At the charity shop, we often had to wait for a donation to get the right part(s) to fix some bikes. Naturally, more recent inventions were not donated as much as older (1960s etc) bikes.
So when a customer really wanted a particular bike that needed(eg) a deraileur mech’ of a specific type, we had to say ‘When we have the part we can build the bike but don’t hold your breath. If you want that particular bike, you should visit each week to see if the part has arrived etc’
The part that we had most problems getting was the rear mech’s that screwed to the frame instead of hanging on a bracket secured by the wheel. I invested in a 10mmx1mm tap to clean the threads and made a couple of brackets, but the time and effort was far too costly for a shop to indulge in. It was just me playing with stuff to learn techniques etc!
Rule #1 of running a parts department: There is nothing so positive, hopeful and demanding as a customer who wants an impossible to get part. Of course you’ll find a way to get it for him! Rule #2: A parts order always shows up at least 24 hours AFTER the customer really expects it. Rule #3: The customer’s latest possible acceptable date to get a part in is invariably the theoretical earliest possible date you mention that it might happen.
That’s one of several reasons I stopped going to bike shops and learned how to do pretty much everything myself: it took them foorever to get parts and they never knew for sure when the parts will arrive. I could order the same thing, have it in a few days and know exactly when it’ll arrive. Not to mention it was a lot cheaper too.
A good plan that leaves out the whole bike shop experience – looking wide-eyed at the expensive new kit one can’t afford, trying to work put how to make the same things yourself out of scrap etc.
Not forgetting the chatting with like-minded ‘freaks’ (Cyclists
Answer to a customer’s question as to when their parts will arrive:
“As Michael Angelo said while painting the Sistine Chapel – It’ll be done when I’m finished”…
Next….
After I broke the frame of my Bob Jackson in ’78 (by pedaling hard enough to crack the BB shell.), I went to Serrota and was fitted for one of his. But with classes and a new season of racing starting I just couldn’t wait anymore and obtained a pre-built Paris Sport frame that super strong. Had that bike fir close to 20 years.
re: ‘pedaling hard enough to crack the BB shell’ – sometimes progress is not always forwards!
BB shells etc make jobs easier for the wrench but are they better?
How hard would you have to pedal to break the older BBs? I suspect that, unless you had let it get into a bad state of disrepair, you would not be able to! After all, after 100 years of development it stayed the same for decades until (Shimano?) someone thought of a way to reduce shop time and expense by making them replaceable. heavier than before and weaker… (Okay – cheaper too these days
You’re right, Tencon, newer is not necessarily better. I have a Phil Wood sealed bottom bracket assembly that I installed new on my Trek when I assembled it back in 1978. Yes, it was expensive for those days, but after 30 years and at least 40K miles, it’s still there and working just fine.
I support my LBS, don’t want to see them gone (two in town have closed up in the last year). But I remember a time when I spent hours figuring out the gearing on a new touring bike. I finally arrived at a simple “crossover” shift and headed to my LBS for the right gears. A kid at the shop stared at me. “Cripes, did you figure this out on your own? It won’t work.” I thanked him, drove to another shop and got the gears I wanted. I rode that bike for another 20 years “wrong” and it worked flawlessly, and yes, I patronized the second shop in town the entire time I lived there. I relate almost all the troubles I have had with LBS’s to younger employees who, these days, have never seen anything except a single speed hub attached to, for some unkonwn reason, deep dish racing wheels on a (sadly) butchered vintage steel frame and hacked handlebars. I will wait for parts, but don’t tell me what I want or why I shouldn’t want it. Good, now I feel better (pant, pant).
I just had to check tio see if the paywall really was down this week, so I loggerd out of the Club (obviously comments are on a different system) and I can verify that yes, indeed the paywall was down this week. Now I’m going to log back in…
My LBS is so slow I only order parts I know I’ll need in the unspecified future, like idler wheels for my derailleurs, or rebuild kits for my pedals. I ask them to call me when the parts come in, and they never do. Mostly because there’s some unforseen holdup or whatever.
Oh well, I do like to pop in, buy lube and tubes, and keep in touch, because, hey, we’re in the same tribe.
the issue with ordering in a shop is wholesalers like QBP have recently upped the minimum orders… QBP is something like $275 now… if your shop doesn’t do a ton of special orders, it might be a couple weeks before they get enough of an order to be able to place it… there are always ways to get a single now, but the price would probably be so prohibitive you wouldn’t want to pay it…
At the charity shop, we often had to wait for a donation to get the right part(s) to fix some bikes. Naturally, more recent inventions were not donated as much as older (1960s etc) bikes.
