The Cycling Industry’s Most Engaging Live Podcast: Episode 07
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6:48 Backcountry.com buys Velotech, the parent of BikeTiresDirect (My Opinion Point of View)
10:37 HLC closing South Carolina distribution center (My Opinion Point of View)
17:56 How much of your square footage is dedicated to apparel, and how strong of a category is it?(My Opinion Point of View)
51:20 Specialized closing Innovation Center in Auburn, California (My Opinion Point of View)
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Hey, welcome back to No Guy Bicycles, hanging with a guy. Hey, I’m Justin the guy on Shop Talk Tuesday. If it’s Tuesday in your neck of the woods, it’s shop talk Tuesday. Hey, welcome and thanks for joining. And if you’re returning, thanks again for watching my little show here in my garage. Yes, I’m a garage shop mechanic. And um yeah, this is the point of view of a community based of cyclists, bike mechanics, bike shop owners, whatever your perspective of cycling industry, this is a good safe place to come and jibber jabber or ask questions and what have you. Um again, this is the shop talk Tuesday and I am Justin the guy from Ano Guy Bicycles. uh with the 35 years of being in industry starting with my parents small shop Parker Bikes in the 90s to working for bigger chain stores over the years. Uh hopefully I can answer some questions, bring my opinion piece perspective of what’s going on of the state of the state of the cycling industry as well as hey just questions about how to pull a bottom bracket or adjust a derailer or something like that because we all need a little help and all depends on how big or small it is. This is the place to be. If you’re listening in from your local shop, hey brothers and sisters from another mother, thank you for joining in. I appreciate you listening in and uh please feel free to put in some questions or shout outs that you’re in the room and saying, “Hey, welcome to uh Shop Talk Tuesday.” Any case, thanks for uh joining me. And what we’re going to be doing off the start here, going to do some uh industry topics that have been pop bubbling up to the surface for this last week and kind of have a little conversation about them. Um, a little bit of my, you know, opinion piece of what I kind of see in between the lines, uh, in the as the wheel turns. So, the days of our rides scenario, it is interesting. are um we’re in an interesting situation within the cycling realm. Um not alone with other markets and it’s been challenging and different and a little weird. Um not that we wanted this to be or ever been projected, but here we are and this is how we’re going to try to navigate through this. Um hopefully within the community we can actually help those I don’t know either do better riding, better quality riding, uh better lifestyle of riding to those who are more efficient in their bike shop life, work balance and shops themselves. Coming from a big small medium-sized shop currently in a very micro shop uh perspective, I found a happy place here and there alludes me to be able to do things like this. And this is where it makes me really happy to contribute to my community um cycling from cyclists to local neighborhood kids riding their bikes to bike shops across the nation and globally. and I’m based in Colorado, which is dead smack center of, uh, United States. Um, so our perspective here is really weird. Um, but needless to say, uh, let’s just kind of jump into this and see what we, uh, what comes out of out of our little scenario here. But first, we want to include some of our sponsors. is brought to you by Madam Bikes, where you can find bicycles that won’t break the bank. Great brands like Unavega and Vin Diesel that give you a good quality, safe ride to be able to do those extended rides and get into cycling. You’ll find a link below with added savings, extend that adventure starting now. All righty. So, one of the first topics we’re going to talk about, a lot of the stuff that I generate, well, as bike shop people, we’ve been reading this news rag for decades, bicycle retailer and industry news, and they’ve always been on the tables of the the break rooms, what have you, and most, if not all shops to flip through, you read through, see if you can find another job in a different state. Not just kidding. Um, but anyway, there is job listings in there, your typical syndicate, but it does have interesting pieces of the current state. Um, and helped us back then in the ‘9s to figure out what the heck is going on. And, um, besides our reps, this would be a a great way to get that particular information, um, to the bike shops and so forth. Well, oh, never mind. Um, in any case, that being said, there’s also an online portal. So, go to I should have a link to my um description below, so you can click on that to see and read up on some of these articles. But, we’re going to kind of jump in and going to just look at the state of retail. So, the online portal looks like this. Um, and you’ll find that there’s different topics, industry news, announcements, retail news, and opinion pieces and new products. Always check the recalls because there’s always something out there that might not be in your shop, what have you. Currently, it’s helmets. Want to keep a mind on that. DT Swiss carbon high-end wheels. That may or may not be in what you need to look for. But it’s always good to be in the know because I know the recalls go to your specific uh brands that you carry, but you may not know the other brands that might be rolling a door. So, that’s just a gold nugget. Just kind of be mindful um of those uh scenarios. And even if it’s brands that you will not ever carry like Canyon, I would read up on any of their particular recalls um just to see when those bikes come in, you can actually address those. Uh but any case, so Backcount is the first one. Oh, I need a pin. Um, backount is the first guy I’m going to kind of overview a little bit. And let me do a time stamp so I can reference this later. Um, so I’m going down, down, down. by company’s online seller apparently doing some pretty good business to be able to be in a position to buy tech and bike tires or part of a partner uh parent of the bike tires direct. If you bought any tires online, I’m sure you probably see the listings of them, that kind of thing. And what you what you’re seeing here is not necessarily the weeds of the article I want to get into. It’s basically the state of the state really is there are a few companies are are doing okay. Um regardless of the cost of tariffs, the bringing in products and so forth, a lot of these companies that are doing okay are global companies, not necessarily just your local online company trying to sell in a small market. So when you start I mean when you have any kind of disruption of any kind of mass market which we are in right now multiple levels and it was already leading into that before even this year started that a lot of companies are on already shaky ground because of the whiplash of COVID boom and sales and shortages and then all a sudden boom um we’re just slow dying economy of purchasing and that makes it really kind of, you know, challenging for a lot of these companies. So, yes, there’s going to be a lot more buying and selling and absorbing um bankruptcies and companies buying brand names from bankruptcy. The biggest one in our industry was when Schwin failed and crashed and went into bankruptcy. Well, the name was basically sold off um and broken up. So therefore, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of that. And if you know, if it’s something in your neck of the woods, you know, a particular brand doing that kind of scaling, that’s that’s what we’re looking at. So the last part of the news portion of this overview, in my opinion piece, is going to be one of the bigger brands, and we’ll get to that in a minute here, but we’re going to start with well, this still a pretty good big brand. And here to keep it in mind, um, these brands in the cycling industry pale to comparison to others in other industries. I mean, it’s just some of these companies, you know, even like truck specialized giant are micro compared to bigger huge massive companies out there. But they are indicators for those big mass companies. they may be having cracks in their armor as well. So, you got some of those crazy things going on and trying to, you know, navigate that, get through it. We’re in uncertain times where a lot of these companies, they don’t even know how to forecast. They can’t um because the market is so volatile right now and the product distribution is so, I would say, out of whack at best. So looking at that that were that we’re having some serious issues of trying to navigate business. A lot of these companies are doing best they can to those adjustments, but um some are navigating. Okay. But we’re going to go into the the next one. Um HLC closing South Carolina. Um, that’s I mean I don’t order from them or I probably worked in shops that have ordered from them over the years, that kind of thing. Um, and I didn’t realize they were fairly decent size and apparently they’re a distributor of particular brands. And the article basically is saying that they’re going to scale down the brands that they’re carrying to be a little more specific niche, i.e. which brands are most pro profitable for them. They didn’t state state this in the release, but they’re also been closing a couple warehouses here and there. And you know, the Texas and Pennsylvania DCs have been closed and a couple years back, well, that was two years and a couple years back from that, the mids and ground. So, in other words, they’re readjusting. warehouse space is expensive and if they don’t have enough volume to support those warehouse spaces they’re they have to to trim that back. One of the ones was pretty big was REI where they actually own their warehouses at the time. I think it was four three or four of them and through this disruption the last two years and they’re not they’re doing okay I guess but they’re not doing great and what they did is basically sold the warehouses to an investment company where they now are paying rent to that investment company to get running capital to help. They also had a a venture um platform kind of like trekk travel. It’s kind of like your adventure from cycling to hiking to all those things. They shut that down too. So all those kind of little bits just get shed. They get cut out because they’re not super profitable and they’re not seeing it helping their bottom line. That’s kind of like a investment the long term and right now they’re worried about the short term. So, when you’re looking at that perspective, that’s something that that’s really going to be pulling at their heartstrings and trying to get this to work through. Um, so distributing our parts, they’re going to streamline. They they sell the direct to um direct to uh independent bike dealers and various other probably like truck and specialized stores, too. But what brands that they have? Not really sure. uh but they have you know like like JBI and QBP and all those BTI and all those others probably quite a few and they’re probably going to scale down. In other words, I cash flow problems. Um they just can’t have inventory sit there and they probably had a whole bunch of inventory that sat there for a long time like a lot of companies where they’ve did some serious heavily discounting and then lo and behold they’re still trying to keep up and pay pay their bills. That’s that’s problematic. So, um, but any case, that’s just, you know, that’s part of the painful retail and it it bleeds over to all retail. Uh, fortunately, for sure. I do want to mention that I do have a questionnaire form on the second segment here is a kind of a Q&A kind of thing. There is a link