Quote Originally Posted by Lisa S.H. View Post
So I aborted my ride today, coasted/walked home, swallowed my pride and called the LBS. Am bringing my precious 6 month old BABY in for the very first time to have a STRANGER work on him and tune the shifting/indexing/cables etc.
I guess I'm lucky that the mechanic is coming in tomorrow afternoon and it will likely be ready to pick up tomorrow evening. He only comes in twice a week.

My tire report will have to wait until the shifting is back in order again.
Well, got my bike back the next day. The best $50 I ever spent! I think I was very lucky to have a guy who knew what he was doing.
My bike is shifting and working about 25% better than EVER before- even when it was new! It's LIKE BUTTER. Happy day!!!

Interesting story: When I called to make the appt, I talked to a guy named Dave. He said the bike mechanic, Peter, was coming in the next day, so I could probably pick up my bike that evening. I brought the bike in and handed it over to Dave (in his 40's) and went over the long list of problems I thought there were. (Turns out the back wheel was out of true as well as the shifting problems.) I told him how I cherish my bike and hoped all would be well and that Peter knew his stuff. I nervously left him with my bike and my written list.

Next evening I went to get my bike and it was ready to go. There were only two employees in the shop at the time (7pm) and they both looked about 17 years old, like two little Greg Bradys. I asked who was Peter the bike mechanic, and it turned out he was the one who looked about 16 (more like Peter Brady). This did not give me much confidence. But when they brought out my bike they said that it actually was Dave who did the work on it. Whew!! I knew Dave knew how obsessed I was with my precious bike. Dave had written notes next to each item on my list and trued the wheel and tuned all the shifting & derailleurs. Replaced some stripped barrel adjusters, and tightened my loose crank arm that I didn't know was loose but could later feel the lack of lag in my pedaling. He lubed the cable on my front bar end shift lever so now it was SMOOTH instead of really hard to shift. Raining and dark, so I couldn't test ride it or anything, had to wait til this morning.
So, today I rode two hours and marvelled at my wonderful silky smooth shifting!!! My bike was now BETTER than new! I called Dave to personally thank him and tell him how great he was.

As to my new skinny tires....
They seem fine, but honestly it was hard to tell much today because there was a lot of gusting light winds during my ride and I also went a bit slower than normal downhill and on turns because it was raining lightly and the roads were wet. With all that I still made the ride in 3 minutes less than my best previous time of 2 hours. Will have to wait for dry weather to really be able to tell more accurately whether they are indeed "faster" than my fat tires. My sit bones were just a bit achey at the end, probably because of the skinnier tire=harder ride thing. I also notice my steering was more sensitive/quick- will get used to that. But one nice thing I did notice was that I was able to stay in my big gear ring up front more than before- perhaps there is less drag with the thinner tires? Maybe it was the tuneup?...
Will wait for a good dry road day with no winds and then time the same ride again.

Mostly, I'm just so happy to have my bike purring like a kitten.