The Wheelygood Blogspot

A salutary tale

2012-02-28T02:08:00.002-08:00

An expensive pair of Fox Talas forks came in which hadn't been serviced for at least three years and put through some pretty tough riding. A normal service will cost about £99. Fox recommend a service every 50 hours for their forks - a bit excessive - you'd get away with 100 hours but 3 years...result - wear to left-hand stanchion. This means we cannot guarantee air/oil loss from the fork. Replacment will cost £134 on top of the service charge. Also, the fork was only partly stripped to ascertain the above - it was quite possible that on fully stripping them we'd find the bushings were worn too - an additional cost of £30 to fit those. Fox Talas need servicing more regularly than other Fox forks as there isn't much room in the left-hand stanchion for oil - so they can wear more quickly if not looked after. If they had had a full service every 100 hrs- followed by a regular lower leg removal clean and refit they would most likely have been good for many years.
These forks new are a £700-800 fork - not a cheap item. Of course my customer was most upset and decided not to go ahead with the work and will probably replace with a cheaper fork.:(

Busy start to the year!

2012-01-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy since 3rd Jan wit the phone ringing a lot - milder weather has helped. Sad to say we are getting yet more disk brake bikes in with pads worn completly away to the metal :(. This means as well as new pads- a new rotor and a bigger bill. If the brake hasn't been set up right -one piston coming out farther than the other - this can result in the loss of fluid as well. All owners of these brakes comment that it has been making an awful noise or a metallic scraping noise. This is because IT IS METAL ON METAL!!! If the brake is making a noise all is not well - get it seen too. Some folk think cycle disk brake pads last as long as car ones do - 25,000 miles or more. They don't. Depending on where you live, what conditions you ride in, the way you ride they may only last 2-3 months! If you live where we do in sunny?? Lancs then a combination of gritstone, mud and lots of downhill braking will eat pads very, very quickly. Of course if you clean and tend to your bike regularly then you will spot the wear - if you leave it caked in mud then you won't - could be the diference between a big bill and a little bill. Same applies to chains. Some wear mud as a badge of honour - it ain't it just covers everything up. So don't blame the mechanic for the big bill if this is you!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of our customers and trade colleagues. It's a bit of a wet and windy start to the Newy Year but already the workshop has been busy. Ideal time for suspension servicing!

Caveat Emptor!

2011-12-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

Or in plain english - buyer beware! We have had two bikes this week bought on e-bay and another forum where the descriptions have 'implied' that the bike is ok and in working order. I hate to be the one who has to go back to someone who, in genuine faith, has bought a bike this way only to find that all is not as it seems. Sad to say there are some unscrupulous folk out there - they don't lie, they just don't tell it like it is and rely on the fact that most folk are not bike mechanics. One of these bikes had scratched and worn stanchions & knackered springs in the forks, worn bushings on the rear shock (we didn't go as far as examining the state of the shock), and a worn bottom bracket which we cannot access as the crank arm threads are destroyed and it failed to respond to the old -fashioned type puller. The only way to remove the crank will be to destroy it at the expense of the new owner. The other had chain, cassette & gear cables worn out, very tired forks, the wrong gear mech hanger and a cracked hydraulic caliper. The former description just listed the components on the bike - no comment about the condition - the latter merely commented about a small tear in the saddle cover - nothing else - to the average punter it seems that all would be well. Neither bike was cheap either - one was very expensive. Both purchasers are going back to the person who they bought from but this is never easy as the 'Caveat Emptor' clause rules. They are between a rock and a hard place and I feel for them.

The darkness descends!

