cyccommute 

Hold on there a minute. “Threadless” and “cartridge” don’t necessarily mean throwaway. Threadless headsets…which are way beyond vintage at this point…were a godsend to mountain bikers when they were introduced. Threaded headsets were notorious for loosening due to the pounding that mountain bikes put on them. There was a thriving cottage industry of locking collars for the lock nut on threaded headsets that had only limited success in keeping the headset tight. A loose headset on a mountain bike meant a headset replacement. It was almost a case of “go for a ride, replace the headset” with early mountain bikes. Talk about throwaway!

Cartridge bearing bottom brackets did the same for cranksets. Although I didn’t replace bottom brackets as many times as headsets, I did replace a lot of bottom brackets. Early mountain bikes didn’t have any other seal than the grease and it was quickly contaminated by grit when riding off-road. Pitted spindles and pitted races were incredibly common. When cartridge bearing bottom brackets were introduced, that all went away. The cartridge bearing bottom brackets were incredibly durable and lasted far longer than loose bearings BBs did. Again, which one is “throwaway”.

Finally, cartridge bearings in headsets greatly increase durability over loose bearings. I’ve got cartridge bearing headsets that are more than 20 years old on road bikes, mountain bikes, and touring bikes that have never needed any maintenance. A number of them were used when I got them. I can not say the same about loose bearing headsets.

Similarly, cartridge bearings in hubs greatly increase the service life of a hub. Again, I have hubs that are nearly 20 years old and have up to 20,000 miles on them with zero maintenance. They roll as smooth as the day I built them and I expect them to continue for years to come. If they do fail, replacing the bearing is relatively easy and I expect that bearing to last as long as the original. But, to be honest, cartridge bearings seldom fail. I’ve only replaced bearings in 3 or 4 wheels since I started using them back in 1984…and a few of those have been in used hubs that I picked up for next to nothing. I’ve replaced 10 to 20 times more cones and bearings over the same time period.

steelbikeguy

The old mechanical governors for diesel engines were interesting devices! Springs and flyweights and all manner of little fiddly bits waiting to gum up or wear out or lose spring strength. Kinda reminds me of carburetors for gas engines... simple enough that the home mechanic could work on it, but also so prone to wear and gumming up that the home mechanic had to spend a fair bit of time caring for it.

The electronic engine controls have gotten reliable enough to nearly never fail or behave badly... but there's no way a home mechanic could fix it.
OTOH, there are hobbyists who have learned to dig into the software and find the maps that determine how much fuel is used, and modified the software to increase horsepower and/or torque. Of course, it no longer meets the emissions requirements, which the manufacturer was careful to comply with.

Maybe there's an analogy between these internal combustion engines and bike bearings? The old cup & cone bearings that can be serviced and rebuilt are usually prone to contamination and misadjustment*, but the owner can clean and readjust them without much trouble. Modern cartridge bearings don't allow cleaning and adjustment, but usually are well sealed and quite robust.

* regarding bearing seals and reliability... some bearings do have good seals and can still be serviced and adjusted. The examples that come to mind are the Stronglight Delta needle bearing headsets, and SPD pedals. I've got Stronglight Delta headsets that have seen over 50,000 miles of use, and SPD pedals that have seen a lot of use in rotten conditions. The SPDs are even more remarkable when you consider how tiny the bearings are (1/8", I think).

Steve in Peoria

cbrstar

I'm kinda speculating here. But at least where I live there is/was a brake cable shortage and all the shops were either low or out! So the guy probably doesn't have a lot left and doesn't want to potentially waste any housing. So he wants the OP to bring the bike in so he can dish out the right size of cable.

As for not selling fork parts etc. I personally rebuilt the forks on my Honda CBR 600 myself. I can walk into any Honda shop and buy any part of the motorcycle I want. I don't think a bicycle should be any different. Even with electronics. ASUS refused to fix my laptop because I wasn't the original owner. I couldn't find a new motherboard anywhere even on ebay, so I took it to a shop that specializes in refurbishing motherboards and they were able to fix it. So I might not be able to fix it myself but I was able to find a expert who could. Allowing companies to have monopoly's on parts and service is not a good thing.

dabac

Me too.
There’s a mechanic across the street from where I work.
Once when I’d had a flat on the morning commute, I asked to buy a tube so that I’d still have a spare for the return trip. And he flat out refused to sell me one.
Now, I understand that people might want to profile their businesses differently, and that maybe he can make more from doing the work too.
But for me, then, there was nothing for him to fix. I’d already swapped the flatted tube on the way in. All I wanted was a tube.
And him refusing to sell me one turned a small profit into no profit.
Not much improvement IMO.

La Brea Bike

That's weird for sure. I am not sure if there was anyone else in the shop when you were there, but I can tell you the the 2020 boon gave way to a 2021 bust for bike shops. From talking to the distributors, it's killing quite a few well established shops off. In Los Angeles, the locally famous Coco's Variety recently shut, amongst others. I wonder if the new ownership isn't filling their shorts when they realized what was happening (or about to happen).

repechage

hmmm. Coco’s stock and trade was used bikes, and those move well enough without a reseller. Maybe just like a number of shops not enough product to sell. Ir, lease was up and new terms were not friendly. An independent shop can get clobbered, one near to me ordered some Raleighs, got them in and Raleigh put them on sale via the website at below what he bought them at… that shop no longer exists.
a few others have vanished but I think it was other factors, owner health in one instance, just retirement in another, they owned the building and better to sell it vacant that with a bike shop as a tenant.

The service dept can make money but, there needs to be talent - not enough of that and revenue hits a limit. Getting basic parts is an issue, I am looking for spokes…
they are available for ransom prices.

