I'm a beast!!! (loooong post)

[fultzie]

or so the guys at the LBS told me...
I have to share the events of my slightly-too-eventful weekend with everyone.

On Friday i met a friend for a ride, and i was feeling pretty sore from weights the night before, and opted to use my granny gear on a hill i usually just grind through. click....click....click.... no granny gear. so i grind to the top, knees hating me the whole way.

at the top, i try shifting to the big ring, just for kicks. nada. so i get off and take a look at what might be preventing me from shifting... my front derailleur has snapped in half. the back cage plate just completely snapped off!

luckily, the chain is in the middle ring, where i usually ride, and my friend and i are set to just do 20 easy miles. he offers to help me fix it (ie: install a new derailleur) if i can get one off- line. my friend wasn't too terribly surprised, since the bike is 3-years old and the derailleur was campy mirage (not bad components, but not built to last multiple long tours followed by racing, either).

right, so, saturday is a rest/bike maintenance day, so i'm fixing a flat on my commuter, scraping the mud off my mtn bike, and trying to get the grease off of my road bike. and i have the bike upside down to clean the freewheel and get the grease off the frame (no idea how it ended up on my top tube, but oh well) and i notice that there is a hairline crack in my left crank, accross the knob that holds the bolt. show this to my cyclist-housemate (who is cleaning the grime off of some garage-sale rear cassettes) and he goes "holy -----!" so i'm thinking, this can't be good.

so i go down to the bike store after calling my friend to pick me and the bike up (figure it's not such a good idea to be riding the bike in this condition--- and i blew the engine on my car two weeks ago-- another long story, but i'm happy to say i'll have it back by next weekend! ) and show my bike to a friend-of-a-friend salesclerk who works at the lbs, who takes me back to talk to the mechanics, who start laughing.

apparently only beast-like men who snap frames in half with their bare hands generally break campy veloce crank arms (the crack went all the way through to the bolt--whoops). so mechanic number one starts talking to mechanic number two and the owner of the shop like i'm not even there, which ticks me off. they're saying, "well, we could put a double on this bike" and the other goes "or we could put a triple xenon (lowest- end campy) on it" and the third goes "better make it a triple mirage" and i pipe up, "no mirage, no double, i want to keep it a triple veloce" and they look at me like i'm from mars. heh heh. and the mechanic says "is it veloce on there now?" and they all look and, lo and behold, it's veloce. hah!

luckily, they have a veloce crankset on hand, and agree to sell me just the left crank arm (since the chainring is more than fine). and the first mechanic says, "well, you'll be off of this for a few weeks" so i reply "actually, i'd like to fix it myself, if i can buy the crank now." another look like i'm from mars. i'm laughing hysterically on the inside now. so the guy sticks my bike in the stand and walks me through pulling a crank. (yaay, i can do it myself now!)

*meanwhile* i had not forgotten to ask about the derailleur. the friend-of-a-friend salesguy is trying to sell me a shimano 150, which is fine, but i'd like to keep all campy components on my baby. he tells me "only old people ride campy now" which is not true, because my buddy i rode with the day before has campy on his custom Seven. so i turn down the shimano, as he is trying to shove it in my hands (and is, according to my friend that drove me there, hitting on me, which i tried to deflect ) eh, i found a new triple braze-on campy veloce on nashbar for $10 more than he was trying to sell the shimano to me for.

soooooo Mr. Friendly/creepy salesguy goes to ring me up, and i've got a new bottle cage, some tubes, tires, gloves (old ones fell apart ) and my old crank sitting on the counter. he asks if i want to ride with him the next week and i (probably stupidly, given i know this guy only as my one- female- cycling- buddy's- old- classmate- from- High- School) agree and write down my e-mail address. it's just a bike ride, after all, i'm looking for more people to ride with, and i may be able to bribe my housemate to come too (i bake some mean oatmeal cookies ). total $$$ comes to about 1/2 of my week's paycheck (*choke*), i pay, and my friend and i leave.

in the car, i'm looking at the reciept, and there's no crank. now, cranks aren't cheap, but then veloce shouldn't crack like that. i'm wondering now if they gave it to me under warranty (which has expired) or if Mr. Friendly/creepy was flirting again (ew), or if he just forgot because he was too busy hitting on me in the first place (he even got looks from the other salesclerks like, "what are you doing, dude?")

anywho, i made cookies for the mechanics for teaching me to pull the crank (i was told by the owner that they don't usually like customers back in the workshop) and have to pick up degreaser tomorrow, anyway. i'm debating whether or not i should pipe-up about my new crank arm.... ack!

whew. and that's my weekend! well, plus a nice, uneventful 45-miler today with my housemate and my buddy on the Seven.

[bounceswoosh]

Wow.

And I thought I was having bike trouble because I was having trouble shifting into the second-biggest cog in back. Turns out the derailleur hanger was just slightly bent.

I'm sure he was flirting with you to give you the crank for free. Other than that, though, aren't there any LBSes in your area that treat you with some respect? Sound like they think they know what you want better than you do. And it sounds like you clearly know what you want. So why do they keep trying to shove their selection down your throat?