2011-11-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Please, please can I make a plea for all cyclists to light up now that the dark evenings are upon us. Mums & Dads - if your kid is out on his/her bike please make sure they have lights on. I passed two quite young cyclists on my way to deliver a bike the other evening and there they were - unlit, no reflectors or anything. There are loads of cheap LED lights available so no excuse.
The bike that was left on my doorstep a few weeks back is no more. There was nothing worth keeping off it so it is broken down and off to the scrapyard for recycling into something useful. Annoyingly, I now have to dispose of the tyres and other non-recyclable bits that came off it. Thanks to hwoever it was - not. Will think of fitting CCTV if it happens again so I can return the unwanted goods!!!
Workshop has been quiet but steady - we have had the joys of changing twist-grip gear cables and lots of hub & freehub servicing along with rebuilding Avid hose & brake calipers of various kinds for various folk.
Good time to get your bike in condition for getting through the winter - make sure all bearings are nicely greaed up and cables running smoothly plus a good coat of polish to kepe the water and salt at bay.

A free bike - and a week of freehub problems

2011-10-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Popped out this morning and whilst out somebody left a bike propped up against my garage wall. No message, phone call, email to explain. It is very old and tatty, has no chain and the rear hub is shot as well as the back tyre. I don't know if it wants fixing, scrapping or if it is a free pre-xmas gift!
Had a week of freehub problems. Fun bit was getting the Bontrager one off - firstly it requires an unusual size allen key - 11mm - plus a vice and a strong arm! Removal of the seal on the body revealed a lot of orange gunge and a distinct notchiness. Next freehub was making a grating, creaking noise and once removed (easier!) showed it too was full of orange gunge and the inner workings were slopping about.
Another Bontrager hub looked like it would be a problem but turned out to be easy enough once the big plastic mallet was brought out. Nice new cartridge bearings in that one now.
Be careful how you route your hydraulic hoses by the way. I have one to replace as it was lashed to the fork crown (not a good idea). Not only has it worn the crown badly it has also abraided the outer casing of the hose and is down to the plastic inner.

Fork and shock time

2011-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is a good time of year to get forks and shocks serviced before winter to ensure they are in tip top condition to get through whatever the weather may throw at us between now and spring. If we are doing these jobs for you pleae be aware that we may need to keep your bike for a week if it is a full service - so find a time when you are not going to be needing it. Folk do neglect these items, or put off because of the expense - but it can be very costly to not pay attention to them. Service intervals are way more often than what you think - in some instances every 50 hours which is not a lot of riding time. Trouble is you won't see it until it is too late! And even lower price range forks like Suntours can benenfit from a lower leg strip and clean. Talk to us about your requirements and we'll advise.

Avid's live up to their name!

2011-10-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Word of warning for anyone considering fitting Avid Elixir brakes - if you need to replace the hose it will cost you. The fitting at the caliper end is swaged so you have to buy the hose and fitting complete. This will set you back over £30 just for the part. If you have other makes then it will cost a lot less. Hope for example will cost you less than £10 because you can take it to pieces and buy all the individual bits needed. Avid by name and rather avid on the price!!!

Sorry we haven't posted for a while!

2011-09-23T12:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry to any regular viewers - we've been so busy over the summer that we have hardly had time to ourselves - except for squeezing in a lovely short cycle tour in the Orkney Islands!
Today's workshop 'disasters' - very seized bottom bracket - so seized it broke the remover tool; disk brake pads worn down to metal - x 2: carbon steerer bung not tight + end of steerer poking above stem = loose headset. Par for the course...but also had some nice bikes recently - a Felt and a Principia - nice and light and clean and a joy to work on!

Ridden into the ground!

2011-05-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

We have had a couple of bikes this week which have been rather well-used! But sadly owners have left it rather late to pay attention to the obvious problems and have persisted in riding them. I am always amazed at why folk do this.
This is the first time I have seen an external bottom bracket cup flapping in the breeze. When the chap rang and said he had play in the cranks I assumed he had a splined or square taper bottom bracket. But no - it was external cups. The drive side one was loose and because it had been ridden since coming loose it had worn away the threads on itself and on the frame shell threads too. The bearing was jammed onto the crank too and required a hammer and punch to get it off.The shell threads now have a lovely stepped ridge in them. This may well mean that the frame is u/s as it is ally. This is the second expensive bike where the owner has continued to ride with this sort of problem and it can cost dear. PLEASE do not ride if the cranks have any wobble in them - it will not go away AND it will get worse and cost more the longer you leave it.
Another had 'a creaky headset' - I am not surprised it creaked. The steering was stiff and notchy and grating which is never a good sign. When the forks were taken (rather hammered) out the bearing races fell to pieces. Instead of just new bearings ad some grease - we are now looking at a replacement headset!!!

