Been building wheels for about 3 years now. Thought I had it down. But last Tuesday a guy came into my shop, saw me tightening spokes on a new build. He watched for a minute, then said "you're chasing the wrong side." Hit me like a brick. I was always tightening the drive side spokes thinking that was the problem. He showed me how loose spokes on the non-drive side were pulling it out of true. Fixed the whole wheel in under 2 minutes. Made me realize I've been wasting hours on bad technique. Anyone else learn a basic trick way later than they should have?
Was sorting mail the other day with this older guy who rides a vintage Raleigh with cantilevers. He said he's done 8 cross-country trips on that thing and never once wished for disc brakes. I've been building touring bikes with discs for the last 3 years and always thought they were the only way to go. But hearing him talk about how easy it was to fix a bent rim on the side of the road in Montana made me rethink everything. Any of you long distance riders still sticking with rim brakes on purpose?
I was at a group ride last Saturday and my rear wheel started wobbling bad. Pulled over to fix it on the spot with just a spoke wrench. Thought I could eyeball the tension like some old timer showed me once. After 20 minutes of turning spokes, the wheel looked straight but the rim had a flat spot I didn't see. Rode another 3 miles and the tire blew off the rim. Walked home pushing the bike. Next day I borrowed a friend's Park Tool tension meter and realized I had the spokes all over the place. Has anyone else had a field repair go this wrong?
I was coming down Boulder Canyon around 7 AM when I shifted into my lowest gear and the chain just gave out. I went from moving to zero real quick, almost ate it over the handlebars. Had to walk my bike half a mile to the nearest gas station and call a coworker for a ride. I keep telling myself I need to replace chains more often but I always push it too far. Anyone else had a chain fail on them at the worst possible moment?
I spent 2 hours last night trying to fix a shifting issue on a customer's Trek and it turned out the hanger was bent like 3 degrees off. Is it worth buying the Park Tool alignment gauge for $170, or do you think the bolt-in-the-dropout trick works just as good for a shop on a budget? What's your take on cutting corners here?
Guy rolls in with a wheel that looks like a potato chip, says he watched a YouTube video and wants me to just "give it a quick twist." I tried to explain dish and tension and he goes "nah, my buddy said you can fix wobbles by just tightening one side." I spent 10 minutes just getting him to understand that spokes work in pairs. Has anyone else had a customer who watched one video and suddenly knows more than you do?
Was out on a group ride last Saturday and felt like I was working way harder than everyone else. Kept checking tire pressure, thinking maybe I was just having a bad day. Got home and noticed my front wheel had about 3mm of play in the fork. Tightened the QR and now the bike feels like it gained 5 horsepower. Anybody else ever spend a whole ride fighting a loose wheel?
I was rebuilding a set of old Shimano pedals at the community bike co-op downtown and this older volunteer named Dave walked over. He saw me about to thread them into the cranks dry and said stop, you gotta grease the threads or they'll seize in there. I thought he was wrong because pedals have left and right threads and I figured they'd loosen up on their own. But he explained that corrosion from sweat and rain will lock them in place and you'll strip the crank arm trying to get them out later. Sure enough I looked it up and he was right. Now I always put a thin layer of grease on pedal threads before installation. Anyone else ever get bad advice from a shop guy that turned out to be true?
I was grumbling to a mechanic named Sal last week about paying $300 for a full tune-up on my old hybrid bike. He said you're not paying for the labor, you're paying for the knowledge of what to touch and what to leave alone. That hit different because he showed me a bike where someone messed up the derailleur hanger alignment just by over-tightening a bolt. Now I get it, a lot of shops just swap parts real quick while a good one looks at the whole system. Has anyone else had a mechanic explain their pricing in a way that changed your mind?
Was helping a guy at the shop last Saturday swap his crankset. He had a tub of generic automotive grease he was about to slap on a new PF30. Told him that stuff can make the plastic cups slip or creak over time. I always use a thick waterproof marine grease or something made for press fit specifically. Anyone else run into problems from customers using the wrong lube on these?
I swore by tubes for like 8 years, thought tubeless was just hype. Then I got three flats in one week on a gravel ride near Asheville, finally caved and set up my wheels with some Stan's sealant. Has anyone else had a total 180 on a setup they thought was snake oil?
