Bike Shops

[CharleyFarley]

There are bike shops and shops that pretend to be bike shops.

"You could listen to female customers instead of standing over them in a threatening manner. You could except your errors instead of attacking the customer's integrity. You could give refunds instead of insisting you are right. After wasting 3 trips to your little shop, I was actually able to get my tire fixed at a reputable company in Clearwater, who listens to customers and puts the right size tubes on tires. I still want my refund you refused in your error."

That was a recent review of a bike shop I first used to frequent, but quit three years ago.

When I got into cycling around five years ago I found a local bike shop. They were very friendly and eager to serve (as long as you're buying a new bike from them). Over the next two years I bought three new bikes from them. And during that time they performed five botched jobs on my bikes, some of which I fixed, myself. I sent a PM to the owner on his Facebook page and gently told him of just one problem. He wrote back with a stupid excuse that had nothing to do with what I said.

I bought a load of accessories for the bikes, such as fenders, rechargeable light, two tire pumps, four new tires and tubes, rear carrier, two new wheels for one of the new bikes, and a lot of tools and tool bags for two bikes.

Their mechanic (if mechanic is the right word) had a tendency to snap at customers for no reason. He snapped at me on two occasions and I let it go. That second time finished me with that business. I had a pair of special brake pads on order and after a three-months wait, I was cycling by the shop and dropped in to ask if there was any news. The 'mechanic' spun around and walked away from me, throwing his hand in the air, and snapping, "We'll call you when they come in!" He then disappeared into the workshop, leaving me stunned. That's when I decided if he snaps at me ever again, I will rip him a new ass. So I waited from February until October for the brake pads, and nobody ever called. I had not been nasty to anyone, and never gave them any trouble, so I have no idea what got into him.

One day, I received a FB notice that somebody had added a review of the business so I took a look at it. It was right next to a good review I had left in the beginning, and had forgotten. A woman posted a wonderful review. It annoyed me that my review still spoke well of them so I deleted it. A few weeks later, I checked their FB page, again, and saw the woman had deleted her review, too. I wonder why!

I found another Specialized dealer (my fat bike is made by Specialized, and I needed parts for it). What an amazing contrast between my old bike shop and the new place. Much bigger, brighter, huge selection of bikes and accessories, and a parts and repairs department second to none. And they were very friendly. I recently bought my new cruiser there. And they have two shops. These people know how to run a bike business! And because of the virus problem I wondered how they were faring. They meet customers at the door and disinfect their bikes that they brought in for repair or service. (Bike shops are considered an essential service.)

Anyway, I'm glad the irate lady found the other bike shop. Why I stayed with the pretend bike shop for so long, only heaven knows.

[JohnV]

I'm also in Florida, just outside of New Tampa. I have several bike shops in my area but I choose to go to one in Wesley Chapel. It's more tailored to triathletes but they sell other bikes as well. I think that if every bike shop would be like this one, no one would ever complain about a bike shop again. Besides having the friendliest sales people of any bike shop I've been to, their service and support is phenomenal. There have two mechanics; the manager (UCI certified and one other mechanic that is Shamano certified). An example of how they operate:

I have two Colnago road bikes and they happen to be one of three dealers in the county that sells them, but they are not a stocking dealer. My newer Colnago is a 2017 model that debuted in 2016 at InterBike. The model was to be available in October of 2016. When October came around, I found out, through the bike shop, that they could only be ordered as they wouldn't go into production until January of 2017. Not wanting to order one sight unseen, I opted to wait until I could actually see one. There is a stocking dealer in Orlando that I was going to check out when the bikes became available. One day, in November, I get a phone call from the bike shop manager wanting me to come to the shop. When I get there, he brings out one of the CRS models that were displayed at InterBike. He had called the sales rep to see if he had one lying around somewhere and had it shipped to his shop to show me the bike. The one he had wasn't my size nor was it in the color that I wanted but still, there it was. The next day, I brought in my bike and we took measurements so we could determine which size to order. My old bike has an endurance frame and this one has a racing frame. He kept all the measurements and when my bike finally came in (April of 2017), he used those measurements when setting up my new bike to include exchanging the shorter stem on the new bike with one that would give me the correct reach. I also purchased an ISM saddle and a Hawk Racing bottom bracket for the new bike prior to its arrival. He installed both at no charge when he was setting up the bike.

