Oh. Hello. I nearly forgot this was here.

Today I’d finally had enough of the slow leak. I had a flat twice a day. I would usually have patched it myself but time for that sort of thing is in short supply with 3-year-olds in the house. So I took my Raleigh to the new LBS.

There are two local bike stores near me. One is fantastic—great service, good stuff to browse, Surly frames. It’s a small shop and I’m there enough that they know me. I would go there for everything but it’s a 45-minute walk back home when I have to leave my bike for repairs. Again, the old days: a lovely walk! Maybe I’d stop for dinner. Now: I’d have to schedule that time two weeks in advance.

The new store, however, is a five-minute walk away. They’re a major brand dealer, much bigger space—they’re friendly and they stock a bunch of odd and unmainstream things you could previously only find here online, like Basil bags. But: not great service. The first time I went in I had them order me a part but they never called about it. The second time they told me my hub was dead when it was instead a problem with the bottom bracket (thank you, other shop!) The third time was tonight.

I’ve had my Raleigh for ten years and it’s now nearly 40-years-old itself. I’ve taken it—and other bikes—to a lot of shops in that time and I’ve discovered the Sturmey Archer hub is simplest test of whether they’re any good or not.

I brought in my slow leak, which was in the rear tire. Nobody here patches a tube with the wheel on, so the guy who took my bike set to work decoupling the indicator spindle from the shifter cable. He couldn’t get it apart, so he asked the other mechanic how to do it. Right then I knew. I knew I was going to leave that shop with my shit all misaligned. One of them was a mechanic and the other was not—maybe he was a salesman helping out, I don’t know.

Now I’m not the kind of smart guy who brings a bike in for work and then proceeds to offer helpful commentary on everything they’re doing wrong. I’m sure they love that. Instead, when he pulled out a 700C tube for my 26″ wheel, I went off to browse.

When I rode away, my rear brakes had gone completely soft and the shifter cable was so taut that I had to lean against the lever to push it down. When I came back, luckily for me the guy who worked on my bike was on the phone. The other mechanic—who clearly knew what he was doing—put my bike on the stand and set everything back to where it should have been when I left.

But what if I didn’t know what I was talking about? I would have gone home and spent months on a bike with a bad brake and an impossible shifter. And nothing turns people off to bikes more quickly than bikes that don’t fit or work properly. A car with iffy brakes and a soft clutch—not the safest thing in the world, but perfectly fine to drive because the hydraulics in the machine are between you and the road. It’s different with bikes because you’re physically connected to those systems. It’s uncomfortable to ride when that’s not aligned.

Also: sloppy work! I could hardly believe my bike came out worse than it went in. At least the leaky tube was staying inflated for half the day. So that’s the end of repairs at new LBS. Sorry, fantastic shop! I should never have opted for convenience over you, a place I know will always get it right.