in uh below um and I’ll drop it into the chat. So if you want to fill out a question um you know how to work on a bike industry, you you’ll get the you’ll get the the the gist of it here when if you do open up the form. Um you know, it’s one of those things. Uh is it working? Oh, there we go. maybe. Okay, it’s a delay. Sorry. Uh yeah, and again, this is, you know, a reminder and a warning. This is the bike mechanic um doing YouTube. So, I’m I’m not a professional YouTuber, but I’m getting really good at acting like one. So, give me a thumbs up if I’m doing okay. Um hanging in there, treading water. So, I appreciate it. Uh I appreciate you all um have in the past watched um joined in that kind of thing. Um trying to get this a little more streamlined platform. It is a couple hours long news up front. Then we’ll do some like tech tip questions, Q&A. I do acquire uh questions through either through the communities of social media as well as email. I pick a few of those to get the ball rolling. If there’s more, we’ll talk about that more. Um, and we will move the camera to the actual workbench and actually tear into a couple bikes and or a bike to do a show and tell and actually how to do stuff. So, it’s a great opportunity for you as a novice mechanic or even a mechanic’s been around like, “Hey, have you seen this?” because a lot of stuff I work on is older and um basically I’ve been working on them when they were new and some of that knowledge is great um for the most part and I might have something that might help you out and for the novice there’s no dumb questions believe me I mean we’ve all been there and asking the question will always help um others for sure so that’s why I want to bring some of those general questions that are just emailed to me I’m like, oh, that’s that needs to be answered in more of an open form. And then I drop a link to those questions later after the video and then then they can get a little more intuitive answer and if um they decide to follow questions, they can from there. Any case, Mark, thank you for joining us. Always a pleasure to listen. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um yeah, everybody out there, hit the like and subscribe if you haven’t to keep up on these. So, uh, yeah, let’s let’s dive into the next topic. That’s the second topic. And the third will, um, is kind of an interesting one to me. Um, and it just it just popped up on industry news in bicycle retailer, and I have a good opinion about this stuff. uh being an inventory manager over the years, working in various shops, um various sizes of shops, including my parents. Uh that’s it’s one this is one of those things. It’s like should we or should we not? Is it something that’s going to work for us? Will it work for us? Um that kind of thing is clothing. Okay, we’re going to hit a couple different perspectives on clothing and cycling clothing. How is it going to work for you? How can it work for you as a shop owner? Um, as a as a consumer, my goodness. I mean, there’s so many different places you can get bike jerseys, bike shorts, gloves, helmets. It’s all over the place from Amazon to AliExpress to Teimu to your popups on your Facebook feed. Um, anything like that. I mean, even I bought a couple jerseys because they were kind of cool and retro. Um, you know, like the cutters that popped up on my Facebook feed about like four years ago. I’ll buy a jersey. What the hell? You know, and the prices and all that. That’s a, you know, so this is a huge always been a question the state of retail question and this is interesting because it has a perspectives of several different shops. Um, some are like we don’t do anything with clothing. Um, and some like there was a couple that really committed to clothing and this is a really good read um, for either in your perspective. Even if you’re a small shop like me, it’s not even considering clothing or whatsoever. This is this is a piece that I want to really hit home. Uh because clothing can be leveraged from any scale of any shop. Here’s the bit. There’s no margin in it when it comes to the bike shops because the technical pieces, everybody has to have their cut before you get a chance to buy it. Then you’re trying to retail this thing, garment, what have you. I think it was the Costa Mesa that had like 30% of their, you know, square footage of their floor clothing. I mean, it must, you walk in, it must be just like a racks of racks of clothing and shoes and all that. Great for them if it works for them. Even though they’re seeing a decline in sales, that’s going to be in general anyway. And there’s um I’ve heard of the shop in Boulder. I have not been in it, but it’s like a really boutiquey apparently. that carries a lot of clothing. Uh, Colossopia, I know I butchered it. I do apologize. And any of you shops have showing you and you want to talk and talk about your shop, feel free. I mean, it’s, you know, I am somebody that’s part of the community and loves to bring other celebrities and in general of our local little markets and insights and so forth. So, they have several several different shops in here. And what what I want to really talk about is clothing in general. Either if you don’t know, if you’re if you’re just um a cyclist, right, and you’re like, where do I where do I buy clothes? Well, why do I want to buy clothes? Well, shoes is one thing, right? Shoes is a performance piece. It connects to the cleats, gives you that performance platform. Cycling shoes is like running shoes. One brand may fit you, one brand may not. Um, so you really want to do those purchases. I would highly re recommend new and a place that has or brands that have guaranteed fit because you may need to switch out a couple of those shoes. And when you’re spending 100 150 to 200 bucks on a pair of shoes, you want to make sure you get that shoe that work with you. and you don’t want to have four or five pairs of shoes laying around that don’t fit you, that won’t work. So, that’s my suggestions. Bike saddles, the same thing. Brands like Specialized Trek and some others used to and they may still do. Chime in if you’re um a dealer and they still have it. They had a um a fit guarantee for a lot of those for a while where after 30 days you can keep swapping. Here’s a little side note on that. as an inventory manager. Maybe they still do it today, but most likely they do. When you do a size guarantee claim as a inventory manager, like somebody switched some shoes out, they basically don’t want the shoes back at corporate. They’re just like give them to one of your staff and therefore those shops are not going to really be you’re not not you’re not you’re not you’re not causing waves when you’re just constantly turning the shoes at the store for a trek and specializ in those. They probably hate me telling that, but you want to get the right shoe to fit you, and that’s the process. Same thing that goes with saddles, but try to get the fit first, of course, so you’re not hassling and wasting your time, but don’t feel like you’re really hurting the shop in most cases. Um, that may have changed with their current state of the state. Uh, but yeah, that’s something to lead into. So, that’s one aspect of clothing. A technical piece, shoes, gloves is protection and comfort for hands. Helmet of course is huge. But what I want to want to dive into um is clothing as in jerseys and shorts. Shorts have a very big technical factor because of the padding and prevention of chafing. So get yourself in a good pair of shorts. But the jerseys is us a lot of cyclists have ridden with different jerseys and so forth over the years. Jerseys is actually really nice because they’re a little more form fitting. Sometimes you cut down an error draft and all that for technical part, but for recreational riders, it’s still pretty comfortable and like like the little pockets you can get into your snacks and your phone and what have you you’re carrying. Um it’s it’s really nice to have that and the pulls the moisture off you and there’s different several different layers to that and all that. Okay, so we covered the gist of what cycling apparel is and has been for the last forever back in the day when they did things in wool. Um, which they still have a few niche brands that do wool. But when it comes to the bike shop perspective of what should I do by carrying clothing and there’s one shop in Michigan, I forget I think they were in uh Brighton, Michigan. I don’t remember the shop name, but the owner was dead set of not carrying any clothing from any brand unless it had it branding on it. Okay, this is this is a massive gold nugget for those who just do service repair out of their van to a shop that’s a little bit bigger to super big shops are like, “Oh god, the numbers are not great on clothing. Let’s cut it cut it all out.” um you don’t need to cut it all out and actually if you just do some tweaks and changes which a lot of shops have have been doing over the decades but here’s a couple little tidbits that I’ve learned recently being a garage shop in the last couple years. So clothing. Okay. So either you’re a shop that does little to no clothing or a little percentage and shrinking and you want to have, you know, if you have a footprint where you have space for jerseys and shorts and gloves and helmets. Yes, it’s but the thing is a lot of that margin has been shrinking over the years and not getting better. and the market people are really right now concerned about their concerned about everything. So when it comes to clothing, they’re they’re looking for technical pieces and so forth. But as a shop, as we’re going through this whole correction, change, new norm, whatever you want to co coin it, this is something that you want to really think about because a lot of the shops are really backing into or going back to if they’ve been around a long time or the shops that are newer or trying to find their niche. Basically, we realize we can’t do everything and our market is not going to support everything. So, with that being said, those particular scenarios, well, you’re going to have to, you know, streamline it. Like, you’re doing a lot more service now or you’re only selling certain types of bikes. You didn’t, you thought you’d be selling mountain bikes. You sold mountain bikes. Now, mountain bike market’s dried up. Now, it’s just recreational. you’re shifting to more recreational, whatever that niche is altered or changed. There’s been a lot of shops within YouTube that channels like Goava, they’re out east. They thought they’d be doing more mountain type stuff. Now they’re like a eh shop. They’re doing a lot of ebike stuff, e scooters. And he’s passionate about it and he’s changed it. Aaron there is and both Aarons have really kind of went that in a different direction but they’re they’re having successes with that as well as selling. Um and that’s kind of where the market is and a lot of shops you can’t just be a draw a line in the sand and be a stick in the mud because you’re just going to go under which there’s some shops that have because they just didn’t really approach it correctly. And lot old shops have been around a long time. They’ve seen little bits of what’s been going on, but it’s like all at once over the years. So, here we are in a in a interesting hot mess. U but any case, what do you do with clothing? What do you do with your preseason clothing? How are you going to handle that? And so forth. Well, I’m going to give you some ideas that if you’re not carrying clothing at all, maybe might be encourage you to do something with a low lift cost, of course, or um alter your current platform of clothing and so forth to be more branded, right? Okay. I’m a little guy in the shop. I have no space to carry clothing, nor do I have over or have running capital to run clothing. So, this is a couple little things