Hooray for the LBS!

[swee'pea99]

Have to say I'm not an LBS chap meself - I do all my own work, and get all me bits off ebay - but my daughter came home last night and...well, I'll let her take up the story...

"So something went wrong with my rear gears, and I just couldn't change up. So I found my way to the nearest bike shop and they took a look and said 'oh, you've lost a spring'. Then they spent ten minutes fiddling around with various springs, but they couldn't find one to fit. (This was an ancient Huret mech - probably 50 years if it was a day.) So then they tried three different old rear mechs they had lying around, before finding one that would fit properly (her bike is an old Le Jeune, and just about everything about it is non-standard). Then when they'd fitted it and adjusted it and got it running sweetly, they decided that the cable was a bit sticky, so they replaced that with a new one, then they did the tweaking & adjusting again, and got it running just right. And I'm just standing there wondering how much all this is going to cost me. And they finished, and I said "So, what's the damage?" And they said, 'Oh, call it a tenner.'"

Here's to friendly mechs taking pity on a stranded young lass!

 

[Paulus]

Have to say I'm not an LBS chap meself - I do all my own work, and get all me bits off ebay - but my daughter came home last night and...well, I'll let her take up the story...

"So something went wrong with my rear gears, and I just couldn't change up. So I found my way to the nearest bike shop and they took a look and said 'oh, you've lost a spring'. Then they spent ten minutes fiddling around with various springs, but they couldn't find one to fit. (This was an ancient Huret mech - probably 50 years if it was a day.) So then they tried three different old rear mechs they had lying around, before finding one that would fit properly (her bike is an old Le Jeune, and just about everything about it is non-standard). Then when they'd fitted it and adjusted it and got it running sweetly, they decided that the cable was a bit sticky, so they replaced that with a new one, then they did the tweaking & adjusting again, and got it running just right. And I'm just standing there wondering how much all this is going to cost me. And they finished, and I said "So, what's the damage?" And they said, 'Oh, call it a tenner.'"

Here's to friendly mechs taking pity on a stranded young lass!

Might be worth giving this LBS a shout out on here. They sound a good bunch.

 

[ianrauk]

Name the shop

 

[swee'pea99]

Apparently it was this bunch - never used them meself, but any bike shop whose website starts off with

looks like my kinda place.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Apparently it was this bunch - never used them meself, but any bike shop whose website starts off with

View attachment 596367

looks like my kinda place.

Ive been using them for years. Normally they are really really good unless you have one of their trainee teams working on your bike then its best to avoid the place (and im not just saying it. they bodged a crankset swap on my triban and i had to go back there multiple times to get it sorted)


::EDIT::

I originally said 'Branches' as i thought they had more than one (I think they had another two) but it looks like theyve closed the other venues.

 

[figbat]

I like this LBS!

Good News For Leavers

My Dear Leavers
We know that all you want is Brexit, so in recognition of this we at Micycle have decided to give you a full WTO Brexit today the very first company in the UK to do this.
On all your final bills at Micycle we will add 28% WTO tariff (please don't let the remoaners know this, as we do not want them getting something they have done little to deserve). All bills can of course be paid for in Euros
Obviously we will only work on your bike once we have completed the remoaners bikes.
Also we would like to point out that there are many bikes shops in the EU that would most likely be able to work on your bike more quickly, probably far cheaper and no doubt speak English better than we do, so no communication problems from their side.
appy days we will ave our sovereignty back!
LONG LIVE THE EU
Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings are total Knobs

 

[Drago]

Its a bit juvenile to alienate potentially 52% of your clientele in one fell swoop.

 

[swee'pea99]

Its a bit juvenile to alienate potentially 52% of your clientele in one fell swoop.

Second highest Remain-voting constituency in the country. They know their customers

 

[Tom...]

What a bizarre website

 

[Cycleops]

Repairing bikes and politicing at the same time. They should be on CC.

 

[Drago]

Its just needless. They're there to make money, and anything that detracts from that is to be avoided, particularly if there is nothing to be gained.

I didn't vote (yes, thats me, the one person that really wasn't bothered either way) but if I saw a retailer trotting that out id think to myself, "smug tw@t" and go elsewhere.

I want to go shopping to buy stuff, not to be subjected to politcal whinging. If I wanted that I could read the Guardian or watch Fox News without leaving the house.

 

[Tom...]

Its just needless. They're there to make money, and anything that detracts from that is to be avoided, particularly if there is nothing to be gained.

I didn't vote (yes, thats me, the one person that really wasn't bothered either way) but if I saw a retailer trotting that out id think to myself, "smug tw@t" and go elsewhere.

I want to go shopping to buy stuff, not to be subjected to politcal whinging. If I wanted that I could read the Guardian or watch Fox News without leaving the house.

It's relentless too, dotted all around the website

 

[Mark Grant]

I needed to remove a Maillard 5 speed block from a wheel but don't have the tool so I went to a local bike shop, Burts in Hampton Hill to see if they could remove it for me as they have been there for as long as I can remember and would likely have one.
Not only did the chap remove the freewheel but gave me one of his spare tools too!