Local Bike Shops: a rant

James Higgs
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

Yesterday I headed out on a ride. I’d ridden the day before and noticed that my chain was squeaking. There’s very little more annoying than a noisy chain on a long ride, so I made a note to sort it.

But I forgot. So as I set out yesterday I noticed again that my chain was squeaking. Rather than turn back the — oooh — 100 metres and correct it, I decided to carry on and stop at a local bike shop (LBS) en route.

LBSs, we are told, are the lifeblood of our sport. We must support them and give them our business rather than buy things online. But, virtually every time I’ve ever used one I’ve had surly, ignorant service.

Yesterday was no exception.

As I entered the LBS, I offered to pay something or buy something I didn’t immediately need in order to compensate them for a small amount of chain lube.

Teeth-sucking. He’s seen that I’m a Rapha tosspot (true) and assumed that I know nothing about bike maintenance (not true).

“That chain doesn’t need any more lube. It’s your jockey wheels.”

My heart sank.

The bike goes on the maintenance stand. The mechanic spends a while looking at the bike. He asks his equally sullen colleague whether SRAM RED has ceramic bearings (yes it does, but matey doesn’t know).

He squirts something (lube? degreaser? no idea) into the jockey wheels. The squeak continues. He faffs about for several minutes.

“There you go. That’s made it a bit quieter [no it hasn’t]. If that doesn’t sort it [it hasn’t] you’ll need to strip it down and replace the jockey wheels [no I won’t].”

Sigh.

I cary on with my ride, the squeak arguably worse than before. It’s a fantastic day to ride a bike. I try not to let the squeak ruin my enjoyment of it and my improving form.

This morning I cleaned the bike and lubed the chain. The squeak – CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? – has gone.

This sort of experience is just all too common. You go into a bike shop with a problem that would cost about 5p to fix and come out thinking you need to buy £150 worth of parts.

It’s OK for me because I know I’m being bullshitted. But for people who don’t, these experiences can sometimes be enough to put them off cycling entirely, or at least to put them off getting their bike looked at. Of course there are great bike shops, but too many are staffed by ignorant, arrogant fools who do nothing to spread the love of our great sport.

What a pity.

)

James Higgs

Written by

Technical Director @ustwo London. Failed recluse.

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