The day I went to pick up my bike, I brought my wheelset with me because I had better wheels on my old bike. My old bike is a 10 speed, the new one is an 11 speed. I had my tools in the van to swap out the cassettes, which I was going to do in the parking lot. When I told him I was swapping the wheels, he had me bring them in and swapped them out for me, again at no charge.

My wife rides a recumbent trike. I replaced the bottom bracket on it with one that has ceramic bearings. However, the new BB was just a bit too long as they didn't make the size she needed with ceramic bearings. I made several attempts to adjust the front derailleur but just couldn't get it quite right. We took it down to the shop and picked it up the next day. She did not buy the trike from them and still, they didn't charge her for the adjustment.

We do all of our cycling purchases from them even if they have to order the item(s). The only exception is items that they can't get from their distributors. They are higher on some items than if I ordered online but for the service I get from them and all the freebees they have given us, it's well worth it to me.

[CharleyFarley]

(05-07-2020, 01:18 PM)JohnV Wrote:  ... One day, in November, I get a phone call from the bike shop manager wanting me to come to the shop. When I get there, he brings out one of the CRS models that were displayed at InterBike. He had called the sales rep to see if he had one lying around somewhere and had it shipped to his shop to show me the bike. The one he had wasn't my size nor was it in the color that I wanted but still, there it was. The next day, I brought in my bike and we took measurements so we could determine which size to order. My old bike has an endurance frame and this one has a racing frame. He kept all the measurements and when my bike finally came in (April of 2017), he used those measurements when setting up my new bike to include exchanging the shorter stem on the new bike with one that would give me the correct reach. I also purchased an ISM saddle and a Hawk Racing bottom bracket for the new bike prior to its arrival. He installed both at no charge when he was setting up the bike.

The day I went to pick up my bike, I brought my wheelset with me because I had better wheels on my old bike. My old bike is a 10 speed, the new one is an 11 speed. I had my tools in the van to swap out the cassettes, which I was going to do in the parking lot. When I told him I was swapping the wheels, he had me bring them in and swapped them out for me, again at no charge.

My wife rides a recumbent trike. I replaced the bottom bracket on it with one that has ceramic bearings. However, the new BB was just a bit too long as they didn't make the size she needed with ceramic bearings. I made several attempts to adjust the front derailleur but just couldn't get it quite right. We took it down to the shop and picked it up the next day. She did not buy the trike from them and still, they didn't charge her for the adjustment.

We do all of our cycling purchases from them even if they have to order the item(s). The only exception is items that they can't get from their distributors. They are higher on some items than if I ordered online but for the service I get from them and all the freebees they have given us, it's well worth it to me.

Sounds like a great bike shop, John! It's nice to have confidence in them.

When I first got back into cycling, five years ago, I didn't know which way to go with a bike. I read about bike shops, online, and to me they were 'gods.' So when my first LBS botched a job, I took it in my stride and figured that we all make mistakes. I put three of the botched jobs right, myself, and wrote to the shop owner. His response showed me that he doesn't really know bikes, and relies on his mechanic. But his mechanic was full of BS. When the gears on the new cruiser I bought from them started playing up at a 1,000 miles, he said I was lucky to get a thousand out of the chain because they're only good for eight-hundred miles. I believed him because I didn't know any better.

When I wrote to the owner I carefully suggested he check every bike that comes in for repair, and checks it when it goes out. He doesn't have a clue about what leaves his shop. Example. I bought a new Sun fat bike from them. It had a hub gear but I noticed it had a lug for a derailleur, so I asked them if it was possible to customize it. He said it is, so I had them install the derailleur for another $100. When they called to come and pick it up, I didn't test ride it outside the store, but I should have. When I got it home and tried it, the lowest gear was like fourth. They assumed the chainring was matched to the derailleur, and it wasn't. It took several weeks for them to get the right size chainring. I would have thought a mechanic would at least have given the bike a test ride. And it wasn't a very good custom job, either. They put an 8-speed freewheel on it, and an 8-speed shifter, but set it up so that position 2 on the shifter, put the chain on the smallest cog. This was because the largest cog couldn't be used as the chain rubbed against the tire. Shifter position 8 then put the chain on the 2nd gear cog. I contacted the Sun bike maker about the problem and they said the bike wasn't meant to have a derailleur even though it had a lug for one. So, eventually, I traded that and the cruiser in for a Specialized fat bike with a factory derailleur.

