So what happened with bike being held hostage?

[tuxbailey]

Re: http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=133429

Sorry for starting a new thread for this but I don't believe I am the only one who is curious about the OP and his bike from the original thread.

Were you able to contact the owner? How much ransom did you end up paying to get your bike back?

[Jaq]

Re: http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=133429

Sorry for starting a new thread for this but I don't believe I am the only one who is curious about the OP and his bike from the original thread.

Were you able to contact the owner? How much ransom did you end up paying to get your bike back?

I believe there was a tense stand-off, during which the shop guys demanded a jet to Cuba. SWAT was called in, and unfortunately, the bike was shot during the rescue attempt. The frame being carbon and not steel, the wound was mortal.

But I could be wrong.

[tuxbailey]

I believe there was a tense stand-off, during which the shop guys demanded a jet to Cuba. SWAT was called in, and unfortunately, the bike was shot during the rescue attempt. The frame being carbon and not steel, the wound was mortal.

But I could be wrong.

Dogs Day Afternoon?

[Jaq]

Dogs Day Afternoon?

Or maybe, cuz the frame was Chinese, it was a Chinarello Dogma Day Afternoon....

Rim Shot (http://instantrimshot.com/index.php?sound=rimshot&play=true)

[CNY rider]

I heard Hollywood is recruiting Anthony Hopkins to play the evil shop mechanic, and Bruce Willis will be leading the bike rescue team.

[Nooch]

I heard Hollywood is recruiting Anthony Hopkins to play the evil shop mechanic, and Bruce Willis will be leading the bike rescue team.

well played, but for whatever reason I'd like to see Jet Li in this film....

.... with a handlebar mustache.

[TimD]

Chuck Norris stopped by, blew his nose peloton-style, and the building collapsed. Miraculously the bike in question was untouched.

[CNY rider]

well played, but for whatever reason I'd like to see Jet Li in this film....

.... with a handlebar mustache.

I'll go for that if Q. Tarentino directs and Uma Thurman plays the Assos girl.

Deal?

[Nooch]

I'll go for that if Q. Tarentino directs and Uma Thurman plays the Assos girl.

Deal?

Deal, now to find a financier... Where's Ray at?

[RedRider]

.

[gavingould]

a lot of comedy content in that thread...

there are definitely some bikes that are a real pain to route internally.the rear brake cable on my Focus run through the top tube; one of the housing stops was lost in transit, no liner, no cable, no internal guides. for a while i tried to source the correct housing stops to fit the hole in the frame, then moved to trying to file down a "universal" stop to fit. Eventually gave up and just ran full length housing through. that wasn't easy either...

those who sell a used bike that's internally routed but don't leave the liners [or even just a couple inches of the old cut off cables sticking out of the holes] taped to the outside of the frame should be hung. or, buyer beware.

[TBDSeattle]

there are definitely some bikes that are a real pain to route internally

Totally agree with this statement... but in my experience "real pain" means 20 to 30 min of concerted work and trying several tricks. It does not mean 180 min of work.

One method I've used in the past was to take a cable and fray the end. Then I push the frayed end in the headtube cable entrance frame and push it through the frame. Usually one of the many frayed ends will poke out the seattube cable entrance. I tie a string to the frayed end poking out, and then pull the cable back out the headtube side. Now you've got a string going through the frame. Tie a cable to the string, and feed it through the frame. Presto, you're in business. :banana:

[A.Danger]

The best pro-tip I took from all of this is the old vacuum-string trick! Thanks!

[54ny77]

What is this, The Plebian Forum? If I can't fix something in 15-20 minutes, I just go buy a new bike.

:p

[William]

Heard about this from a motorcycle builder, but works on bikes as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vxE1NJoUc

A little compressed air and a string and you're in business in about three seconds.






William

[dave thompson]

Heard about this from a motorcycle builder, but works on bikes as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vxE1NJoUc

A little compressed air and a string and you're in business in about three seconds.






William
Neat trick! If you ever did that on a Chinarello, the down tube would develop an aneurysm or the head tube would blow out.

