What Would You Do? Turned Over By LBS content!!

but if you were to take your bike to a bike shop for work with a view of riding at the weekend would you really re-check your bike before you rode?

If I’d had an experience like the one you describe, yes. I would have been sorely tempted to strip it down, check everything and rebuild.

If I’d had an experience like the one you describe, yes. I would have been sorely tempted to strip it down, check everything and rebuild.

But wouldn’t that of defeated the object of getting the LBS to do the work in the first place.

In the time OP took to write the post, add in all the to-and-froing to LBS, he could have assembled the bike himself.

The idea that the joy of building my bike myself would be lost to someone else horrifies me. Paying for it even more so.

Any chance of the LBS giving their point of view?

Lynching is easy with a mob behind you!

C

Seriously, OP took off on a race without a hex key in his pocket to straighten stems etc?

Sorry, but I can’t comment on original post as I did not read it all (about a quarter) and I have a life. I look forward to the abridged version.

It seems that many expect much from their LBS and expect to insult them by paying with a packet of biscuits. I wouldn’t dream of taking a second hand bike and box of assorted junk into a shop and expecting them to build me a bike from it. I know if my customers treated me with such disrespect I would treat them with equal contempt.

All they had to say was NO! Don’t get all high and mighty.
And where are you getting ‘disrespect’ from?

OP: Name and shame.

Also, you expect your LBS to fit parts you have purchased from somewhere else with a smile and not sting you for labour ?

Again, this. If you’d have walked into my shop with a box of bits that you’d bought elsewhere, I wouldn’t even have taken the work off you. You’d have got told where to go in no uncertain terms.

If you are an proper engineer…you would have done it yourself as it would have taken less time and be done correctly.

Agreed. I’m an engineer too – I won’t let ANYBODY near my bikes, especially not some spotty-faced spunk monkey in an LBS. And you’ve worked a 45 hour week and didn’t want to get your hands dirty??? Can’t be a real engineer then…

Also, if you are a proper engineer you will know to – plan properly (which, IIRC, prevents piss poor performance); ALWAYS check someone elses work before thoroughly before accepting it; and always have the right tools for the job.

TO be fair, the LBS shouldn’t have taken the work on, but I still don’t buy your argument that they are solely to blame for this cluster-****. Like they say, it takes two to tango.

Oh, and learn the difference between “of” and “have”. It’s “could have” not “could of”.

You can afford Sram XX, but you want to keep an eye on the costs?
Poor communication from the LBS though, if there was a problem fitting a component they should have contacted you before attempting that part, they could still have cracked on with the forks and rear mech.
Poor show.
You should still have thoroughly checked the bike before riding it though.

Unfortunately you wen’t and paid which probably constitutes some degree of acceptance of their “work”… I’m sure you could persue it further (perhaps talk to CAB?) but this whole experience has already cost you a fair bit of time and money, I’d be inclined to put it to bed…

Name & Shame, never throw anymore business their way and then chalk it up to experience and move on IMO…

I’m not someone who uses an LBS but is it not be common practise for them to provide some sort of itemised quote/checklist for workshop work, and then take you through each item on pickup, so you can verify and agree the work has been done? At leaxst in the good ones must do this I assume???

Also, if you are a proper engineer you will know to – plan properly (which, IIRC, prevents piss poor performance); ALWAYS check someone elses work before thoroughly before accepting it; and always have the right tools for the job.

You should still have thoroughly checked the bike before riding it though.

Typical STW there. He took the Bike in a week early. Is that not forward planning? They accepted the job. LBS only had to say NO!

And when you have your car repaired do you pop the wheels off and check the caliper retaining bolts are correctly torqued up after the garage fitted new brake pads?

Marko

Time = £,businesss need customers,and profit is not a rude word !,however,you clearly didnt get anything in writing,so its easy to say i asked him to do this that & the other,and all he’ll say is,oh i thought you wanted this,or meant that !,and in regards to the loose stuff,thats why you’re better off doing it yourself,i trust no one…

Youve tried to support your local shop and they have failed you, I would go and tell him about the stem and bars just to let him know his works a pile of shit
The bright side is you will always check your bike before a race from from now on like a good engineer should :wink:and I imagine you be putting your engineering skills to good use on the bike from now on

Does anyone actually walk in to LBS and get a written quote??

Name, shame and move on I’d say.

Again, this. If you’d have walked into my shop with a box of bits that you’d bought elsewhere, I wouldn’t even have taken the work off you. You’d have got told where to go in no uncertain terms.

I can only assume that you do not run a shop? It wouldn’t last long with that attitude. If by chance, you do have a bike shop please tell me which so that I never bother you. You’re obviously a very important man…

100 Quid is only 3 hours labour

You should still have thoroughly checked the bike before riding it though.

Typical STW there
To be fair, basic safety check how-to’s are stated in any bike’s owner’s manual. I know most people dont read them, but RTFM should be a familar FLA to any engineer )

No comment on the rights and wrongs here. However I’d say that having a bike fixed at a shop doesn’t absolve the rider from responsibility of checking the bike before riding it, immediately after a service or any other time, or being familair enough with the bike to be sure it’s safe to ride before doing so. That has no bearing on a shop’s responsibilty to do a job as contracted and do it properly (or the bike to be able to be inherantly safe, etc)- only that it can prevent accidents if a job isn’t done properly.

I said that I am engineer by trade and that if I offered it up on a laithe it would take approx 5mins…

That made me laugh. How many bike shops have a lathe out the back????

And you are right with regards to pre-race bike check but if you were to take your bike to a bike shop for work with a view of riding at the weekend would you really re-check your bike before you rode?

Schoolboy error that, Always check your bike over, I have had some pretty shoddy repairs done by LBS’s that I have had to put right. Thats why I now do all my own maint.

