LBS not always honest

[stevetailor125]

The safety latch on my trailer failed at the weekend and the hitch clamp went into the rear wheel of my hybrid. After removing the offending trailer I found a broken spoke, the bike was still rideable so I carried on the last 1/4 mile to town went into the LBS and the owner came out measured the spoke and all was well, or so I thought.
Next day I went to fit the spoke and found it was a good 1/2 inch to long, as it was weekend and I noticed the wheel was slightly off true I thought I'd take the wheel back in and the wrong spoke and let them fit a new one and true the wheel, the guy in the shop who seemed more interested in the motorbike side of the shop than the cycle side decided that although the wheel wobble was very very slight the wheel was a right off and tried to sell me a new wheel, same make but £10 more than Halfords, I stuck my ground and he said to leave the wheel there, he would try to true it and replace the spoke, phoned this morning, no the wheel was a right off in his opinion as none of the spokes would move and he would sell me a new wheel.
The wheel is no back home after he tried to charge for the spoke that I had already paid for and low and behold the spokes that need adjusting all move freely with my spoke key so guess who will be finishing truing his own wheel and using the LBS from now on in the next town

 

[ianrauk]

Don't protect the guilty. Shoddy workman & salesmanship deserved to be named.

 

[mickle]

Be very wary of 'Bikes and' shops. Bikes and Lawnmowers, Bikes and Mopeds, Bikes and Toys, Bikes and Fishing Tackle, Bikes and Skateboards, Bikes and Intercontinental Ballistic Weapons...

Though I must say William's Cycles and Prams in Gloucs was pretty good when I last visited in 1994.

 

[mickle]

So the hitch and the safety strap failed on your trailer? What's going on there then??

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I see what you have done there. Very clever

So the hitch and the safety strap failed on your trailer? What's going on there then??

 

[stevetailor125]

The safety LATCH failed, on my trailer it stops the hitch clamp from twisting around and hitting the wheel, the clip on it broke in 2 and the hitch ended up in the back wheel . As I couldn't ride at the weekend I designed a new hitch and my engineering friend is making it for me this evening

 

[mickle]

Engineering friend? Wow - I wish I had one of them.

 

[Globalti]

This post is a good demonstration of the need to learn to do your own repairs. It would have been simple to take the broken spoke along, get a match and fit it yourself.

 

[Chris S]

One of my local bike shops rounds up prices. A inner gear cable is £2.00 and a crimp is 10p, but if you buy them together they come to £2.50!

I rarely go there now.

 

[Chris S]

PS - I've also seen the owner riding bikes with cardboard wrapped around the tubing. Presumably they're still sold as new bikes.

 

[Melonfish]

Bikes and Intercontinental Ballistic Weapons...

My LBS does these, he's got a fantastic range of almost new Minuteman III's and a fair few shiny tridents but he's crap with things like SPD's and chainsets... pffft.

 

[stevetailor125]

Engineering friend? Wow - I wish I had one of them.

No you don't, because somewhere down the line its going to cost me in one of his easy electronic jobs that turn out to be anything but easy and costs me a lot more money

 

[stevetailor125]

This post is a good demonstration of the need to learn to do your own repairs. It would have been simple to take the broken spoke along, get a match and fit it yourself.

To be honest I do usually do my own repairs, I did take the whole bike with me to get him to measure the spoke so I could do it myself. The only reason I let them 'try' to true the wheel was because of I was having a really bad day health wise.
This was the same shop that sold somebody a 24 inch wheel when the person asked for a 26 inch( I was there when they came back in lol).
I think I'm going to get a back up bike so if my health is bad when the hybrid breaks down I at least have something to ride. To be honest the actual riding helps with my health problems, I've not been able to ride for 2 weeks now for one reason and another and have had 3 sleepless nights now with my old knee injuries keeping me awake

 

[abo]

PS - I've also seen the owner riding bikes with cardboard wrapped around the tubing. Presumably they're still sold as new bikes.

Now that is very out of order

 

[Holdsworth]

I hear you, I swear a certain LBS in Crewe purposely stripped the pedal thread on my old Biopace ring to get some business out of me. They were perfectly fine before I went in there to have some clipless pedals fitted and they came out totally bare!!! Bad things happen when I visit them, always! Luckily there are two more to chose from in Crewe.