Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => DIY => Skip Bike and Bodge It => Topic started by: Torslanda on 19 July, 2018, 10:13:39 pm
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AFAIK we don't have a thread for random stuff from the day to day challenges of life in the workshop.
Random, off the wall, downright bizarre...? Stick it here!
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AFAIK we don't have a thread for random stuff from the day to day challenges of life in the workshop.
Random, off the wall, downright bizarre...? Stick it here!
This could be a long one......
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Today was a cracker. Chap brings in a Carrera cross bike with headset problems.
The bottom bearing had rusted and collapsed so he'd bought a new headset and set about it himself. Unfortunately something must have got lost in translation because he'd been supplied with a stock external 11/8" instead of a semi-integrated unit. Undeterred he'd fitted it anyway! I didn't know that a steel a-head set would fit, whole, inside a semi-integrated headtube. I do now. Took some bloody persuading to get out, too!
I'm used to having to press headset cups in but once I'd got the wrong ones out the correct parts fitted like a dick in a bucket. Thank goodness for a product called Quiksteel - speeling czars look away now - a bit like Sugru, epoxy putty. Squidge it to activate the 2 pack and it sets in minutes. Put a bead around each cup and clamp them into the headtube. Clean off the excess and wait 10 minutes, the cups are firmly in place. The downside is you'll never get them out again but it's better than throwing the frame away.
Drama over and the bike lives again.
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Last Friday a chap rang the shop and said he thought there was something wrong with his bike as it "wouldn't go" - OK bring it in and I'll see what we can do.
Half an hour later he appears with an electric MTB with the rear mech so bent and mangled that it was poking through the spokes of the rear wheel - yep, that's what's stopping it going. Part was bottom of the range Shimano which I don't stock - quick check and Halfords had one - sent him there to buy one and bring it back on Saturday, in the meantime I performed a bit of surgery on the gear hanger to get it back approaching straight.
Managed to refit the new mech and get it changing - sort of - as the freewheel (not cassette) was wobbling on the axle - nothing "wrong" with it just a crap component. Amazingly the wheel itself was undamaged.
Anyway all's well that ends well and the chap was delighted to be "back on the really tough trails" (his words)
The bike was an almost new Halfords Coyote electric MTB that cost a whole £700.
Rob
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Anyway all's well that ends well and the chap was delighted to be "back on the really tough trails" (his words)
It's important to keep a straight face with that sort of thing. I mean, the trail in question probably had an NCN warning sign and everything, and it was clearly too much for the rear mech...
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Anyway all's well that ends well and the chap was delighted to be "back on the really tough trails" (his words)
It's important to keep a straight face with that sort of thing. I mean, the trail in question probably had an NCN warning sign and everything, and it was clearly too much for the rear mech...
Exactly - I think it might have been part of NCN Route 5 where it ventures off-road near Traitors Ford, S of Stratford.
Rob
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.. and today:
Bloke rings up, very thick Irish accent – “Can I change the tyres on my MTB for something suitable for the road?”
Me : “Yes, no problem – do you know what size the wheels are?”
Bloke : “They’re quite big”
…. really did happen – he’s now coming in “with the wheels on the bike” to see what I have.
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He didn't show up, yet, but I was half-expecting a fat-bike!
Rob
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Anyone else keep getting asked about these 'new type valves'? You know, the presta?
Only been around for the last century or so . . .
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Just to prove it doesn't always go to plan I had a failure today.
A chap brouht me a Cube Attain, 28mm Marathons, disc brakes. Could I fit mudguards? Sure. No problem. What could possibly go wrong . . . ?
First off there are no mudguard eyes. There are M5 threaded holes in the frame but they face backwards from the dropouts, front & rear. I sourced some Trek Domane(?) fittings and, apart from a total lack of a bridge - nowhere to fix one to - the back was a doddle.
Come to the front and there's no hole in the crown but there's an M5 boss in the bottom of the steerer. Fit the bosses at the dropout and see how the guard lines up at the crown. I needed to drill the rivets out of the crown fastening. First one went ok but the second, well, the drillbit picked up and despite the bracket being trapped in the vice, suddenly the guard is in two pieces. Cue bad swears.
Customer says it's OK, he only wanted a rear one anyway. :-[ No prizes for 2nd best...
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Anyone else keep getting asked about these 'new type valves'? You know, the presta?
Only been around for the last century or so . . .
Yep - and more so the guy that came back with the track pump he'd bought to say it didn't work ..... I took the pump, removed the valve cap from a bike in the shop, undid the screw ...... and got an instant "Ah, I see . . . ."