Around the 5,000 mile mark on the Specialized fat bike, it needed a new headset, so I found the better bike shop who is also a Specialized dealer. They got the bearings for me and I installed them. It wasn't until I got involved with this quality bike shop that I saw the difference. Some bike shops are a lot better than others.

[JohnV]

Finding a good bike shop is not as easy as it sounds. I just happen to luck out with this one. The owners are competitive cyclists as is the manager. One year the owners did a cross state ride that I do on an annual basis. After doing the ride, they give anyone that's done this ride a 10% discount on almost everything in the store and sometimes on special order items. I met the owners before they purchased the shop from the original owners and they are great people.

I put a lot of miles on my bikes, normally 8,000 to 12,000 miles/year. When I had them put the Hawk Racing bottom bracket on the new bike, I found out that it was a press fit BB. Never having a press fit BB before, I did some research on them and found that almost all of them start to creak after about 2,000 miles. For most riders that's around one to two years. For me, that was 2 months of riding. Sure enough it started creaking just after the bike was two months old. Since the bike was still under warranty and I didn't have a bearing press and removal tool at the time, I took it to the shop for them to fix. After several attempts we couldn't get the creaking out of the BB so I bought a Wheels Mfg thread together replacement for it. The bearings weren't nearly as good as the Hawk but it eliminated the creaking made from the plastic press fit cups. The price of the two BBs were about the same so he took the Hawk and sent it back to them as a warranty item. Since I had purchased the Wheels BB from them, he applied the price of the Hawk to my account and it basically paid for the Wheels BB. Just another nice thing this shop did for me.

[CharleyFarley]

(05-07-2020, 02:16 PM)JohnV Wrote:  .... I put a lot of miles on my bikes, normally 8,000 to 12,000 miles/year. When I had them put the Hawk Racing bottom bracket on the new bike, I found out that it was a press fit BB. Never having a press fit BB before, I did some research on them and found that almost all of them start to creak after about 2,000 miles. For most riders that's around one to two years. For me, that was 2 months of riding. Sure enough it started creaking just after the bike was two months old. Since the bike was still under warranty and I didn't have a bearing press and removal tool at the time, I took it to the shop for them to fix. After several attempts we couldn't get the creaking out of the BB so I bought a Wheels Mfg thread together replacement for it. The bearings weren't nearly as good as the Hawk but it eliminated the creaking made from the plastic press fit cups. The price of the two BBs were about the same so he took the Hawk and sent it back to them as a warranty item. Since I had purchased the Wheels BB from them, he applied the price of the Hawk to my account and it basically paid for the Wheels BB. Just another nice thing this shop did for me.

That's a LBS worth sticking with!

I have confidence in the new LBS I found, but something happened which surprised me about them. A neighbor has a trike with 20" wheels. Recently, the freewheel failed. A neighbor took a look at it and decided it was beyond him. So she brought it to me, knowing I like to work on bikes. Never having worked on a trike, before I was hesitant about taking that axle apart because it has a brake on it, too. I saw the freewheel but hadn't seen one like it before so I looked on the Internet and couldn't find anything to match it. I found adapters and had no idea what they were used for. So I took the trike to my LBS. They disinfected it, took it inside (no customers are allowed in the shop because of the virus) to check it out, then brought it back out to me and said they can't fix it. That puzzled me but I didn't ask why. They have been in business over 40 years and have two shops, but can't fix a trike freewheel? He also said a special extractor tool is needed to remove the axle. I guess they didn't have one.

I called another bike shop. They are very small and don't have much room to store a trike, and they said they have thirty bikes for repair, and that I should call back in a week. I figured that in another week they may have another thirty bikes for repair. The lady who owns the trike was very disappointed, so I said I'll see what I can do. When I took it apart. I found that just putting a block of wood on the end of the axle and lightly tapping it with a hammer was all it needed to get it out. In the meanwhile I realized that the adapter is what a regular freewheel mounts on to fix it to the axle, so I used an angle grinder to cut the old freewheel off, and applied some heat to remove what was left of the old freewheel. This left me with the adapter. I then ran to the nearest bike shop, got a new freewheel and put the lady's bike back together. Success! This left me wondering why the good LBS said they can't do the job. I'd guess they just didn't want to. But it also made me wonder about the guy who said it needs a special axle extractor.

Back to the creaking BB. The cartridge BB on my Specialized Fatboy began to creak a little bit when I was about ten miles from home. It was embarrassing as it got worse while trying to get home. It actually sounded like it was talking. I ride sidewalks, so as I passed people waiting at bus stops, I'd stop pedaling and just cruise by them. The BB had 2,000 miles on it. It was a screw-in type so I removed it, stuffed some grease into it and have had no more problems since then. It now has over 8,000 miles on it.

