Originally Posted by
Gresp15C
Indeed, it would be interesting to know if a similar level of work is required in regular bike shops, to get bikes ready for sale. I know that when I bought a new bike at a shop, a few years ago, the mechanic spent about half an hour fussing with it before letting me ride it home.
It is (or at least was). Certainly, at the very least, the height of bars and seat need to be set properly for a rider.
Bike out of box, dispose of box, bike in stand (clamping over protective paper) insert stem, adjust stem and handlebars to right height/angle. Screw in pedals. Adjust seat. Check shifting, brakes, wheel true. Remove all remaining warpping. Clean/polish bike. A few minutes work if you have a bike stand and a pegboard with all your tools out and handy. And if you have dedicated tools. That is, a set of hex keys (or a Park three prong key) rather than a Multi-tool. It was kind of a Zen thing when you got into the flow.
When a customer bought a bike, we took about ten minutes to check everything and polish/clean the thing and to adjust the seat and bars and to re-check everything.