Dangerous!

2011-05-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Bike in today - mtb front wheel felt a bit loose so went to tighten up q/r. Found that someone had obviously lost the screw end so had cobbled it together - the lever of the q/r was directly against the dropout on one side - the rubber 'knuckle part was on the otehr side and the whole thing held in place by a tiny alloy wingnut. The wheel could never have been tightened up properly and would probably have come out on the first bump. Fortunately no damaged to the drop out - but the q/r lever end was badly damaged so had to be replaced. This was a very dangerous set-up! I assume the same person was responsible for the cobbled together B screw at the derailleur end too!!!

Too busy to blog!

2011-04-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

It has been very hectic in the workshop recently. The glorious weather before Easter had everyone getting their bikes out and wanting them fixed ready for the holiday. Lots of folk getting very old bikes out of sheds too and I am always amazed at what folk will spend on geting them fixed up even when we say it isn't worth it. We will fix them but don't expect miracles!
We saw an expensive mistake last week - we had to replace almost new hydraulic brakes as somebody used the wrong fuid in them - and being Shimano they were not serviceable. If you are having a go at doing these by yourself please at least read the manual and check the type of fluid - there are only two types - mineral oil and DOT 4/5.1. Mixing the two is a complete no-no. Other erroneous substances will not do any good either - don' try and save money by using Mum's cooking oil!
We have had lots of kid's bikes in recently too and many of them are in a poor state of repair. Please get them serviced - they need the same treatment as an adult bike - if not more so as most kids are pretty tough on bikes - after all it is their safety at stake.

Back to busy-ness again

2011-04-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the workshop has gone mad this week. Better weather and pending school and Easter holidays mean that everyone is getting their bikes out. Plus many are turning to two wheels due to the horrendous cost of fuel. I filled my van up the other day and it cost me over £100. We had a great start to the week on Monday helping out at the Bike Inn in Lincolnshire where some trainee bike mechanics were doing their City & Guilds qualification - we were there to give them tuition on hydraulic brakes and suspension servicing. It was a really good day with enthusiastic students!
We also sold our last second-hand bike - these are getting to be in short supply now! So if you have bike you no longer want get it advertisied and it will likely be snapped up.

Horrible headset

2011-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Had a bike today which came in only for a new bottom bracket - supposedly. When Mike picked it up he did advise the lady that a full inspection was perhaps in order before anything else as, when he saw it he realised there could be trouble ahead. Good advice!
Result of inspection - spds knackered beyond repair, chain off the measuring scale, cassette knackered rings almost worn out, jockey wheels worn out, gear cables almost unusable, forks almost non-compressible, rear tyre worn out, headset so bad you had to forcefully push the handlebars around.
The bottom bracket was fine however, - thank god for that...

Getting busy again!

2011-02-09T09:32:00.001-08:00

A lot more bikes coming into the workshop now that the cold and icy weather has relented around here and folks are thinking more about cycling again. One horror story today on an expensive full suspension mtb whose owner said he thought something had broken inside the brake as it was making a racket. Sadly, he has failed to keep an eye on disk brake pad wear since he got the bike 12 months ago. The rear brake was down to the metal base on one side - it has been ridden like this for sometime as we calculated he had worn about 1/2mm of metal off the base plate AFTER the pad material went. The two prongs on the pad spring had also been sheared off in the process(see picture).The other pad was almost down to the metal on the other - the result - a very, very badly scratched rotor which now has to be binned. The front pads were almost gone too but we got to them in time. Please, please - if your brake is making a noise there is something wrong with it. Don't continue to ride - get it seen too. If you don't it will be a Big Bill!