Rob
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I've got a Cube Attain GTC. Cube made specific mudguards for it, but then stopped (not sure if they were recalled) and they became unobtanium ::-). I ended up with the Crud raceblade things, but they aren't brilliant.
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Yep. That's what he had removed after putting up with chuff/scrape/chuff/scrape/chuff for 6 months. Possibly the most aptly named product . . .
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Anyone else keep getting asked about these 'new type valves'? You know, the presta?
Only been around for the last century or so . . .
Yep - and more so the guy that came back with the track pump he'd bought to say it didn't work ..... I took the pump, removed the valve cap from a bike in the shop, undid the screw ...... and got an instant "Ah, I see . . . ."
Rob
Yup, yup & yup. One of the disadvantages of working for store with a very generous return policy is customers would frequently return gear that they hadn't clued how to use. Fortunately the customer service team would normally send them back to the sales department for education. The topeak pumps with the reversible bits to swap between presta & schrader valves were always fun too.
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I broke a Pedros tyre lever yesterday! :o
I was trying to get a tyre (Schwalbe Durano) off a Roval wheel I bought. I eventually got it off (using 3 other levers I had), but failed to get the new Vittoria Corsa Speed on, so I had to take it to a bike shop. The guy behind the counter had a go and failed (which made me feel a whole load better), so it had to be booked in.
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Most of the fork crowns I need to recut are chromed. This is not good for the cutter.
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**Dickhead Alert**
"I be got one of them electric bikes, I'm never having another!"
What's wrong with it?
"Keep having to charge the battery"
Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out . . .
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<Pissed off customer mode ON>"Every time I bring my bike in here, you tell me I need a new chain and cassette"<Pissed off customer mode OFF>
<Slowly loosing patience mechanic mode ON> "And every time you bring your bike in here we tell you that if you clean the accumulated grinding paste skog off your drive train on a regular basis, you won't keepp knackering your chain and cassette"<Slowly loosing patience mechanic mode OFF>
Tors, whats the part number for the Park Tools Cluebat?
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CB-24 isn't it? ;D
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Tors, whats the part number for the Park Tools Cluebat?
Can't afford one so I never looked it up!
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CB-24 isn't it? ;D
Cheap Chinese knockoff is LART-666.
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Thank goodness for a product called Quiksteel -
Don't know what it cost you, but Devcon has been around for at least 40 years, similar stuff.
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About 9.99 eighteen months ago...
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Thank goodness for a product called Quiksteel -
Don't know what it cost you, but Devcon has been around for at least 40 years, similar stuff.
IRTA "Devon" AISMS.
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**Dickhead Alert**
"I be got one of them electric bikes, I'm never having another!"
What's wrong with it?
"Keep having to charge the battery"
Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out . . .
An ex had an aunt who got herself a mobile phone.
She wondered why it never rang.
She kept it switched off to save the battery.
I was the person who pointed out that the two things were related.
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I may have told this story before.
Me. I tried calling you but your phone was switched off (again)
Mrs. B. Well, I didn't need to call anyone.
Me. But I needed to call you!
Mrs. B. So how was I supposed to know that?
What I didn't say. Oh yes. How silly of me.
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**Dickhead Alert**
"I be got one of them electric bikes, I'm never having another!"
What's wrong with it?
"Keep having to charge the battery"
Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out . . .
An ex had an aunt who got herself a mobile phone.
She wondered why it never rang.
She kept it switched off to save the battery.
I was the person who pointed out that the two things were related.
Reckon you probably dodged a bullet, matey . . .
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**Dickhead Alert** Take II . . .
'How much is a chain, mate?' Cue the usual questions - I won't bore you with them . . .
Turns out to be a 'dale of some description and a chain isn't going to solve anything. The reason the chain 'slips' is the big chainring is almost toothless, the chain is so worn that it actually hangs off below the 3 o'clock position - real daylight showing. Needs a chain, chainring & cassette. So I priced it all and get
'It's alright, mate. I'll leave it.' WTF does that even mean...?
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'It's alright, mate. I'll leave it.' WTF does that even mean...?
"It's alright mate, I'll leave it in the shed."?
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'It's alright, mate. I'll leave it.' WTF does that even mean...?
"It's alright mate, I'll ride it until it stops".
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...And then buy a new one in
the Evans closing down sale Halfrauds Tescos.
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"There are two essential rules of management. One: The customer is always right. Two: They must be punished for their arrogance!" (http://assets.amuniversal.com/733686e06d6301301d80001dd8b71c47)
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I think you need to explain...