My local bike shop is like a time warp. They have a ton of old steel bikes so miserable and every time I go there I feel insulted. Even though over the past 15 years I have spent 15 thousand dollars or more there… here are some direct quotes the owner has said to me this past year:
Hey you worthless piece of shit, go upstairs and get me the seatpost.
You’re not getting any younger, why do you want to be so low (aero).
You need a labotemy (sp?)
Pounding me on the head and saying “hello, anyone home”
Your triathlon bike is a piece of shit.
You don’t need all that fancy shit.
Question: Can you fix my friends helmet?
Answer: No, they didn’t buy it here!
Ahhh… anyway today I am free. I just bought $1237.37 worth of tools and supplies! See below:
Order Information
Items:
QTY Product Name Item# Size
1 Minoura Consumer Workstand $79.95
1 Nashbar Cable Housing Set B $2.99
10 Nashbar Cable Housing Set B $2.99
6 AVR Compressionless Shift Housing – 25ft $11.95 $71.70
4 Aztec Powerlines Cable System $34.95 $139.80
1 Nashbar Crimp-On Cable Ends B $8.95
1 Nashbar Crimp-On Cable Ends D $8.95
1 Pedros Syngrease Injector $19.95 $19.95
1 Finish Line Clean and Lube Combo $14.95
1 Nashbar Chain Master $6.95 $6.95
1 Pedros Bike Lust Bike Polish 32oz $12.95
1 Pedros Bio-Degreaser 32oz $9.95 $9.95
4 Sampson Fat Wrap Bar Tape RW $2.95
4 Sampson Fat Wrap Bar Tape BW $2.95
4 Sampson Fat Wrap Bar Tape PU $2.95
1 Nashbar Arlon Sunglass BK $12.99 $12.99
1 Nashbar Arlon Sunglass SV $12.99 $12.99
Order Totals
Sub Total : $468.37
Ship Total : $16.00
Tax Total : $0.00
Grand Total : $484.37
Parktool Axle Vise AV-1
Parktool Cartridge Bottom Bracket Tool for Shimano BBT-2
Parktool Bottom Bracket/ Cassette Lockring Tool for CampagnoloBBT-5
Parktool Chainring Lockring/ Bottom Bracket Tool BBT-8
Parktool Fourth Hand Brake Tool BT-2
Parktool Chain Checker Chain Wear Indicator CC-2
Parktool Crank Puller (square spindle type) CCP-2
Parktool Crank Puller (ISIS Drive® and Shimano® Octalink type CCP-4
Parktool Crank Wrench CCW-14R
Parktool Cyclone Chain Scrubber CM-5
Parktool Professional Cable Cutter CN-10
Parktool Chainring Nut Wrench CNW-1
Parktool 8 and 10mm Open End Wrench CBW-1
Parktool 9 and 11mm Open End Wrench CBW-4
Parktool Crown Race Setting System CRS-1
Parktool Professional Screw Type Chain Tool CT-3
Parktool Derailleur Alignment Gauge DAG-1
Parktool Cassette Lockring Tool for Shimano® FR-5
Parktool GearClean Brush GSC-1
Parktool Pre-Glued Patch Kit GP-2
Parktool 36mm Box-End and Bottom Bracket Pin Spanner HCW-4
Parktool Double-Sided Bottom Bracket Lockring Tool HCW-5
Parktool 32 and 36mm Laser Cut Headset Wrench HCW-15
Parktool 32mm and 36mm Professional Headset Locknut Wrench HW-2
Parktool Bearing Cup Press HHP-2
Parktool PolyLube 1000 Grease (tub) PPL-2
Parktool P-Handled Hex Wrench Set w/ Holder (7 Piece Set) PH-1
Parktool Professional Pedal Wrench PW-4
Parktool Headset Cup Remover RT-1
Parktool Heavy Duty Shop Apron SA-3
Parktool Spoke, Bearing, and Cotter Gauge SBC-1
Parktool 13mm through 19mm Professional Shop Cone Wrench Set SCW-SET
Parktool Threadless Saw Guide SG-6
Parktool Professional Sprocket Remover SR-2
Parktool Professional Spoke Wrench SW-0
Parktool Professional Spoke Wrench SW-1
Parktool Professional Spoke Wrench SW-2
Parktool 3mm x 0.5 Tap For Rear Wheel Dropout Alignment Screws TAP-7
Parktool 5mm x .8 Tap For Water Bottle, Toe Clip, Fender, and Rack Bosses
TAP-8
Parktool 6mm x 1.0mm Tap For Cantilever Brake Bosses TAP-9
Parktool 10mm x 1.0mm Tap for Derailleur Hanger TAP-10
Parktool Tire Boot TB-1
Parktool Tire Levers TL-1
Parktool Shop Tire Lever TL-10
Parktool Threadless Nut Setter TNS-1
Parktool Wheel Alignment Gauge (Dishing Tool) WAG-3
Parktool Professional Truing Stand
On the other hand I’m sorry you have had such a bad experience.