that I have picked up knowledge of. And let me see if I can get the right get the right one. Um, so there is Come on. Gotta find it. Got to find it. Okay. I might have to do a little uh alteration here. Any case, um, no. All right. Is there another window? There’s two companies I want to introduce you to. Why is it not saving? Anyway, um hold on here. One is basically kind of well it is more t-shirts, coffee cups, that kind of thing. Um and I wish I can get it to to work. Is any I wanted to show you the back end of everything and Any case, um, it’s called Spreadshirt Spreadshot. Let me see if I can just pull it up. Okay, I’ll just do that. There we go. Not the login. Okay. So, what this is is um you can put your branding. I know a guy bicycle t-shirts and you’ve seen some of them mine before if you watched any of my videos. And you can get your branding and put it on coffee cups and stickers and all sorts of stuff. There’s a lot of companies out there. This is one that actually has um a link to YouTube, so you can have a shelf on there. You don’t have to use this particular one brand company, but there’s a couple to choose from. This is something that’s print on demand. And print on demand means you send the link, they go to the link, they pick what they want, they order it through the company, the company self, spreadshop, shirt in this case does all the transactional layer and shipping, all that, and you just get a little commission. So, like a sweatshirt like this, I make I don’t know, like six bucks or something like that. Um, but I don’t do anything except for posting it. This is where you can get t-shirts, hats, and all that apparel. And you can buy it yourself and bring it in the store and resell it as some sampling, but you don’t have to upfront all of the costs and materials and sizes and all that in those particular marketing piece. So, it would behoove you. You can embed this into your website, any social media pieces and brandings and so forth. Obviously, you can have some shop shirts and stuff like that or hoodies or hats, coffee cups and stuff for your company, you know, bags and that kind of thing. And it’s, you know, they always have like a percentage off. They can customize what color they want. So, you don’t have to carry all this stuff. That’s what was the killer of all clothing. You buy all this clothing. There’s certain percent. It’s a it’s a numbers game. percentage of it you got to sell at full retail and then you have the discount throughout that takes the g that game off the table. You just carry what you need shop shirts for your employees some shirts to sell not too much is samples when they sell through if they sell through and you only have to do a couple sizes you don’t have to do all the sizes that kind of thing. Um I don’t know why I picked the mushroom one. I think I just accidentally clicked on it. Um, but I’m in here. I have my stuff. Um, this is what I use and people have bought shirts through my you through my social media platform. I don’t stock any of this in house because I just don’t have the room or the upfront cost. So, there alludes the coffee cups, trinkets, and all that. Granted, some of you like to have some of the water bottles made from camel back and stuff like that. Um, those who do have a cost up front. Uh, but for like this will cut down a lot of that overhead cost or running capital on branding and it doesn’t take long to set this up and put up your logos and what have you. You don’t have to do a ton of it, but if you come up with some funny sayings and stuff like that, you can. And then you can just do your own thing. I know this sounds like a promo. I’m not getting commissions on any of this. I just well I get commissions on stuff that I sell but I’m not this is not a promotional piece getting cut. I’m just saying this has worked for me and I’m going to expand that in different platforms. But in any case, um, you know, it’s one of those deals where this is an opportunity where you cannot have, you know, 400 shirts. And some of these shirts, I mean, actually, some of the shirts I bought here versus Vista Print, not say anything about it, but versus Vista Print, that’s where I get all my um, you know, business cards and stuff from, but the shirts that they had were not that I mean, they’re they’re rough cotton. They weren’t that that comfortable. Um, needless to say though, the you can pick some stuff here that’s really comfortable. I mean, the technical pieces, that wick, um, women’s apparel. They have a whole bunch of women’s apparel, kids apparel, all that kinds of stuff. So, that’s the opportunity where you can get that branding and funny little onesie, you know, you know, shop logo on there and you can just build up and just use it for yourself. Um, but then you can, you know, use your shop to leverage all those different logos and so forth and what have you, you know, hats, coffee cups. Well, these are from somewhere else, but you get the idea. So, that can really help you. Even a mobile mechanics like, hey, I got a funny little saying on my shirt, you know, that kind of thing. or you copy something like this on my coffee cup and put it on a t-shirt and then then you’re like, “Oh, well to support my business, this is a way you can support it.” That kind of thing. I’ve sold several of those. Not a ton, but I don’t put a lot of push to it. But it is a nice passive income for your shop and not have to put a lot into it. And then you can have a small sampling on only a half a clothing rack with a topper and call it good. and when you do run out. And therefore, the other one I’m really I’m kind of excited. I haven’t started it yet, but I’m really excited to getting into um let’s see if I can get this set up is um and I’ve had videos about them and it’s one of those scenar situations that I wanted basically same concept right t-shirts my own logos my funny little sayings, whatever the case may be. It doesn’t cost me anything. It’s a shelf underneath my YouTube. I embed it in my website. Uh people can buy it, you know, that kind of thing without me upfronting a whole bunch of cost because this stuff it gets expensive quick and you usually have terrible turns on it. So if you know a lot of a lot of people that like your shop becoming more niche, your customer base want to support your shop. They may want just a coffee cup with a funny saying or a t-shirt to represent you, your shop, your personality, your your commitment to community. There’s a huge, you know, people are willing to, you know, that’s a great way for them to get something and also support you by 5 to 10 $15 at a time. And again, it’s passive, so it’s not like um you have to unfront a lot of that money buying those chains and hoping you make 40% margin on it and all the work that goes with it. I mean, it’s bicycle industry is complicated to so many levels. This can streamline it and make it less complicated for you and your staff and your ordering or just yourself as an individual doing a shop and get a little bit of branding out there without costing you any money. And the next one is something I’m kind of excited about. Reason being is I’m building this up. I met these individuals at the Cab show in Las Vegas and I’ve been looking for something like this and I’ve talked to a couple of companies locally. They’re just not quite hit the niche bit that I want. Well, apparently, well, not apparently, Jackaroo is a company that’s built on demand just like Spreadshirt, but for cycling apparel. So, and they have several different jerseys, shorts, gloves, cycling caps, all this same concept, but repeat, more specific to cycling. You can do this, have some sampling in your store, create your own designs. They have a design team that’ll help you figure out designs. And hey, what do you think? Not too bad for a bike mechanic doing a little bit of graphic arting and made a little pretty nice. Well, I went to art school, so I do have to admit that. Um, so for me, this is a nice fun little side project that I can do. Um, and also same concept, have a couple of jerseys for my buddies or a couple of my customers or if they like it. I’m riding around or seeing these and like, “Oh, where do I get that?” It’s like, “Oh, go here. You can pick out your size, your fit, and all that.” And then now you’re competing and actually winning against the Amazon sales and other direct to consumer sales that you’re been competing with. And then you’re not upfronting a whole bunch of money, just a little bit of time to capitalize on that. Um, it’s just it to me it’s a win-win in a sense that, you know, they pick up a shirt or a jersey or short, that kind of thing. Um, and you design them way. I mean, you can really have more, you know, side paneling. A lot of control. It’s not just a, you know, a blanket graphic, which they can do if you want to help you do that. And you can see all the different sizes and shapes and everything. These are the other flavors I’ve been working on as well. Um, again, this is no plug. I don’t make a commission, but this is I will be making a commission on these, but it’s, you know, I decided to pick a couple neighborhood neighborhood rides. You know, Winter Park, I used to race, ride, and race up there back in the day. It’s kind of fun to see a little topo map and like trail map on the back and a waterc coloring. And um you know you can do something without too much time and effort and hell AI has gotten so much you use Gemini and come up with some graphics like in like 10 minutes and slap it on there and then you can get some sample pieces and boom you have a nice little new kit. It’s fresh. It doesn’t cost you a lot of time for design. and then you only order a couple for the store and then you have it on your website and on your social medias and then therefore you got that passive income. They even have shop shirts. If you like any of these designs, let me know. They’re not open. I haven’t opened it up yet. I’m just still working on the back end of it. But hey, let me know if it’s like, hey, that’s pretty cool idea because I, you know, I’m just a guy and you know, some people like it, some people don’t. But this is kind of like the shop shirt. I was thinking something, you know, pops. so I don’t get ran over by a car when I’m test driving a bike. Um, but still has my logo and branding and maybe one of my more popular funny sayings of is my bike okay guy. And you know that’s uh how there we go. Oh, is my bike okay? So through Spreadshirt you can get that on pretty much everything that I have in my store. Then you can do your own logoings and all that. So there’s some golden opportunities there that you can cut down costs and also still capitalize. Okay, the margins are not huge on these, especially when you have the whole shipping tariff thing or whatever. But this also gets your branding into a global scale. So if you have some social media influence, it’s more than beyond just your local market. this can be an opportunity to able to leverage um a company like Jack Rue and do such a thing. Primalware local to me does kind of the same thing but not as in the shopping cart to the customer directly at least not yet. I’ve been trying to talk to him about it. Here’s a little dirty secret. They used to work with each other. They got in a fight. There were some court orders. They got over it. Basically, it sounded like Primalware was using Jackaroo to build their stuff. Didn’t work out. Um, but any case, they have their own warehouse, their own contacts, their own offices. And again, you know, all this stuff is made in the particular markets that make it for the lowest price with everybody else. It’s probably close to the same as similar line where Nike and everything else is made. Trek clothing, Specialized Clothing, all that. Um, but you just wanted to get the, you know, fit and comfortable, fun styles and