Gatorskin Fail

Check this shit out, http://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/1k53w7/so_i_destroyed_my_gatorskins_in_one_week_can_you/

Absolutely hilarious.

This House is Bike Fucked

As I was going about my morning business, I noticed a random Presta valve cap next to my tablet. This triggered a moment of "Master of the Obvious." I continued about my business but kept running into random bike things in random places that made no sense. My wife and I are both bike people so there is a lot of gear and shit jammed into our house. I guess sometimes things just end up where they end up...

PV Cap where no tube lives...

Multi-tool that should have been in my pack but instead ended up on the nightstand.

Co2 Cartridge tucked why nicely next to my computer, in the office where technically speaking no bike gear resides.

I assume I'm not the only person with this problem...

Not feeling too smooth, eh?

Nah, at this point I wouldn't service it. It's just time to say good bye.

What the fuck is that doing in there?

Your guess is as good as mine.

This bike shop is fucked!

A couple months back I found myself sitting around a tall table in a sports bar sharing beers with other bike shop owner/managers. I was in California at a retail management course specially tailored to the needs of bike shops. We were out after a full eight hour day of classes. No riding, not much moving around, lots of book work. We needed to unwind and let things air out. If you know what I mean.

As it goes with these types of events, there was a lot of shop talk. The bull shit was getting so deep our server had to put on rubber boots to make it to the table. Most of the evening consisted of what do you do about this? and how are you doing with X brand? Stuff that would bore even the most passionate industry insider. However, there was one guy at the table that had a pattern to his stories.

One story would be about how hard it is to make any money owning a bike shop and how he was struggling just to make ends meet. Then he would tell stories about "dumb" customers who he had to throw out or just didn't get that he was trying to "help" them.

Hmm.

Customer dropped this one off. And admitted that he knew the cassette had come off and then tried to go for another ride...

That's about the right angle

Who can tell me what is wrong with this photo?

I crashed on my trainer

So my left shoulder hurts when I ride

This bike is sitting pretty much level. Notice the left hood placement. This person either has one arm that is about three inches shorter than the other or probably has a sore left shoulder.

Eight Full Hours of Sleep

Today started with a Fox fork service, including the FIT cartridge. The custy was having lock out issues. I opened it up only to find the machining shavings from manufacturing still inside.

Top cap assembly, you can kind of see the shavings in the compression piston.

Ah, yes, metal shavings make a fork work Awesome!

After determining the fate of this fork, my next task was to fit an entire Di2 cabling system in the butt hole of a Venge.

I was then treated to the site of improper water bottle cage installation.

I promise this wasn't staged...

We then contacted the Newby GMC dealer to see if we could get some warranty pay for the next bike that was way sub-standard for what we paid in the bail out.

And finally, just as I was leaving, some creative cone assembly.

Not bad for eight hours of saving bikes from rape....

My bed time music, for hope for better bikes and solidarity with you all.

When it starts to rattle, stop and see what is going on, don't just keep riding it until the shock gets stuck down.

So the story behind the photos. A stumpy was dropped off yesterday with some shock issues and seeing that the thing hadn't ever been service and it was about 5 years old, I figured it would be best to send it in. Well, then we tried to remove the shock and the details became blaringly evident. Broken shock bolt, blown bearings, blown link, and yup the lower eyelet was toast, not just the bushing the entire eyelet. Fun!

Broken Gary Fisher

It looks like Genesis had an Exodus

These were sent over from none other than Fixie Dave himself.

Broken T-Mobile Frame

Apparently, the person that installed this BB didn't get the memo that 900 ft. lbs was a bit excessive on the torque. The tool you see in my hands is what I like to call "the big guns." It is a 3/4" ratchet mated to an adaptor that brings it down to a 1/2" driver size. perfect for BB's.

What this picture fails to show in any way, shape or form, is that there is a crack that runs from about 5mm under the bottom braze-on boss to about 5mm above the top braze-on boss. And that both are about to pull out of the frame. I got the BB out, but the frame was toast...

Trek Superfly Broken Carbon

These were sent over by Fixie Dave... Thanks,