drezy
10-28-2003, 12:33 PM
Well, I'll start off by saying I was a little hard on bike mechanics and shops in general in a post a while back. Two things happened in the last week that totally changed my opinion.
First of all, a buddy of mine picked up my old Stinky from my insurance company for $650. (it was stolen from my house last year and since I already had it replaced, they sold it) He asked me if I'd help him tune it up since the guy that stole it obviously beat the shit out of it. So I pick it up, take it home, clean it up and start working on it. I peel about 50 stickers off it, use a whole can of degreaser on the drive train, get it lubed and shifting properly, set up the brakes, replace the bent up seat, and generally get it ready to ride. The only problem was the fork. I know sweet FA about forks so off to the shop I go.
Down at the shop, the wrench is busy fixing some kids rear deraileur and has 2 bikes still to work on. He tells me to bring the bike in anyways, so in I go with the bike and a case of Pil. He then proceeds to rip appart the fork and gives me a crash course on overhauling it. We find some small parts (no idea what they were called) bent or broken, and since they don't have them, I head over to another shop.
At the next shop, I get the parts I needed but I spot a set of Hoots knee pads I want.:thepimp: I rarely visit this shop so I'm pumped to find that the guy there gives me 15 bucks off on the knee pads. (and no I didn't ask for a deal)
Back at the first shop, the wrench finishes assembling the fork and writes up the bill. I'm a little scared cause of the time spent but when I get the bill, it's 10 bucks. :D
So, yeah, there's some good guys out there and thanks to some of the suggestions from bike mechanics on the board (Barak, Shaefdog and speedmetal to name a few) I was treated to some ubelievable service compliments of Adam at the Northern and Merle at McBike.
First of all, a buddy of mine picked up my old Stinky from my insurance company for $650. (it was stolen from my house last year and since I already had it replaced, they sold it) He asked me if I'd help him tune it up since the guy that stole it obviously beat the shit out of it. So I pick it up, take it home, clean it up and start working on it. I peel about 50 stickers off it, use a whole can of degreaser on the drive train, get it lubed and shifting properly, set up the brakes, replace the bent up seat, and generally get it ready to ride. The only problem was the fork. I know sweet FA about forks so off to the shop I go.
Down at the shop, the wrench is busy fixing some kids rear deraileur and has 2 bikes still to work on. He tells me to bring the bike in anyways, so in I go with the bike and a case of Pil. He then proceeds to rip appart the fork and gives me a crash course on overhauling it. We find some small parts (no idea what they were called) bent or broken, and since they don't have them, I head over to another shop.
At the next shop, I get the parts I needed but I spot a set of Hoots knee pads I want.:thepimp: I rarely visit this shop so I'm pumped to find that the guy there gives me 15 bucks off on the knee pads. (and no I didn't ask for a deal)
Back at the first shop, the wrench finishes assembling the fork and writes up the bill. I'm a little scared cause of the time spent but when I get the bill, it's 10 bucks. :D
So, yeah, there's some good guys out there and thanks to some of the suggestions from bike mechanics on the board (Barak, Shaefdog and speedmetal to name a few) I was treated to some ubelievable service compliments of Adam at the Northern and Merle at McBike.