represent. This is what is double downing on your niche. This is what’s huge for you as a shop is your branding. Um, branding is big. I mean, you everybody knows that it’s marketing 101. Even though if you don’t know anything about marketing, you’re turning wrenches and you’re word of mouth and all that. So, you know, I once I release this line of clothing, I’m hoping to get maybe 10 to 12 different designs and fun stuff or very eyepopping so you don’t get ran over to more subtle if you more rec recreational stuff, that kind of thing. That’s I I’m sure a lot of my customers will buy that. I mean, yeah, it’s expensive, but you know, here’s you know this if you’re avid cyclist, you buy a jersey, that damn thing is going to last forever. your body is going to change before the jersey does or the well you may wear out some shorts and but hell if you wear out cycling clothing you’re doing something right you know so it takes a while for that stuff to get uh burned up u but in any case there there alludes to an opportunity where some shops have little to no so if like a shop only has 2% of their sales floor of clothing well maybe you can interject some some of these print on demand platforms and leverage that to be more passive income. Still build branding and not have a headache of thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars tied up in something that’s sitting there and the bills come due and you don’t have money to pay for it because it hasn’t paid for itself. So that’s an opportunity for a lot of shops big and small. all like if you’re a shop that does nothing with clothing and you’re like I need to do t-shirts and hats and stuff, Spreadshirt or various company like that will work really well for you. Or if you’re looking for jerseys and shorts and clothing like that, um they all have, you know, benefits. I mean, yeah, I know some have better qualities than others and what have you. This is for the the 60% of riders that are looking for recreational riding, not racing, don’t want the race kits. They just want something more comfortable, uh, function, more fashion than anything else that’s out there. Um, but I mean it’s like, you know, clothing is a hard thing and it has being in inventory manager for a lot of shops. Um, as well as working at retail toolkit, which we it managed categories for a lot of inventory for a lot of shops across the nation. Clothing was either a pretty good success or a complete freaking failure and a time suck, money suck, and everything else. A lot of shops have already identified that. If you’re a newer shop, this is something you might want to leverage. Um, if you’re a channel that you’re just doing little bike stuff and videos and so forth and you want to have a funny sane t-shirt or whatever, that’s those are those are the that’s way to add some more passive income to your channel, to your niche, to all that without having too much uplift. Hopefully that helps cl, you know, give somebody some ideas out there. Um and without you know we got to we got to be very smart as business people to make the proper purchases which a lot of us have you know that’s reflecting in big corporates that I just talked about like acquisitioning other companies or closing down warehouses everybody’s doing adjustments from big to small and those small adjustments will make you healthier going through the off season or into the next couple seasons where we really don’t know what the hell is going to happen. It’s the the crystal ball is broken and we are flying by the seat of our pants and just going to do what’s working as much as possible. Do a hell of a lot of service, do lowerand bikes, do used bikes, do used parts and accessories, frames, whatever is working in your market. And if it starts tapering a different direction, don’t be afraid by any second to start shifting whatever you need to do because you need to be more versatile to survive. That’s right. Survive the next couple years because we do not have any stability lifeline right now at all whatsoever. So that’s where we’re at. I don’t want to be doom and gloom, but hey, got to be realistic. I’m hopefully optimistic. I mean, things I’ve been doing have been really good. I’m going to do a lot more of that and hopefully it works well for me to, you know, help you watching this um or listening and hopefully we all help each other as a community. And if you have any gold nuggets in your neck of the woods, please share them in the either in the chat or the comments below. Um because a lot of us are trying to just get through it and some of us are actually doing pretty well. Um, I’m a month almost a month and a half out on service. I mean, as much little I do to fit in my filing system, that’s that’s how far I’m out. That’s awesome. It’s like guaranteed, you know, through appointmentbased um business. That’s that’s great. And I have uh a backstock of inventory that I’m funneling through for resale, for parts and frames, and so forth. And that’s all kind of going hand in hand. And that’s the real business. And then then you’re looking at me at the other part that I’m trying to build up over time, which for me is more passive income over time will equate to less stress and better quality of life and better quality mechaning, better quality of everything. and being, you know, nice, relaxed mechanic just having fun working on bikes versus one stressed out individual just blowing pulling his hair out because there’s 18 tuneups that need to be done in that day. Been there, done that. I do um relate to those problems. I understand that. That’s why that’s why I’ve curved what I’m doing as much as I can and hopefully we’ll keep to continuing to go forward as such. But in any case, so yes, that’s a lot on clothing, but clothing could be very expensive and clothing could be really crippling to a business. I really wanted to share a couple ideas that might really help shops and your branding and be able to make it less of a burden. Um, oh, a little backstory about clothing. You know, those garments, just like Oakley sunglasses are like four or five bucks wholesale cost to the company. So, you got like sticky fingers before that T brand or TS brand gets to that shop because when they actually clearance that stuff out for 15 bucks, that’s what the really cost is. They’re actually probably still making a little money because they’re doing sheer volume. The clothing thing has always been chap my hide because you’re trying to sell those niche brand names on their clothing which your name is not on there at all. It’s all about them. Forget them. Be like that Brighton store. Like, I’m going to do everything that’s my brand, my brand only. If you can’t put my brand on it with a reasonable price that can sell, I’m not talking to you. If you’re going to make that as a dealer agreement to just carry x amount of percentage of your clothing and I have to carry that to carry your brand, sorry. Going to have to look for somewhere else. Um, and some shops have I mean some can’t do that, but some shops, I mean, hell, just get a thermal printer or something and just start slapping your name on every piece of T or S clothing that comes in your store on top of it like, oh, cover up that B B button and put, you know, I should just put, you know, Bowlinger on there. That’s my last name. And that kind of thing, which, you know, leads to the funny short that I released this week if you haven’t seen it. It’s me bowling. Bowlinger bowling. I should be a pro, but I’m not. But anyway, we watch the short because I did get a strike on one of the most difficult throws ever. That’s not a professional throw whatsoever. I should actually play here in a minute. I might have to when I do a readjustment. But anyway, that’s that painful as it seems. How nuts it is. So, in this last bit of article, and I only try to stick about an hour on it. Um, now I want a little engagement. If you guys have time to put a tool down and type in into the chat if you can. I’m going to pull this up here. I want you guys take a take a look and let me know on the brain trust of my watchers. And if you’re watching this on replay, put put a comments below. Um, obviously don’t throw your your shop under the bus by any means, but um Oh, come on. Please work. There we go. Um, I say that lightly. I just don’t want anybody getting any major trouble. But any case, there it is. So, this article dropped on the 4th of September in bicycle retailer and if you watched any of my channel, I talked about Specialized before and nothing I mean I don’t I have personal personal opinions, but my my PC opinion is they’ve been around a long time. They’ve been a decent brand. They’ve done good to some shops. Um they are a brand that has um I’ve worked in stores that have specialized uh products in it. You know, they’re innovative, all that, all that stuff which you would expect from a brand um of their caliber uh one of the leaders of the bike industry, yada yada yada. Fine. But they’re, you know, closing innovation center, which, you know, they closed down one of their offices in Lafayette, which is close to Boulder, um, here in Colorado. Giving those individuals, you know, we’re moving it. So, you either go to Morgan Hill, California, or something. They do have a warehouse that they own now in Salt Lake City, but I didn’t know that they’re shutting down innovation centers um in several different states, experience centers. Well, the Boulder one got closed a long time ago. Um or maybe that was a new one, but I know Bottonville, Arkansas, it’s another one. I probably butcher the name. I’m sorry. But in any case, they’re really basically what it sounds like. They’re moving thing everything in to Morgan Hill. Um they’re just anybody’s going to survive the company or stay with the company or be with the company is going to the mother ship and they’re going to expand there and double down. Technically, it’s a smart move as a business to scale down. where they’re scaling down at is that’s a different question. I have a different opinion about that which I’ve stated before, but you know it’s what works for them, right? I mean, other companies are probably doing this more on a quieter scale. Um, I’m sure T is. I’m sure G is. I’m sure Pond Holdings is down there. I mean, everybody is doing changes to do what they need to do. Um when it comes to specialize, they are scaling, you know, costs. They’re cutting costs and some of that could be part of employees. Um obviously they’ll probably give more to those who are more impactful to the company overall in the long run. Um, so a lot of those people that are it probably got offered a position there or what have you, but it probably doesn’t cover what the move would be to cost of living compared to California. So if you’re outside looking in from United States, California is a very expensive place. A lot of it is a lot very expensive place to live. Morgan Hills really close to San Francisco area, I believe. And that’s really premium real estate. Uh to live there with a lot of salaries, people have to commute great distances to do those jobs. Um or make a pretty impactful income to live in a shoe box and sustain. So coming from Arkansas or even Lafayette, you’re looking almost, you know, double the cost of living in a sense of real estate’s more expensive and all those things. So for them to scale into and knuckle down onto Morgan Hill is a good move on paper. Um, could they leverage it a little bit different? I mean, I know they have a lot of investment there. It’s a lot. It’s kind of like you can’t abandon that, I guess, or at least they don’t think they can because they think it’s part of their brand. But how many of those cyclists out there know what the f Morgan Hill is related to Specialize? I mean, probably a very small percentage um of those. So, it’s kind of a little bit egoish, I would