I threw away a man card, and now my bike is broken
Discussion
Hello Peddlers,
Just a bit of a "what would you do?" kind of thread before I get all shouty in the bike shop tomorrow. I bought a Claud Butler San Remo 2006 off a colleague 2 years ago to commute on. All was going well until a couple of weeks ago when the rear wheel bearings seized. Not being too well-versed in bike mechanics, I thought it would be a good time for a service, so I took the bike to a local shop and paid £35 for their "bronze service" and a brake cable replacement they decided it needed.
Did a couple of commutes last week, it felt amazing, like a new bike. Had it in Devon at the weekend and I was zooming up and down hills like never before. I then commute on the bike Wednesday, feeling a bit drained and decide to just crawl up my least-favourite hill. This being the first time I'd changed into that gear since the service, I wasn't quite expecting the chain to fly straight off the cassette and into the spokes, dragging the derailleur in with it and bending the whole mechanism and hanger to buggery. I coast the next 1/4 (luckily I was at the top of the hill) and get a lift the final quarter when I realise I can't really put any torque into it without the chain slipping.
So I take the bike back, I'm very polite and say words to the effect of "look what's happened chaps, I think you might have forgotten something or not tightened something during the service" and I get a polite response back "ah, yes, well that's OK we can fix that, don't worry."
10 mins later my bike appears, all fixed and I chuck it back in the car as it starts to tip it down. Fast forward to tonight, I fancy going into town to meet some friends, it's warm, it's sunny, it's a very short 4 mile round trip. Cycling merrily along and all of a sudden CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH the chain's slipping and the derailleur has pretty much exploded, god knows where some bits of it have gone because I haven't found them. Cue a 1.8 mile walk back with a bike I can only just coast on, a cut in my leg from where my foot slipped off the pedal when the chain went and a less than useless scooter of a road bike.
So what's the next option? It seems I should have just manned up, learnt some basic bike maintenance and fixed it myself, but I'm stuck now, the shop has clearly done something wrong and I need a new, albeit s
t, derailleur, my spokes are all scratched and chunked and my leg has a rather painful and fairly deep hole in it. Was I wrong to trust their work? Should I be expected to check over everything they might have touched in case they did it wrong?
I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed. It started so well and the bike felt so good, now for the first time in 2 years it's utterly unrideable.
Just a bit of a "what would you do?" kind of thread before I get all shouty in the bike shop tomorrow. I bought a Claud Butler San Remo 2006 off a colleague 2 years ago to commute on. All was going well until a couple of weeks ago when the rear wheel bearings seized. Not being too well-versed in bike mechanics, I thought it would be a good time for a service, so I took the bike to a local shop and paid £35 for their "bronze service" and a brake cable replacement they decided it needed.
Did a couple of commutes last week, it felt amazing, like a new bike. Had it in Devon at the weekend and I was zooming up and down hills like never before. I then commute on the bike Wednesday, feeling a bit drained and decide to just crawl up my least-favourite hill. This being the first time I'd changed into that gear since the service, I wasn't quite expecting the chain to fly straight off the cassette and into the spokes, dragging the derailleur in with it and bending the whole mechanism and hanger to buggery. I coast the next 1/4 (luckily I was at the top of the hill) and get a lift the final quarter when I realise I can't really put any torque into it without the chain slipping.
So I take the bike back, I'm very polite and say words to the effect of "look what's happened chaps, I think you might have forgotten something or not tightened something during the service" and I get a polite response back "ah, yes, well that's OK we can fix that, don't worry."
10 mins later my bike appears, all fixed and I chuck it back in the car as it starts to tip it down. Fast forward to tonight, I fancy going into town to meet some friends, it's warm, it's sunny, it's a very short 4 mile round trip. Cycling merrily along and all of a sudden CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH the chain's slipping and the derailleur has pretty much exploded, god knows where some bits of it have gone because I haven't found them. Cue a 1.8 mile walk back with a bike I can only just coast on, a cut in my leg from where my foot slipped off the pedal when the chain went and a less than useless scooter of a road bike.
