>Go to lbs near my uni 20 min before my class
>2 soccer moms waiting for the mechanic
>one ask her tube to be changed
>takes 15min
>other needs her tyre to be changed
>takes 15min just to get the bike
>my turn
>was here yesterday to true my wheel
>when I came back it was still out of true
>guy spends 10 min to true it
>still is 1-2mm out of true
>mfw late for class
FUCK
THEM
>>896906
It's 2015, please just buy a new wheel.
>>896907
You mean true your own wheel...
>doesn't do his own maintenance
Gimme bucks for trueing stand baka sempai desu
>>896912
Zip tie truing
>>896906
>Go to local LBS
>ask to change the chain because it started to skip
>guy at the counter gives me some bullshit about how many bikes they already have to work on and whatnot
>the mechanic guy who showed up from thin air starts to find more bullshit on me bike to work on: wheels out of true; something in the cranks; steering bar doesn't work "like mint condition"; cables, grime and even the tyre pressure caught his attention
>knowing this would lead to a triple digit bill and a 2 week-long schedule I politely excuse myself
>hit a "fellow bike mechanic" booth not far from there
>everything I asked for (changing the fucking chain) done in 30 minutes and for pennies
>get back there within a month because the front wheel is truly out of true
>he fixes it straight away and doesn't even want no money
LBS' are bullshit.
>>896911
>doing his own maintenance
I ain't no fred.
>>896917
You sound like an idiot
>>896917
I can't respect anyone who takes their bike to a shop for repairs. Unless you don't have the time, if you seriously cannot do basic maintenance why are you even cycling?
>>896920
A bit harsh, don't you think?
>>896917
>chain started to skip
Dude, it's not even hard to fix stuff like that, it literally takes less than 2 minutes with the barrel adjuster or 5 with a chainbreaker. Not trying to brag here, but you would do yourself a huge favor if you learned how to do basic repairs like that. There are tons of step by step tutorials on youtube.
>>896922
Wheel truing at your LBS is acceptable though.
I only have one bad LBS story:
>encounter uncommon 15mm crank bolt for the first time, can't find a socket thin enough to remove it
>visit LBS to ask if they have a wrench for that or know where I can get an thin-walled socket
>"Crank bolts are 14mm, not 15mm"
>but this one is 15mm
>"There is no such thing as a 15mm crank bolt, good luck"
I wanted so, so badly (after I got the bolt off with a Craftsman socket) to go back and show the guy the bolt stamped 'Sugino 15mm' and to tell him he could keep it on the condition he shove it up his ass. But instead of wasting my time doing that I just decided I would never buy anything from that shop ever again.
>>896906
Sometimes with an old wheel that's seriously out of true there's a limit to how close to perfect you can get it, since there's a limit on how much you can loosen or tighten spokes without creating a wheel that's dramatically out of balance and very likely to suffer spoke breakage.
>>896917
You expected the shop to do their work as cheaply as possible, not to try to sell you anything else, AND to prioritize your bike before all the other people who had brought bikes in? And then they do a favor for you a month later and you call it bullshit?
>2015
>not having the time, skill or knowledge to repair your own bike
>trusting strangers to provide the utmost care and quality
you deserve everything that comes to you fgt
I ride more in the winter, and LBS always happy to see me in the lean times. Do most of it myself, but might want them to mess with hydros and gearhubs and bearings. I've had to return stuff there several times, but they are good about fixing it again for free so that's nice.
LBS are bullshit, they are full of douchebags who treat you like an idiot if you aren't part of their cyclist groups.
>projecting this hard
maybe
I like my LBS. I only go in when I need a part or a tool, because I do most of my maintenance on my own. They give a 15% discount for working in the neighborhood. Haven't had a bad experience in a year of going there.
>>896929
borderline. If he doesn't have a community bike shop maybe
>I'm bros with a few community/ second hand slanted lbs
>good chats and help, free fit advice and good access to parts
>a lot of the underlings at these shops know less than I do & my bikes are nicer than the bikes i see there
>another small shop slanted towards racing moves just up the road
>shop is really cool space
>espresso machine, clean, high ceiling, lots of light, cool race bikes everywhere
>mechs all race and seem like cool dudes
>I go in there talking about problems on my 90s bikes and asking for prices on everything
>they're friendly but the owner shows slight slight disdain
>He aint got a whole lot of time for some poor kid
>really i just want to be bros and talk about racing
>get them to build up my Son Delux wheel
>not the kind of thing they'd normally do, but they've got respect for it
>prices at the higher end, but work will be to a high standard, and the cost is insignificant compared to a potential wheel failure while touring
I love wrenching on my own bikes, I love the older tech that i ride, my workshop is pretty decent, and it would be absurdly uneconomical to take most of my problems to a lbs or buy parts there. However, my dream life would be as some wealthy professional. To find a high end local shop with guys i like in it, and never ask for the price. To have a brand new road bike and have them service it perfectly every few months. To never have anything performing below 100% and never have to spend time finessing anything. To have a pro fit that takes 4 hours with lasers and robots and shit and consult them every time my balls feel slightly aloof. For them to turn on the coffee machine when I walk through the door because their marginal existence depends on people like me. To wear their expensive minimalist shop kit, and get excited when the new model bikes come in, because why the fuck wouldn't I buy one.
