c/bicycle-mechanics

I finally noticed why shop bikes always feel smoother than my own builds

Went to a Trek dealer in Portland last week just to browse and grabbed a handlebar of a floor model. The cables were routed with these little foam donuts inside the housing where they rubbed the frame. I always just ran them straight through and never thought about the vibration damping. My last build had a weird buzz in the hoods at around 18 mph that I could never find. Anyone else put little inserts like that in their cable runs?

Went to a shop in Portland last month and saw a mechanic using a pedal wrench to tighten a headset.

I just stood there for like 10 seconds waiting for someone to say something but nobody did, has anyone else run into mechanics who clearly don't know the right tool for the job?

Fixed my first full wheel build this weekend - took 3 tries to get it right

I finally built a wheel from scratch at my shop in Portland. Been working as a mechanic for about 2 years and always chickened out on wheel building. Last Saturday I took a deep breath and laced up a 36-spoke 27.5 inch rim for a customer's old mountain bike. First attempt had way too much tension on the drive side and I had to start over, but third time the dish came out perfect. Has anyone else found a trick for getting even spoke tension without going cross-eyed?

I used to hate brifters until I rebuilt a 90s MTB

Man I was dead set on bar end shifters for everything. Then I worked on a buddy's old Rockhopper with 3x7 Deore LX. He wanted to keep it original but the shifters were toast. I put on some cheap Microshift brifters and tuned the cable housing length just right. After a 20 mile test ride through some hills I finally got why people love them for quick shifting without moving your hands. Has anyone else had a similar change of heart about a drivetrain part?

Found out the average shop charges $75 just to true a wheel, and it blew my mind

I was looking through some industry survey results from the PeopleForBikes shop data report last week. Apparently the national average for a basic wheel true is around $75, and a full tension and truing can hit $150 easy. I had no idea it was that high. I mean, I've been working at my local co-op for about 6 months now, and we charge way less, like $30 for a simple true. But it made me wonder if we're underselling ourselves or if the big shops are just padding their rates. I asked my coworker Dave about it, and he shrugged and said "supply and demand, kid." Has anyone else seen these numbers actually match what their shop charges, or is the report off?

TIL I was over-tightening my bottom brackets for years

I had this old Cannondale road bike that kept making a creaking noise every time I stood up to pedal. I must have pulled the crankset off like 6 times, greased everything, and torqued it back down to the numbers in the manual. Then a buddy who races crits came over last month and watched me work. He just laughed and said "dude your shell is probably warped from cranking it down so hard." I looked it up and sure enough, some aluminum frames can distort if you go past 35 Nm on the cups. I backed it off to 30 Nm and the creak vanished. So now I'm wondering how many bottom brackets I've wrecked over the years. Has anyone else found a torque spec that worked better than what the factory says?

Lost a whole afternoon to a seized seatpost that should have taken 20 minutes

I was helping a friend with an old Schwinn from the 70s (lucky me) and the seatpost was absolutely frozen. I tried liquid wrench, heat from a torch, even the old pipe wrench trick. Three hours later I finally got it out by cutting a slot in the post with a hacksaw and collapsing it inward. Has anyone else found a secret method for these that doesn't involve turning the frame into scrap?

Learned my lesson about cheap cable housing at a shop in Austin

Guy came in with his brand new custom build, housing was already fraying after two weeks. Has anyone else had that cheap stuff fail way faster than you expected?

Paid $80 for a Park Tool chain whip and it paid off in one job

I do my own maintenance to save money, but I always cheaped out on tools. Last month I had a cassette that was seized on pretty bad. Broke two generic chain whips trying to get it off. Finally bought the Park Tool SR-2 for $80 from my local shop. Got the cassette off in about two minutes without any slipping. Should have just bought the real thing from the start instead of wasting money on the cheap ones. Anyone else had cheap tools break at the worst time?

Picked a cheap spoke wrench over a Park Tool one, now I'm kicking myself

I grabbed a $4 generic spoke wrench from the hardware store instead of spending $12 on the Park Tool SW-0, and after truing one wheel I already rounded off the 14g nipple slots. Has anyone else had luck with the budget wrenches or am I just wasting time and money?

Vent: An old timer at the co-op told me I was over-torquing my stem bolts and he was right

I've been wrenching on my own bikes for about 4 years now. Always used a torque wrench on my stem bolts, set it to the max spec on the part. Thought I was being careful. Then last winter at the co-op in Austin, this guy Bill who must be 70 years old watches me tighten a stem and just goes "you're gonna crack that steerer tube doing that." I got defensive at first, told him I was following the numbers. He said "the numbers on the part are for when everything is bone dry and brand new, which it never is." He showed me his method - grease the bolts, back the torque off by like 15%, and do a star pattern. Felt sketchy at first but I tried it on my commuter. 8 months later no slipping and no creaks. Has anyone else been told they were overthinking torque specs by an old school mechanic? I still use the wrench but I dial it back now.