So what's the next option? It seems I should have just manned up, learnt some basic bike maintenance and fixed it myself, but I'm stuck now, the shop has clearly done something wrong and I need a new, albeit s
t, derailleur, my spokes are all scratched and chunked and my leg has a rather painful and fairly deep hole in it. Was I wrong to trust their work? Should I be expected to check over everything they might have touched in case they did it wrong?I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed. It started so well and the bike felt so good, now for the first time in 2 years it's utterly unrideable.
I don't think you we're unwise to trust your lbs. they should have done a good job, adjusted everything correctly and warned you if anything was bent or not working to the extent that this might happen. It turns out though that your shop is staffed by ham-fisted monkeys.
My advice would be chalk it up to experience and repair yourself.
Replacement mechs are cheap enough and you can find the necessary knowledge to fit and correctly adjust on YouTube.
As for the wheel, on a bike of that spec the chances are that it will be 'built' enough to handle a bit of abuse.
Good luck, and go earn those man points.
My advice would be chalk it up to experience and repair yourself.
Replacement mechs are cheap enough and you can find the necessary knowledge to fit and correctly adjust on YouTube.
As for the wheel, on a bike of that spec the chances are that it will be 'built' enough to handle a bit of abuse.
Good luck, and go earn those man points.
Hamfisted monkeys about sums it up.
Derailleur was fatigued from the first bending, they should have replaced it.
Have you gone back to them?
Ask them for a replacement which you will fit yourself?
Have to say you're in negative manpoints now though, I'm not even a bicycler but in my youth I did my own indexing and fitted alloy brake levers (which gained at least 5hp) and new cables.
You have nothing to fear but fear its self.
Would hazard a guess this fairly deep hole is more of a slight graze, you big mary.
Derailleur was fatigued from the first bending, they should have replaced it.
Have you gone back to them?
Ask them for a replacement which you will fit yourself?
Have to say you're in negative manpoints now though, I'm not even a bicycler but in my youth I did my own indexing and fitted alloy brake levers (which gained at least 5hp) and new cables.
You have nothing to fear but fear its self.
Would hazard a guess this fairly deep hole is more of a slight graze, you big mary.
Edited by scarble on Friday 2nd August 08:14
Chapppers said:
You're right, it didn't even bleed. On second thoughts it could just be my vagina.
Now I'm pretty sure they do bleed 
Serious woopsie from your lbs (I'm already learning the lingo
) and they owe you a new derailleur. By fixing it the first time (unless they charged you for it) they've admitted liability.Big Mary,
There is enough wisdom in the above responses to make the Three Wise Men seem like charlatans by comparison.
YouTube is your friend in these circumstances. Everything on a bike is simple nuts and bolts. Nothing complicated or magical. You don't need to plug in a Cray to run a diagnostic analysis, you just need to get your hands a bit greasy and get down and dirty with your two wheeled friend. This is the reason you have a kitchen in your house. A kitchen is not solely for women as conventional wisdom has often suggested.
Good luck!
There is enough wisdom in the above responses to make the Three Wise Men seem like charlatans by comparison.
YouTube is your friend in these circumstances. Everything on a bike is simple nuts and bolts. Nothing complicated or magical. You don't need to plug in a Cray to run a diagnostic analysis, you just need to get your hands a bit greasy and get down and dirty with your two wheeled friend. This is the reason you have a kitchen in your house. A kitchen is not solely for women as conventional wisdom has often suggested.
Good luck!
Would it help at this point in saying that I'm actually a proper engineer and I was just being lazy because whilst I can do these things, I didn't really know what was wrong with the rear wheel bearings and felt like they'd probably do a slightly better job.
However, LOLOLOLOLOL turns out they didn't.
However, LOLOLOLOLOL turns out they didn't.
No.
I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
scarble said:
No.
I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
I'm an engineer too, so I just can't bring myself to let somebody else what I can do myself. Nothing on a bike is very complicated, and even the special tools you need are often stupidly cheap. I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
Rob_T said:
This is the reason you have a kitchen in your house. A kitchen is not solely for women as conventional wisdom has often suggested
Ah, but whilst the results are often good and tasty and eventually things get washed up, the mid point is often an explosion in a food factory and a very wet floor.I'm not an engineer. But I do all my own maintenance and always have done. I don't trust anyone short of a pro-mechanic to do a better job and my current cycling contract sadly doesn't provide for one.