So when a customer really wanted a particular bike that needed(eg) a deraileur mech’ of a specific type, we had to say ‘When we have the part we can build the bike but don’t hold your breath. If you want that particular bike, you should visit each week to see if the part has arrived etc’
The part that we had most problems getting was the rear mech’s that screwed to the frame instead of hanging on a bracket secured by the wheel. I invested in a 10mmx1mm tap to clean the threads and made a couple of brackets, but the time and effort was far too costly for a shop to indulge in. It was just me playing with stuff to learn techniques etc!
I’m hoping to score a new bike… already got a name for it… 牙虎 which means “teeth tiger”, pronounced “Yá hǔ” (as in that American yahoo)
Rule #1 of running a parts department: There is nothing so positive, hopeful and demanding as a customer who wants an impossible to get part. Of course you’ll find a way to get it for him! Rule #2: A parts order always shows up at least 24 hours AFTER the customer really expects it. Rule #3: The customer’s latest possible acceptable date to get a part in is invariably the theoretical earliest possible date you mention that it might happen.
That’s one of several reasons I stopped going to bike shops and learned how to do pretty much everything myself: it took them foorever to get parts and they never knew for sure when the parts will arrive. I could order the same thing, have it in a few days and know exactly when it’ll arrive. Not to mention it was a lot cheaper too.
A good plan that leaves out the whole bike shop experience – looking wide-eyed at the expensive new kit one can’t afford, trying to work put how to make the same things yourself out of scrap etc.
Not forgetting the chatting with like-minded ‘freaks’ (Cyclists
talk to strangers ? nerds dont do that. we just think hard of a way how our own bikes are more awesome then theirs
Answer to a customer’s question as to when their parts will arrive:
“As Michael Angelo said while painting the Sistine Chapel – It’ll be done when I’m finished”…
Next….
After I broke the frame of my Bob Jackson in ’78 (by pedaling hard enough to crack the BB shell.), I went to Serrota and was fitted for one of his. But with classes and a new season of racing starting I just couldn’t wait anymore and obtained a pre-built Paris Sport frame that super strong. Had that bike fir close to 20 years.
Lesson: sometimes the customer can’t wait.
re: ‘pedaling hard enough to crack the BB shell’ – sometimes progress is not always forwards!
BB shells etc make jobs easier for the wrench but are they better?
How hard would you have to pedal to break the older BBs? I suspect that, unless you had let it get into a bad state of disrepair, you would not be able to! After all, after 100 years of development it stayed the same for decades until (Shimano?) someone thought of a way to reduce shop time and expense by making them replaceable. heavier than before and weaker… (Okay – cheaper too these days
You’re right, Tencon, newer is not necessarily better. I have a Phil Wood sealed bottom bracket assembly that I installed new on my Trek when I assembled it back in 1978. Yes, it was expensive for those days, but after 30 years and at least 40K miles, it’s still there and working just fine.
“When it’s ready” made me smilie. That’s what they used to say about babies. Now we just schedule a c-section.
I support my LBS, don’t want to see them gone (two in town have closed up in the last year). But I remember a time when I spent hours figuring out the gearing on a new touring bike. I finally arrived at a simple “crossover” shift and headed to my LBS for the right gears. A kid at the shop stared at me. “Cripes, did you figure this out on your own? It won’t work.” I thanked him, drove to another shop and got the gears I wanted. I rode that bike for another 20 years “wrong” and it worked flawlessly, and yes, I patronized the second shop in town the entire time I lived there. I relate almost all the troubles I have had with LBS’s to younger employees who, these days, have never seen anything except a single speed hub attached to, for some unkonwn reason, deep dish racing wheels on a (sadly) butchered vintage steel frame and hacked handlebars. I will wait for parts, but don’t tell me what I want or why I shouldn’t want it. Good, now I feel better (pant, pant).
Brothers and sisters, can I get an “AMEN”??
And guest — you must have been reading one of Frank Berto’s articles, right?
I just had to check tio see if the paywall really was down this week, so I loggerd out of the Club (obviously comments are on a different system) and I can verify that yes, indeed the paywall was down this week. Now I’m going to log back in…
Wow – a cartoon with its own grammar correction…
My LBS is so slow I only order parts I know I’ll need in the unspecified future, like idler wheels for my derailleurs, or rebuild kits for my pedals. I ask them to call me when the parts come in, and they never do. Mostly because there’s some unforseen holdup or whatever.
Oh well, I do like to pop in, buy lube and tubes, and keep in touch, because, hey, we’re in the same tribe.
the issue with ordering in a shop is wholesalers like QBP have recently upped the minimum orders… QBP is something like $275 now… if your shop doesn’t do a ton of special orders, it might be a couple weeks before they get enough of an order to be able to place it… there are always ways to get a single now, but the price would probably be so prohibitive you wouldn’t want to pay it…