Shoutout to the shop in Portland that showed me how to true a wheel in 8 minutes flat

Was at a shop in Portland last winter helping a buddy with a wheel build. The head mechanic walked over, saw me struggling with tension, and grabbed the spoke wrench out of my hand. He showed me this trick where you sight down the rim from the hub instead of the tire side. Took me from 25 minutes per wheel to about 8 once I got the hang of it. Anyone else picked up a weird shortcut from watching a pro work?

Appreciation post: hit 200 true wheel builds this morning without meaning to

I was just cleaning up the truing stand after a job for a neighbor's old touring bike and realized my build log hit 200. That's just wheels I actually laced and tensioned myself, not counting simple trues. It snuck up on me because I mostly do this as a side gig from my garage in Portland. Has anyone else had a number creep up on them like that without realizing?

TIL most shop owners are dead wrong about using WD-40 on bike chains

I've been working at a shop in Portland for about 8 years now and I always heard from the old timers that WD-40 was the devil for chains. They swore it stripped all the factory grease and ruined components. But I actually looked up the testing data from a guy who ran a bunch of chain wear tests on a rig. Turns out modern WD-40 Specialist line has PTFE in it and actually works fine as a cleaner and light lube if you apply it right. The real killer isn't the product, it's people spraying it on wet and never wiping off the excess. I saw a test where a chain lubed with WD-40 lasted 2500 miles before hitting 0.5% stretch which is totally acceptable for a commuter. Has anyone else actually run their own wear tests or are we all just repeating what some mechanic said in 1985?

Had to pick between hydro discs and mechanical discs for a customer build

Had this touring bike come in last month, customer wanted disc brakes but was on a tight budget. I ended up going with the mechanicals because they're way easier to service on the road and you can fix them with basic tools. The stopping power is decent enough for loaded touring, just gotta keep the cables fresh. Anyone else find mechanical discs underrated for certain builds?

That guy who tried to return a chain he clearly snapped himself

A dude walked into my shop last Tuesday holding a busted KMC chain, swearing it broke on its own after only 200 miles. I showed him the twisted link and the tool marks where he'd pried it apart with pliers, and he just stared at me like I was the jerk. How do you handle people who insist their gear failed when it's obvious they messed it up?

Found a cheap trick for truing bent disc rotors without a special tool

I was working on a buddy's bike last weekend and his front rotor was rubbing so bad you could hear it from down the street. Those fancy rotor truing forks are like $30 and I didn't have one on hand. So I grabbed an adjustable wrench from my toolbox and opened it just wide enough to slip over the rotor. Then I gently bent the warped section back into place by squeezing the wrench handle. It took maybe 10 minutes to get it spinning true and quiet. The rotor was a basic Shimano RT56 model so nothing expensive to risk. Has anyone else used this method or do you have a better homebrew trick for rotor truing?

Switched from spray lube to wax drip for my commuter chain

I used to just spray on that wet lube every few days and deal with the black gunk all over my pants. Last month I tried Squirt wax drip on a new chain and I haven't had to clean the drivetrain once in 500 miles. Anyone else make the switch and notice their chain lasting way longer?

Switched from zip ties to Velcro straps for cable management on builds and it's a game changer

Serious question, are cassette lockrings getting softer or is it just me?

I've been spinning wrenches for about 5 years now, and I swear last Tuesday I had a lockring from a 2022 Shimano 105 group practically strip just hand tightening it before torquing down. Back maybe 2 or 3 years ago, I could torque those things to spec with a Park Tool wrench and never worry. Now I'm finding myself using anti-seize on the threads and going real careful. Has anyone else noticed lockrings from newer groupsets feeling cheesy, or did I just get a bad batch from that one ride?

TIL I've been greasing bottom bracket threads way too heavy for years...

Was helping a guy overhaul a 90s Trek in Denver last month and he showed me how a thin film is all you need, not that thick paste I've been globbing on since I started. Anyone else find out they were overdoing a basic step after way too long?

Went back to a bike I built 2 years ago and the cables were trashed

Took in a trade that I originally built up in 2022 and the housing was all crunchy and the shift cable had rust spots. Did the liners I used back then just suck or is 2 years about normal for daily riding in the PNW?

Just switched from using cable cutters to a dremel for housing

After ruining my 5th pair of Park cutters on some cheap housing last month, I grabbed my dremel with a thin cutoff wheel and it's way cleaner cuts with no fraying, has anyone else made that swap or found another trick?

The day I stopped using grease on pedal threads

I used to always slather grease on pedal threads before installing them. That's what I was taught when I started wrenching at a shop in Portland 6 years ago. Then last month I had a customer come back with a stripped crank arm on a brand new SRAM crankset. Turns out the grease let me overtighten without realizing it, and the aluminum threads just gave out. Now I use a tiny drop of blue threadlocker on the pedals instead. It keeps them from backing out but still lets you remove them with a normal wrench. The trick is using just a dab, not a whole drop, on the first few threads. Has anyone else made this switch or had a crank arm get ruined from overgreasing?

Spent 15 years greasing pedal threads before a retired mechanic at a swap meet told me I was just trapping dirt

He pointed to my worn-out crank arms and said all that extra grease just holds grit against the aluminum, so now I just put a tiny dab on the spindle and nothing on the threads, anyone else learn a basic thing way too late?