I know I am not an easy customer. Certainly I am not welcome in my Local Bike Shop.
I wanted to try a new electronic counter for which I needed a front fork with disc brake mountings. I have a 26" wheel with a special disc already mounted - a counting disc not a braking disc, although it looks just like a 180mm braking disc.
Before messing with my pristine 16 month old Kalkhoff Agattu, I thought I would get the wheel and disc fitted to my 15 year old push bike, a GT Bicyles Legacy built in Taiwan. I could test the new counters operation and then decide whether to upgrade the system to a 28" wheel and get a new suspension front fork for the Agattu complete with both disc and V brake mounting points.
So into the LBS, a scruffy looking shop with new bikes littered everywhere so there was hardly room to wheel my old push bike to the counter and start explaining what I needed in terms of a new fork to fit it.
There is a small workshop at the back with youngsters at work. I had previously seen inside when I had asked about the possibility of getting a 700C rim for vee brakes stitched onto a disc brake hub which I had been using for bench testing. However on this occasion I did not get near the workshop. The owner, an elderly git, quite quickly interrupted the flow of my requirements to say that it would all be a special job requiring components they don' have in stock and they would not be able to do the job. I suppose their business model is selling new bikes and only repairing those that fall apart during warranty or under the sale of goods act.
Perhaps my scruffy appearance and the rust on my chain also helped put him off. Would it have been better if I had worn a suit and had taken my shiny and expensive looking Kalkhoff in? He would have probably resorted to the "no electrics here" excuse. Afterwards, my son said that he had been sold a duff bike by this shop and commented I that I would have been better served in cooperative bike repair centre in a nearby city, which he tells unfortunately closed down a few years ago.
So before coming to the forum for help, I delved into front fork specs and fitting procedures on the internet, and quickly realised one need to know a bit to get the right parts and to fit them. I am now doing what I should have done to start with. This morning I took the front fork off my push bike something I don't ever remember tackling before. Very easy - I now have the front fork beside me at the computer.
The steering tube is 28.5mm OD and is threaded at the top end for a nut which holds the upper ball race onto the head tube of the frame. The steering tube ID is 25.5mm. The head tube is 100mm long. The steering tube has marked on it 28X380B.
I have found an example of the type of fork I am looking for on ebay Powabyke X-6 Byke Mk I Front Forks | eBay
No dimensions are given and it costs a rather expensive £46.49 including postage, so I wont buy this one, but you can see it has mountings for a disc brake caliper as well as the posts for a rim brake, which would be ideal for my tests because I could then keep a front brake function using the bike's existing rim brakes, while testing the precision counter as the disc rotated.
I think I will clean up my detached fork and take it into some of the big city bike shops with workshops - my son has recommended two.
I won't make the mistake of explaining complicated things about what I am doing. My questions for the bike mechanics here are:
I wanted to try a new electronic counter for which I needed a front fork with disc brake mountings. I have a 26" wheel with a special disc already mounted - a counting disc not a braking disc, although it looks just like a 180mm braking disc.
Before messing with my pristine 16 month old Kalkhoff Agattu, I thought I would get the wheel and disc fitted to my 15 year old push bike, a GT Bicyles Legacy built in Taiwan. I could test the new counters operation and then decide whether to upgrade the system to a 28" wheel and get a new suspension front fork for the Agattu complete with both disc and V brake mounting points.
So into the LBS, a scruffy looking shop with new bikes littered everywhere so there was hardly room to wheel my old push bike to the counter and start explaining what I needed in terms of a new fork to fit it.
There is a small workshop at the back with youngsters at work. I had previously seen inside when I had asked about the possibility of getting a 700C rim for vee brakes stitched onto a disc brake hub which I had been using for bench testing. However on this occasion I did not get near the workshop. The owner, an elderly git, quite quickly interrupted the flow of my requirements to say that it would all be a special job requiring components they don' have in stock and they would not be able to do the job. I suppose their business model is selling new bikes and only repairing those that fall apart during warranty or under the sale of goods act.
Perhaps my scruffy appearance and the rust on my chain also helped put him off. Would it have been better if I had worn a suit and had taken my shiny and expensive looking Kalkhoff in? He would have probably resorted to the "no electrics here" excuse. Afterwards, my son said that he had been sold a duff bike by this shop and commented I that I would have been better served in cooperative bike repair centre in a nearby city, which he tells unfortunately closed down a few years ago.
So before coming to the forum for help, I delved into front fork specs and fitting procedures on the internet, and quickly realised one need to know a bit to get the right parts and to fit them. I am now doing what I should have done to start with. This morning I took the front fork off my push bike something I don't ever remember tackling before. Very easy - I now have the front fork beside me at the computer.
The steering tube is 28.5mm OD and is threaded at the top end for a nut which holds the upper ball race onto the head tube of the frame. The steering tube ID is 25.5mm. The head tube is 100mm long. The steering tube has marked on it 28X380B.
I have found an example of the type of fork I am looking for on ebay Powabyke X-6 Byke Mk I Front Forks | eBay
No dimensions are given and it costs a rather expensive £46.49 including postage, so I wont buy this one, but you can see it has mountings for a disc brake caliper as well as the posts for a rim brake, which would be ideal for my tests because I could then keep a front brake function using the bike's existing rim brakes, while testing the precision counter as the disc rotated.
I think I will clean up my detached fork and take it into some of the big city bike shops with workshops - my son has recommended two.
I won't make the mistake of explaining complicated things about what I am doing. My questions for the bike mechanics here are:
- What sort of appearance and clothes should I have in order to get good service? A scruffy appearance wheeling a poorly maintained old bike is obviously no good since you are obviously not going spend money on a shiny new bike. Would a suit and polished shoes be better? Or should I buy some Lycra in Lidl so I look serious?
- What sort of price should I aim for?
- Would any mechanic here have a scrap old fork to sell me - just for these tests?
