a recession they must be doing well. I wonder what the owner would have made of this? Let him know. If it was the owner then 😯

Truing stands come up in sales / Ebay every so often, makes fixing spokes etc so simple:

Tubeless is a total pain in the arse.

I try not to do them either, although i express this to the customer very differently to the shop in the op. Usually say we dont stock the sealent etc. (which is true).

they should either tell you the workshop is booked up for ages or charge enough to make it worth their while.

Hmmmmmm… my LBS tols me their workshop was full last week when I asked them to true up two wheels*… now I’m suspicious!

.

*(I can do most things, but I’m crap at truing wheels)

There’s plenty of jobs that I’ve wished I had turned away (more due to the customer than the job tbh).

Proper tubeless tyre and rim or bodge job?

If it was half-assed tubeless, I’d make my excuses too! 😉

Don’t blame the shop at all for not wanting to get mixed up in your tubeless setup for a mere twenty quid. It could lead to endless faffage and cost them a fortune.

me too,it can be a lottery as to whether it goes together in minutes, takes half an hour of faffing, or you have to concede it’s not happening and make no money out of your wasted time.

Tubeless.. you need this

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-total-cost-9p

HAAAha 🙂

I think it is better to say no I dont want to do it than grudgingly take on a job you hate and do it badly or leave it until last thing on a Friday night

Re-fitting tubeless MAY be 20-30 mins per wheel or more, messy, and need sealant. That plus a wheel true.. I can see how it simply isn’t worth it for £20-30, to some. Not saying they’re ‘right’ to turn it down, but I’m not exactly shocked either.

Which chain store accepted the job?

After his lesson in customer service, he really needs a lesson in charging the amount it’s worth. If it’s going to be a messy faff to refit them then charge for the sealant and the time..

I’ve just done a build for a guy that was using internal-nippled deep carbon tubular rims on track hubs… He bought them in laced all sorts of wrong, hoping that I would be able to “finish them off” for him.. In the end it took me nearly 2 hours to take them apart, degrease the spokes and nipples (somebody had told him to grease them.. 😯 ) and check the spoke measurements and order some more; and then several hours more to lace them properly, with washers at both ends, de-stress them lots (as there would be no chance to tweak them later), and glue some tubs on.

Some people here will fall over when I say that his bill is £240 for labour, but that is what it’s worth to take on a job like that and make the time to do it properly.