Last week I was showing a younger mechanic how to true a wheel with just a spoke wrench and a zip tie. He pulled out a digital truing stand and asked why I was doing it the hard way. I told him 3 years ago in my old shop in Austin we had a Park stand but no gauge. We just spun the wheel and listened. Had another old timer tell me once 'if you can hear it, you can fix it.' Has anyone else noticed new guys rely way too much on tools instead of feel?
I picked up that Park Tool CC-4 chain checker three months ago thinking it would save me from guessing chain wear. Used it on a customer's bike and it said the chain was fine. Two weeks later the cassette slipped under load and I measured the chain with a ruler - it was stretched way past 0.75. I lost $60 on that cassette replacement and had to comp the labor. Has anyone else had bad luck with those click-style gauges?
I was at a local bike shop in Portland last Thursday waiting for a tube and saw their old mechanic straighten a buckled wheel using only zip ties as tension gauges. He marked the spots, tightened the spokes by feel, and had it spinning true in under 10 minutes. Has anyone else tried this trick or is it just something you pick up after 20 years in the trade?
I was reading Sheldon Brown's site last night and learned that most chain checkers can be off by 0.25% or more depending on the brand. That means you could be replacing a chain that's got plenty of life left or running one that's already stretched past 1% wear. Anyone else double check with a ruler after using one of those tools?
I had been debating for weeks whether to spring for carbide or diamond cutters for facing my headtubes and chasing bottom brackets. Carbide was about $60 more but I kept reading it lasts way longer on aluminum frames. Took the plunge yesterday and after prepping 4 frames back to back, they're still cutting like butter. Anyone else gone back and forth on facing tools and regretted one over the other?
Bought it on eBay. Looked legit in the pics. Showed 0.5 wear on a brand new chain straight out of the box. Anyone else get burned by counterfeit tools?
Turns out I had a stiff link I couldn't see - missed it because I didn't spin the cranks backwards slow enough after a new chain install. Has anyone else wasted a whole afternoon on something this dumb?
Guy named Ray who worked at a shop back in the 80s swore by greasing every thread on a bike. Pedals, bottom bracket, everything. First time I greased my pedal threads on a new set of cranks, they spun loose on a ride 3 weeks later. Wrecked the threads in the crankarm. Had to replace the whole thing. Turns out pedals need to be dry or use anti-seize, not regular grease. Who else got bad advice from someone who'd been doing it the old way forever?
Was helping a kid in the co-op in Portland last week and he said his instructor told him to only grease the drive side splines. That's just asking for corrosion and creaks down the road. I've been pulling apart Italian cranks from the 80s that seized up exactly because someone skipped the left side. Why take the chance when a dab of marine grease on both sides takes ten extra seconds?
Tbh I was always skeptical about hydro dipping bike rims. It seemed like a gimmick that would just peel off after a few rides. But last month I stopped into a custom paint shop in Austin and the owner showed me a set they'd prepped and cleared properly. Looked like ceramic coating, not cheap wrap. Has anyone else tried this and had it hold up long term? I'm still on the fence about doing my own set.
I was working on a 2005 Trek hybrid last week, swapping out the old Shimano square taper for a new cartridge. The non-drive side threads looked rough so I grabbed my Park Tool thread chaser and went to work. Took about 20 minutes before I realized I was cutting new threads instead of cleaning the old ones, and the cups wouldn't even catch anymore. Had to order a Wheels Manufacturing threadless bottom bracket kit for $45 and now I'm waiting on delivery. Anyone else ever make this mistake with a steel frame?
I was over on the Park Tool site reading about chain maintenance and saw a tip about using a quick link pliers to pop the master link instead of fumbling with the chain tool. I gave it a try on a SRAM chain from a 2018 bike that was gummed up. The pliers made it so easy to get the link open and closed without bending the plates. Has anyone else found a tool that simplified a common job way more than you expected?
I used to just put a little grease on pedal threads before installing them, but after 6 months one of them seized up so bad I had to cut the crank arm off. Turns out the pedal spindle needs anti-seize compound instead of regular grease, especially on aluminum cranks. Anyone else made this mistake before?
Last Saturday I was cruising down 12th Avenue in Portland, standing up to pedal through a light, when my left crank arm just slipped off the spindle. I nearly ate pavement right in front of a bus. Turned out I had swapped pedals three rides ago and never torqued the crank bolt back down. It was a 15 second fix with my 8mm hex, but I could have gotten seriously hurt. Now I keep a torque wrench in my bag and double check every bolt after any work. How do you keep track of all the small adjustments you make during a tune up?