Gresp15C

I'd ask what a "tune up" consists of, and how they'd evaluate a used bike.

But actually, I don't expect a home mechanic to have the same skills and priorities as a pro. The pro has to be conscious of time -- their own and the customer's. They have to bring every bike up to perfect running condition on the first try. Fixing something twice means two trips to the shop for the customer. And they don't know if their customer is capable of assessing their own maintenance needs. On the other hand, they have the parts on hand to replace things rather than spend time fixing them. Also, the people I've known in the repair business have told me that you're part technician and part psychologist.

The home mechanic can follow their own approach if they want to, such as "learn while you go." They can set a bike aside while waiting for a part, or try to fix something before ordering a replacement. They can keep an eye on the condition of their bike and take care of things as needed, maybe in a few minutes. They can adapt home tools and follow their general mechanical knack. Also, they can choose their battles in terms of the complexity of the bikes that they own.

If someone wanted to assess my skill, I'd suggest that they should look at my family's bike fleet.

TiHabanero

I have two questions to ask that can be used independent of one another.

Do you have a Campy tool kit?
Do you speak Campagnolo?

The answer to both should be yes, if not, well its your choice!

Back in the day that was the standard for top end shops.

Atlas Shrugged

Question #1: Have you ever used YouTube?
or
Question #2: Have you ever serviced a modern bike with disc brakes and electronic shifting?


If yes to either of the above, you are good to go.

cyccommute 

My comment was mostly made in jest but there is a kernel of truth there. In my experience, the vast majority of shifting issues are cable related…mostly too little tension. I really don’t need to know what brand the derailer is or what bike is it is on or even the number of speeds. If it is a mechanical shifting systems, 99 times out of 100, the cable is too slack. That’s where to start. If a mechanic reaches for a screw driver first, it should set off alarm bells. The other issues that can have an effect on shifting like bent hangers, cables too tight, cables corroded in the housing, and cassette wear are way down the list of things that can be wrong. “Limit screw adjustment” isn’t even on that list. I start with the cable and if that doesn’t work, I go further down the list above but most times, I don’t have to go past cable adjustment.

Dave Mayer

An understanding how indexed shifting works is the real barrier to many mechanics. We have a client and his 'mechanic' pal drop into the shop recently, ready to replace the chain and cassette on a bike with 9-speed Shimano shifters.
His 'mechanic' had picked out a 8-speed cassette and chain ready for installation, and we had to have a chat about how this would never index correctly due to the fundamental mismatch between the shifters and cassette. We also have a lot of somewhat experienced mechanics attempt multiple different rear derailleurs (Suntour, Sachs, Campagnolo, whatever) on Shimano indexing systems, and never really understand the resulting shifting chaos. A basic understanding of math and the ability to measure objects is a prerequisite for even baseline competent mechanics.

cyccommute 

Depends on the age of the grip shifter. If you have one…poor bastard!…don’t remove the cable before finding out if it is a straight run or if it is one of those weird “loop around the barrel” ones. At my co-op, we leave the cables in place (cut down to a shorter length) so that we can tell what the cable routing is.

Of course, if given a choice, I’d remove the shifter and install paddle shifters.

Mad Honk 

cyccommute,
That would be my point! If you don't know, you are going to be lost when one shows up. Smiles, MH

BCDrums

Ti,

I would not expect that anyone who needs the help of a Shade Tree Mechanic has a Campy-equipped bike. I imagine that if someone owned a Lamborghini, they wouldn't be taking it to a Jiffy Lube.

If a STM did speak Campy, that would be remarkable. In the mass market today, it's like a dead language.

urbanknight

No, but I have watched the TdF and that looks awesome!

lol it was a success, and I bet cyccommute could guess on his first try what I did to make it work.

I must admit that there were times when I thought I knew something and I didn’t.

soyabean

What's the point of this thread?

It's the same as all those unlicensed contractors on Craigslist that think they are legal and bonded contractors.