[gavingould]

i agree with the "try the usual tricks for about 20-30 minutes"

i've worked in shops too. 20-30 minutes is the point where if you haven't been able to get it figured out, you let the customer know it's gonna be a headscratcher.

string and compressed air - thread and a vacuum - feeding a shift or brake cable through, twisting it around to find the hole, then sliding liner over it...
plenty of tricks.
if it's a carbon frame with no guides or anything inside, the difficulty level goes up if the internal surface is not fairly smooth. if there's bladder remnants or roughness it's harder to find the hole poking around blindly in there (insert joke here)

[TBDSeattle]

Heard about this from a motorcycle builder, but works on bikes as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vxE1NJoUc

A little compressed air and a string and you're in business in about three seconds.

William

Very nice tip and great video. Thanks for sharing!

[Doug Fattic]

I've done it a number of ways but my favorite was to put a gentle bend in a brass brazing rod and mark on the rod how far away the hole was from its end. Than I stuck the rod into the hole the marked distance and as I rotated it, the end of the rod would come close to the hole so I could fish it out. Then I could slide a liner or housing over the brass rod. It never took me more than 10 minutes.

Of course when I did internal routing on one of my own custom frames, i always made 2 ss cable housing stops on a lathe and brazed a brass tube between them and then brazed the whole unit into the bicycle tube so it was effortless to thread a cable through the tube. i would never want internal cables with just 2 open holes to go through.

[TBDSeattle]

Of course when I did internal routing on one of my own custom frames, i always made 2 ss cable housing stops on a lathe and brazed a brass tube between them and then brazed the whole unit into the bicycle tube so it was effortless to thread a cable through the tube. i would never want internal cables with just 2 open holes to go through.

Doug Fattic for the win!

[bigreen505]

Wow, that thread makes me happy Vecchio's is close by.

[oldpotatoe]

Wow, that thread makes me happy Vecchio's is close by.

We see internal routing on frames(mostly-all?) carbon all the time..seems it is probably cheaper to do it this way. Some are relatively easy, some take 2 hours to get the thing thru. 'Some' are on pro type bikes, like TT frames(specialized/trek/bmc come to mind) and I can only imagine what the team wrenches have to go thru when they have to build a whole slew of bikes.

It's as if the 'designers' never have to actually build these things. The latest is a couple of specialized tri/TT bikes for Dave Scott and son...first was return to center zipp barends..3 pair failed..shimano-thanks and then the v brakes that don't open far enough for the zipp wheels, AND no way to adjust spring tension on the lower one w/o removing the crank(huh??), big chainring, no 'holes', oh so aero-drilled a wee hole in them to access the brake spring...AND internal cabling.

Samo for a BMC, and a Boardman...and....I'm SURE electronic and internal wet disc brake lines will make it SO much easier---

time to quit....

[jr59]

We see internal routing on frames(mostly-all?) carbon all the time..seems it is probably cheaper to do it this way. Some are relatively easy, some take 2 hours to get the thing thru. 'Some' are on pro type bikes, like TT frames(specialized/trek/bmc come to mind) and I can only imagine what the team wrenches have to go thru when they have to build a whole slew of bikes.

It's as if the 'designers' never have to actually build these things. The latest is a couple of specialized tri/TT bikes for Dave Scott and son...first was return to center zipp barends..3 pair failed..shimano-thanks and then the v brakes that don't open far enough for the zipp wheels, AND no way to adjust spring tension on the lower one w/o removing the crank(huh??), big chainring, no 'holes', oh so aero-drilled a wee hole in them to access the brake spring...AND internal cabling.

Samo for a BMC, and a Boardman...and....I'm SURE electronic and internal wet disc brake lines will make it SO much easier---

time to quit....


That's why you make the BIG BUCKS! :p:cool:

[Vientomas]

Poor design is a problem, but quit? Time to get ramp up! It looks as if the bicycle industry is going the way of the vehicle industry - things getting more complicated (as a result of poor design, and by design) resulting in the home mechanic being unable to work on their own bicycle. Thereby requiring the services of an expert. You.