Some nice feedback

2011-01-13T03:15:00.001-08:00

We have just carried out a major strip down service for a new customer who uses his bike mainly for commuting and sent us some nice feedback:
"Just a note to say that the bike is performing great, I have had a couple of small runs on it and the gears are perfect again (1st time in 3 years) and it feels like a new bike."
It is so nice to hear from customers like that. It helps to know we are doing things right.

Don't forget to light up!

2011-01-13T03:03:00.001-08:00

It has been a busy week or so in the workshop - lots of folks wanting to get out to fulfil those New Year Resolutions! And the weather has got a lot warmer which helps too. But the days are still short and you can be easily overtaken by the dark - we ended up with full lights on on Tuesday by 3.30pm. I was out delivering bkes that evening and I saw a lot of cyclists out in the dark, in dark clothing, no reflectors, no lights or ineffectual lights. Some seem to think that riding down the pavement means you don't need lights - you are wrong on two counts. Please can I persuade parents - if you are letting your kids out in the dark on their bike make sure they have working lights. If you are riding your own PLEASE light up. Whilst you can get very cheap lights - think about where you are riding - not only do you need to be seen, you need to see where you are rding- little flashy LEDs don't give you a pool of light to see where you are going - there are lots of big holes in the roads at the moment and it will hurt if you don't see one and hit it - big damage to your wheels at least - damage to you at worst! Get a decent set of lights - remember the law requires you to have a static light at each end - it's fine to have flashing ones as well - I normally have two LEDs ont the back - one flashing, one static and a very bright front. A tiny little flashy thing cannot be picked out against the general background of car headlamps. So please up your wattage!!!

Fantastic service!

2011-01-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

We have just had a great bit of customer service from Hope Technology at Barnoldswick. We sent them a battery for one of their two-LED lights which had ceased working. It had only been used a few times but was out of its warranty period. However, they have replaced it free of charge and the new one was back this morning - only 3 working days later! Now that is customer service. Thnak you Hope!

More on buying bikes on the internet

2011-01-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

We keep banging on about this - but it keeps happening. Before xmas a customer bought a bike on the net - a £1300 job but at a bargain price of £700 or so - it came in a box - so we put it together for them - all was well until we came to the front wheel which is an SLX 20mm thru-hub type (Maxle) which screws into the fork leg. There is play in the hub bearing - it needs a 28mm cone spanner to adjust it - not many folk have one of them including us!(We have now). But problem is if we touch it and it isn't right we invalidate any warranty the customer may have. Bike back to the customer as it really isn't our problem as we didn't supply it - they call the company and they send a part - believe it or not just a hub - thought you could fit it yourself they say to our customer!! Yeah, right...it would mean rebuilding the wheel - it is a thru-hub which needs a special tool to put it in a jig to rebuild it - it costs £60 + - am I going to buy one for the odd thru-hub wheel build I might do?? Naaahh! Back to customer - they ring the company back and they now agree to send a new wheel. We will wait and see...all this grief for a bike we didn't supply and problems which, if bought locally, could have been sorted right away. He still hasn't been able to ride the Bargain bike. But why did the company who sold it not just say for me to adjust the hub (when I got the tool) - after all I'm a qualified and experienced mechanic - and agree it wouldn't affect the warranty? Duhhh....

Happy new year

2011-01-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

Best wishes for 2011 to all of our customers. We look forward to looking after your bicycles in the coming year. Wr've enjoyed a festive break although we only managed one outing on our bikes due to ice, snow and ultra-low temperatures. We had a record low here (well, since we moved here some years ago)in Whittle of -10.4 degrees - bit too nippy for biking. Be aware that in these temperatures componetns on yuor bike can cease to work - especially if you leave them in a cold place as well. One of our customers, who keeps a bike in a standalone garage suffered from a frozen freehub - once we took the wheel into our nice warm kitchen it was back working within half an hour! Hopefully we won't see too much more of this very cold stuff.