say. But, you know, it’s part of their branding. They want to stick with it. But in any case, that’s what that’s what they’re doing. They’re scaling back. Rai scaling back. Cre is closing stores, which is actually, I think, by design. Um, Specializ is closing some locations, probably by design, if not E2. Pond Holdings, which is the owner of Canidel Cello. um used to be GT, but they shove the line. Uh Schwin, Mongus, and 50 other companies. Um they’re they have Mike’s bikes as their store. I only have a handful or so, but they actually invested into a leader um which there’s an article in there um in Barcel retailer about um them opening a store in Boulder recently. basically was a power grab um from Specialized and also the market of Boulder. Boulder, Colorado is kind of like your um if you can make it in Boulder, you can make it everywhere else kind of thought process. Um because it’s expensive and it’s very huge cycling community, outdoor community. So that’s the battleground area. Um square footage is absurd there. It’s close to California prices and what have you, but that’s that’s what we’re looking at when it comes to that. Um, but any case, I wanted to throw the S out there. Um, you know, if anybody chimes in, insights on it, please do. But I wanted to at least get that out there. Um, any case, just, you know, a little read between the lines kind of thing. You know, they’re all hurting. They can’t not not be hurting. Um, but Specializ is a global company. um 35% owned or 30 30 to 35% owned by Marita which is a manufacturer in Taiwan which a lot of I believe they have a facility in uh Vietnam where a lot of the specialized bikes are being being built in Vietnam. So you know the whole tariff thing is definitely going to mess with them at some level for sure. Um and also the econ economy state, how globally people are looking at United States businesses, which specializes technically United States business as well as track um is viewed and how either warmly or not so warmly have they been treated in the last decade. Now that really doesn’t help anything. So any case, um anyway, that’s that’s what we got. um interesting kind of things going on in industry. Um more of the same will probably be going down the pipeline, but quite honestly that’s that’s where we’re at. I mean um yeah, definitely chime in anything like that, pop up, you know, either questions or what have you. um insights, please do share that kind of thing. But in any case, that’s what we’re that’s what we’re looking at. All right, time to do the move to the workbench. Feeling kind of lazy sitting. So, yeah, when I worked for a retail toolkit, I did a lot of um it was all mobile uh computer stuff. And man, that’s where this came from. I’m still trying to trying to kill it. It just won’t go away. Just won’t go away. I tell you, I work hard. Work harder on it. It doesn’t want to go away. Any case, I’m going to throw down this while I’m moving my stuff. Guy bicycles hanging with the guy. Hey, I’m Justin the guy in the garage. I do have a garage shop and you see most of these tools behind me. Now, I want to do a shout out to Jensen’s USA, which you will find a link below if you’re looking for some good pricing and as well tools to fit or to expand your actual shop at home. All right. Hopefully that wasn’t too painful for all of you. Didn’t know which one to click on because the backdrop is the bench. Actually, that was a clean picture of my shop. Offse clean picture. So, let’s get you a little bit earthquake here. Didn’t have I wasn’t fast enough. Working on my technique. Any case, thanks again for hanging out with me in the garage. I’m literally a garage shop mechanic. And if you’re watching these, just wait. They start at 10:00. Oh, did my thing tilt? Feels like I tilted. Anyway, um 10 o’clock is when I start the podcast. Um news is for the first hour. The second hour is basically Q&A u questions that I pull from uh comments from my YouTube channel as well as emails and also social media questions that I feel that are good for reviewing um in real time. And if anybody has questions or has insights, that’s that’s great. It is a community here. And I want to do a couple shout outs. So, uh, Mark, thank you for joining. Hopefully, you’re still listening. Isaac, thank you for the tool because I am one. Always have been. You ready for your exam? Um, um, Heavy Metal Cycles, thanks for coming back. Same as Mark and Isaac. Bubba, Bubba, Bubba, Texas. Still a little warm, isn’t it? So, uh, Heavy Metal Cycles, when is your season start in the fall? Because I know you’re a flip season. You’re in the opposite end. So, you get Christmas bike sales. Um, yeah, chime in on the chat. Let us know when your season starts getting busy. Or is it or are you in an area where it really doesn’t slow down? Um it just changes and gets a little weird and it gets different weird because you know some shops don’t have a season. Um that’s what blows my mind. Um any case so oh need a pen. Um the first question that I got listed here is from um YouTube comment. He’s mentioning on one of my steel frame bikes and one of the lemons says, “Great video. Just bought one of these. I think it was a Le Manzur. One of the like 2002 2003. Thinking about putting on a 32 to 12 to 32 cassette. If you don’t know what a cassette is, cassette is one of these guys. Um, they go on the back wheel and once wider range, I think the draer length is long enough. Do you think it will work? Okay, a 32 to 32 tooth is the big the range is small to big, the biggest one, then you have micro adjustments in between. Those who do not know about a cassette, all of you bike bike bike people out there know what the hell I’m talking about. Um, there there eludes he probably has either 105 org. He probably has a triple. That’s what I’m assuming. And I have a bike here. Nice nice little Serata um titanium, but this is not the bike that he’s referring to, but I think has a component tree that he’s referring to in the question. Um, oops. I want to time stamp this. so I can actually respond. All right. Um, so looking at that, we’re going to do a little closeup. You ready for this? You ready for this? Actually, while I move the camera, I’ll bother you with another maybe a little I need to set it up anyway. A whole bunch of bike stuff and you just need to get rid of it, you know? No longer needs to be in your garage. needs to be in somebody else’s garage and actually, hey, maybe being used, go to bikeflights.com. You can actually open up account yourself or just put in a one-time usage, put in the destination, so forth of the bike size, dimensions, and weight. Don’t forget the weight. And add that insurance because you definitely want to make sure that insurance is covered. If something happens in that UPS or FedEx or whatever transfer going to that destination, you want to be protected. Then you just have to drop it off at your local UPS store and be able to get it on its way. And again, I have shipped bikes, parts, wheels, and frames for decades now. And Bike Flights is sure enough one of the best directions to go. All right. So, yeah, I just destroyed everything. Okay. So, getting a little tour today. Okay. So, what we’re talking about is rear derailer on this guy. And let’s see if I can get you a little bit closer. If not, you can pinch finger the screen or zoom in. So, this is your range on the cassette. We’re talking about nine-speed older componentry was from like 98 to 2004ish range. And this does carry over to a lot of uh older componentry. And so to do a wider range in this derailer at Altegra, even the long cage is only designed to go up to a 28 to get to the 32 to what happens is this jockey pulley on the top rubs. You don’t have enough distance or torque on the hanger to not rub against or make that rattling rub up against and shift smoothly to the big ring. So, there’s a company called um what was it? Wolf Tooth. They’re made in the United States, Wolf Tooth, and it’s it’s basically a derailer hanger adapter drop. See if I can get a back lighting on that. Um what that does or my hand. Um takes that derailer hanger. You place the where the derailer fits into and you may have to Well, you’re going to have to get a longer chain. So, don’t match it up. Matchy match. You want to measure it after you do this adjustment to the bigger 32 to this guy here replaces. Okay, this one actually fits. I was trying to do it on Bradley’s bike when he was here to do the triple bypass. Um, make sure you get the right one that fits. I think they have different ones that fit different hangers. And basically this modifies the drop here lower so you can use a long cage derailer that only is designed to go to the 28. So this way you can get to a 32 to at least um maybe a 34. And what that does is drops the spacing on it. And when you get when you shift the gears going to that big ring, you have a lot more gap to drop that down. That really helps with that range. Um, is it super smooth on the lower end? Probably not as much, but it works. That’s the thing. when you’re trying to get that wider range, you want it to get to work with. If he has a double, that’s another fix, too, for a short cage to get a little bit wider. If you have a double, I would behoove you to think about getting a triple drivetrain. uh because when this this genre of components uh a triple is not too hard to switch out and there is a pretty decent amount of inventory that either I’m producing or various others on eBay producing as in parts to replace. So, the beauty of this particular genre of the 2009 or 1998ish 105 Altegra all the way to about 2004 um that the shifters were designed to do a double or triple. So, you don’t have to pay for the shifters which is usually $150 expense. What you do though need to replace is the crank set bottom bracket obviously for the triple and the rear derailer for a long cage derailer to accommodate that slack. The front derailer it’s you want a triple but sometimes you can get a double front derailer to work. Not preferred but maybe work. But then again front derailers on the used market like 2030 bucks. So, if you find the triple, just do it. Then you can dump. You can go up to the bigger cassette, but I would try the triple with the 30 up front with a 28. And that might accommodate the range that you want or need for your riding. Um cost on that cranks maybe 60 to 100. That’s kind of expensive. Rear derailers on these have been kind of cheaper. and a front D maybe 150 bucksish and uh then you can get yourself up to a d a triple drivetrain. Don’t have to worry about the cassette. I mean the cassettes are the same between a double or a triple. The chain though, you’re going to need a little bit longer chain, so get a new chain, but usually those are not too too expensive. That kind of thing um if you’re working in those situations. So, um, in mind that working on some of this older stuff, you can make that bike, adapt it to a wider range of riding and don’t be suckered in like that big cowpie of a one by uh, for the newer stuff because what they’ve really done is limited the smoothest transition to the shifting by getting rid of the front derailer. to me. Oh, we got the range. It’s now 11 speed or 12speed. Um, now 13-speed, which is honestly, in my opinion, straight up opinion, super stupid. They should not have gone that direction, should have kept the triple, but hey, that’s them. And now with disc brakes with hydraulic only with not cable actuated and limiting older bikes because of the brand new stuff, you’re gonna be coming to my eBay store to look at older stuff to upgrade or refresh that older ride. Um, and honestly, the gear range on the triple, they can’t match with a one by. I mean, they get close, but they can’t dead on match it. Um, and I don’t know why, but that’s where the industry marketing, blame those marketing