I was about 8 miles into a Saturday morning ride on the river trail near my shop when I shifted onto the big ring and BANG. Chain broke right at the quick link and whipped into the spokes, bent my rear derailleur hanger and snapped the cage off. I had to walk the bike a mile to a gas station and call my buddy to pick me up in his truck. How do you guys carry a spare chain on rides without it rattling around in your jersey pocket?
I grabbed one of those no-name lockring tools off Amazon for like 8 bucks last month. Worked fine for the first two cassettes I swapped. Then on a trainer wheel install Sunday, the tips just sheared right off inside the lockring. Had to use a punch and hammer to get the thing loose. Total pain. The problem is the steel is way too soft on these cheap tools. Spend the extra 15-20 bucks for a Park Tool or Shimano one. Has anyone else had a cheap tool fail like that on a simple job?
Had a Shimano BB that would NOT budge with my standard tool, tried heat and soaking for 2 days. Out of frustration I put a pipe wrench on the cup and it cracked loose in 10 seconds. Anyone else just say screw it and use non-standard tools when things get stuck?
Spent two hours fighting a seized pedal on a client's old mountain bike last month, ended up having to cut the crank arm off. Now I use copper anti-seize on every pedal install, especially on aluminum cranks where galvanic corrosion is common. Anyone else made this switch or still sticking with grease?
I always used a little grease on pedal threads (figured anti-seize is smart). Then this guy at the co-op in Portland said no, grease makes them loosen over time, you need dry threads with Loctite. Now I'm stuck between two camps, what do you all use on customer bikes?
For like 3 years I used the same wet lube on my commuter bike. Every week I'd clean the chain and reapply but the mud would just turn everything into grinding paste. After one particularly bad ride last April where my chain started skipping after only 40 miles, I switched to a wax drip lube that a mechanic at the co-op recommended. Now I only clean the chain maybe every 200 miles and shifting feels way smoother in wet conditions. Has anyone else noticed their cassette lasts longer with wax?
Guy rolled in with a Trek mountain bike from the 90s, just wanted the brakes to stop squealing. Spent 20 minutes cleaning and adjusting the v-brakes, and he said it rode better than the day he bought it. Anyone else get a kick out of fixing the old beaters that people have had forever?
Watched a mechanic at River City Bicycles last month thread unwaxed floss between spokes to catch frequency shifts, anyone else found a weird shop trick that actually works better than the standard tool?
I've been using Park Tool's Synlube for like 3 years on my shop builds... always felt like it attracted too much dirt even after wiping the chain down. Last month I grabbed a bottle of Pedro's Ice Wax based on a buddy's recommendation from a shop in Denver. After about 50 miles on my personal bike the chain is way cleaner and I don't have that greasy black sludge building up on the cassette. I'm thinking about switching all my customer bikes over to this stuff but I'm worried about how it holds up in wetter climates. Anyone here run Pedro's in a rainy city like Portland or Seattle for a full season?
I went into this little shop called BikeTown PDX last month just to grab a tube, and totally walked out with a new perspective. The mechanic there, Mike, had me try a customer's bike with mechanical discs and showed me how to adjust them without any special tools. I've always been a rim brake guy because I thought discs were too fancy and annoying to mess with, but watching him pull off a perfect stop with a cheap cable setup kind of blew my mind. Anyone else had a shop talk you into something you swore you'd never ride?
Had a wobbly rear wheel with a broken spoke on a customer's bike this morning, so I clamped two zip ties to the seat stay as reference points and got it dialed in way faster than using my truing stand, anyone else ever jury-rig a quick fix like that?
I built up a brand new gravel bike last week. Everything went smooth until the first test ride. Chain kept dropping off the front chainring under any load. Checked the limit screws, checked the hanger alignment, swapped the chain. Nothing. Finally after 4 hours I realized the crankset was just a tiny bit loose. Couple turns on the crank bolt and it was perfect. Anyone else spend way too long on something that dumb?
I've been using one of those cheap Park Tool chain checkers for about a year. Last week I measured a chain at 0.75 wear and replaced it. Took the old chain off and held it next to a new one on the bench. They were almost the same length. So I grabbed a 12 inch ruler and checked by hand. The chain was barely stretched at all. I wasted a perfectly good chain. Checked my tool against the ruler too and the tool is way off. Has anyone else had their chain checker wear down or get out of spec over time?