I remember when I could open the hood of my vehicle and identify all of the major parts and have enough room in the engine compartment to actually work on it myself. Long ago I rebuilt an engine in a 1963 Austin Healy Sprite with my father. Compared to today's vehicle's, it was simple. I would not consider working on my own vehicle today. Way too complicated. My dealer has the pleasure of working on my vehicle and taking my money as a result of the complexity, and it some cases, poor design, of today's vehicles.

Are bikes headed there too? If so, business should be good!

[liray]

Had a talk with the owner today. The owner was a much easier guy to talk to, and walked through the entire process in a clear and polite manner.

So to cut to the chase, he said that some information that he got from Trek reps was that it takes the average mechanic 2.5 hours to do internal cable routing on frames without guides. Based on that number, He thought that the 3 hours wasn't off by too much.

When I asked about how the cables were routed, it seemed like it was pure trial and error, pushing around until the cable pops out. When I mentioned the string/air compressor trick, it was obvious that that wasn't the process used on my bike.

With this knowledge, its more likely that it took the shop such a long time.
I suggested that to meet in the middle, and pay for 2 hours worth of work, and that's what we ended up agreeing to.

Bob is a very fair guy to talk to, and plesant to deal with. If I were you, I would hang around the shop until he was around to help you out with your problems. However, that being said, I still believe that they should have had better knowledge of tricks to getting the cables routed, and in my mind, this is the expertise that should be expected after being charged $70/hr.

A couple things to remember the next time before I would walk into another bike shop:

Be sure to give them a price limit because they don't always remind you of this.
If you're going to ask them to do a job like internal cable routing, be sure to ask them how they would go about doing it. If they are going to be poking around until it pops out, go ahead and do it yourself.
Always expect the worst, especially with jobs that charge you by the hour.
Be sure to call in and check on their progress.


As for Bicycle Bob's, I can only say that as long as you are aware of the points listed above, then you should be fine, and they should be able to do a good job getting you back on your bike. However, I wouldn't recommend the shop over the others in the area, but I wouldn't necessarily steer you away from them either.

Either way, whats done is done, and the important thing is that I can start riding again!

[bargainguy]

Good for you, and thanks for giving us the heads up on this!

[avalonracing]

So to cut to the chase, he said that some information that he got from Trek reps was that it takes the average mechanic 2.5 hours to do internal cable routing on frames without guides.

Wow, I must be some kind of super-mechanic then!

It "takes" them that long or that is what they "bill" for? For example a buddy of mine put a new radiator in my 4Runner in less than an hour and that was hood up to hood down and on the road. Of course a mechanic at a shop would charge 3-4 hours of time for this. (BTW- my friend isn't trained as a mechanic, he just likes to work on his truck).

[ultraman6970]

Surprise me that they did not use a vaccum cleaner or the air trick. I was the OP i would start thinking on doing the stuff myself, specially because after this I would not trust the guys at all you know.

[tuxbailey]

Thanks for the updates!

Good thing the whole situation didn't end up like a movie :)

[firerescuefin]

Edited...took out some rehashed commentary.

[oldpotatoe]

Poor design is a problem, but quit? Time to get ramp up! It looks as if the bicycle industry is going the way of the vehicle industry - things getting more complicated (as a result of poor design, and by design) resulting in the home mechanic being unable to work on their own bicycle. Thereby requiring the services of an expert. You.

I remember when I could open the hood of my vehicle and identify all of the major parts and have enough room in the engine compartment to actually work on it myself. Long ago I rebuilt an engine in a 1963 Austin Healy Sprite with my father. Compared to today's vehicle's, it was simple. I would not consider working on my own vehicle today. Way too complicated. My dealer has the pleasure of working on my vehicle and taking my money as a result of the complexity, and it some cases, poor design, of today's vehicles.

Are bikes headed there too? If so, business should be good!

