AndrewMajor profile

I’ve never run an office so I have no idea what margins look like whether it’s a lawyer billing at $400/hr or a guy with a masters in presumably something useful billing at $90.

I have managed shops and I can tell you that by the time a shop owner pays the person ordering parts, writing service, bleeding the brake, invoicing the repair, taking your money, returning your call/email (even if it’s all one person) not to mention rent, utilities, taxes, tools, etc, etc, they have to f***ing hustle to turn a profit on service.

Again not shedding any tears. Anyone who owns a shop in this town knew what they were getting into but comparing apples:apples a lot of folks I know wouldn’t get dressed for the margin on that bleed.

The bike I’m thinking of (Clayton’s) is a homemade steel high-pivot DH bike.

Is there a lot of great riding around Leveanworth or just a case of will = way?

Absolutely - ride what ya brung!

I love working on my own bike so I always encourage folks to do as much as their time/space/ability/knowledge allows.

But, your example illustrates my point perfectly. When you’re at work what is your time worth?

$30/20-minutes is actually low when you consider most shops’ hourly rates. Factor in shop supplies, tooling, and the fact that a certain percentage of bleeds take longer and some turn into nightmares and then look at what good service writing, wrenching, and follow up cost - especially with the labour pressure locally (Vancouver+) as great career mechanics look to maximize their income vs. cost of living - and there’s probably a solid argument that the average shop is abusing their bottom line with a blanket brake bleed charge of $30.

I know that isn’t going to be a popular opinion but I’ve been on the other end of those numbers and it’s the truth. I haven’t even brought in how much of that $30 is going into local triple-net sq/ft.

I’m not crying for local shops - there’s lots of hard businesses - but the idea that the good ones don’t deliver value/$ on service drives me nuts.

The difference between "what-a-guy" on his clapped out sh*t bike holding up the group with endless mechanicals and OTBs and "that-guy" who's charging at the front of the pack on a homemade high-pivot full suspension bike, or rattle-canned Kona Stinky, is totally invisible to the casual observer and manifest to the initiated.  

Like our wicked mix of imperial and metric measurements - and awkward translations of such - to me it's among the most beautiful things about the tech-gear aspect of our chosen passion. 

The most epic shredder I've never met is named Clayton, and I wish you could still see a photo of his bike here but sadly the thread is dead. I used to click the link and breathe in the image of his bike before writing anything about bikes/gear because it screamed "TESTIFY" so loud it could have silently filled in as the lead singer of Rage. 

I think he may actually be from your neck of the woods?

HAHAHAHAHAHA. That's epic. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Samuel,

I actually wrote about EX1 when SRAM first released it, along the vein your tapping, but was never able to get my hands on a groupset.

1:1 Marketing aside, there are only so many ways to yank a derailleur cable so I assume there's a shifter on the market that can multi-release/engage that beauty through 8-seamless engagements (with a couple clicks to spare up low). 

Interesting to note that 1x12 E-Drivetrains are now available which are just Eagle with single click triggers and 11-50t cassettes on Shimano drivers since presumably XD can't take the torque. My understanding is that the single-click shifter keeps ham-fingered multi-shifters from pedelec'ing their drivetrains into oblivion but I think it would drive me nuts on a pedal bike.

That makes sense - Here and in general, I'm certainly only talking about bikes powered by meat-engines. 

E~Bikes - whether on-road or offroad - are largely the wild west as soon as you get away from Bosch or Shimano mid-motors.

I'm actually really not surprised re. Eurozone. Firstly because they held on to the front derailleur a lot longer (where Di2 really shines) and second because of E-Bike adoption where there are obvious tie-ins. 

It's crazy re. the Shore as I've truly only ever bumped into one guy running Di2 that wasn't industry/media/sponsored running the setup. 

Cheers!

Cheers Sanesh,

Could you elaborate on your point re. electrical systems?

I purposely didn’t go into Di2 / E-Tap for a couple reasons:

1) This is a mountain bike site and I can count on one finger the number of riders I’ve bumped into with a Di2-Mountain setup that they actually bought (I.E. that didn’t work for a website or manufacturer or as a sponsored rider). As far as I can tell ~ no one bought into it? I’ve never even seen the XT Di2 in person. I know plenty of people with Di2 road bikes and it seems to have been well supported.

2) When I tested an XTR Di2 bike my personal takeaway was that if I broke the billion dollar rear derailleur I’d replace it with an XTR cable shifter and XT rear derailleur and spend the difference on coffee and beer. Every other part is inter-compatible.

In the same vein I think Live-Valve is pretty meaningless. The fork isn’t self-servicing so after a few months of hard local use its still going to need a basic or feel like crap. If there’s an issue out of warranty it’s going to be more cost effective to convert it back to analog. It’s so expensive for such a little potential return I see the vast majority of riders putting their budget into other upgrades. I’m a total nerd, as you know, so I’ll certainly have my eyes open for my first non-industry Live-Valve sighting.