individuals. They’re the ones that train wrecked our whole componentry groups and all that. And yeah, I’m I’m I mean, I’m really passionate and well, hellbent on some of those modifications. I mean, I get the disc brake thing. Um, I get the hydraulic control of speeds and that’s been around for decades. Um, but they’re messing with, you know, road componentry where a double and a triple, it wasn’t broke. It worked great. I mean, they added a 10-speed to the 10, you know, to the triple and it was like awesome. You got a huge range. just made it a lot smoother in the back and accommodated a bigger G gear. Then they decided to go haywire and nuts and they’re like, “Oh, we got to do this one by BS.” I mean, I get it for mountain biking, but then again, those Yahoos don’t usually ride up mountains up anymore. I mean, they I mean, the cross country racers, don’t get me wrong, but those who just do a lot of downhill, they don’t need more than four speeds anyway because they’re just like hanging on for dear life, not trying to die. Anyway, um so that’s the answer to can I accommodate a bigger wider uh gear cluster, you know, to fit on a drivetrain to get a couple more gear teeth uh gear in to climb those hills. Everybody, you know, wants those hills. Um when the treble came out strong in the ‘9s, it was a game changer, especially for road. Um because we were modifying mountain bike stuff to road bikes before they made a dedicated componentry group. Um Shimano eventually caved like oh we’re going to do a triple specific for road. A lot of it was hybrid stuff at the time. Um that being said it, you know, it it revolution. I mean I’m in Colorado. We have these hills called the Rocky Mountains. And if anybody’s even ridden in the foothills, your gut is screaming at you. You’re about ready to die. Your altitude, your p your head’s pounding and the sun’s about ready to roast your you know, it’s like, you know, having that little granny gear keeps you from getting off your bike. It’s all you need. I mean, I’m only in it like 2% of the time when you’re out here even. But when you need it, you need it. And it doesn’t cost. It’s not a weight deficit. And then again I got a lot of weight deficit to get off my own body. But you know there there lose the industry catering to the more elitist elite kind of marketing versus recreational. Like thank goodness they trickled down their tech. So you can still get Tiagra componentry that works really well. It shifts. It’s maybe a little bit heavier, but all that tech has been trickled down, holds up, it does well. I did a 10-speed conversion. Um, you got the range mechanical brakes. At least they still have that. I think they still may have 105, but good luck if you want brand new Durace or Altegra 12speed, you know. And soon to come down the line, it’s 13 because what I’ve noticed with that Campoli has always been the one to bring out the new gear, like the new, oh, we went to 10 speed and everybody else has to figure out their crap and do 10 speed. Well, that’s what the 13 speed is all about. Uh, in any case, heavy metacycycles, thank you for coming back. I’m in the Austin area. While Christmas and January gets cold, it seems like we are year round because I came from Iowa originally. So, that was what I compared to. Iowa basically is a March to May September. Yeah. So yeah, it’s kind of funny when you talk about cold. I go riding in Las Vegas in January. We go down to visit, you know, for winter break or whatever. Yeah, it’s chillyish compared to here. So I mean we I mean you can still ride in Colorado periodically, but there was like you can still ride. I mean that’s just you don’t have snow. Yeah. You know, heavy motorcycles. Not a big fan of the new stuff. I’m stuck in the 70s and 80s. I’m stuck in like the 90s and early 2000s. I mean, that’s where things got good. They actually put a lot into it and they built stuff to last, which case in point, the stuff lasts. I mean, they have wear points of course, but for the most part of it, you can still find some of this that works really well. And it’s just it like why? It’s like, well, they went to disposable bikes. That’s what they basically did. It’s uh horrible. Um but anyway, that’s what they did is went to disposable bikes. Any case, all right, question number two. Time stamp. You guys better throw some questions in that uh questionnaire or I’m just going to have to start making up stuff. [Laughter] Don’t worry, I’m not selling your emails or anything like that. I just need to, you know, for me, I got to have it digitally captured so I know what the hell I’m doing. Um, for the most part, any case, so far it’s it’s great chat. It’s awesome. Okay, so second question, another comment question off of um YouTube world. Working on a late 90s still Bianke mountain bike. Yeah, classic 90s. So, you’re probably Yeah. Okay. Nine-speed system. Can’t get the bottom bracket to budge. Tried tapping it with a hammer for with a 4 foot cheater bar. Bike is in good shape. Otherwise, I know it was entirely I know it was entry level, but have nice enough rims on it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Bonner bracket seizage. Anybody out there? I know some of your mechanics there are just cringing like, “Oh been there.” Um, it sucks. But it can be fixed is there’s a couple tricks. A couple tricks I know. If you’re a mechanic out there, um, feel free to put your tool down and type in the chat like, “Hey, I do this.” or leave a comment later for somebody um on the replay could read up on it. Um so first we got to identify what the hell is the bottom bracket. Well, the bottom bracket goes to the crank set which is this guy here. And this particular crank set. It’s probably very similarish, but in the mountain form of either a square taper, if it’s a lower end, which you mentioned, it’s probably a square taper that you need to take the crank arms off. This one has self- extracting bolts built into it. Some of the XT and XTR back in the day did, too. If it’s a square taper, you’ll have to take the nut off. And then you’re going to have to take a uh it’s a Park Tool CCP22. It’s a crank arm puller which pulls that out. I think I have a video in my library. If not, I probably should. If not, Park Tool, I’m sure, has a video of the crank puller. But where you need to get to is the crank itself. So, why do these seize up? You know, Bianke, that probably is a steel frame bike where steel doesn’t like water. So, everybody knows rust. Rust is the end all of all steel frames. And I’m a steel frame lover myself, but thank goodness I’m in Colorado where it’s aid, where we really don’t have a lot of rust issues, uh, massive corros corrosion issues. But bikes move. So, if you buy a used bike and it came from Midwest, for example, with high humidity, you may have some issues. Okay. You got a rust issue. Okay. That’s that’s one in general. Yeah, I’m getting to that heavy metal cycles what you just said. Um, so the idea of the bottom bracket is to be waterproof and self-contained in itself. Um, let me grab one so you can see what it looks like. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get this one off either, but we’ll see. This particular one looks like this. All right. Yeah, it’s waterproof and self-contained on the inside, which is important. Well, this one’s seized, but it’s supposed to spin, right? Okay. Imagine it’s spinning. Um, supposed to be self-contained on that. And this this is the cartridge system. So, part of this is one side. This will be your drive side thread in and your non-drive side lock ring on. Different sizes to them. 68 for road, 72, 772 for cross bike or mountain. Um, then you have different spindle widths that you’ll have to measure for the particular crank size or crank you have. So, if a triple is going to be longer, this is a 118 mm.5 width for a triple, which I just took off. So, this is the exact same bottom bracket in there. You can still get these on Amazon and eBay or whatever. They’re still either good or new. Um they may be a different brand, but this, you know, accommodate to that. But any case, this is what you’re this is what you’re trying to remove from the bottom bracket. Think about bottom like the bottom of your boat, right? All things go to the bottom. Well, you got on your frame, a seat post, your headset up front, all goes down. So, if there’s any moisture, you get caught in a rain, whatever. If you know those are kind of waterproof, waterproof, there’s vent holes. This is your freaking culprit of water drainage. So, the seost is capsulized, so it’s good. But some of the older ones, moisture drops straight down into the bottom bracket. Bottom bracket. Grab this one. Since I already cleaned it, um shell is this space here. This gets super dirty and dingy. Even on aluminum, it gets like nasty weird stuff. Like stuff just draws down and is super nasty. I think I have a short video showing me cleaning out one. Um, so in other words, you don’t know what’s in there or how freaking ugly it is. Okay, I just bought this bike. It’s used. Um, it looks like has vintage original componentry on it. Um, that kind of thing. So, what this individual is doing, he has the proper tool and he’s probably using a cheater. On this one, I have to do the non-drive side to get it on there. So, you need to get the tool in there. And sometimes the tool likes to walk out of the thing. I have a little modified I’m sure each one of you little bike shops out there, big and small, have one of these little modified little tools of some sort or maybe an old crank puller you changed. What that tool is doing is tool holding a tool. Talking about tool time tool time bike mechanic. Okay, hopefully you can see this. All right. So, I even put a old spoke wrench on there so I can get the depth to get this tool in there. Basically, I’m holding it in place so I can smash it. Basically, some torque. Okay. So, the whole importance of this and this one’s hollow. So, you might be able to do thread and big bolt and washers. We’ve done that before. that kind of thing. So, this is the side I need to work on. So, I’m gonna try to set it up over here. And actually, I’m gonna move the camera. Sorry for the earthquake. Try to make a quick. Got recycling trash can to work on. