Sheffield_Tiger
Guru
(Or Slapdash Work even)
Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm old fashioned in taking a pride in my work - perhaps that's an outdated concept and the in thing is just to do any old job and not bother whether it's done properly.
It's not about creeping to the boss, it's just about doing something properly and getting satisfaction from that (since wage packets often bring less satisfaction)
When I bought a Virtuoso from Halfords, I wasn't all that surprised. The chain came off in the car park...then came off at the chainset and half a mile down the road. When i got it home I set the bike up again and got it right. No way was I taking it back, especially after the rear rack they had fitted had one mounting bolt not even done up, with 2 or 3 threads showing. Why bother trying to get incompetents to put it right when it's much easier and painless to do it myself
I was disappointed tonight however.
After buying a Streetfinder from EBC a couple of weeks ago - I had thought of EBC as more of a bike shop than Halfords. As soon as I got it home I adjusted the brakes as they were, in my opinion (as a time served ex cycle technician with a partial cytech certificate - I changed trades before completing all sections) too slack. I have also toed them in to stop the awful squealing.
The gears were not quite right - nearly there - now, that's not so bad, I've done plenty of time in the lower end of bike shops too, with TY15 kit that is harder to get spot on - the higher end stuff is easier to get right - and I don't expect top performance from cheap pressed steel mechs.
What peed me off today however was, whilst re-fitting the front wheel after fixing a flat (swapping the cheap stock tyres to the narrower Conti Touring Plus in the process) I felt a little play - too much to be the brakes.
I just undid the top threadset locknut with my finger and thumb.
Now I have to wait until its light to try to find my old threadset spanner that is in a toolbox somewhere....
Not good enough. I know its a cheap bike but it still should be assembled properly. It's quite a` nice bike for a cheapie - it would be a shame for someone to be put off after buying a cheap machine to try cycling out because "bikes are crap they are always falling apart". And a shame if EBC got the same name as Halfords for poor workmanship.
Thing is...when I was in the workshop, if a bike that I sent out came back, I'd consider it a failure on my part. I tried to take as much care to get the cheapest, crappiest gears and brakes to be as good as they possibly could be. And just because a bike came part-assembled, I'd still PDI it fully.
I do know they checked the crank arm bolts though...that is evident from the lack of the dust caps where they forgot to replace them.....
Yes, I know, I feel like I am about to say "I DON'T BELIEEEVE IT!" but...well...
At least I intend to chance the setup of the bike anyway so it's not such a big deal for me....but it might be for someone who doesn't know that play in a headset is not normal - and who can't set up brakes and gears
Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm old fashioned in taking a pride in my work - perhaps that's an outdated concept and the in thing is just to do any old job and not bother whether it's done properly.
It's not about creeping to the boss, it's just about doing something properly and getting satisfaction from that (since wage packets often bring less satisfaction)
When I bought a Virtuoso from Halfords, I wasn't all that surprised. The chain came off in the car park...then came off at the chainset and half a mile down the road. When i got it home I set the bike up again and got it right. No way was I taking it back, especially after the rear rack they had fitted had one mounting bolt not even done up, with 2 or 3 threads showing. Why bother trying to get incompetents to put it right when it's much easier and painless to do it myself
I was disappointed tonight however.
After buying a Streetfinder from EBC a couple of weeks ago - I had thought of EBC as more of a bike shop than Halfords. As soon as I got it home I adjusted the brakes as they were, in my opinion (as a time served ex cycle technician with a partial cytech certificate - I changed trades before completing all sections) too slack. I have also toed them in to stop the awful squealing.
The gears were not quite right - nearly there - now, that's not so bad, I've done plenty of time in the lower end of bike shops too, with TY15 kit that is harder to get spot on - the higher end stuff is easier to get right - and I don't expect top performance from cheap pressed steel mechs.
What peed me off today however was, whilst re-fitting the front wheel after fixing a flat (swapping the cheap stock tyres to the narrower Conti Touring Plus in the process) I felt a little play - too much to be the brakes.
I just undid the top threadset locknut with my finger and thumb.
Now I have to wait until its light to try to find my old threadset spanner that is in a toolbox somewhere....
Not good enough. I know its a cheap bike but it still should be assembled properly. It's quite a` nice bike for a cheapie - it would be a shame for someone to be put off after buying a cheap machine to try cycling out because "bikes are crap they are always falling apart". And a shame if EBC got the same name as Halfords for poor workmanship.
Thing is...when I was in the workshop, if a bike that I sent out came back, I'd consider it a failure on my part. I tried to take as much care to get the cheapest, crappiest gears and brakes to be as good as they possibly could be. And just because a bike came part-assembled, I'd still PDI it fully.
I do know they checked the crank arm bolts though...that is evident from the lack of the dust caps where they forgot to replace them.....
Yes, I know, I feel like I am about to say "I DON'T BELIEEEVE IT!" but...well...
At least I intend to chance the setup of the bike anyway so it's not such a big deal for me....but it might be for someone who doesn't know that play in a headset is not normal - and who can't set up brakes and gears
