Bike Mechanics: funniest/most bizarre thing customers have said
- Thread starter jonKranked
- Start date
we had a guy come in and say the his patches from his puncture repair kit weren't working at all well
had a look at his bike and the patches were on the OUTSIDE of the tire
oh dear oh dear
And just for Burly and Binary, we did explain to him nicely how it all worked. Even mangaed to keep a straight face till he walked out............then spent the next 10 mins in hysterics
had a look at his bike and the patches were on the OUTSIDE of the tire
oh dear oh dear
And just for Burly and Binary, we did explain to him nicely how it all worked. Even mangaed to keep a straight face till he walked out............then spent the next 10 mins in hysterics
ok...not sure if this is a funny story but definetly crazy non the less:
working yesterday (saturday) by my self. guy comes in from the local trail, here is our convo:
him: hey there! do you have something to check my tire pressure?
me: of course sir, bring your bike on in
.......goes and gets his bike....wheels it in to the bike service area....
me: i see you just came off the trail, where ya coming from?
him: oh pittsburg
me: wow! that a long ride (pittsburg to frostburg = approx. 180miles) have you been camping on the trail? have good weather?
him: yes good weather, camped a little then stayed in hotels. i like these little towns i come across. i came across this one the other day and while riding in it, i was hit by a bus. (he says this with out skipping a beat)
me: (this is when i actually looked at him, his face was scratched, left arm was twice the size as he right and yellow/black/purple/blue, his leg was a little torn up and he said his side was all scrapped up) OH MY gOSH! are you ok? have ou gone to the hospital? were the paramedics called?!
him: yeah im fine! my arm doesnt hurt, the paramedics came and said i was fine and now im going to finish my ride to dc (its a 3 hour car drive, i forget the mileage distance on the c&o canal)
The owners brother now steps in (he is incredibly smart) sees this guy and tells him to goto the hospital. the rider continues to say that his arm doesnt hurt and that the swelling has gone down. the brother says that the fact his arm doesnt hurt is what should concern him. I then suggest the medical clinic that takes walk ins and that its about a mile away.
never did find out if that guy went to the doctors or not...but he looked rough!
I hope that guy makes it to DC. Ive been telling everyone about his story!
working yesterday (saturday) by my self. guy comes in from the local trail, here is our convo:
him: hey there! do you have something to check my tire pressure?
me: of course sir, bring your bike on in
.......goes and gets his bike....wheels it in to the bike service area....
me: i see you just came off the trail, where ya coming from?
him: oh pittsburg
me: wow! that a long ride (pittsburg to frostburg = approx. 180miles) have you been camping on the trail? have good weather?
him: yes good weather, camped a little then stayed in hotels. i like these little towns i come across. i came across this one the other day and while riding in it, i was hit by a bus. (he says this with out skipping a beat)
me: (this is when i actually looked at him, his face was scratched, left arm was twice the size as he right and yellow/black/purple/blue, his leg was a little torn up and he said his side was all scrapped up) OH MY gOSH! are you ok? have ou gone to the hospital? were the paramedics called?!
him: yeah im fine! my arm doesnt hurt, the paramedics came and said i was fine and now im going to finish my ride to dc (its a 3 hour car drive, i forget the mileage distance on the c&o canal)
The owners brother now steps in (he is incredibly smart) sees this guy and tells him to goto the hospital. the rider continues to say that his arm doesnt hurt and that the swelling has gone down. the brother says that the fact his arm doesnt hurt is what should concern him. I then suggest the medical clinic that takes walk ins and that its about a mile away.
never did find out if that guy went to the doctors or not...but he looked rough!
I hope that guy makes it to DC. Ive been telling everyone about his story!
So I occasionally work at a shop when they need help for random bike parts, and because I like them. Yesterday I was working with the owner alone towards the end of the day, and there were a ton of people in. Normally I just wrench on stuff and do bitch work, but I ended up helping out with peeps since there were so many. Anyway, this old guy comes in with a Huffy and says "My bike makes me lean over too far, do you have anything that extends over the handlebars?". So, I tell him about bar ends and show him some on a bike (as this seemed to be what he was describing), but I also added there were a number of things that could help with his problem (riser bar, shorter stem, smaller frame), and bar ends probably were not them. However, he was insistent on this bar extension thing...I think I know what he described (a bar that wraps all the way around...kinda freaky looking, like upturned drop bars). Anyway, I knew we didn't have any of what he was talking about (elitist shop...tehehe), but that Matt, the owner could help him out with possibly ordering one when he was finished with another customer (I don't know anything about ordering stuff for them). So he asks Matt the same question he asked me, and Matt says I could probably help him out. Anyway, he was getting antsy and crapping his pants whilst talking to me, describing a seemingly nonexistant part, and when Matt told him that he freaked out and left. Much entertainment was to be had.
Call me an elitist, but the shop refuses to take Huffys usually.
Call me an elitist, but the shop refuses to take Huffys usually.
The bike industry is not jest a service industry its retail to, with a car opr dirtbike the only variables are, broken parts. At a bike shop mechanics are also salesmen, they have to spend time helping costomers not doing repairs. The more repairs there are to do the more customers and thus less time to do them.BurlyShirley said:
This one is interesting, I'm not sure how funny it is but a good one all the same.
Today we had a guy roll in on a POS Kmart bike and a big backpacking backpack wearing flipflops. It turns out the guy was kicked out of the trailer park he lived in and is on disablility so he decided to jest drive around and live on the checks. His car broke down in nevada a month ago and was convinced by a guy to get a bike instead. Aperently he rode from central nevada to washington and then to the SF area were we are, now he is on his way to yosemite. Every week when he gets his check he gets a new crappy bike and some sort of camping gear more suited to what he is doing, he then gives away the old bike and gear (he had jest given away his 3 person tent in favor of mesqito netting to sleep under) He does not have any shoes the guy only wore flip flops needless to say his legs were quite cut up. He hit a rock with his toe a few days ago and thismorning decided to pull the nail off, so no there is a bloody mess were the nail used to be.
Today we had a guy roll in on a POS Kmart bike and a big backpacking backpack wearing flipflops. It turns out the guy was kicked out of the trailer park he lived in and is on disablility so he decided to jest drive around and live on the checks. His car broke down in nevada a month ago and was convinced by a guy to get a bike instead. Aperently he rode from central nevada to washington and then to the SF area were we are, now he is on his way to yosemite. Every week when he gets his check he gets a new crappy bike and some sort of camping gear more suited to what he is doing, he then gives away the old bike and gear (he had jest given away his 3 person tent in favor of mesqito netting to sleep under) He does not have any shoes the guy only wore flip flops needless to say his legs were quite cut up. He hit a rock with his toe a few days ago and thismorning decided to pull the nail off, so no there is a bloody mess were the nail used to be.