La Brea Bike

Coco's was a Raleigh (Accell/Alta) dealer as well. BTW, not sure if this is known, but there is no Raleigh brand active in the USA any more.

When I go to the parts distributors now, I am usually the only one there. As a comparison, during 2020, there were maybe five other shops awaiting will-call, and in 2019 (pre-boon) two or three shops there at a time.

repechage

I did see "temporarily closed" on yelp. Who knows. Not that local, so no rush to investigate.
I could use a Park shop workstand though...

La Brea Bike

I originally heard it from one of their former customers. Not sure if they sent out an email or what. Kind of a kitchy little joint. They saved my hide a few times when I had film industry projects.

Melon Baller

This really puts the "BS" in LBS

repechage

I did reference Raleigh, looks like they blew out the inventory and parked it, the distributor lists the brand, but no product.
Radpower ebikes chartered a small container ship and bought new containers just to get product this year, creative.

Snowflake6

This is the reason the LBS's near me use for not selling parts over-the-counter right now. Tires and tubes, when they have them, okay. But if you want a bottom bracket? Steering tube bearing? Shift cable or housing? Nope. Bring the bike in and they'll do it for you (with a bill for labour) or buy somewhere else.

Hence most of the parts for my latest bike came from online sources.

robertAltman

So, that means they don't want your business. It's not worth your time to get upset about it. You have two choices: talk to owner of LBS and tell them of your upset, or just go someplace else. If you talk to them, you are being generous so they can learn from their mistake. They have already lost your business.

foothillbilly

I'm one of those "I'm out of here" types. If anybody in retail won't sell what I'm buying, I need my time to find a better source.

gdu555

That only happened to me one time and it was for cable and housing. Never went back.
Other shops have always been accommodating, even answering any questions I might have. Current LBS even offered to have me come in and they’d show me how to do a needed repair.
Bottom line is to patronize a shop that’s customer focused and wants your business.

Redshift96

I think we're already there... case in point starting with the first Dura Ace 7970 derailleurs. $400+ for a used rear mech, IF you can find one in decent shape at all. If it starts fritzing out on you... get ready to shell out another $400. Guessing it's not much different with the newer Di2 mechs once they're out of warranty, which I'm guessing is still limited to 12 months? Now... did someone just mention that they were still using their 50+yo Suntour mechanical rear derailleur? That's quite a contrast in longevity. And we're expected to pay a 400% premium for that reduced life expectancy? And the promised benefit is... a little crisper shifting with less exertion of one's finger muscles? Man... the power of marketing. It's impressive.

That was definitely me up until fairly recently. I do appreciate the later STI shifters however, for sure. While I'm not inclined to try to disassemble/repair them, they appear to have a very reasonable usable life expectancy. And the going prices for used units on eBay and elsewhere seem to support that impression.

Marci

Well You just look at them and say "Well I will just head on over to Wallmart/Amazon. Thought I would give you some sales instead but if that's your stance on me working on my own bike..... your loss."

steelbikeguy

nobody has started a small business of fixing up the electronic derailleurs yet?

Or has someone tried it and decided that it can't be done? It sure seems like there is a bit of profit available there, even if it takes a few hours to do it. It'll take a stock of dead parts, because I'm pretty sure that nearly none of the parts are used anywhere else.

Steve in Peoria

Redshift96

Not that I'm aware of. But if there is a resource for this, I'd love to know about it.

As I understand it, the first gen (non-etube) Di2 rear mech is just a servo motor and it's attendant gear drive bits. The brain is on a little board inside the front mech body. (The later gen 11-spd models may be the same, not sure.) If so, one would think that repairing the rear mech would not be a graduate-level undertaking. But it will be a long while before my list of projects gets short enough to research that one more myself.

StanJF

It sounds like a communication problem (not yours) with the rep not being so customer-friendly. There could be some policy issues or liability concerns, but it's nonsense. As someone else mentioned, talk to the owner, he might also like to know how his customers are being treated (I know I would). But given your experience and mechanical skill, why bother with them? Most everything can be had online these days and my experience with Amazon (for example) is superb. If it doesn't work, fit or even look right, they'll take it back at no cost. That's my opinion anyway for what it's worth.

ARider2

It is possible the bike shop was low on cable housing and felt they only had enough left to complete the jobs they had already taken in. It has been difficult getting many items including cable housing since the start of the pandemic. However, if the reason they did not sell the cable housing was because they were low they should have just told this to the OP.

Dannyboy21

Nice. Is that the way Kurt Vonnegut said it?

clubman 

sbrudno

I would agree. I have been purchasing online since the beginning of the pandemic but had previously used local bicycle shops both in Augusta, GA where there are a number of great shops and in the Northern Virginia area. Once I had established a relationship with the LBS I never had a problem with buying components. Since I have only vintage bicycles, some of the stuff I purchase is from eBay but there you have to be careful to get what your really want and for a reasonable price. AND be patient. I just got a headset for a Motobecane Super Mirage in just the right diameter. Waited 3 months to find one but worth the wait.
When I am out on the road and near a bicycle shop, which is easier to do now with cellular phone mapping, I am willing to pay more for the component but have not had problems with the shop refusing to sell a part. Probably has something to do with a sweaty old guy on a ancient bike walking into the shop (at least I like to think so). The only thing to prevent refusal is to carry some essential parts with you one the road: cables and inner tubes are right up there on the list.

poprad

Yep. That. While you're at it check out UTG (Uncle Tony's Garage on utube) and his rants about replacement auto parts failures, incompatibility, and downright shoddy quality. I'm waiting for this to hit the bike industry, it's a nefarious way to make people buy new cars/bikes/whatever if they can't just fox the one they have.