Bike shop messing me around ..
 

Not sure how best to handle this ..

Took my bike into a local (very well known) bike shop and asked them to sort the brakes and fix the front buckled wheel.

Ok, they said that's a service, £40 .. fair enough.. note I asked for the brakes and wheel, specifically.

Got back a week later, paid the £40 and took the bike out the door and guess what the brakes don't work and the wheel is still buckled.

Took it back in and they looked confused, the service was done, but this doesn't include brake replacement or wheel fixing, although he said he has tried to get the brakes a good as he could and the buckle as straight as he could.

I said keep it till you sort the brakes, this was Wednesday, he said come back Friday ..

went back Friday and was told rudely, they are on order .. I said do you have my number? he said yes, so I said call me, he said Monday ..

Its now Thursday and nothing .. they said £30 for the pads too .. thats £70 to replace front and back pads and "fix" a buckled wheel .. oh and some other service type stuff I didn't ask for.

Whats my next step ?

Dry slap him really bloody hard:thumb:

:thumb:

whats the bike shop called mate im going to make sure i never take my bike to be repaired there!

give the bloke a happy slap mate for wasting your time

You young 'uns....

Learn to do your own wheels, it's part of the fun. Also helps if you are out in the sticks and run into trouble. They are like cars only simpler... :D

dunx

P.S. The only shop work I've had done was removing a seized bottom bracket.

It's normal for LBS to charg £30-£60 for the service, depending on location and what's included. In my experience, fixing buckles in wheels is not normally included. They'll try to straighten them and get the wheel/brakes working maybe. Properly trueing the wheels means probably means i) a specific member of staff does it and ii) maybe another £30 per wheel and iii) taking the wheels off the bike and doing the job in a proper rig.

Lots on Youtube about bike maintenance. even a choice of 'merican accents... :)

J.

That's great to know .. but I didn't ask for a service

Speak to the manager and explain what you wanted doing - brakes and buckled wheel and then what was and wasn't done. Don't go back there, they sound like idiots or thieves!

That sounds like halfords sort of service LOL

Sadly its not, I avoided them thinking I'd be better off ..

yeh when i wanted wheel sorted once they had a guy ( who was in fact also the owner ) who specialized in the job

id be tempted to ask what they did include as a 'service' ..?

iv kind of had the same sort of treatment in a way , but after youve asked for 2 specific things ( and not got them done ) you should be hot under the collar !


* for brakes id just get some off tinternet and stick em on yourself !

This wheel guy mine had one withered arm - talk about job placement ! :)

Sometimes its cheaper just to get a new wheel or a decent SH one, I do pretty much everything myself, just chill in the garage, pc in there for Youtube "How to" videos, Ebay to order bits, godsend, few tools from Decathlon and bikes are pretty simple really. Even without the expense I cant be arsed with taking it to the shop as they always have a queue and I want my bike ready now, not in two weeks.

I know .. but I've not had the time and wanted it to be boxed on quick .. that was like 3 weeks ago ..

Have you ever tried? I used to be a very keen cyclist and thought it would be easy to keep my own wheels trued - even bought a rig for it.

It's definitely an art :wonder: I understood the principle of it, but I just couldn't get it right. I ended up selling the rig and going back to a specialist.

Truing a wheel isn't that hard (ish!) You just need to take your time and use the brakes as a guide.

It REALLY helps if you have a bike stand though.

I just take the tyre off, spinn the wheel while holding a brake block near the wheel and when the wheel stops while touching the brake, that's where the buckle is.

Move the wheel back and forth over the buckle to gauge the size of it, note the spokes that cover the buckle. Then with the spoke tool you loosen off a 1/4 quarter turn the spoke(s) on the side moved out and tighten the same on the size moved in, pulling the wheel straight.

Spin the wheel again, repeat until straight.

The only extra to this is that the BACK wheel needs a HALF turn on the cassette side to every 1/4 turn on the other as the spokes are at a shallower angle.

It really works.

Brakes can be a pain, but go to this site for the best information. Sheldon Brown is God. :)

I taught myself to unbuckle wheels when I was 12 years old

Great fun to do Maintence yourself on a cycle

And cheaper too

Bet it's Cycle Surgery ???

no mate its not, i used to do my own wheels when I was young, but I wanted this doing right .. clearly a mistake ..