Putting that aside, thats pretty bad service!

well to those who dont think £100 is much, let me just tell you i had a frame stripped, new frame built fully back up to ‘race mechanic’ standard with new cables etc for £60 all in

just saying like, some shops appreciate your custom and know you will come back, and some like this shop the guy have used, just seem to want to fleece you and never have you return….

my £60 all in from the LBS is a cracking price for the standard i must say, but the fact they did an amazing job and it was cheap enough, means they have had about £200 off me since in bits and bobs….

some lbs’s are just plain shite businesses

i’d be pissed off i reckon, but you should have at least done the once over on the bike before racing surely?!?!

100 Quid is only 3 hours labour

yes, and it only takes me 2 hours to build a bike (excluding bleeding brakes and building wheels). From what you’ve said I’d have charged £50 labour, given a quote in writing, done it, test ridden it up and down the road (with a spare front wheel) and called you when it was done which would have been within 2 days.

Shocking from the LBS.

Not reading that…..not got the attention spaSQUIRREL!

not got the attention spaSQUIRREL!

Mint, like it 😀

That’s more than poor, can’t see how you’re to blame in any way?
You took it to the experts and told them you wanted the bike race ready by the weekend. and they agreed to do that for you for money.

LOL at the no gears connected. I want my bike ready to race by the weekend, but whatever you do don’t cable up the gears 😯

Do it all yourself in future, it’s springs, cables and bolts it’s piss easy. Buy the tools, you intend to ride for a bit I assume.
I do my own stuff, but luckily my LBS man is a bit OCD and checks every bike himself before it leaves. Unlike the next shop up the road that cut a brake cable so short it braked when it turned.

I said that I am engineer by trade and that if I offered it up on a laithe it would take approx 5mins…

That made me laugh. How many bike shops have a lathe out the back????

Probably the same number of engineers by trade that can’t spell lathe.

So did the lbs owner deliberately loosen your stem and brakes?

More a case of deliberately not tightening them when they fitted them

Bottom line OP asked for a bike ready to ride in a weeks time.
Shop presented a bike that wasn’t ready to ride, let alone all the loose bits.

I’d ask, being a sarcy git, where the mechanic got all his torque data from.

THIS is why I do as much of my own car and bike maintenance as I possibly can. I have absolutely no faith in the thoroughness of paid mechanics.

I gave up reading, but building a bike up that a customer brings in, with a load of used parts normally turns into a gongshow. Maybe the loose stem that has been mentioned in the thread was a result of the mechanic shooting himself in the face before getting to the stem bolts?

I gave up reading, but building a bike up that a customer brings in, with a load of used parts normally turns into a gongshow.

I built a bike out from used parts recently. As I have done many times. And as always I thought Right, this’ll be easy! Couple of hours and it’ll be ready to roll.

16 hours later…

I’m full of cold now, and I’m blaming it on the stress of that one experience.

A trained mechanic I might not be, but I’m pretty sure they encounter the same head twisting problems day in, day out. How a bicycle can be so simple yet so difficult is beyond me.

You’re obviously a very picky sort of chap – I mean that in the nicest possible way – in that you know exactly what you want on your bike and you’ve given very specific instructions. A lot of MTBers, especially XC racers are like that. Not as bad as roadies but pretty OCD. 😉

But then you’ve gone and given it to a shop, in the form of a pile of bits. Nothing pisses off bike shops more than people bringing in piles of new and S/H kit and asking them to build it (except possibly asking a million questions, trying everything on and then going and buying it online). I know that they should still have built your pride and joy with a smile and some competence but it also sounds like there were issues with compatibility – as others have said, it’s almost always a total nightmare trying to mix/match parts.

From what I read of your story, the shop appears to have failed in its communications to you. Not sure what the explanation is of the loose parts – maybe Mechanic A had built it all up loosely intending to finish it off the next day but then Mechanic B had given it to you without knowing the work done on it?

However, IMO, what the shop should have done is either get the bike to a rideable standard and say “sorry mate, we can’t do [x, y, z] because… but bring it in next week and we’ll finish it off” or simply not accept the job in the first place.

But rules of racing are ALWAYS check your bike fully beforehand; never race on new/untried kit; always have a tube, gas can and multitool on you. Oh and rules of bike shops are never ever tell them you’re an engineer.

To go back to this point:

A recurring statement though that I feel derserves a response is; if you are an engineer why not do your own spannering?
Fair point but there are many types of engineer

Clearly a Software Engineer

@OP regardless of the facts of the case, my feeling is your expectations were unrealistic. You can’t undo what happened. What you can do is accept responsibility from now on for fixing your own bike.

Or put another way:

(all human wisdom is in The Wire somewhere).

I cant believe some of the responses on this thread. So STW it’s getting ridiculous.

I personally wouldnt trust an LBS to get everything right, but that doesnt mean if I payed to have a bike built i’d got over it with a tooth comb.

I would agree about the engineer comment though. Bit patronising.

But for those who said they’d turn down your custom because you sourced your own parts avoiding the inflated LBS costs. Welcome to the real world where people don’t like to have their pants pulled down.

…or a waste management engineer.

I’m an engineer – but I can spell the word ‘lathe’.

But for those who said they’d turn down your custom because you sourced your own parts avoiding the inflated LBS costs. Welcome to the real world where people don’t like to have their pants pulled down.

Yeah those bike shop owners and mechanics are all rolling in it!

It’s obvious that the OP made a few errors of judgement. Leaving it to the last week to undertake major component changes before a race being fairly high on the list.

However, none of that excuses the shoddy work. If they couldn’t do it for whatever reason, they shouldn’t have undertook it. If they hit problems, they should have contacted the owner. And if it wasn’t ready for collection, they should have told him.