Road Bike TLC

Okay so yesterday I was having a hell of a time trying to get my bike to do what I wanted to as far as shifting. It was being a total pain in the ass to be perfectly honest and I was getting really pissed off on my ride. Okay saying that I was getting "really pissed off" is probably a bit of me blowing it out of proportion, thought it was beyond annoying.

I would shift up, or do a half shift and the dam thing would stay there for a few only to then take it upon itself to either shift up or down one or two cogs in its own. This is crap no matter how you slice it and makes you very weary of the next shift and having little to no confidence that it will stay where I shifted it to.

Another Shop

So because I just had my shop tune it up and it almost seemed worse in some ways after I spent $100 and a few days I need to try another and see what they can do. I am not sure if my shop was simply too busy or if they had an apprentice do the work or what. Either way it was really annoying the first time out to find it working like shxt.

This will put a real dampener on my goal to hit 28,000 feet of climbing for the month of February although if I can get the thing fixed and running smooth then it's worth it as I am tired of always fighting the damn thing every time I go to put miles on the trainer or in the wild.

More on this later I am sure. I just hope that they are able to do something, get it back to me today and all will be good to go until my new bike gets here. Then I have to hope that it does not give me any headache or it will be all of this same crap all over again, no thanks!

I know people that cycle a ton, every day back and forth to work as well as rides on the weekends and do not have any issues so my only guess is that my shop is screwing it up or the parts are screwed up and need replacing. I guess we will see, for now I gotta go! When we called there was only one bike in there being worked on and I would really like mine to be the second so I can get it back as soon as possible and get a ride in tomorrow if not today.

All Done

Holy cow, in record friggin' time my bike is done and ready to go. The shifting was really really bad according to the guy on the phone who is also the mechanic for Great Basin Bikes. His exact words were "I don't know who worked on your bike last but holy cow was this thing a mess" and concluded with "it's all fixed now and shifts perfectly, smooth like butter". I for one am stoked to hear this and absolutely can't wait to take it for a spin. Hopefully today I will have the time and energy to go.

I should clarify, I always have the energy it's more that I am really sore from my rides the past few days and don't want to overdo it by riding too much before its time to head back to work tomorrow.

If the bike shifts and works as well as I think it will now that the mechanic at Great Basin has made adjustments to it then I will be 10x more than jazzed to say the least. Not to mention how fast they were able to get it done for me. Under an hour, if that and more than likely under $100 which is totally with it so I can focus on riding not messing with the shifter the entire time.

Real fast, relating to the cost and me hoping that it would be under $100. I was way off-base with that guess. They only charged me $15 dollars, fifteen friggin' dollars and that was all!! I even offered to pay for a full hour of the labor that would normally be charged and they said it was no problem at all and they were happy to be able to help me out.

So what I am going to do now is take my new bike down to them as soon as I actually get it in and my usual shop builds it. I will have the same mechanic go through the entire digital system. Anyway, I am happy and it was a good day in many ways.

Photo: this is the shop that I went to today. I have several friends that use them and swear by them. I have always used another shop because of the brands I like. I think I will start giving these guys more of my business as well.