BEWARE - Boxed bike

2010-12-21T02:11:00.000-08:00

Just completed another internet bought boxed bike build for a kiddy bike. I get really frustrated about these. An awful lot of the bikes that are bought on the internet do not turn out to be such a bargain especially when you have to get your LBS (most won't) or mobile outfit to put it together for you- a customer wasn't very happy about the price we charged for sorting out his purchase - he felt that because it came 'part built' he should pay a lower charge. I'm sorry but 'part built' only meant it had the back wheel on - everything else needed fettling. The front wheel was well buckled so the brake would never have worked unless we spent a fair bit of time turing it up so the wheel would go round. Both brakes needed a lot of fiddling to get them as right and as safe as possible. The bar grips were made of soft spongy rubber and had been destroyed in transit so needed replacing - which is a pain because we had to cut standard grips down to fit a kiddy bike. The components on these bikes are dreadful. Oh and plus we provided a door-to-door service going out on icy roads saving him the effort and fuel - and a round trip of 36 miles!!! He could have saved himslef this cost by going down to his local bike shop and buying the bike there - and the PDI and problem solving would have been done by them at no extra cost! OK he may have had to pay a little more for the bike than he did on the web but not what it has cost him to get me out. All of the things wrong with this bike we see so often with internet purchases and it may be in future that we decide not to handle them as they can be more trouble than what they are worth!! Rant over

A bit of snow

2010-12-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

Having been smug about escaping the worst of the bad weather, it duly arrived last night and we have six inches or so here - very pretty. Even the A6 which is a big road was just passable. Still we managed to deliver a promised bike back this morning much to the surprise and delight of its owner - not that he'll be going out on it at the moment! Let it never be said that we don't deliver on our promises.

Cold weather

2010-11-29T07:39:00.000-08:00

Temperatures have plummeted here the last few nights - it was -7.1 on Saturday night,never got above freezing yesterday and down to -5.9 last night. There was a flurry of snow this morning and a balmy 0.8 by lunchtime - now heading down again!
So it is a bit nippy in the workshop so very glad to have nice easy jobs to do today.
We had to make minor repairs a bike after some riders collided with each other over the weekend - twisted front mech and displaced gear cable. Woops! But this has given me some tome to start thinking about the workshop layout -which needs to be more ergonomically laid out - not easy with limited space - and also ordering some stock in.
Good jobs for this time of the year and we have the Rough Stuff Fellowship Xmas lunch to look forward to on Wednesday at Rivington!

Boxed bikes

2010-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again when folk are searching for a great xmas present. Many are now choosing to buy bikes via the internet and these arrive in boxes usually partially built. We don't say you should never buy a bike this way - you can get a real bargain and there are some good dealers but there are pitfalls. All we are saying is - be careful! Check as soon as it arrives - you should really do this whilst the carrier waits - but not so practical - if there isn't time then sign the delivery sheet with a comment 'unchecked'. As soon as you can, check that everything is in the box - it is not unknown for parts to be missing. Often any assembly instructions and/or tools which come with the bike are of little use so unless you know what you are doing then get a qualified mechanic to assemble and check it for you. Remember that if anything is wrong invariably you will have to pay to send it back - and that applies down the line - if it breaks after six months it is hard work geting it back to whence it came. Our advice will always be that it is far better to get a bike from a good local shop with full back up!

