El Torreon

Well the swap meet down at El Torreon wasn't half bad, I have been to two swap meets now this year and now firmly believe it is Kansas City's (and elswhere) garage mechanics selling to Kansas City's (and elswhere) garage mechanics. In the end does anyone get ahead? Either way I appreciate it, because it is a chance for me to get some fairly standard repair parts like brake calipers, grips, etc and stuff I need for my bike I am building up. I now have matching pairs of pedals to go on my mountain and future road bike which is cool.

The best find for me however is the infamous Mavic Aero Spoke Wrench and Aero Spoke Holder thingie. So now if you need help truing your bladed spoke wheel I can do it out of the house instead of sneaking over to the friendly local bike shop. Tools are sweet.

Also got back in touch with Jeff from Prairie Village and Jason from Shawnee, 2 bike resellers that are generally all around nice guys. I only have seen them when I was selling off the last of my parts collection and just really enjoy speaking with them. The roles were reveresed at this meet because I wasn't the seller, they were.

Favorite part though was one seller riding around on hot rodded kick scooter. Besides the ape-hanger bars and chrome parts, the funny part on the bike was a Pete Rose baseball card clipped on the fork to make the motorcycle noise. The owner said it was because that card was the loudest.

Wanted to remind people again that after Thursday I will be unavailable, check the schedule below for details.

Schedule from 7-2-2009 to 8-9-2009

I am going to take the craigslist ad down tonight and if you haven't already brought a bike in or have contacted me previously for work, then I'm sorry I won't be taking any more bikes for the next two weeks. I will be busy after Thursday next week and probably only will be available via email after.

Feel free to get in touch however and I will see what I can do. See you at El Torreon tomorrow. Have a good two weeks.

Updated pricing on parts...

Well I have bought so much stuff at the bike store that they had to order a new round of parts and pricing has gone up slightly on a few regular items. Cables are now $3.50 instead of $2.50, cheapie brake pads are now $4 a pair instead of $3. Also added my cost on housing per foot. Sorry welcome to the new economy.

In regards to my letter...

I don't want people to get the wrong impression of me. I am a big supporter of local bike shops, all the parts that I get come from a store locally not online. I might point out that so far a lot of my customers have not come to me due to cost but due to rude/lack of customer service. I learned what I know from working in smaller bike stores that bike repairs were never denied except on the so called department store bikes. I don't know all the stores that these people went to, but some are really stretching when they call these bikes, 'throwaways,' they're just old and not necessarily high end. I am just here trying to get people on down the road, I don't lie, I don't sell something needlessly, but I will tell you my opinion. That is what people really want.

So if you have a good store, don't come to me, go to them. Chances are they will take care of you, but if you don't have a store you like, I can help. This is the best place to go for a new bike that will fit you correctly and comfortably. The internet is great but unless you know exactly what your size is, a bike store is really a great way to go.

Lastly, craigslist exist, recycle a bicycle is a good thing. Don't let anyone else out there convince you of otherwise, just know you may not find something that is a perfect fit. A lot of times you can get something just right as well, so don't be discouraged.

That's if for now.

Dear Large Bike Store,

I would really just like to say that I truly appreciate your work ethic and diligence at making you repair customers so happy. I especially like how you tell them old Schwinn's are junk, low end Trek's are junk, and how anything pretty much not new and plus $600 is a throw away bicycle. They really appreciate it as well, so much so in fact that my garage is full of your satisfied customers. Please don't change anything, don't be respectful, don't learn how to repair something older than five years old, and please continue to believe that your brand is somehow better than another brand that is made in one of two plants overseas. Keep up the good work and have a nice day.

Regards,
Mechanic Matt

p.s. Waldo Bikes, River Market Cyclery, and Bike Stop please ignore...

Finishing up a round of bikes...

A lot of bikes last week, hopefully another full weeks worth will occur this week. There has been so much that I haven't been able to get the Schwinn Traveler finished yet. Still that is all a good thing.

Added a new pricing option, the Overhaul ($50). This is for bikes that have been sitting awhile and need everything redone. I had to do it because these types of bikes take me over 3 hours to finish.

Mimi (my Trek 930) is sold

Now there is just that Schwinn, a stationary bike, and a trainer left to sell. Sweet.

Schedule for the week...

Unless you've gotten in touch with me already, it will be tough for me to get a lot of repairs done this week. I have time to show off the Trek, take care of the repairs I have, but outside of that I am going to be busy. Come next Monday the 13th I should be all ready to go again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I am restoring a Ladies (or low step) Schwinn Traveler from the 80's (when Panasonic was building the frames) that is in awesome shape. Should have it for sale sometime next week as well. It is cleaning up well and doesn't look as if it was ever ridden hard or stored out in the elements. Nice, lugged 4130 Steel tubing on the frame as well.

If anyone needs anything get in touch, thanks...matt