Bristol Bike Shops - Not impressive...
Discussion
Just a little rant really. I have a set of cranks I want removed from my roadbike. Unfortunately I have stripped the thread off the crank arms. I have tried everything to get them off - ball joint prong, hammer, riding around - apart from sawing as I dont have a decent hacksaw.
Took it to the Specialised shop on Park Street. Very helpful but cant work on non Specialised bikes apparently as they are a concept store.
Tried Bike UK - took one look at problem and clearly wanted nothing to do with it. 4 week waiting list.
Tried Evans where the bike is from. Suggested a 'tap with a hammer'. Had to pretty much beg them to take it into the shop. 2 week wait.
I never had this problem in Taunton. *sigh*.
Funniley enough, if anybody is willing to get these bloody things off with a decent hacksaw I'm willing to pay.
Took it to the Specialised shop on Park Street. Very helpful but cant work on non Specialised bikes apparently as they are a concept store.
Tried Bike UK - took one look at problem and clearly wanted nothing to do with it. 4 week waiting list.
Tried Evans where the bike is from. Suggested a 'tap with a hammer'. Had to pretty much beg them to take it into the shop. 2 week wait.
I never had this problem in Taunton. *sigh*.
Funniley enough, if anybody is willing to get these bloody things off with a decent hacksaw I'm willing to pay.
I could write for hours lamenting Bristol bike shops. For a city that is one of the flagship "Cycling City" initiatives, most of the shops are utterly useless. Their product knowledge is woeful. I dont expect them to be able to quote a brochure but the amount of bulls
t I have heard whlist they talk to other customers is terrible. "we're a bike shop!, look how cool we are!, we work in a bike shop!, we're cool!, we were jeans to work and call each other dude!, we're not part of your 9 to 5 rat race!, we're living the dream...."
I use www.badassbikes.co.uk in Burrington Combe for pretty much everything in terms of servicing, despite the fact that they are miles away. For general accessories etc I try to use Strada in Bedminster.
t I have heard whlist they talk to other customers is terrible. "we're a bike shop!, look how cool we are!, we work in a bike shop!, we're cool!, we were jeans to work and call each other dude!, we're not part of your 9 to 5 rat race!, we're living the dream...." I use www.badassbikes.co.uk in Burrington Combe for pretty much everything in terms of servicing, despite the fact that they are miles away. For general accessories etc I try to use Strada in Bedminster.
Yeah - it wll be the BB that needs cutting off. I just dont have the gear to do it.
Its just about possible you could do it with a workshop quality tool... I just dont have one and I'm at wits end.
Psyclewerx used to be my LBS when I was at uni. A bit inconvinient for me now I'm in the centre. Also, I suspect they will laugh at me so I don't want to show them my hodge-podge efforts!
Didn't think about MudDock, but actually they are a pretty good shop. I'll call them.
Its just about possible you could do it with a workshop quality tool... I just dont have one and I'm at wits end.
Psyclewerx used to be my LBS when I was at uni. A bit inconvinient for me now I'm in the centre. Also, I suspect they will laugh at me so I don't want to show them my hodge-podge efforts!
Didn't think about MudDock, but actually they are a pretty good shop. I'll call them.
Sorted. In theory...
MudDock suggested I ring Argos Racing Cycles. I rang them, dropped the bike off. They couldn't have been more friendly. They see the same thing all the time and will sort it out for me by heating the crank arm a bit - then it will pop off. They are also going to remove my BB and face the shell. So half points to MudDock for suggesting a decent place.
Specialised concept store very friendly and suggested sister stores but this was before I realised other bike shops would be so busy.
In conclusion, very surprised Bike UK and Evans would so openly not want to take on slightly more challenging work from paying customers. I accept its fiddly but its the way they so brazenly wanted me out of the shop. This is fine if one assumes its easy money selling bits and fixing kids bikes but they shouldn't be surprised if I choose to buy my bikes and parts online.
MudDock suggested I ring Argos Racing Cycles. I rang them, dropped the bike off. They couldn't have been more friendly. They see the same thing all the time and will sort it out for me by heating the crank arm a bit - then it will pop off. They are also going to remove my BB and face the shell. So half points to MudDock for suggesting a decent place.
Specialised concept store very friendly and suggested sister stores but this was before I realised other bike shops would be so busy.
In conclusion, very surprised Bike UK and Evans would so openly not want to take on slightly more challenging work from paying customers. I accept its fiddly but its the way they so brazenly wanted me out of the shop. This is fine if one assumes its easy money selling bits and fixing kids bikes but they shouldn't be surprised if I choose to buy my bikes and parts online.
blippo1984 said:
Sorted. In theory...
MudDock suggested I ring Argos Racing Cycles. I rang them, dropped the bike off. They couldn't have been more friendly. They see the same thing all the time and will sort it out for me by heating the crank arm a bit - then it will pop off. They are also going to remove my BB and face the shell. So half points to MudDock for suggesting a decent place.
Good stuff. Totally forgot about Argos. They do amazing paint resprays.MudDock suggested I ring Argos Racing Cycles. I rang them, dropped the bike off. They couldn't have been more friendly. They see the same thing all the time and will sort it out for me by heating the crank arm a bit - then it will pop off. They are also going to remove my BB and face the shell. So half points to MudDock for suggesting a decent place.
For future ref, if you're north of Bristol, Yate and Chipping Sodbury has a few good bike shops, Terry's Cycles on Station Road and Blast Bikes on Chipping Sodbury High Street.
Argos is a great place, we did some research there for a bike related project at Uni a few years ago, very helpful and accomodating.
Argos is a great place, we did some research there for a bike related project at Uni a few years ago, very helpful and accomodating.
If I had seen this I could have lent you an angle grinder or hacksaw, or indeed done it for you.
Muddock are hopeless. bds charged me 10 quid to fit a tyre, I didn't have any tools and said 'yeah go on then' assuming it would be gratis, it wasn't.
After that I thought 'fair enough they need to make their money somewhere' and took my mate in to buy a road bike (looking to spend 500-600 quid max) sales bloke immediatly tried to sell him a 950 quid bike telling him anything else was a pile of st and he may as well not bother. I had been talking to him before about a cheap brake disk setup for my mountain bike (its a 50-100 quid bike) and he tried to sell me a 80 quid each end setup and anything less was st. Only reason I asked was that I had seen them for around 20-30 on ebay and thought now that the pads are worn out I may as well... guy was a cock.
Muddock are hopeless. b
ds charged me 10 quid to fit a tyre, I didn't have any tools and said 'yeah go on then' assuming it would be gratis, it wasn't.After that I thought 'fair enough they need to make their money somewhere' and took my mate in to buy a road bike (looking to spend 500-600 quid max) sales bloke immediatly tried to sell him a 950 quid bike telling him anything else was a pile of s
t and he may as well not bother. I had been talking to him before about a cheap brake disk setup for my mountain bike (its a 50-100 quid bike) and he tried to sell me a 80 quid each end setup and anything less was st. Only reason I asked was that I had seen them for around 20-30 on ebay and thought now that the pads are worn out I may as well... guy was a cock.
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