Ridden into the ground!

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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.