I love those fun dispute cases on Judge Judy. Hey, they sure sounded like they were professional at first, right?

As someone that has worked in LBSs, I have no sympathy for the cyclist that got screwed over from a shadetree mechanic.

LBSs stay in business year after year for good reasons. If a cyclist can't afford good service, they shouldn't be cycling.

Just like I'd love a Lamborghini. But I can't afford one. So I don't own one. I'm not going to get a cheap used Lamborghini and bring it to a Lamborghini STM. Just sayin'

urbanknight

I’m sure you’re right. I found it funny as well as true, but had to comment because this forum is full of people who think they have a complete answer for an incomplete question.

urbanknight

Entertainment, just like half the threads on this forum. At least I personally didn’t take it to be some sort of litmus test for finding a competent mechanic.

john m flores 

"What don't you know?"

BCDrums

I liked the question that pd posed. Thought-provoking. It made me think about my own competence. I can change a chain ring, but I no nothing about disc brakes, f'rinstance. If I can't make a repair, with the copious info available to me from this forum and YouTube, I'd go to the LBS, not a STM. And I'd send the neighbor there too.

I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean

Kontact 

"Do pedals and cassettes actually need to be all that tight?"

MaxKatt

I’m a cyclist, not a mechanic. 20 years…never fixed a thing.

Russ Roth

With 25 bikes among 5 people I can't be bothered with an annual maintenance overhaul, and bikes don't really need them as much as people obsess over. Somethings not working right, fix that, give the bike a quick assessment to make sure nothing else seems off and its good to go. Have to lube the chain, toss it on the stand, or the car's bike rack, apply lube, shift through the gears to make sure they're fine, wipe off excess lube. I'll test the cables and check over the housing when doing tape to see if anything needs replacement but otherwise I'm not doing cables unless there's an issue, people who replace them annually just have money to blow.

Funny, I still grab the screw driver first and absolutely never assume its a cable adjustment. Someone says they're shifting is off I visually verify the der hanger is straight, if it looks slightly off I might use the screw driver to slightly tweak the hanger unless it looks twisted vs slightly bent. Once I've visually seen the hanger is straight I drop it to the smallest cog, check the adjustment screw to make sure its in the quietest position, shift up through the cogs till I reach the second largest, adjust the cable till the chain runs parallel to the largest cog, then shift to the largest cog and verify the screw is set properly. Then I shift the front if it has one to verify the rear shifts smoothly, nothing like having it work fine in the big ring but not the small and adjust the B screw if needed. Whole process takes all of 2 minutes but I know that the system is set and working perfectly and the first thing I grabbed was a screw driver, can't understand how you would make sure everything is perfect otherwise. But my process starts with two views, the customer is clumsy and may have dropped it and the last tech was an idiot who didn't know how to get things adjusted so I should trust nothing and assume nothing.

My question on if I should trust someone
what should I torque this stem to for my carbon handlebar or steerer tube?

zandoval 

Tuning wheels and dialing in brifters... That's a good start...

Reynolds 

It depends. Changing Shimano Nexus grip shift cable is really easy.

urbanknight

What do you dial in on brifters?
And how do you “tune” wheels?

base2 

My mechanic just yesterday: "Well, when you know what you're doin', nothing's really ever really broken...It just needs this thing, or that."

I hired him when the first thing he did was start asking questions. I keep him around because he happily learns new things.

On a related note:

I truly believe that if you can not describe what you are doing as a process, it is because you don't understand what you are doing. So, a useful means to assess a shade tree mechanic is to simply have them walk you through the repair process as they are doing it & have them describe what they are doing & why. Watch them. Are they watching themselves use the tool? Are they watching where the tool is acting? Did they start in a reasonable place like an initial overview of the bikes condition for any red flags followed by a detailed assessment to confirm the customers concern. There is some pretty big tells there.