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Real time. This is where I bash my knuckles and say a whole bunch of curse words. This is where This is why there’s a wall between the sto the sales floor and your bike shop because dumb stuff like this will make us hurt ourselves and we can’t be at fault for the profanity that’s going to roll out our mouths. So, proper tool placement and secure is key to start off with so you’re not damaging the tool or damaging the the lock cup or the bottom bracket. Keep in mind all that crap’s filling in. And this one’s titanium, so it’s, you know, most likely not rust, but could have like dust and dirt, which has ore in it, which, you know, with water maybe make it rust when it goes up against aluminum with a stainless steel. You know, it’s all not perfect. In any case, so this is what we’re attempting first. And I I want to do the attempt first. And you know the the question did not probably got this far. I just want to get everybody to up to speed where how far we gotten. And there’s different tools you can do on this. So I like to leverage it with the down tube. So you kind of got a little better leverage on this. And light and polite is always the case. And hopefully, you know, you don’t want to have this hammer to ding up and hit the frame. You know, I always try to do it yourself and it doesn’t some light tapping. You just want it to kind of break free a little bit. Okay. So, this is example of success. It’s already kind of moving a little bit, but since I have this compression tool holding the tool tool holding the tool, I have to back this off while I’m doing it because it’s not it’s going to compress against itself. So, mindful of that. Okay. What if it didn’t move at all? And you’re like, f. Okay. So, as in Heavy Metal Cycles just said, PB Blaster, um, I got introduced to PB Blaster in when I was in Michigan, which is the Midwest, where there’s a high concentration of where did it go? High concentration of humidity, rust, salt on the roads, every freaking nasty thing known to man. And the mechanics there are PB Blaster experts. It’s this stuff right here. PB Blaster warning. It’s nasty. It stinks. It’s has more warnings than anything. Do not wear you wear gloves, helmet, maybe a bio suit when using this. Um, don’t get in contact of flames because you might catch yourself on fire. Um, but you know, it’s a rust belt warrior. It’s like right there. In other words, Midwest. It’s a Cleveland, Ohio product. Okay. How’s this work? Do I just spray it here? Now spray it on the other side. Try. It’s not going to seep. What you’re gonna have to do is pull the seatost out. This guy here, this is a seat post. If you don’t know what a seat post is, and there’s a bolt. Before you pull the seat post though, take a little piece of electrical tape and mark the damn thing because you’ll not get in the right place. Just like when you adjust your car seat just right and all of a sudden your daughter in my case changes the buttons and you’ll never get that seat to be in the same position ever again. Uh put a piece of tape on it to hold it like in the right place so you know where to put it back. Especially if you got a fitting. Um make sure put a piece of tape electrical tape on there. Loosen your bolt. Take the seat post out. Then you spray this from the outside in and to the bottom and let it soak. This is something that in P um full uh heavy metal cycles mentioned heat element. If you’re comfortable with a torch, you can warm up the bottom bracket area. If it’s painted, don’t do the paint because you’ll melt the paint, but you might be able to heat the spindle part, which will go through the bottom bracket’s toast. you’re not you’re going to get need to get a new one um at that point because you’re you’re heating up the grease and everything which is probably not good and it’s probably replacing it anyway. So therefore heating up is okay in your book. So between the combination of different cycles of PV blaster spraying, let it sit, heat it up, let it sit, try it, tap it in the interum, you might be able to get that bad boy to break. Um, if you need more torque, you can take that tool, compression it, put it in a vise, which I have one right here, and you get some leverage on it. And keep in mind, remember the direction you need to go because you don’t want to be tighten the damn thing when you’re doing that much leverage. Same thing with the old school freewheel when you had to get your buddy on the other side when you try to get that freewheel to break. Um, yeah. So, whatever the case may be with a bottom bracket was put in that steel frame, they didn’t put a grease barrier on the threads or loctite or whatever on the bottom bracket for installation or washed out and the rust is corroded in which corrosion expands which basically seized it up. So, you’re trying to do a anti-seize remedy of that. Any of you out there have any other suggestions, please comment below. I don’t know everything, but that is what’s worked for me in the past, especially being in Michigan for a couple years. That was a challenging time as a mechanic, tell you the truth. And Pat, if you’re watching, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Um, the it just the environment there was not great on bikes. Um, in the winter they straight salt the roads. They do this weird corrosion stuff the for dirt roads in the summer. Um, and it’s humid. So any kind of steel on anything just got destroyed. Now I’ve seen n I I that’s like environmentally the worst area for bicycles to try to survive. But any case um back to this this here. So once you get it to break, um, you’re hoping that it’s nothing damaged and all that. I did get it to break free a little bit. So, we’re going to Oh, yeah. Downwards. So, pedaling forward direction is the loosen. Pedaling backwards is the tighten. Just like on your uh pedals. And if you get your tight tool too tight, then you have to go back and second fighting it. Fighting it. There you go. Give it a couple turns. Quarter turn. Couple turns. Quarter turn to a point where you feel comfortable enough that you can back that off. So, this is kind of like a big reveal. Like, how scary is this bottom bracket shell? Oh, sorry. I need to move my You guys are like, “What the hell are you doing?” Sorry. Yeah, I meant to put that back. There we go. Oh, tight. Come on. Probably lift that up a start taking it off. There you go. Get you in seen. There you go. All right. Heat PB Blaster. Sometimes there’s a little hole in here from the threads of the um cable guide. You can pop that to get spray inside there. The idea is just to soak it and get that stuff in there to work. Um, it eventually will. It’s very explosive. Don’t do it inside your house. Um, it stinks. Do it in a where well ventilated area. Um, safety is big. So, all right. That’s the That’s off. So, I can see right off the bat, this is a titanium bike. They put some tie prep on there. So, that’s that copper looking stuff that keeps it from creaking. And that bottom bracket feels really smooth. Okay. Little gold nugget here. Um, this mount for the cable holder or cable guide. You want to take the bolt out at least because that bolt sometimes gets put in after the bottom bracket and might be right up against it depending how long this bolt is. Is basically kind of locking it down. Did that once just recently and I forgot to pull this piece out and uh what it did is basically scarred the whole thing like all the numbers and everything. Not that I needed it but I mean made it a little more difficult to resell. Therefore, it’s, you know, now no additional problems. So, we’re gonna put you back to where you were. I know I probably have stinky breath, so sorry. Anyway, so we got the non-drive side off. Now, we need to get the drive side off. Um, kind of the same basically formula. Get the a tool that is not worn out. your guide holder in place. If you need to get all this other stuff out of the way, like the front derailer or what have you, do it. So, this is where it’s very important to get that snug in place. So, because I mean I’m sure if your shop has been around for a while, you have a tool like this with either integrated with a a bar handle or what have you. There we go. Sorry about that. If it a dumb notification on my phone. Okay, so I think that’s secure. Then you do the same forward motion, pedaling motion, light tap till it gives. And since this one is part of the whole singular piece, I don’t have to back it off. And that’s why you have to be careful on the other side of these bottom brackets because the other side’s aluminum. So they love doing mixed metals on this on these bottom brackets. So you had aluminum cup on the left side where it’s obviously softer where you can chew it up. Then all of a sudden, I’ve had problems where I’ve had to pull this side off and actually cut the other one off out because the teeth, you know, came apart. And we’re going to, you ready for this? Even on a titanium bike, you got external corrosion on the external shell of the bottom bracket. Um, the bottom bracket functions fine, but this tells you there’s been enough moisture in that bottom bracket area to cause it to corrode. Um, but looking through the little peepphole of the bottom bracket. This is kind of nice. It’s um built up material for the threads. It’s concaved on side and there’s not a lot of gunk, not a lot of dirt. Um not a lot of corrosion, just a little bit of corrosion on the bottom bracket shell and a lot of tie prep on my finger. So there there lies the bottom bracket replacement. Um, on a steel frame, even on aluminum, I’ve modified, you can get a little brush, you can put on a a drill. Um, I have a campy tool kit here, which has thread chasers. You can chase the threads, but all you you definitely want to clean this all out and clean the threads up as much as possible of all the contaminants. I take an old drill bit and put um a steel wool on it. Then I use carb cleaner or brake cleaner and spray that and drill use the drill, not the metal of course, but the it basically polishes it out, which I’ve done to this guy here where this was dirty and gunky and now it’s all buff and polished and clean and chased and ready to go. So, these are that’s one of the details that I do when I’m working on a bike frame I’m going to resell is I want to make sure that’s clean as much as possible for the new owner. So, all they need to do is put it in the bottom bracket and call it good. So, what do you do when you put it in the bottom bracket? Do you just throw it in there dry? Well, in this case, oh hell no. Um, this is a titanium bike. So, tie prep is preferred to be put on there uh to prevent creaking because titanium has a different flex and it’s high tens or uh steel as well as the aluminum cup. So all these mixed materials under a load like to make noise and that’s where we get a customer that comes in and goes, I have a creek, a ticking noise. And if it’s a carbon, it resonates through the frame. So it could be the bottom bracket, it could be a seat binder bolt, it could be your stem bolt. That shit’s hard to find. It’s like it just So but titanium’s been known to be creek. So, tit the tie prep, I think Finish Line makes it. It might be another brand that makes them now. Um, if you’re in a shop and you’re using a lot of titanium, you let me know what you’re using besides tight prep, but that will prevent it. So, you want to do that. Um, or at least at least some kind of a grease barrier. Um, you don’t need to put like don’t loctite unless you’re uh fighting a bottom bracket that’s missing a few teeth in the threading and that needs to be locked down. But don’t use use removable Loctite or various version of that so you can get the thing off when you need to. Uh, but most cases than not, it’s grease on there or like maybe some plumbers’s tape is another thing. But you definitely want some kind of a water barrier on the threads themselves at least. It was the steel frame. At least grease those. So, you know, water and stuff will get in there and if it does rust, it’s not going to penetrate. It’s pretty tight tolerances. I mean, look how fine those threads are. I mean, they’re a metric thread. They’re very fine, very tight. So, if you just had a little bit of grease barrier in there, that’s going to prevent um rusting or getting clogged up in there. Um, you know, that’s bottom brackets could be very tricky when it comes to that. But once you get it all cleaned up and you’re converting this for to like a 10-speed, you do the external cups. Same thing. Prep those threads. Those external cups still could have a hard time coming out. Or if you’re doing a different higherend bottom bracket, all those kinds of things. But but really this is just surface rust. I mean that’s pretty it’s etched. I mean it’s etching into the actual casing of it. Um is it bad? Most likely not. But I would clean that off. I would like steel wool it or brittle pad or whatever. Get that and neutralize it with some vinegar and baking soda or whatever to neutralize that rust so it’s not constantly eating. um or just get a new bottom bracket. I mean, they’re like 20, 30, 40 bucks depending on the model. But here’s your numbers. They’re usually st marked on there. This is a 68, which is a 68 shell width. Um it’s a 118.5. That’s the spindle width. And it is for the octagon design with the hollow tech. And that’s where the haltech 2 is different. This is the original