This afternoon I rode my 1983 Fuji to Lexington Center and back, combining the ride with an errand to obtain a a bike replacement part.
I'm doing end-of-season maintenance on my wife's 2017 Trek FX3, and I found a rough front axle is due to a stingy amount of grease from the factory and a pitted cone. Cups look fine, fortunately.
There's been a lot of talk about Battle Road Bike here lately, so this gave me an excuse to stop in there. The young mechanic there was kind enough to spend 5 or 10 minutes searching through spare parts for the cone, but none matched. Another worker there, Tammy, really liked my old Fuji, and she suggested I try Quad cycles for the cone. Quad was on my way home, so I stopped in. I showed the guy there the axle and and cone and he just says "NO, we don't have those! And that must be from a cheap bike." Made me feel like I was stupid for asking. It surprised me, as in the past I have dealt with the owner, Rustem, who was very pleasant and helpful when I just needed a wheel trued.
I understand that a LBS doesn't want to spend time looking for a $2 part when they can be doing work at hourly rates. I get that. But I am also in the market for another bike. In the Cannondale lineup, which they sell at Quad, it would be a Synapse or a Topstone. Did I pursue that while I was there? No, I just rode home (and found an axle set on Ebay)
Anyway, that was my ride for the day.
Tom