Hearing about your struggle to find a good shop and knowing how retail bike shops everywhere, including those here in the East SF Bay Area give me an uncomfortable sense of dissonance. It is true that the shelter-in-place order has stretched out the timeline for repairs, but shops that survived are super stoked to work on all bikes.
If it were just installing those new wheels and the dyno, it really shouldn't take the mechanics too long (my estimate would be less than 30 minutes), but perhaps you have other repairs lined up. Franklyn On Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 1:21:19 PM UTC-7, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > Ted, I’m sorry but I’m such a disappointment. In true form, with my > aversion to my scale (I’m never in agreement with that thing) I weighed > *nothing* but just tossed those wheels in the van and drove off to get them > installed. Which brings me to the story portion of my post... > > Henderson and Las Vegas are woefully short of good bike shops. The two > largest are a LONG drive from me, and they concentrate on roadies or > mountain biker types but certainly not the Leah Petersons of the world. The > only shop that ever knew what a Rivendell was has closed its doors so I’m > back to folks thinking “What a nice cruiser.” > > The shops that remain are booked solid. They can’t get parts. They can’t > take anymore bikes. Today I pointed the van NW and drove to Southwest > Bikes. I arrived 20 min before opening, and there was already a line in the > parking lot. I was #3 in line. I heard the mechanic say to the guy in front > of me, “We aren’t taking any new repairs.” > > Um. I called last week and they had said to bring my bike in when I got my > wheels. After turning the guy in front of me away, it was my turn. “Did I > hear you say you aren’t taking new repairs?” I asked. > > “Yeah, only simple things like flats.” > > “Well, I need these wheels and dyno put on my bike, and I had some other > things on the list...” > > “I took your call last week - I remember. I’m sorry; can you come back May > 28th and we’ll take the bike then?” > > It’s not his fault; these are unprecedented times and frankly, I’m happy > that the bike industry is getting a cash infusion. So, I smiled, thanked > him and left without agreeing to come back. > > I loaded the Clementine back onto the rack and started making phone calls. > One shop said bikes would be worked on June 7-8th. Last week I was > waitlisted at a promising shop so I called them to see where my name was > at, and they had 5-6 pages of names on their waitlist! They figured it > would be Sunday before they would call me and even then I’d have to leave > the bike for a couple of weeks. There was one large shop that I’d avoided > because they are named Pro Cyclery and I just knew I’d be the laughingstock > of their store if I pulled up with my Clementine. I looked at my > James-built Rainbow Brite wheels in the back seat. > > I called Pro Cyclery. > > “Hi, yes, we have a wait, maybe a week and a half - maybe June 2nd, but > we’re not as bad as a lot of other shops.” > > I bit back tears and pointed the van south. > > I had pulled myself together when I arrived Pro Cyclery. I looked at the > woman in her padded bike shorts wheeling and dealing with an employee and > shuddered. The people here are not going to understand about my Rivendell. > I stood in line and listened to another employee explain to a mother-son > duo that he was so sorry, he could not get parts. Parts are sold out > everywhere, all over town and even overseas. I said a silent prayer of > thanks that I had brought all my own parts. (How did James and Candice get > them?!) I was waited on by a guy who seemed confused about my dyno. “I > don’t see how we’re going to hide that wire,” he said. “You’re not,” I > said, “It’s going to wrap around the fork. Say, um do you guys do dyno? I > have a website if it’s confusing...” I gave him a list of wants for > repairs. It was a lot. He was a bit withered after we got through it all. > He said some of this was above his expertise level but “Jaime” had a lot of > experience and would know. “We’ll call you and give you an estimate for the > work soon. But there will be a wait for it to be complete.” I assured him > it was fine and I left. > > I drove away, Clem-less, and felt unsettled. Thirty minutes later the > phone rang and the shop wanted to give me my estimate for the repair work. > “And let me say,” he said, “All three of us are STOKED to work on your > bike. We never see bikes like this come in here. Someone took a lot of care > building this bike; we are really excited to work on it.” > > Well, I went from the lowest of lows to a HIGH. My bike is going to get > done. I think it will be done right. And I would venture to guess they > will get it done sooner than promised. I can hardly wait!!!!!!!! > > Leah > Sent from my iPad > > On May 21, 2020, at 9:52 AM, ted <ted....@comcast.net <javascript:>> > wrote: > > > Leah wrote: "More is more. Too much is enough. And so on..." > But the perhaps applicable saying that I recall is "... too much is not > enough", sometimes preceded by "wretched excess, ..." > > On a different note, I hope you weighed those wheels (and the lights etc) > before you took everything to the shop. We're gonna want to know exactly > how many grams (or ounces) you've shaved off your ride. Similarly we (or > perhaps just I) want to know how many teeth your small chain ring and > largest cog have before and after. > > ted > whos fondness for numbers approaches Leah's fondness for bling. > > On Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 6:41:10 PM UTC-7, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! > wrote: >> >> Friends, >> >> I have one bike to ride. It’s a Clementine with mostly stock parts, and >> it’s heavy. >> >> I love it. >> >> I have been riding nearly every day and I’ve got 997.9 miles on it for >> 2020! The hills here are brutal, and the temps are approaching triple >> digits. So, I want to ride at night, and I want to get up the hills more >> easily. James and Candice at Analog Cycles in Vermont have showcased their >> beautiful work on Instagram, and I’ve long been an admirer. #RivSister >> Roberta knows them and had planned to have them do similar work on her >> Appaloosa (I’m sure she’ll delight us with her story here when the time >> comes), and because we girls tend to stick together, I got in touch with >> Analog. Dyno lighting and lighter wheels with tubeless tires were what was >> decided. >> >> So, here’s one photo from Analog that can’t do these wheels one whit of >> justice; the wheels arrived today and they are showstoppers in real life. I >> am going to follow up right after this post with a video (2nd post >> necessary for video to work, I don’t know why) that you can access if you >> choose to download it. The video is the only way to really capture any of >> the beauty in these wheels. I told them to go wild with color, and they >> did. I think the bold colors and patterns capture the zany nature of a >> Clem. >> >> Don’t ask me what all the details are, who KNOWS, this is me you’re >> talking to. I do know I got tubeless Gravel Kings (Evan Elliot, I think >> these were your suggestion months ago), something about machined sidewalls, >> Shutter Precision/Edelux II, Son rear light. Oh, enough, what really >> matters here is there are COLORED SPOKE NIPPLES AND VALVE STEMS. And guess >> what they do? They fade into other colors because Analog is a straight-up >> master of color. These wheels are a lot, which is saying something for a >> woman whose favorite color is sparkle. I LOVE them. More is more. Too much >> is enough. And so on... >> >> Tomorrow, I’m taking my bike in for a list of stuff I’m having done to >> it, and I really hope the mechanics know how to set up dyno lighting - I’ve >> been burned by Vegas bike shops before, and this is a new shop for me. See >> the Wiggly Fender thread. 🙄 >> >> More later when everything is on the bike and I have gotten to ride it. >> >> Thanks for looking, this is made even more fun in the presence of like >> minds. >> Leah >> >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/dfbF8nhu8Og/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/62ad7c32-29f4-4132-9882-8fef398517c3%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/62ad7c32-29f4-4132-9882-8fef398517c3%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/a1cc899d-1c45-4151-a30d-40a04ad2bdfa%40googlegroups.com.