Pass......biz is very good, but pass..tired

[gemship]

Had a talk with the owner today. The owner was a much easier guy to talk to, and walked through the entire process in a clear and polite manner.

So to cut to the chase, he said that some information that he got from Trek reps was that it takes the average mechanic 2.5 hours to do internal cable routing on frames without guides. Based on that number, He thought that the 3 hours wasn't off by too much.

When I asked about how the cables were routed, it seemed like it was pure trial and error, pushing around until the cable pops out. When I mentioned the string/air compressor trick, it was obvious that that wasn't the process used on my bike.

With this knowledge, its more likely that it took the shop such a long time.
I suggested that to meet in the middle, and pay for 2 hours worth of work, and that's what we ended up agreeing to.

Bob is a very fair guy to talk to, and plesant to deal with. If I were you, I would hang around the shop until he was around to help you out with your problems. However, that being said, I still believe that they should have had better knowledge of tricks to getting the cables routed, and in my mind, this is the expertise that should be expected after being charged $70/hr.

A couple things to remember the next time before I would walk into another bike shop:

Be sure to give them a price limit because they don't always remind you of this.
If you're going to ask them to do a job like internal cable routing, be sure to ask them how they would go about doing it. If they are going to be poking around until it pops out, go ahead and do it yourself.
Always expect the worst, especially with jobs that charge you by the hour.
Be sure to call in and check on their progress.


As for Bicycle Bob's, I can only say that as long as you are aware of the points listed above, then you should be fine, and they should be able to do a good job getting you back on your bike. However, I wouldn't recommend the shop over the others in the area, but I wouldn't necessarily steer you away from them either.

Either way, whats done is done, and the important thing is that I can start riding again!

the best thing to come out of this thread was the methods to try to get that cable from point A to B. I'm sorry you couldn't of just did it yourself. I'm in the same boat with limited funds and when it comes to wrenching on my bikes there is this thing that clicks inside me anyways, I just prefer to work on it myself. Good for you to take a lesson from this experience. We all did unfortunately you had to pay, enjoy the ride and put it behind you.

[slidey]

Glad that you were able to save some money through reason! As for future professional bike-mechanic needs, simply approach John Jones (http://jonesprecisionwheels.com/jpw/). As I mentioned earlier, he's the best mechanic in town by a very long way.

Had a talk with the owner today. The owner was a much easier guy to talk to, and walked through the entire process in a clear and polite manner.

So to cut to the chase, he said that some information that he got from Trek reps was that it takes the average mechanic 2.5 hours to do internal cable routing on frames without guides. Based on that number, He thought that the 3 hours wasn't off by too much.

When I asked about how the cables were routed, it seemed like it was pure trial and error, pushing around until the cable pops out. When I mentioned the string/air compressor trick, it was obvious that that wasn't the process used on my bike.

With this knowledge, its more likely that it took the shop such a long time.
I suggested that to meet in the middle, and pay for 2 hours worth of work, and that's what we ended up agreeing to.

Bob is a very fair guy to talk to, and plesant to deal with. If I were you, I would hang around the shop until he was around to help you out with your problems. However, that being said, I still believe that they should have had better knowledge of tricks to getting the cables routed, and in my mind, this is the expertise that should be expected after being charged $70/hr.

A couple things to remember the next time before I would walk into another bike shop:

Be sure to give them a price limit because they don't always remind you of this.
If you're going to ask them to do a job like internal cable routing, be sure to ask them how they would go about doing it. If they are going to be poking around until it pops out, go ahead and do it yourself.
Always expect the worst, especially with jobs that charge you by the hour.
Be sure to call in and check on their progress.


As for Bicycle Bob's, I can only say that as long as you are aware of the points listed above, then you should be fine, and they should be able to do a good job getting you back on your bike. However, I wouldn't recommend the shop over the others in the area, but I wouldn't necessarily steer you away from them either.

Either way, whats done is done, and the important thing is that I can start riding again!

[Bruce K]

And that's a wrap!

Totally unnecessary Freddy.

BK