At the other extreme from my paid mechanic, I have an intern that simply can not get right. Every time I put him on a task, any task, ones he's been showed the process a dozen times, he ephs it up does it wrong and must be showed again. Every time I look at him his eyes are elsewhere. He performs the motions, he is not performing the task. TikTok attention span has come to roost. To brake adjusts and repacking wheel bearings, He says: "these things are simple, not much to it." I say: "If so, then why is it wrong, again." When he gets the task right, he moves on to the next learning module of the patented base2 Bike Mechanic System. (For only 3 easy payment of $19.95, you too can participate in base2's special BM's)

It has been said that: Confidence is that feeling you have before you understand the situation. IME, The best mechanics are the ones that are never the most confident. There is always a confounding something to the original problem. The good mechanic figures that out, too. Watch the mechanic. His demeanor when encountering a problem will tell you all you need to know. Repairs, especially on old & worn out stuff can be and sometimes are an iterative process.

cyccommute 

I have seen example after example after example of the results of grabbing the screw driver first. Usually as chewed up and broken spokes from the derailer sending the chain into the wheel or as pretzeled derailer. Limit screws simply don’t go out of adjustment once they are set. You could grind off the head for all the use they are after installation. Adjusting either limit does nothing for the problem of the gears not working right in the middle of the cassette…which is where the problem lies. A bent hanger can cause problems but bent hangers aren’t usually the issue either. If a cable adjustment won’t make the problem go away, I’ll check the hanger but I check cables first…it’s the most logical issue and should be addressed first.

Russ Roth

I've seen example after example of people assuming it was a cable and sending it into the spokes as well. Cables, once bedded in don't go through that much additional stretching which is why they're never the first place to look unless recently replaced, but again, never assume that's all it is. Also seen plenty of limit screws go out of adjustment, not certain what you're working on that you think they're virtually useless once set but that has never been my experience. But, I've found my answer to if I think someone is more a shade tree mechanic.

Making a wheel round, straight and true could be considered tuning it. Making sure spoke tension is within tolerances. Adjusting axles so they're just at the right spot for optimal performance when installed with a quick release. Cleaning the old grease and installing new bearings, these are all tuning a set of wheels. Not certain how you dial in brifters unless we're talking reach adjustment.

deacon mark

I am not sure of the real question actually but it seems to be figuring out how competent a bike mechanic is? To me this is all over the map. Some LBS have hugely skilled mechanics and some have what I call not very impressive. One issue is the some LBS will not think out of the box and only do exactly what the manufacturer recommends. Naturally this is ok but many things work that are not specifically designed for in the situation. I run an 11 spd crank with my Ultegra 6700. Some LBS would not do this they would tell you get a whole new drive system.

One skill is wheel building and truing. They LBS here offered me a job as mechanic because they knew I could build wheels and true them none of their mechanics could do that very well. Also a competent mechanic should be reasonably up to speed. That might be my own downfall. I can do anything on a bike except build a frame or the components. That said I take a long time because I want things perfect. It can also be easier to simply replace something rather than try and repair it or taking it to LBS. Doing things over and over you get faster. I can handle things but if I have not done it before or it has been a long time, getting up to speed is a bigger curve. I actually think the best mechanics are in independent bike shops that do not deal specifically with selling new bikes of the 3 big names, Trek, Giant, Spec. A Trek shop is going to sell and steer Trek they are no interested in your steel bike that needs attention and some upgrades or replacement items.

Zara Sp00k

I have built a wheel, but I surely wouldn't call myself a pro, my newest bike is the last of the 8 speeds, 1996, so anything newer, I would have to learn or come here and ask. I have been riding bikes for over 60 years, have never brought a bike to a bike shop, done it all myself, I guess that makes me a shade tree mechanic. I spent 44 years as a mechanical engineer, so I take care of my bikes, cars, lawn mower, furnace, water heater, basically anything the typical homeowner would own.
It not only saves money, but I find it rewarding, nobody cares as much as the person that owns it.