I wish I had that much time on my hands

I'm thinking you can book me for 1-2 hours in the workshop, but you also get to come "help" while we work on your bike. It's the same as our labour rate, but you might learn something. If you want to spend that hour chatting shit, go for it, if we need to spend 15 minutes looking something up online, then great. If you want to spend half an hour doing a mini bike fit, and half making adjustments, then cool.

My prediction is that it would end up being about 45 minutes of teaching someone how to adjust a v brake and they'd end up spending quite a lot more in labour time (as they are there to witness it) than if it was just booked in. Also someone will probably book an hour to do something complicated, but we won't even get halfway through it.

I'm thinking of offering a couple of hours per week as a trial, maybe before we open or a time when I can focus. What do you think?

A little background: My first mountain bike was a 1990 Trek 8900, with a (as was then described) "shallow" 71° HA. Back then, we rode pretty chunky, steep trails along with toe clips. Then I got out of mtn biking until about 4 or 5 years ago when I picked up a 2019 Trek Procaliber 9.7 with a 69.5 HA. I've learned how to handle it as best as I can on Steep, chunky descents, but I've often wondered if an angleset would provide more advantages than disadvantages.

If I get a Wolf Tooth 2° and bring it down to 67.5, would it noticeably change the BB height? Would it negatively affect my ability to maneuver around obstacles on steep, technical climbs? Would it noticeably shorten the reach? I already run a 100mm stem, which for my build actually works quite well, but a reduction in reach of a few mm probably would be to difficult to adjust to.

I appreciate feedback from those who have used anglesets, and if you noticed any disadvantages.

It took me a long time to learn this for myself, but you don't need to deal with cheapskates, because others are perfectly happy paying you your fair rates.

Great example of this just recently!

A guy brings me a BMC road frameset with levers and mechs from a 6770 groupo, but none of the wiring, junction box, or anything. Most everything else was also missing. I don't even have the pec1 in case I need to update firmware. Also the tubular tires were simply, NOT GLUED, and he dropped off a spare wheelset. Anyway, finding all the missing pieces between Ebay and Q, charging $50/wheel in labor to glue up the wheels, etc. etc., the ticket was gonna be around $1500. He asked me to removed the wiring that he'd find it himself and bring it to me. Ok, I did. He then asked me to remove the tubular tires, he'd find cheaper ones (I just picked Vitorria Rally's), ok. like this until the ticket was cut in half. Then he said, I need the labor to be as low as possible. At which point, I said, no man, I'm not going to haggle on my time. I've already spent a couple hours on this just trying to get you to approve an invoice, go somewhere else. He said ok. Perfectly polite.

The same day a guy walked in and handed me a frame and was like "I have a parts list, but you don't necessarily have to stick to it. I'm fine spending more for a good unique build. I made up some carts, I'm doing some frame mods, a repaint, building new wheels, polishing some black parts to mirror finish, etc., etc., he paid the $2700 invoice within 60 seconds of receiving it. I'm taking $400 from the job and giving him cost pluss shipping and processing fee on almost everything, because THAT'S what you get for compliance. If you want baller shit, you need to be a baller, which is a mindset.

Anyway. Happy stories do happen. This build is gonna be exquisite.

We've got some Dual Sport+ and FX+ that were built by inexperienced mechanics and now have various electrical issues. I'm trouble shooting them and realize the connector to the taillight is a bear to remove (to inspect/test) without harm. Does anybody have a trick?

I've seen a closeup image of the connector and am pretty sure there is a latch to be pushed back in the female end, on the taillight. But, I just haven't figured out the knack of releasing it. So far, I've tried pushing a jeweler's screwdriver in the square slot hoping the latch had a ramp to release the connector, but it just goes in and stops, connector remains latched. Next, I'm gooing to try and make a curved tool from a spoke to apply lateral pressure. After that, our old friend, brute force. Sadly, the connector is out of stock nation wide.

It's time to upgrade my dirt cheap, poorly forged wrench set.

Considering investing on a ratcheting set for speed but have never used them extensively. Is it worth it or should I leave the ratchet action to the 1/4 inch ?

Pedro's set is appealing for the 6 point box end that should have a better grip rather than the usual 12 point and makes sense on a ratchet + a nice roll bag :)

Second guessing on the 15° angle from non ratcheting that should help in tight or inset spaces?

What do you recommend?

Always looks so messy

2 spokes,wire brush,and duct tape

Any ideas how to make it look like I've got a spanner stuck through my neck? 🔧🧟‍♂️🔩🩸

Actually was only about a mm off from the correct size. worked pretty well.

Somedays your in a carpark. Some days your in the bush 👌 But that Belgium one was unbelievable

Food delivery rider came by the shop a few weeks back to “tighten” his rear hydraulic brake. Turned out he needed a new disc and pads as the way the brake had been previously setup was a mess and he’d been braking on backing plates. He was adamant only the pads were needed. I obeyed the command, parried his bartering and sent him on his way after telling him how dangerous it was.

Fast forward to this morning when I get a phone call from the same guy asking if I could fit a new rotor.

No matter how many times you try to explain things to these guys they just don’t listen.

Hey y’all. I’ve been thinking about going tubeless so I can run lower PSIs to ride gravel. Any other mods I can do to improve gravel experience?

I have had Lightspeed since its inception of a small bike shop specific point of sale called Merchant OS. We are grandfathered in to a super cheap rate and I just got the email about Lightspeed payments. They are strong arming me into switching to their payment processing after I just renegotiated my rates w/ Cayan our current processor. So far I am looking in to HubTiger. We are mostly service and repair with no web sales. Brick and mortar shop focused on service, repair and custom builds. We use paper Walking Bird work orders NOT electronic. Thx in advance.

Short rant I guess, but title says it all and they are always a pain to change out tubes and it always seems to be the rear. Anyone else have similar experiences in their shops?

Howdy! I'm with a tiny, volunteer-run, donation-based non-profit bike shop in the PNW. We're trying to craft shop policies that will allow us to accept eBikes for donation and possible resale. We have some concerns around safety, training, and liability that we're trying to address.

Ideally, we would like to be able to do the following:

• Accept used and new eBikes for donation
• Store new and used eBikes in our facility
• Sell new and used eBikes to customers
• Allow our clients to safely wrench on their own bikes in our facility
• Safely dispose of unacceptable batteries

Wondering if any of you fine folks have gone through a similar transoformation at your shops, and if there are best-practices or guidelines or accreditation services you can suggest to us. We're looking closely at the Call2Recycle eBike Battery Recycling guidelines, and wondering what else is out there. Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts!

Im looking at a getting a lift stand for the shop and I've been looking at the remco stands.i really Like the footprint but I've yet to see any long-term shop review of them. Anyone here use one or know who uses one?

Anyone use something else they like better?

What say you?

Hey all. I've been approached & offered help to start up a mobile bike repair business. Said person is willing to handle the upfront financial cost, online marketing & advertisement as well as supply management. I'd basically be solely focused on being a bike technician. I have 3 years shop experience as both a mechanic & sales.

Those of you with experience with such a niche business, what challenges will I encounter? What are some things I absolutely must know before diving into this?

Thanks for the time you took to read/reply to this. I've left out many questions rattling around my brain as I find it tedious to spend too much time asking internet strangers for help.