I’ve been building wheels for about 4 years now and always used a dab of threadlocker on every spoke nipple. Thought I was being thorough. Then this old mechanic with 30 years in the game watched me do one and said ‘you’re just making more work for yourself and the next guy.’ He showed me how a tiny drop of light oil on the threads and nipple flange does the same job without gumming things up. Tried it on my last three builds and honestly the tensioning went smoother and I didn’t have to fight any nipples seizing. Now I feel dumb for wasting all that time and money on threadlocker. Anyone else get called out for overcomplicating something simple?
Stopped by five different shops around town last month and every single one had a torque arm dangling from a zip tie instead of actually bolted to the frame, so has anyone here ever had one of those pop off mid-ride or am I overreacting?
About 6 months ago I was rebuilding the rear hub on my old Trek 520. I packed it full of grease, I mean packed it. Guy at the co-op named Dave who's been wrenching since the 70s told me I was gonna cook the bearings. I thought he was just being old school and stubborn. Fast forward to last week. Hub started feeling rough and dragging. Opened it up and the grease had turned into this hard yellow paste. The balls were actually sliding instead of rolling. Had to replace the cones and half the balls. Took me 2 hours to clean everything out. So yeah, lesson learned. You don't fill the whole cavity, just a thin layer on the bearings. Has anyone else had a bad experience from over-greasing?
I went with the Park Tool one because the guy at the shop said the cheap ones drift after like 50 wheels. Has anyone else had a no-name tension meter just lose calibration on them?
Spent $45 on the ParkTool kit after fighting with a $12 amazon bleed cup that leaked mineral oil all over my garage floor, and the difference in seal quality and control made a full bleed take 20 minutes instead of an hour and a half, has anyone else found the cheaper versions just aren't worth the hassle?
I've been building wheels for maybe 6 months now and kept getting wonky tension readings on the drive side. Turns out I was pulling the spoke wrench at a weird angle instead of straight down, which meant each spoke was getting a different amount of twist before it actually tightened. Used a buddy's Park Tool tension meter to double check and saw the pattern clear as day. Has anyone else dealt with this or found a trick to keep the wrench square every time?
I used to just tighten carbon stems and seatposts by feel. Thought I was good enough. Then I snapped a $300 carbon handlebar on a test ride last month. Learned my lesson hard. Now I torque everything to spec. Anyone else have a carbon part fail on them?
Been building wheels for like 3 years just going by feel and plucking spokes like a guitar. Did a proper tension check on my last set and found the rear dish was way off - like 6 spokes were over 130kgf and 4 were under 80. No wonder that wheel kept going out of true after 2 rides. Grabbed the Park Tool TM-1 off a buddy for $10 and yeah it's basic but now all my wheels are holding up way better. Anyone else skip tension meters for too long?
Last month this crusty mechanic named Sal at the local co-op in Sacramento said I was wrecking my cranks by not greasing pedal threads. I laughed it off because I've always just cranked em in dry. Fast forward to yesterday when I tried to swap pedals on my old Fuji and the left one seized so hard I twisted the crank arm trying to get it off. Had to drill the damn thing out. Anyone else learned this lesson the hard way or am I just a dummy?
Had a regular come back in yesterday with a wheel that collapsed on him during his commute, and it was a spoke I'd quick-fixed three months ago instead of replacing the whole set. He's taking his business down the street now. Anybody else ever lose money trying to save a few bucks on a wheel rebuild?
Last month I found a Record 10-speed groupset on eBay for $180. The seller said it was in good shape but I budgeted another $60 for replacement parts. When it arrived, the shifters were actually new old stock still in the box and the derailleurs had zero wear. I put it on a old steel frame and it shifted perfect out of the box. After riding it for three weeks I noticed the rear hub had a cracked flange that I missed in the photos. That led me to pull everything apart and find the cassette was a mismatched 11-speed with a spacer. Has anyone else had a used groupset deal that looked great but had some hidden issue you caught later?