Autumn leaves, in hordes, tumbled along the road towards me; it was as if I was up high looking down on crowds of people fleeing some kind of disaster or tidal wave. They were being pushed along by a gusty wind and followed on from a night of persistent rain that left huge, black puddles, including one especially large one in my local railway station's car park. I was on my way to work and as I walked along the road towards a much later train than normal, I found myself fretting about my lack of cycling. Things had tailed off considerably. Last Sunday was my one and only ride this week. The week before it was a similar story, just one ride and now, looking ahead at the coming week, it's looking pretty shaky. Today I ride to Sutton. It's around six miles and will give me a weekly total of something like 28 miles. Even when I was putting in decent mileage (around 71 miles) it was a step down from the 80+ miles I had been covering, and of late that had dropped to 60+ plus miles as I juggled work with riding. Up until recently, a routine of sorts had fallen into place: Monday to Wednesday at work, a Washpond Weeble on Thursday and Friday and a longer ride on Saturday culminating in a pleasant half hour people watching from the warmth of a Costa Coffee in Westerham. However, over the past fortnight that routine has flown out of the window, thanks in large part to the hassles associated with not having a central heating boiler. That little problem has since been fixed.
Evans Cycles, Sutton: no qualified mechanics?
I rode around 12 miles to Sutton and back, unrecorded by Strava as my phone was out of power. It was cold out, I wasn't wearing any gloves, but I did have thick cords over my cycling shorts and a fairly heavy fleece over a tee-shirt. Once I'd got going I warmed up. There were a few hills, notably Hayling Park Road, but nothing I couldn't deal with, and I had to endure fairly busy, heavy traffic there and back. I arrived at Evans Cycles around 10 minutes later than scheduled, but they hadn't noticed and business seemed fairly slow, making me wonder how long the shop would exist as there were plenty of bikes of all shapes and sizes and I was the only customer. I explained my problem to somebody I assumed was the manager, a nice chap who was willing to be of assistance and offer helpful information. The bike had been booked in for a £60 bronze service and I'd made remarks online that the brakes needed sorting out, probably new pads and also a new disc, but it all depended on what they suggested. The first problem was a lack of properly trained bike mechanics, which meant that all I could have was a bronze service, which was what I had asked for, but the guy checked the brakes and suggested that with the potential problems that lurked with my rear brake I'd be better off having a silver service in another store (either Wimbledon or Clapham where they have trained mechanics) as they would do all that was needed in terms of fixing other stuff (he said I'd definitely need a new chain and block) and then sorting the brakes out on top. I still don't quite understand this. I wanted the brakes fixed and a bronze service, but, he suggested a silver service by qualified mechanics but in another store. Why? Because for the £60 I'd get all the work done (gears etc) and then the brakes would be extra on top, whereas a bronze service only really skims the surface and I'd end up paying more because with the silver service the chain and block would be done as part of the deal and then any issues with the brakes would be extra. He estimated over £100 in total. My brain was now working overtime. Surely, if they gave me a new chain and block as part of a silver service I would still have to pay for the parts? So why couldn't the same thing be done with the bronze service? It probably could, I'm guessing, but the Sutton store didn't have 'proper' mechanics, whereas Clapham and Wimbledon outlets do and they'd be capable of carrying out the silver service, fixing the block and the brakes... I still don't get it, but he wasn't trying to rip me off, he was, in fact, turning business away and telling me to take it to another store, get the whole lot seen to by trained mechanics and not messed around with by enthusiastic amateurs. But what if I'd just come in off the street and asked for new brake pads? What then? Surely his rank amateurs could fit new brake shoes, something I would have done at home had I known how to. So I cycled all the way home again, a 12-mile round trip, braving the intense traffic and getting home a few minutes before noon. Now what?
Well, Clapham would be easy in terms of getting the bike to the store, it's a train ride from Sanderstead and then a short ride on the bike, past Arding & Hobbs and through Clapham High Street. I'd find it. Or, I could ride it to Caterham and Ross Cycles where I know for a fact that my bike's needs would be understood. Oddly, I'm tempted to go for Evans Cycles in Clapham, in fact, I'm about to check both options out again online. Had my bike been accepted by Evans in Sutton today, of course, I would have kissed goodbye to riding the bike this weekend.
Book an assessment, not a service
I have revisited the Evans website with a view to booking a silver service in the Clapham store, but I'm worried. The site says I can book an appointment and the store will tell me what sort of service they recommend for the bike. That's not the same as requesting a silver service and then accepting that the brakes will be fixed and all will be well. What if they suggest I have a Gold service and I don't want to spend the money? I would have to walk away.
Bike shops are beginning to annoy me as I believe, for example, that a Gold service will likely set me back the best part of £200, which is not far off half the price I paid for the bike new, which, no doubt, will prompt the suggestion, "you might as well buy a new bike!" which I fell for the last time when I tried to get my old Kona Scrap serviced. "You might as well buy a new bike!" I still have my Kona in the garage, unserviced from over four years ago when I was told that a new bike would be the best option. I made a point of not buying a new bike from the two shops who suggested it (Cycle King and the now defunct Cycle Republic).
Walking away with an unfixed bike
Why is it that I can no longer walk into a bike shop and say that my rear brake needs fixing without a load of cryptic clap trap that leaves me confused and not knowing what to do? These days I tend to walk away from bike shops with an unfixed bike rather than a fixed one. So far, over the past week, I have done just that: I walked away from Cycle King in Croydon and today from Evans in Sutton.
To me it is crystal clear that my rear brake isn't working (it's hard to stop!) and needs to be fixed. It certainly needs new brake pads so why can't they simply fix it?
Sticking with an independent bike shop
I have decided to stick with the bike shop that did such a good job on my bike last year, Ross Cycles of Caterham. Why I thought I'd try Evans Cycles and Cycle King, I don't know. The very thought of another cryptic conversation with Evans Cycles, this time in Clapham, and walking away (for a third time in under a week) with an unfixed bike was just too much to bear. I'm dropping the bike off tomorrow morning and we'll see what takes place.
Tomorrow has arrived and the ride to Caterham was fine, just under six miles and no major hills to contend with. I arrived around 1030hrs and handed over my bike to Ross Cycles. He took it in and told me it would be ready by Tuesday. Fine. That's what I want to hear. None of the rubbish spouted by the likes of Cycle King, Evans Cycles and the others. Yes, Ross will call me to say it's going to cost X or Y, I'm expecting that, but at least I've not walked away with an unfit bike, it's been taken in for repair, I have metaphorically 'handed over the keys' and I know roughly when it's going to be ready for collection. Thank you, Ross Cycles of Caterham.