It seems that the BB makers don't put enough grease in them at the factory, if the Hawk Racing BB is notorious for creaking. Are they sealed so you can't stuff some grease into them? My Specialized BB had seals in the ends but they could be removed, and I was surprised that I cured the problem. Definitely a lack of grease!

[JohnV]

Since you mentioned Clearwater in your first post, I will assume that you are in Pinellas County. If so, there is a shop in the Trinity area, Bent Revolutions, that specializes in recumbent bikes and trikes. Many of the trikes do require special tools to work on them that normal bike shops don't have. Other than derailleur adjustments, my shop won't work on trikes that have drum or band brakes or other special manufacturer specific items. One reason is that trikes need a special rack to work on them properly and most shops don't have them. It's hard to work on a trike when it's sitting on the ground. While I do most of my own wrenching, we take my wife's ICE trike to the above shop for anything that I don't have a tool for. You may want to have your friend look into that shop. They're located off of SR54.

As for the BB creaking, it's something inherent with most press fit systems. Everyone I know that has a press fit BB has had some kind of issue with them in one form or another. The problem is that the bearings are pressed in plastic cups and the cups are then pressed into the BB shell. After around 2,000 miles, the plastic cups seem to loosen in the shells and start to creak. Often times, pulling the cups out and resealing them seems to stop the creaking but usually it doesn't last for long. The problem is in the design. There's really nothing to keep the press fit cups from becoming loose. The one's I have now are aluminum and they thread together keeping the BB tight in the shell. No movement of the cups thus no creaking noises. I have BSA style BB on my other road bike and are from Hawk Racing. They thread directly into the BB shell and don't creak or squeak and never have. So if you buy a bike with a press fit BB, expect to hear some kind of noise from them when you get into the 2,000 mile range. Press fit bearings are usually found on high end road and mountain bikes so if you don't intend on buying one, you're good to go.

The one thing I really love about the Wheels Mfg BB, beside the fact that they screw together, is that they are made of aluminum and not plastic. If bearings go out on a press fit, in most cases, you have to replace the entire BB. With mine, I only have to replace the bearings. The original bearings that came with my BB from Wheels Mfg were steel but I have since replaced the bearings with Enduro ceramic bearings at way less than what a complete BB with ceramic bearings would cost.

[CharleyFarley]

(05-09-2020, 09:29 AM)JohnV Wrote:  Since you mentioned Clearwater in your first post, I will assume that you are in Pinellas County. If so, there is a shop in the Trinity area, Bent Revolutions, that specializes in recumbent bikes and trikes. Many of the trikes do require special tools to work on them that normal bike shops don't have. Other than derailleur adjustments, my shop won't work on trikes that have drum or band brakes or other special manufacturer specific items. One reason is that trikes need a special rack to work on them properly and most shops don't have them. It's hard to work on a trike when it's sitting on the ground. While I do most of my own wrenching, we take my wife's ICE trike to the above shop for anything that I don't have a tool for. You may want to have your friend look into that shop. They're located off of SR54.

Yes, I'm in Pinellas county, and Trinity is a 30-miles drive. My friend is elderly, doesn't drive and has no way to transport her trike there. It won't fit in my SUV unless I remove the front wheel. A neighbor took the trike to Clearwater in his pickup truck. Because of the social distancing rules, I drove my own car and he followed because he didn't know the area. When we got there he figured I wouldn't need him anymore, so he left and went back home. I wheeled the trike around the back of the shop and that's when they took it inside, brought it back out and said they can't do it. So now I was left with no way to get the trike back home. I drove home and my neighbor drove back to get it.

I turned the trike upside-down and it was easy to work on. I knelt on a kneeling pad to work on it but I can understand why a bike shop won't work like that if they are dealing with trikes all day long. They're definitely not as easy to work on as a bike. Although her trike is an adult one. perhaps the larger ones require special tools.

It has a band brake, and I don't see why a bike shop wouldn't work on a trike with one. Hopefully, her now repaired trike will last her for the remainder of her days, and I may never have to deal with another one. If I did have to replace another freewheel, I'd know what I'm dealing with instead of shooting in the dark as I did the first time. I'd order both the freewheel and adapter online, then the job would take not much more than an hour to swap it out.