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How many times do you send a bike out, fully serviced and in perfect working order. Only to find the owner is complaining that the 'bike doesnt work'?
Always road STI's/Ergo's/Double Taps!
Just found a complaint soul destroying. Just fixed a guys bike, he had shifting issues and finally snapped the rear mech cable in the STI lever, so nipple burried right up there. Sorted it, tested it....perfect.
Came back saying the front didn't shift. Tried it in the stand, perfect. Tried it on the road perfect. Off he went.
Came back again very angry saying it wouldn't shift. Again it worked perfectly on the stand and on the road. I took the customer outside and did 30 perfect up/down shifts. Off he went fuming.
Just found out he's sent a compalint email.
But I've had this before, perfect shifting by all members of staff, all of whom are long term riders. And the customer still can;t shift?
Makes you want to hang your apron up.
Not commonly, but I've had customers complain that the Tiagra shifters on the hire bikes weren't as smooth, and needed a bit more oomph, than the Dura Ace on their own bikes. Well, duh!
I took the customer outside and did 30 perfect up/down shifts.
Did he do them? Gotta get the numpties to confirm they have had it working with their own hands
He got on, rode off throwing his arm in the air.
Need to start wearing a bodycam and recording the services 🙂
He got on, rode off throwing his arm in the air.
you should have called him back and showed him how to change gear properly.....
tbh ive had similar. works fine in stand and then rubbish on the trail. only with this eagle stuff tho
I imagine quite a few adults with little riding experience think…
“Bikes, they’re just kids toys really ,how hard can it be”
OP
Did you offer the customer a skilz course?
😉
I'm not a bike mechanic and do not have good fettling skills, so I am quite reliant on bike shops to get it right.
However, over the years, the amount of new bikes that been indexing and shifting fine, have come back from their 1st service absolutely rubbish, has really dented my faith in a lot of bike shops.
Unfortunately, cycling is the new golf - far too many folk buying super expensive kit (or even normal kit) without knowing the basics. You'll be well and truly stuffed with a mechanical on the trails, in the middle of no-where.
It's prob the Trim!
They feel/hear the click and it doesn't change down!
You be surprised how many people don't know about the front mech trim!
More often than not it's not set up correctly to start with.
Then you get the "when I am in this gear it rubs at the front"
Had a customer once who'd fitted a new cassette but couldn't get the shifting to work in the smaller cogs. Turns out he'd put two the wrong way round so it went smaller bigger smaller as you shifted down.
t’s prob the Trim!
They feel/hear the click and it doesn’t change down!You be surprised how many people don’t know about the front mech trim!
More often than not it’s not set up correctly to start with.Then you get the “when I am in this gear it rubs at the front”
Took me 3 years to discover that! I was on the verge of spreading the cage plates apart to stop the rub at the top or bottom of the cassette, but there's no instruction or explanation that comes with the bike to tell you about this. Or maybe I just didn't read it because riding god.
the best ones are those who bring in a bike that's 10 years old and say can you fix the gears? no ten year old shifter is going to work like new after all the wear it's had. I've learnt to point his out after a guy kept bringing his 2001 road bike back in because "it doesn't shift anywhere as good as my brand new road bike & you charged me £20 to fix it"
now i say, "it'll never shift like it was when brand new, so bear this in mind"
half the time though they spent £89.99 on the complete bike from a superstore and expect me to make it not * when it was * to begin with by design
He got on, rode off throwing his arm in the air.
No wonder he couldn't shift!
Yeah MTB Bob, I had to explain then show him the trim function. And explain that the parts are wearing out from day one. And the 'click' it had when brand new, now needs a little finnesse to help with the shift.
Prior to that, I had a guy again telling me he couldn't shift from 34 to 50. Worked everytime for me. Then he explained how, on his biggest climbs he couldn't shift it from the the 34 to the 50 just before reaching the top. So he could be ready in the 50 as soon as he summited
but there’s no instruction or explanation that comes with the bike to tell you about this
any shop should have asked you if you knew this during the hand over. obviously you don't get this level of service buying online
any shop should have asked you if you knew this during the hand over. obviously you don’t get this level of service buying online
Yeah, Planet-X road bike. Bad for the LBS, but keeps our favorite bike designer and trouser monger out of mischief.
I had to explain then show him the trim function.
So what is this mystical "trim function"?
You’ll be well and truly stuffed with a mechanical on the trails, in the middle of no-where.
In the middle of a bike park trail more like.