End of a busy week

2010-11-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

Today is a day of rest as last week was rather busy. Managed to get a couple of hours out on the bike in the sun yesterday before it was back to the workshop. A Scott mtb had the rear pads worn way down and the cable was stiff - the front rotor was down to min thickness so needed replacing. Although a brand new set of pads had been fitted (not by us) to the front it still wasn't stopping - no bite. As we didn't know their provenance we replaced them and it stops fine now.
The new wheels for the 'destroyed rim' bike arrived so they went on along with a new chain cassette and brake blocks.
A 40 year old bike was serviced and made good. All that is left to do is to build up a nice little BMX out of a box... nice Monday job I think.
And I'm still trying to find some time to clear out my old stock and have sale so I can tidy up the workshop and make it more ergonomically friendly for myself.

Demolition jobs!

2010-11-17T14:49:00.001-08:00

Two of today's jobs were definitely contenders for the demolition derby - first was a brake block which had worn down to the metal holder and then spent a few weeks still being used despite the 'awful noise' the customer described - result a trashed rim and the cost of a new wheel. Second was a bike in for a routine service making a racket at the rear hub and with a severe wobble. Invesigation revealed a fractured axle and bent q/r skewer - the latter holding the whole thing together of course. On informing the Customer he admitted that it had been making a bit of a squeaking noise at the back!
Motto of the tale - if there is a 'funny noise'don't leave it - find out what is causing it!!

Back to busy-ness!

2010-11-16T06:44:00.000-08:00

After a nice long weekend off up in the lakes we are back to a busy workshop again. Lots of folk wanting to get their bikes serviced ready for use in the winter - very sensible. Who wants to be let down by a technical problem on a cold dark and probably wet night on the way home?
It is also important to remind folk of carrying out a quick bike check before each ride - it need only take a few minutes and could save you a breakdown and/or expensive repair. We'll shortly be putting this on our website - so check back soon. An example of how this can save problems - we recently had to fit a new wheel to a newish bike because the customer hadm't kept a check on his wheels and didn't spot a number of loose spokes - by the time we got it it was too late for the rim (RIP)! He did say it had ' felt funny for a while'! If he'd checked it earlier he'd have spotted this and had the wheel tensioned and trued for a small cost...

Old bike problems...

2010-11-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

Today's 'scratching the head' job was an old 5 speed ladies bike wanting a twist grip shifter fitting instead of the current stem lever as was par for the course in those days. Noticed that the bar grips were not fully on the handlebars when it came in - reason why? These old bars are a good millimeter wider than the standard 22.2mm bar and it makes all the difference. Try as you might you cannot get a twist grip shifter onto the bar - and the reason why the grips didn't fit right. The only option is likely an older style thumb shifter as these have a soft clamp that will probably expand enough to get it on - but the owner doesn't want a thumb shifter! One of the joys of trying to 'upgrade' an old type of bike. Watch this space...

More rain!

2010-11-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yep, it is still pouring down outside so no excuses for cracking on with work at the end of a busy week to finish off any bikes left in the workshop. Today's jobs included fitting a new freehub body - the old worn was worn out by an energetic customer clocking up about 8,000 miles with it - pretty good going. It was still running (just) but making a horrible roaring noise and a bit wobbly so probably wouldn't last much longer. Brake pads seem to be the order of the day at the moment - probably with all the wet weather combining with our underlying soil in this neck of the woods (gritstone) resulting in a lovely fine grinding paste - and we cleaned a drivetrain of it's gorgeous black 'goo' to fit a nice shiny new chain & casette.

Still raining...

2010-11-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

At least I don't mind being in my nice warm workshop when it is so bad outside!
Our 'errant' Hope disk brake was fine this morning but a little test ride showed the pads needed changing as well. Plenty of meat on them but they must have got contaminated. The front brake is juddering and squealing badly so it needs fettling as well.
We fettled a battered Merlin mtb - this bike has had a hard life so new brake pads, cables, cassette, chain. Why, oh why do folk not clean their bikes once in a while and keep them lubed? I must have chiselled off a ton of gunge from jockey wheels in the last week or so - some so bad they no longer rotate! When thing are seized up labour costs have to go up to cover the time taken to sort it.