You're all delusional if you don't wish for the rich fred life. Shit would b glorious.
>>897028
Shops don't exist to be your bros. They exist to make money. If you want to have bros, go to a non-profit co-op. Be warned half of them may be fixie faggots or show complete and utter disdain for anyone with a nice bike.
And your freddy delusions are right. They're able to maintain that high standard of service for paying customers because they are loaded with money and aren't trying to constantly get the lowest price.
>coworker complains about the brakes on his bike squealing
>he takes it to a shop
>it was just something stuck in one of the pads...
>he payed money for something trivial because he was too lazy to spend two seconds looking at his bike
>mfw
>mfwihnf
>>896917
So the wheel was out of true, and you didn't fix it early, and you just let it get worse before fixing it. I hate LBS but you're the kind of moron that deserves an LBS because at least they know whats good for you.
>>897037
lazy or shit stupid... do you work in fast food?
>>897042
He's a software developer...
>>896917
If you don't do your own maintenance then you are a fred you fucking moronic fucktard.
>>896944
>You expected the shop to do their work as cheaply as possible
It was the mechanic booth guy that did him a favor, not the LBS. He's a faggot but you misunderstood him, he's not AS big of a faggot as you thought.
>>897044
yeah that explains a lot.
My LBS is full of a bunch of passive aggressive millennial hipsters. They do the job right and cheap as fuck though, so whatever.
>caring about ANYTHING other than the quality of the work
Do you guys just have an unlimited supply of bike shops with awesome mechs?
Where I live 80% of them are shit and literally will fuck up the simplest task even when you give them specific instructions.
The good shop also has nice people as a bonus but if the douchey place had better mechs (which it doesn't, just more of a wait because they work on expensive bikes first), I'd go there in a heartbeat.
>not doing maintenance yourself
I'm still really struggling to understand this concept guys
The variance between different LBS is amazing, I've had top notch service and fucking horrible service. It's also incredibly obvious when someone is simply trying to rip you off as much as they can.
In Melbourne AUS:
>Take an older bicycle into the shop
>The mechs wrinkle their nose in disdain
>tell you that there is nothing they can do
>get wheels trued
>takes 2 whole days for them to do it every single time. I can never find someone who can just true the fucking wheel then and there.
>wheel is untrue 2 days after getting it back
>email the lbs asking what happened
>no response
>>897041
There's a LBS (in Korea) that loves pulling that shit on foreigners that don't know better.
He got pissed at me because I brought a tension gauge the last time a friend got his wheel trued there. Some spokes didn't register at all, others I was amazed the nipples didn't snap in half.
>>897081
Your rims are bent. They tried to tell you you should just buy new wheels but you insisted on getting them trued anyways. But because the rim is bent, when the rim is true, spoke tension is uneven, and high and even spoke tension is what protects your wheel from coming out of true.
>>896906
>Go to lbs near my uni 20 min before my class
It's your own fault tbqh. Expecting to get any task dependent on the labor of others done on time in under 20 minutes is a recipe for disaster. Hopefully you learned your lesson.
>>896911
I do everything except the BB. Fuck that. Plus I have to buy specialized tools to remove both the cranks and bearings.
>>897093
The specialized tools are almost the same as the labor costs.
>>897091
Nope. Although I did actually bend my rim recently by getting hit by a car.
>>897096
This. Except for stuff like chasing and facing, reaming, maybe cutting steer tubes, it's usually just as cheap to buy a tool and do it yourself.
>>896917
>local lbs
Is there a bike maintenance course that comes with a qualification? online or otherwise
>>897093
why not the BB?
>>896917
If you had put your PIN number into an ATM machine you might have been able to afford what the local LBS asked.
>>897085
>He got pissed at me because I brought a tension gauge the last time a friend got his wheel trued there
that's both awesome and autism
did you and mr.samsung(considering we weren't talking about best korea) had a good fite?
we literally get 3 cutomers a week asking how to work a presta valve (dunlop is the standard here in windmillland)
aslo about 40% of the threaded bit the captive knurled but is on is bend,because ppl have ham fists and hotdog fingers
>>897143
Local LBS shops never do anything as ASAP as possible for most repairs, especially for people with BSO shaped objects and old OTS's.
>>897104
Lol
>>897098
>nope but actually yeah
This is why you sound like a worthless cunt.
>>897104
Atm machine
>>896917
He probably pointed those things out because you take shit care of your bike and it was in fucking awful condition
>>896981
Look guys, we found the autistic
>>897153
No, he kept saying the wheel was fine while simultaneously cussing me out in Korean. Another friend in the group who speaks it fluently jumped in and got in a shouting match that didn't get anywhere.
A few of us in the .mil bike club chipped in on a truing stand, so nobody from the base goes there for maintenance any more.
>>897081
thats because your old piece of shit isnt worth fixing its so old and you would be better off just listening to their advice and getting something that actually has widely available parts and isnt rusted and worn to shit
>>897049
>he's not AS big of a faggot as you thought
I really appreciate this.
>>896944
You owe it both to yourself and to that bike mechanic to cure him of his ignorance. Maybe even to cuss him out on his obscene lack of self-awareness regarding the prevalence of specialized or one-off parts in the industry he purports to represent. If not for yourself, then at least for the future customers who would have to put up with this guy's bullshit.
