WOOF!
From 9.10am until about 20 minuets of closing you kept me HOPPING! Yesterday was a day of repairs, and they were SOOOOO satisfying! Not only did we have the common, simple tube repairs and adjustments, but FOUR full re-furbs!!! With only one incomplete (that I will be jumping on shortly) Seems more and more folks are finally starting to understand that you DO have an option to high priced repairs, or getting snubbed by the thought of actually fixing your favored older ride instead of buying some shiny, new HIGH priced alternative! HAZAH!!! The signal is clear, channel affixed and message is coming in sharp tune!! I do so like working on the old steel (and alloy, aluminum..whichever!) and folks are picking up on this!
First an older Trek 800 Antelope, a rather unique looking (French?) folding bike, a rather sharp looking home made commuter that had just sat out in the elements to long, and a WELL loved Specialized (the left over) that's paint has seen better days, but as the owner said when he heard the price "I certainly cannot BUY a new one for that low a price"
EGG-ZAKLY!!!
And of course, I reveled in all the praise (I'm a Leo, a cat, and like being rubbed behind the ears!) one gent brought in a Schwinn (Wal-Mart buy from a couple years back) having been given a ludicrous price from another shop, to fix his brakes (and all they were going to do was an ADJUSTMENT?) and for less then half of what they were going to charge, we replaced the brake pads, cables, housings, and adjusted the shifter cables (they were threaded the WRONG way and kinking up the brakes) Not only that, when he dropped it off, he said he'd be back in a few hours to pick it up. As I had just finished a project, I popped it into the rack to get it done and out of the way, and twenty minuets later set it up front. A few minuets later he was walking by the window, noticed it sitting there, and came in, inquisitive, and asked incredulously, if it was done yet.
"YEP!"
You could have knocked him over with a feather for the look of "shock and awe" on his face! PRICELESS!
He then stammered out "But the other shop told me it would take two days!?"
Of course, I felt obligated to explain how the other joints play the wait game to justify the high prices they charge!
Another thing that a customer told me REALLY had me scratching my head. A regular of ours had a flat a few days ago, but was to far away when it happened to bring it here, and with the only option being "another" place, regrettably, had to have them do it. He was on the road, had no tools, so had to let them install it. Now the price of the tube was $7.00, the same we charge (even though this is one of those BIG bike shops, and they get a WAY better wholesale discount then little guys like us) but they charged $12.00 to install it!?
OK, look, in all fairness, these places have a WAY higher overhead then us, we know that, and I'm not begrudging there right to make a profit and pay their bills, but seriously...$12.00 for what an experienced mechanic will take three minuets to do? I just can't justify that in my head.
ANYWHO!
OK, I'm done with self back patting and bragging.
until another day! LOL!
The end result of such a busy day of repairs, was of course, LITTLE production of newbies.
OH, speaking of production, I forgot, we had a regular of ours come in for a simple tube change, but as we started, discovered his tire was dry rotted, and the wheel had a bad pinch in a steel rim that blew out the new tube and tire I had put in. As we scratched our collective heads trying to decide if spending that much on a bike he bought two years ago from us for only $75.00 was a good investment, he inquired if we had another, better ladies cruiser. At the time, nothing was done, but I sad in passing that we had a few vintage ones out back. He asked if he could take a peek, and provided he could navigate the debris field in the back hall, I said sure. His eye's alighted on the vintage late fifties JC Higgins cruiser I have out there and fell in love. Seems both he and his wife are big retro buffs and he would love to have this one! SO, I now have an excuse to do a full restore on another classic! YAY!!
I did manage to finish up a nice (albeit slightly faded) ladies cruiser we got in trade towards the Schwinn Colligate from the day before (although I had to stay a little later to get it finished) and have a pic below.
Once home, well, chaos had ensued. Angi had some errands to run later in the afternoon, and Elijah was out job hunting so Kaleb was in the Captains chair, and of course little was accomplished. We all arrived back home, late, within 3 minuets of each other, so it was a scramble to make a late dinner (Daddies "secret recipe!" of whatever leftovers are in the refrigerator, thrown atop rice, with sauce!) and get baths and tuck ins. THIS time, we did it smart, and asked Elijah to put Miranda to bed while we tagged along. Seems to have worked out a lot better. While waiting for everyone to finish there vain attempts at personal hygiene, we were messing about with our phone cameras and got some really decent pics. The best are posted to the right of this column!
OKEY DOKEY!
Now, I jump back at it! Getting an early start on the repairs so I can put out more goodies...
...although have already gotten in two more repairs this morning so it's ANYONES guess!
See ya soon!!
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| LADIES 26" CRUISER! ONLY $65.00 |
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