A Desperately Needed Dying Breed

Somebody didn 't get some BB love

Joe dropped his bike off.

Joe and the shop go back about a decade. He had purchased a bike from another shop and they could never get the shifting to be dialed in. He brought it into us to see if there was anything we could do. He was frustrated to the point that he was willing to get a new group, if we could make his shit work. A coworker took a look at it. Noticed that the shifter only had 8 clicks when it should have had 9. Disassembled the shifter and moved the plate to make it the right amount of speeds. Shifting worked perfectly.

Joe has come back ever since. And he lives 5 hours away. He dropped his bike off again. He had just had it tuned elsewhere as he couldn't get down to us and needed it to be working. The rear derailleur was ghost shifting.

Read more,

http://mooseknuckleralliance.org/2013/08/a-desperately-needed-dying-breed/

My little purple tool

You always here about a technicians favorite tool. Well mine is purple. Or at least it used to be.

I purchased this bad boy for $.99 in 2006 because I was sick of trying to put water bottle cages on with a triple. I soon found that with a descent bit kit I could do almost every repair possible with this small, functional tool. It improved my speed. It made it easier to switch over to a torque wrench when needed and has become my must have tool for any repair.

If you can tell from the picture, it is quite worn. The entire driver was purple when I purchased it and was also knurled. From the constant use both the anodizing and the knurl are almost gone. The magnet that helps hold the bits in place is also loosing some of its touch and on occasion the bits just fall out.

I tried to replace it about three months ago. I figured it had served its purpose and it was time to retire it to the home tool box where it would see minimal use. The driver I purchased lasted one whole day. After which the magnet fell out making it useless. I went back to my little purple tool.

It has also been interesting for me as I have worked with many mechanics and in a couple of different shops over the years to the response I have received about my driver. Every single tech has scoffed my little purple tool, only to regret their words as they break down and buy their own. I guess there is a reason I use it constantly, it works.

Cheers to tools!