As a bike mechanic you probably aren't dressed correctly, see what you should be wearing here:
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/266855-rapha-unveils-mechanics-bike-clothing
So what is this mystical “trim function”?
I was wondering that too. Are they talking about the cable stretch adjuster on the gear levers maybe?
I was wondering that too. Are they talking about the cable stretch adjuster on the gear levers maybe?
No. Trim is a function of shimano sti levers where you can move the front mech a small amount to stop it rubbing in certain gears.
No. Trim is a function of shimano sti levers where you can move the front mech a small amount to stop it rubbing in certain gears.
Okay. But how exactly?
Okay. But how exactly?
By using the half clicks that are in between the main clicks on the levers.
When set correctly there will be 3 indexes to a front mech operating on a double/compact chainset. Trim generally allows for full range of heard to be used on larger ring. It's a tiny half shift index.
Are they talking about the cable stretch adjuster on the gear levers maybe?
I guess you are talking MTB shifters as road levers don't have those adjusters. Trim is only found on road STI levers.
While there's a few of us here do any of you other mechanics every have trouble with the shifting on compact doubles..
I've had three or four where it'll struggle into big ring. Usually have been fine in the stand but then won't or struggle to shift while riding.
Have spent too much time fiddling with these. Couple we even put new rings on, better but still not great.
Done all the usual and correct setup and few of us have had a go for second opinions as you think your going mad but same results. Next thing would of been front mech but they didn't look too bad to be honest.
Anyone had similar problems or scan shed some light on this as it's increasing my hate of all things roadie 😂
How many times do you send a bike out, fully serviced and in perfect working order. Only to find the owner is complaining that the ‘bike doesnt work’?
Not often, but it does happen.
Operator error is the most common, trying to shift under hard load, cross chaining, not aware of front mech trim on road bikes etc.
Bikes taken home in a car can cause issues when the customer does not put the wheels in straight, pulls disc brake levers with the wheels out, bends the mech hanger etc.
Just need to be polite and try and work out what the issue they are having is and sort or explain as required. Some can be frustrating as the customer will not accept that the bike is not designed to do what they want it to, and its apparently your fault.
Also remember you cannot make some people happy, dont take it personally or overthink it.
Anyone had similar problems or scan shed some light on this as it’s increasing my hate of all things roadie
Front mechs can get splayed (especially if the chain jams between a chainring and the mech).
If the high limit is set "correctly" (outer plate to chain gap in highest gear correct) it will not shift up, if the H limit is wound out until the inner plate can push the chain up there is a high chance of overshifting.
Can be hard to see, bowed outer plates are normally obvious, inners can be more tricky. Modern mechs with convoluted shapes when new are harder to see slight bends.
You can sometimes carefully reshape a front mech with a pair of waterpump pliers to get you going.
I took my new bike straight back to the shop after its first (very short) ride as the gears were all over the place. I assumed the cable had stretched but I wanted the shop to check derailleur alignment as well (It's Eagle)
Turns out the thru-axle had un-wound itself so the rear wheel was loose. I felt a bit sheepish about that but, WTF,the axle is either a poor design that requires the lever cranked down REALLY tight to prevent it working loose during a ride or was never tightened up enough when built up by the shop or factory...
No documentation was supplied with my bike so I'd have to find which specific compenents were installed then poke around online to download/print off every PDF, for every component, about installation and care...and then trawl through multiple different languages to find the English version!
Front mechs can get splayed (especially if the chain jams between a chainring and the mech).
If the high limit is set “correctly” (outer plate to chain gap in highest gear correct) it will not shift up, if the H limit is wound out until the inner plate can push the chain up there is a high chance of overshifting.
Can be hard to see, bowed outer plates are normally obvious, inners can be more tricky. Modern mechs with convoluted shapes when new are harder to see slight bends.
You can sometimes carefully reshape a front mech with a pair of waterpump pliers to get you going.
That's the one.... You've reminded me of a one I did where the front mech was more obviously misaligned so knipex'd back into shape....
The others I bet I've not noticed as like you say the shapes are hard to see what is right or wrong. I'll keep this in mind next time I get a tricky up shifter.
Cheers. Everyday is a school day 👍
REf F mech not shifting up,
what Bigyan said +1
Plus if the mech a newish one and depend on model, check for the "support" screw
is touching the frame (make sure the frame protector/backup plate is fitted)
That helps alot for a more positive shift (less flex in front mech when shifting)