It sounds as if its probably a combination of a limit screw problem (a screw on the mech which prevents the mech moving too close to the spokes), a bent mech from the first problem, or a bent hanger. Any of these should have been spotted and corrected by the bike shop when you took it in to them.
It sounds as if its probably a combination of a limit screw problem (a screw on the mech which prevents the mech moving too close to the spokes), a bent mech from the first problem, or a bent hanger. Any of these should have been spotted and corrected by the bike shop when you took it in to them.
I am a mechanical engineer by both qualification and profession and would first like to point out that the difference between engineers and maintenance fitters (mechanics) is considerable. 
However, I do a lot of my own maintenance because, mostly, I find it highly satisfying and also because I can often do a better, more thorough job than any LBS can rightly afford to. This, with the exception of bleeding hydraulic brakes - I can do it fine, but never am I able to get them quite as pin-sharp as the grease monkeys in the shop, despite having ALL the right tools to hand.
I have also had a couple of lamentable experiences with very poor attention to detail which, only by luck, have not caused serious injury. We're talking skewers not sufficiently tightened on wheels (twice) and, most worryingly, front brake rotor bolts falling out on a DH run...
However, I do a lot of my own maintenance because, mostly, I find it highly satisfying and also because I can often do a better, more thorough job than any LBS can rightly afford to. This, with the exception of bleeding hydraulic brakes - I can do it fine, but never am I able to get them quite as pin-sharp as the grease monkeys in the shop, despite having ALL the right tools to hand.
I have also had a couple of lamentable experiences with very poor attention to detail which, only by luck, have not caused serious injury. We're talking skewers not sufficiently tightened on wheels (twice) and, most worryingly, front brake rotor bolts falling out on a DH run...
I think there is a bit of a spectrum with engineers, I take any excuse to get grubby, even if I am cack-handed.
Have only ever caused injury during fiddling rather than through sub-standard fiddling though. When the mood takes you, sitting and methodically doing stuff can be almost spiritual.
The joy of knowing everything is just so.
Torques torqued, nipples greased, pressures pumped, job jobbed.
Meanwhile Chappers sounds more of a theoretical engineer
Stability systems? That's software innit?
Have only ever caused injury during fiddling rather than through sub-standard fiddling though. When the mood takes you, sitting and methodically doing stuff can be almost spiritual.
The joy of knowing everything is just so.
Torques torqued, nipples greased, pressures pumped, job jobbed.
Meanwhile Chappers sounds more of a theoretical engineer
Stability systems? That's software innit?
scarble said:
I think there is a bit of a spectrum with engineers, I take any excuse to get grubby, even if I am cack-handed.
Have only ever caused injury during fiddling rather than through sub-standard fiddling though. When the mood takes you, sitting and methodically doing stuff can be almost spiritual.
The joy of knowing everything is just so.
Torques torqued, nipples greased, pressures pumped, job jobbed.
Meanwhile Chappers sounds more of atheoretical engineer big girly wuss
Stability systems? That's software innit?
Have only ever caused injury during fiddling rather than through sub-standard fiddling though. When the mood takes you, sitting and methodically doing stuff can be almost spiritual.
The joy of knowing everything is just so.
Torques torqued, nipples greased, pressures pumped, job jobbed.
Meanwhile Chappers sounds more of a
Stability systems? That's software innit?
scarble said:
Meanwhile Chappers sounds more of a theoretical engineer
Stability systems? That's software innit?
It's true. Think of a well trained driving-monkey with a data logger. I only touch anything mechanical when I'm not supposed to.Stability systems? That's software innit?
Took the bike back, left it with them for the weekend. No quibbles, he's going to get a new rear mech on there and see how it goes.
uncinqsix said:
scarble said:
No.
I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
I'm an engineer too, so I just can't bring myself to let somebody else what I can do myself. Nothing on a bike is very complicated, and even the special tools you need are often stupidly cheap. I'm also a proper engineer and despite despising bicyles I did as a youth fix my own and it's also really easy and if you couldn't figure out what was wrong with it just by meditating on it you're not a very good proper engineer and you should relish the opportunity to get your hands dirty and it only takes 5 minutes.
And as for complexity - try servicing a hope 6 pot calliper. You need fingers the size of a four year old to get the seals back in - hateful things to work on
For 90% of stuff though you are correct.
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