Wet and windy - November arrives

2010-11-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

The rain's pouring down outside and blowing a gale but the workshop is still full of bikes! You'd think things would have quietened down by this stage of the year. But is is a good time of the year to be getting your bike serviced and rrady toface the rigours of winter. Big job today was fitting some new suspension forks to a Scott Aspect and overhauling it's drivetrain. It's owner has ridden several thousand miles on it so it is a good advert for Scott!
We also spent some time on a 'problem' Hope disk brake which was misbehaving after a recent service to replace the seals (not by us I might add!) and the owner was worried about having to buy a new brake. We checked out the whole system and there were no apparent leaks and plenty of fluid in the resevoir but there was a lot of air in the brake fluid - so we have replaced all the fluid and it is working very well now. We will leave it overnight and check it again in the morning.

Scary

2010-10-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well it is nearing halloween! A bike we fixed today had no working front cable disk brake - it just stopped working apparently - and yes, it would have done - because the brake pads had dropped out somewhere. The pads are only held in place on this particular brake by a very small spring. This must have broken and allowed the pads to wiggle their way out under braking! It now has new pads and the owner had been advised to check the spring is still in place every ride!

Lots of jobs to do

2010-10-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Amongst today's work was a full bike check,fitting new tyres and bartape on a nice Giant in readiness for a customer's C2C ride next week. The tyres were Armadillos - great for not puncturing but they are a pain to fit as they are very tight and inflexible - I think I need three pairs of hands. Next job was fitting new bottom bracket cups, adjusting gears and disk brake pads on a well-used XT specced moutain bike. It's important to ensure the pistons are pushed back carefully when fitting the new pads to make sure the piston doesn't twist and jam as you do so. If you don't push them back then you prbably won't get the new pads in and certainly not the wheel. And for good measure started on bringing a bike back to life which has gathered dust for over 4 years in a customer's garage. It's a really nice bike made from 531 tubing and with Campagnolo kit on it so well worth the new tyres & tubes and re-greasing all the bearings which have dried out. Our only problem with it is the stem expander wedge is seized up in the fork tube at the moment - this is often a problem when bikes are left unserviced for a long time - so lots of penetrating lube overnight and we'll see if it will budge in the morning!

Annual Bike checks and clean bikes

2010-10-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

Every year we do bike checks on fleet/pool bikes for a number of organisations to ensure their bikes are roadworthy for their employees/customers/students to use. It's an 'MOT' for a bike checking it from nose to tail. Today was the turn of the local hospital - and it passed with flying colours I'm pleased to say.
It is worth getting an annual check on any bike - it only costs £12 for that peace of mind - and if any jobs do need doing we'll give you a price up front.
Please remember to give your bike a clean before booking it in though - we will charge extra if we have to clean a bike before we can work on it - and if it is very bad we may decline to take it until it has been cleaned up. You don't really need fancy cleaners - warm soapy water, an old sponge and an old toothbrush (for the 'hard to get at' bits). If you use a hosepipe or pressure washer be really careful not to point this at hubs, bottom bracket bearings or suspension untis as you risk stripping out the essential grease!

2010-10-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Today's main job was converting a Claud Butler Leavante from a flat bar set up to a drop bar. The customer wanted to retain his existing 8 speed triple kit so we fitted some nice Shimano 2303 8 spd STI shifters - so no compatibility problems - and Ritchey drop bars with some white bar tape to match his saddle and paintwork. New cables through out and job done!
We also had a nice email from a customer thanking us for the work we did this summer on helping him restore a 1940s Dawes racing bike - apparently his Dad, whose bike it was, was delighted to see it almost back to its former glory.

Suspension servicing

2010-10-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Right now is a really good time to get forks and shocks serviced with quick turnaround times. Don't leave it until the Spring when everyone wants to get them done - you could wait 2-3 weeks.

Welcome!

2010-10-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new Wheelygood blog, okay its in development and next time may look totally different.
Anyway I thought it might be nice to have somewhere to post thoughts and suggestions so keep watching