I would happily pay extra for Riv to prep a frame. I have absolute confidence in their work. There are lots of bike shops in my area that I have gone to when I didn’t have the time, tools, or inclination to do work myself. I’m stunned by how consistently they can be counted on for sloppy work — or worse.
The most recent example was a fender installation on a Wilbury on which we had just installed a NOS set of Paul Racers (the hard to find polished version). I told the shop that Rivendell has a detailed video showing fender installation and could they please check it out and follow Mark’s method. Long story as short as I can make it: the eager, wide-eyed mechanic who wanted to work on the bike because he “loves Rivendells” did it his way, anyway. The fender hanger tab that bolts onto the brake hole on the fork was unevenly bent and rubbing against the headset as the handlebar moved back and forth. We took it back to have them fix it, and in full view of several employees, including the shop manager, the mechanic tried to bend the tab back using the Racer as leverage for his pliers. He did this despite my partner telling him “shouldn’t you take it off before you do that?” He totally ignored her, and in a second he put a gash into the the brake bridge. Now we’re not precious about nicks and scratches. But this was a deep gash on a brand new set of rare Racers, and it was horrible. It’s painful even recalling it. I regret that I didn’t intervene before he ruined it (though again, he ignored my partner, which could be another story for another thread about the contempt and condescension with which many LBS mechanics and sales people treat women). I think we have mythologized local bike shops. Sure, I’ve had some great experiences. But the proof of the pudding is always in the tasting, and recent experiences left me with extreme, long lasting bitterness. Local shops have forgotten to reattach brake cables after a service, left the quick release skewers very loose, stripped threads, made adjustments worse, I could go on and on — basic stuff that should not happen and that have safety implications. It’s to the point that the only “local” shop I trust anymore is about 50 miles away, even though I have at least 5 shops within walking distance, a few blocks from where I live. I don’t want shops to use my bikes for training mechanics. It’s too unreliable. On top of that, the local shops’ labor rates are not less than Rivendell’s rates, and in my area, they are often *more*, adding insult to injury. For me it’s a no-brainer to pay Rivendell to do the work, pay extra for repacking, and so on. I don’t mean to rag on LBSs, though. I’m just sharing my actual experiences and thoughts. I suppose one good outcome of these crappy experiences is that it’s compelled me to invest in tools and put in time to learn skills. This forum has been a great educator, too. So thanks, forum!! I’m sorry this veered a lot from the original post topic. On Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 11:27:04 AM UTC-4 Joe Bernard wrote: > I don't even know where my LBS is, I work on my own bikes. I assume Riv is > still prepping their frames for an extra fee, I would pay it. > > On Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 8:22:57 AM UTC-7 [email protected] > wrote: > >> On Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 8:15 AM Joe Bernard <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> To be clear cuz I'm the OP and this is going to reflect on me, I'm not >>> sad about anything. My concern is we're going to end up with unprepped >>> frames on the used market that unsuspecting buyers won't know need to be >>> prepped. It wasn't the main point of my post, which is that there's a new >>> Roadini frame out there people can buy. >>> >>> I'm surprised at the number of people here who can't trust their LBS to >> prep a frame. Is it because the modern CF/AL frames don't need prepping? I >> certainly don't have a frame alignment table or a derailleur hanger >> straightener, much less the tool required to prep a headtube prior to >> installing headset and fork. It's been years since I carried a headset >> wrench while touring as well. But I recently had trouble with one of my >> kids' bikes not indexing correctly no matter what I did. Took it to the LBS >> and they diagnosed it as a bent hanger. They fixed it and then decided not >> to charge me since their credit card machine was broken. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2520c8c-a434-471f-bfea-31dc7f157ef7n%40googlegroups.com.