[fultzie]

sadly, this is the best lbs i could find... the other one that the rest of the team goes to (the one that gives us discounts) basically called my bike a piece of crap and told me i shouldn't have bought it.
the other "student bike shops" don't carry the parts i need... mostly just cruisers and spare tubes/tires and pumps.
*sigh*
i'm trying to work up enough nerve to go back to the lbs to get degreaser... i ended up bringing the cookies to work instead (didn't want it to look like i was flirting with the mechanics). my co-workers appreciated them .
i'm scared to go back because the owner has a bit of a temper... i looked up the crank online when i got home, and it's nearly $200 new , which is a bit much for flirting, i think. i'm nervous that the owner will blame me for cheating them out of the price of the crank... irrational, i know, but still tying my stomach in knots.
oh well, time to focus on work!

[fasteryet]

I think that you should mention that they may have made a mistake and not charged you. Otherwise the sleazy creep might continue to bother you and try to make you fell like you "owe" him. As for the degreaser, after this time, when you have to go back in, wht not just order that kind of stuff online?

[cathleen]

You have 2 options as I see it:

1: Take in your receipt and say "You know, this is odd, but I think someone made a mistake and forgot to ring up the crank on my bill." You might earn a level of respect or brownie points from Mr. Grumpy-pants, the owner, which could translate into better service in the future. He might even say, "Thanks for being honest, but it's our mistake. I'm not going to take your money." However, the owner doesn't sound like a nice guy, so I'm not betting on it.

2: Act like nothing's wrong and don't say a peep. It is by no means your fault that they forgot to put the part on your bill. For all they know, you just forked over your money without even scrutinizing your receipt.

I don't think the tempermental bike shop owner has any right to get mad at you for the crank that you weren't charged for. It's not like you walked in there and stole it. You didn't even realize what happened until after the fact. Badly trained, lazy, sloppy, and/or misbehaving employees are his fault, not the customer's.

I'm not advocating dishonesty, especially since you rely on this shop for your maintainance and supplies, but I really don't think you "owe" them much of anything. Too bad their poor business model is rewarded simply because of supply/demand. Good luck finding a new shop in the future.

[Adventure Girl]

[rant]
OK.. I don't think I'm getting this one. Aside from the fact that you're a beast and you broke your crank. IMHO, you MUST go back and tell them that they didn't charge you. If the employee gave you the cranks to flirt with you, then he's steeling from his employer (unless he paid for them out of his own pocket). If you knowingly benefit from the act, then you're the one who is stealing. You have paid nothing, nada, zilch for those babies! That's just wrong!

Originally posted by fultzie
i'm scared to go back because the owner has a bit of a temper... i looked up the crank online when i got home, and it's nearly $200 new , which is a bit much for flirting, i think. i'm nervous that the owner will blame me for cheating them out of the price of the crank... irrational, i know, but still tying my stomach in knots.

Are you saying you're afraid of being honest?

Originally posted by cathleen
but I really don't think you "owe" them much of anything.

Sure you do... You owe them about $200!

Hmmmm. You know what the right thing to do is, you beast! Don't be overdrawn in your Karma account!
[/rant]

[fultzie]

okay, for the record, i did go back (yesterday) and i did pay for the crank arm. he only charged me for the left one, so it came to about $50. before he rang me up, the salesguy goes "are you sure steve didn't charge you on saturday?" i picked up my friend's old derailleurs that i had left on the counter, too. problem solved
now, both of my parents are small business owners, and often their employees will make mistakes and undercharge customers. very rarely does a customer ever come back in and admit that they were undercharged and, if they do, my parents generally thank them for being honest and admit their employee's mistake. they never demand that the customer then cough up the dough.
oh, well, everyone runs their businesses differently, and they certainly had a right to the $$

and the "beast" part... that was the sales guy's word, not mine. i found it ironic because i am not beast-like in the least... kinda wimpy, actually i think the crank and derailleur were probably damaged in transit on the back of my car. *sigh* poor bike....

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by fultzie
okay, for the record, i did go back (yesterday) and i did pay for the crank arm.

I'm glad you went back. I'm sure you'll feel better about it. And being a beast, you don't want bad mojo from those cranks! You might break one with your beast-like strength at the 50 mile point of a 100 mile ride and have to walk home 50 miles uphil into a headwindl!!

I also own my own business. I do understand that employees make mistakes. I would never DEMAND more money from someone, but I assume that if the customer has come back to say, "you didn't charge me for the xxx," they are there to make it right. Otherwise, are they just coming in to say, "Nana na na na na, I got something for free!!"

[cathleen]

The more I read the replies and think about it, the more convinced I am that Adventure Girl and fasteryet are right. Glad to hear that everything worked out well when you went back to the shop.

[fultzie]

You might break one with your beast-like strength at the 50 mile point of a 100 mile ride and have to walk home 50 miles uphil into a headwindl!!