halt. Um, this is hollow inside. They’ve cast it to somehow and it’s hollow and gives you rigidity. I remember when these came out, they’d have a stand on a a standard square taper solid one and you can still feel the flex of the crank. Then you stand on this and there’s a hell of a lot less. That means a lot more energy is going right into your drivetrain. Um, these things are like when they made these, they were solid. They worked well. So even the used ones if it’s lightly used a lot of these are still really good condition still can use have a lot more life to them not to the like today’s stuff where they get to dainty materials. Case in point this is a good reminder if you have 11speed crank set from Shimano that’s Altegra or Durase have it inspected or go to the shano.com recall. No, it’s not recall. I’ll put a link in the below or somebody put a link in the chat if you can of the Shimano recall. I’ve actually had a couple. They’re very finite small little cracks, but they’re trying to play it off, but they got popped by a lawsuit in Cali and they lost it. Um, but any case, you don’t want to put your customer or yourself in in danger and they need to be inspected twice a year. just the convenience of getting you into the shop. Don’t worry about the shop inspecting them. They get a credit every time they actually inspect them. But you want to make sure that crank doesn’t delaminate on you. And if you’re climbing or descending or doing something extreme at that moment, if you know it’s going to break, then that’s going to delaminate. It’s going to throw you off. I don’t know. They don’t know. They don’t know how many people have gotten hurt, if any, but pretty sure somebody’s gotten hurt. And they didn’t do the recall until after like three years of production of it. So, it’s kind of like one of those things they knew, but they didn’t really know, but they are playing they didn’t know, but they kind of knew. And um now usually componentry has a 2-year warranty. Those are basically doesn’t matter if it’s used, if you bought off a used bike, what have you. misnomer on those particular recalls. It’s on anything. So, if you have bought a used bike and it’s a 11-speed Durace or 11speed Ultra cranks, have them inspected. Double check. They’ve kind of narrowed it down to what batch it was. It’s a pretty big batch of cranks. There are some that are not in the recall or it’s volunteer recalls. They’re dumb play of words. But basically what it is is if they find a if the mechanic and the glue finds a some kind of a weird little crack, they get a new crank set, it’s a 12speed crank set with 11 speed chain rings on it. It’s a fix. It’s free, but it’s not perfect in a perfect world because if you wear out those chain rings, you have to get those specific chain rings for that crank because they made them for those. Um, I think I’m pretty sure so at some point either we’ll be getting a whole new drivetrain because you’re like, I don’t want to deal with this anymore. Or, um, you just get a new crank or did get a different like a different carbon crank that has more problematic issues. That’s not a recall. Any case, um, I hope that answers the bottom bracket bit of seizing. Each one has its own story. Each one has its own level of cleaning. I do have a video of one. There’s like a couple threads missing on the bottom bracket. I am not selling the frame as of yet. I’m still going to do a detailing on it. Uh there is a I found out an interim of my buddy Bradley. He told me there’s a um a biner bracket cup system we can put in there to make at least a square taper. So, I may just buy the $50 modification kit and put it in there so it’s still a usable frame with a square tapered crank set, which there’s still decent crank sets out there that are square tapered. Um, or see what else is out there. I mean, technically, if it was me and my own risk level, I’d probably just throw some Loctite on it and call it Gibb is only missing like one thread. But for a liability stance and I don’t ever want anybody to get hurt on something that I sell or work on. Um it it you know I take that very personally. Um but so safeties first. I will not have that frame in circulation. I have pulled a lot of frames out of circulation because I deemed them to be not safe to ride. Now they’re basically paper weights or wall ornaments. Um they’re going to be basically lattice for my garden in the backyard. But other than that or stools. Yeah. I mean, it’s not worth the 50 bucks that I may make on it. Um to somebody gets hurt. Oh, hell no. So, for me, it’s always been a safety thing. I’ve had some customers get hurt on stuff that I’ve worked on. Um, not terribly, thank goodness, but enough to make me realize as a small young or as not small, as a young adult in my 20s, being a dumb kid, realizing that everything needs to be double checked and triple checked and make sure it’s the safety first is number one. Um, those couple incidents, which is only a knees, bruise, or a boo boo. Uh, but it was my fault. And so like, oh, I got to I I I can do better. I know I can do better and I always will do better and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years. So, it’s always been that and you know I’ve been I’ve had bosses like you got to go faster and I just said I’m doing it safe not faster. So, any case or I’ll find somewhere else that’ll pay me the same minimal nothing wage and work that has the same philosophy as at least that part anyway. bottom brackets tricky. Um, yes. So, while you’re here working on a bottom bracket Oh, that bar tape might be Oh, it’s kind of scuffed up. May not have to resave that. Anyway, um, so you have teeth, you know, you want to expect it. A lot of lot of these times they don’t get bent, but um, you want to double check that the the teething on the inside. If it’s a square taper, you want to make sure it’s square, not waddled out because that’ll eventually loosen up. Um, back in the day, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing when these first came out. So, you can get these not aligned correct, and they can can scar on the inside when you put them incorrectly. If you have a question of how they’re lining up or you’re having a hard time, go ahead and pull this uh little plate off and I’ll expose the nut and it’ll take it off. And this tool from Shimano is the TLFC20, but it’s a little twoprong thingyamajigger. Like, see if you can see it in the light. And then it fits these two just right. So, you can unscrew this cap. And when you unscrew this cap, the bolt comes out. And then you can see the threads and how they match up exact or not threads, but the teeth on them. So, they match up just right. If you’re having troubles of it sliding on there or making sure it’s getting on there correctly, you can do that. Um, don’t lose these little cover. They make aftermarket ones, but they are like 20 bucks for a five or $2 alloy piece. Um, make sure there’s a there’s a shim on the nut itself. There’s also a washer that needs to come out. It’s on my finger here. And don’t use that uh self- extracting tool. So, you need to pull those first because it’ll bump up against that and kind of do some damage. But those are the that’s the teeth that you’re looking for. Um, and you want to make sure you put everything back to it was maybe a little bit of grease. And that’s how the self- extracting of a late 80s, early 2000s crank arm assembly works. Um, so on this guy, the teeth on the metal ring, I’m going to have to test it under load with the new chain, um, to see if it jumps. If it doesn’t, it’s probably okay. It looks a little visually waddled. I mean, there’s still a squareage to it. I do have another chain ring set to put on this if it doesn’t work out. Um, it all depends how much the rider rides. This one obviously rode in the middle ring all the time and never on the big ring and never on the small, which is obvious. But also a note on these guys, they are keyed. I mean, not keyed, they’re um there is a placement of how you align. See, there’s five bolts, right? And you can get this wrong four other ways. The Well, number one, look for the little notch thing that goes along with the crank arm. So that prevents the chain from sliding in there. If that notch has broke off, I mean, some of them have, you just want to make sure it’s lined up correctly. Second, there’ll be little arrows or little notches in this case indicating it goes with the crank arm. Also, the rampage goes towards the inside of the bike. And the external chain ring here is grooved where the bolts slide. It’s it’s embedded. There’s an embedment embedment in there um that where the bolt fits in and so it’s flush. Also, these chain ring bolts. Same tool for the uh crank arm puller cap is the same tool. That’s this little tooth looking thing. Fits on the inside of this uh lock nut for Allen. These are all metrics that do that. So, that’s your 101 on crank sets. on the left hand. The threads are the same. So you don’t it’s not that reverse threading on the cap itself. But um keep in mind pedals and bottom brackets threading is opposite on the other side so it doesn’t loosen up while you’re riding. Make sense? Hopefully it does. Clear as mud. So we address the derailer hanger dropage crank set. Woo. A lot of drivetrain questions. People are getting in the weeds. Whole bunch of Park Tools out there. the guy with a funny mustache. He has a whole crap ton of them out there. May help you out as well as some other videos. If you don’t see anything that needs to be addressed on older vintage, it’s like I have not seen a video on this. Put a comment below. I’ll see if I’ll either add it to my shop talk Tuesday or I’ll make a separate individual video or both um to address those because I’m here, you know, to really help in a sense to some level as still running a business. So, I don’t want to be overwhelmed, but you know, there’s a lot of tricks and of the trade that didn’t has not or will not be capsulized unless those old farts get off our butts and make videos prior to YouTube making videos of how to fix some of this stuff. And a lot of it is still good and it works well. So all those who are making content to help others work on bikes that are older, vintage, upycling that old stuff because you know this is older early 2000s bike. It rides I can dollars of donuts. It’ll ride just as good as one of the newer ones. You’ll just have as big a smile on your face when you’re riding, but your wallet will be a little thicker. And also, you know, it’s kind of cool and more gears. And guess what? It’s not disposable. Case in point, you can work on it. Get a Chris King headset on there. Get a fancy wheel set. Those are junk. But anyway, it has Altega on it, which is decent. Um, you can build this guy up with like a good 10-speed even if you wanted with a triple or a double depending on your terrain. Get some, you know, red shift stuff for the front if you want. Uh, for suspension, the titanium has a nice flex to it. Maybe a little bit different carbon for carbon seat post, but hey, that’ll work. Always upgrade your wheels. Um, I do have a link below for wheels. Talking about wheels for rim brakes. Um, Bicycle Wheel Warehouse in California. Customuilt wheels, handbuilt wheels. He has a huge library of the older stuff. What is new, um, built and his attention to detail is definitely goes back to the ‘9s custom wheel building wheels. Look him up if you need a wheel set. And they’re not overly priced. That’s the other thing, too. They’re decently priced. You’re not paying an arm and a leg for a rim brake wheel set. Um, and you can still upgrade something or at least get something that’s matchy match. Oh, post office guy. I got to go throw some stuff in the mail. Anyway, um, that’s that. So, there’s a lot of, you know, it could be you can go down the weeds. It could get complicated. