Tuning up.

Yesterday morning I dropped my bike off at Iron City Bikes to have some work done. It was due to have the chain replaced and, while I could do that myself, since I needed a broken spoke replaced and wanted to have the cable runs redone, I figured I'd let them complete the whole package. I had set up an "appointment" earlier in the week and had thought that it would be done by the end of Saturday but, with other things in their shop, they said to come back Sunday. They said they would call me when it was done.

Well, I didn't get a call. When I showed up at 3pm I learned that they had broken the front brake while trying to change the cables. I had wrecked the bike once and damaged the brake in such a way that, to change the cable, they had to break a piece of it. OK, I can understand paying the $15 to replace the brake since I had damaged it in the first place, but why didn't they call me yesterday when they figured it out so that I could authorize the work? This isn't a toy that I only use occasionally and can wait another day to have fixed, it is my primary transportation to and from work. I gave my cell phone number but they didn't even try to contact me.

well, it was an hour before closing so they could put it on the rack and do it by 4:00. In addition, the bottom bracket was worn and probably needed to be replaced. When I last had it in the shop it was showing signs of wear but replacement was something of an option at that time. I put it off then but decided to have it done now.

All told, the bill was $126.79.