8spd cog spacing, four speed 12-22-32-42, 28t oval up front, shadow derailleur with tuneable clutch and metal pulley wheels with cartridge bearings. Yes please!

Posted by: DanL

Did I miss an episode or have you done a strip down of the one up dropper?

I haven’t had a OneUp post for testing; not something I’ve been inside.

I run the, coil spring, e13 TRS+ 170mm on both my personal bikes. Awesome remote and 100% mechanical with nothing that can really fail (like anything it does get sloppy and require new key ways). An adjustable wrench, strap wrench, and Shimano cassette tool are all that’s needed besides hex keys for a full rebuild.

I recommend pre-stretching the coil spring and a bit of Slickoleum under the seal head for best performance.

Gentlepeople,

The entrance to 7th Secret smells like the un-serviced port-a-pisser at a week long asparagus growers convention in August. 

In other words, its f*cking disgusting. 

Obviously there’s a need to answer nature’s calling in nature but let’s spread it out it a bit please. 

It is not hard to jump in the bushes at the 6th or ride up around the 7th and as an added benefit to a piss-smell-free trailhead you won’t flash unsuspecting fellow trail users your sweaty junk. 

Please ask your friends to urinate sociably when urinating socially.

Thanks,

Lots of service only shops open(ing).

Bicyclehub (Dave) and Wheelthing (Jeff) are both service only bike shops in North Van. There’s also Essential (Jaclyn and Jessica) which does repair and rentals but doesn’t sell bikes. There’s also Inside Line in Calgary and I know of a few other service only and service primary shops starting up in BC and Alberta.

Actually, I should include Darren at Dream Cycle on that list. He sells custom builds but it’s a service primary shop and he’s been on Commercial for more than a decade.

Here's another one: Bootleg Bikes in Kimberly BC. Jody has a great reputation as a tech (and for customer service) coming out of Winnipeg and Canmore.

Lots of service only shops open(ing).

Bicyclehub (Dave) and Wheelthing (Jeff) are both service only bike shops in North Van. There’s also Essential (Jaclyn and Jessica) which does repair and rentals but doesn’t sell bikes. There’s also Inside Line in Calgary and I know of a few other service only and service primary shops starting up in BC and Alberta.

Actually, I should include Darren at Dream Cycle on that list. He sells custom builds but it’s a service primary shop and he’s been on Commercial for more than a decade.

...

That said, online (and previously mail order) bikes have been a reality forever. I’ve never worked in a shop that wasn’t happy to charge a fair price to build a bike out of a box or install a part bought elsewhere and I’ve been around a while.

It’s a problem when folks show up with incompatible parts and expect a shop to trade them, and it takes longer (and therefore costs more) than most people expect to do a pro job building (or rebuilding) a bike out of a box. There’s also a queue for service from April-ish through early September.

Aside from being realistic about those factors I can’t fathom where the issues being brought up derive from. In my experiences - and again I’ve worked for a few shops and with a lot of them - that’s good paying work anywhere people are charging money to turn wrenches on bikes.

Sherry @ Sateen. 20th & Lonsdale.

http://sateenalterations.com

Posted by: JBV

why not interested in Sram drivetrain? i have xt 11-42 plus 47 oneup on the 29er. it's excellent, but a PITA and $$ to upgrade a cassette. the small wheeler uses a Shimano xtr 10 speed shifter with 11-42 Sunrace cassette. sometimes i'd prefer more range but rarely and the xtr shifter is awesome.

On my wife’s bike we’re running a 10-Spd XTR shifter, 11-Spd XT rear derailleur (no faffing about shifting bigger cogs), and a Sunrace 11-46t 10-Spd cassette with a 28t Wolf Tooth narrow wide oval ring (64BCD w/ 104BCD Blackspire Granny God).

I opened the clutch and detuned it probably 25% which makes for much nicer shifting and still has notably more resistance than SRAM.

It shifts as well as any Eagle drivetrain I’ve ridden with the added benefits of Shadow and tuneable clutch resistance.

Posted by: FlipFantasia

Fresh warranty frame and a new XT 1x drivetrain that cost about what 1 SRAM 11/12spd cassette would be.

That's weird, there's a mount on the seat tube for something... just above the single front chainring.

Posted by: Mic

It seems I can not edit the above post. The only thing I can do is mentioning why I wanted to edit a post but unable to write.

Just a note re. Editing: the main page comments on articles can't be edited after the fact either...

...so if for example you make a sarcastic volley (say about cheese plates and porno music vs. Gary Fisher and E~Bikes) you can't take a mulligan if it misses the mark. 

I don't mind it personally. Have to really sit back and think before hitting Submit. May help with forum congeniality too?