My shop (Carmel Cycling and Fitness in Indianapolis) is amazing. Great guys, ride with them all the time, let me use the tools there, loan me race wheels, etc. (I don’t work there).
It will be really hard to leave indianapolis if only for that reason some day. I know the feeling you mean of bike shops making you feel like you don’t belong there. What the heck. Are they trying to make money or go out of business?
Got the tool box too and I worked as a bike mechanic for 5 years… I think that anyone with some time and Zinn’s book on bikes can fix what needs to be fixed.
Would also suggest ordering file boxes of cables and housing. The housing and cable is the most cost effective when ordered in 30m file boxes. You’ll go through the 25 feet you have now pretty quickly.
I would also pick up some Jagwire bottles of endcaps, crimps, and donuts.
I find that most of the work you’ll probably end up doing will have cable replacement/installation involved. Having copious supplies of those makes stops to the shop for a .02 cent item unnecessary.
Congrats on your new toys. Slowly but surely we aquire more stuff but it looks like you bought the whole enchelada at once. That sucks about the owners ‘personality’ and comments. I wonder how many others hes turned away in the past.
I’d like to make an appointment for a pre Florida tune-up / check-over? What kind of turn around time do you have?
The tool box will get you by for a while. I noticed that after a short while that I followed the trend of so many other people, leaving the tools scattered about because it’s too hard to always cram into a tool box.
I finally made a relatively small $50 investment in pegboard and hooks. Hanging up things on the wall instead of tossing them randomly into a box is much easier. Plus, if you need a tool, you can visually find it quickly on the wall as opposed to trying to remember which drawer it’s in or trying to pick it out of a jumble of hardened tool steel when it’s in the main section.
So how much are you gonna charge me when I bring you my POS tri bike and I want newer, cooler, low position vision bars intstalled even though I’m not getting younger and can’t be that aero for more than 10 minutes at a time?
Seriously, one of the owners of a LBS that went out of business has all his tools and works out of his garage. He’s carving out a very respectable niche of business comprised of people who just want their bikes worked on without the attitude they get from the local pro shop. Low overhead and no employee headaches to deal with, doesn’t sound bad to me.
Just make sure that you order the appropriate size caps. I usually use 4mm for shift, 5mm for brake. I also don’t use the “sealed” caps as I think they make too much drag.
The 1.8mm are intended for the smaller 1.2mm cables used on shift cables and the 2.0mm are intended for the 1.6mm cables used on brake cables. The isn’t really enough room to stick the 1.8’s on the 1.6 cable.
The only reason I can explain the price difference is that the 1.8mm end crimps are really tiny and the 2.0mm ones are the kind you are used to seeing on bikes. You can probably fit 1000 1.8 crimps into the same bottle that carries 500 2.0 ones.
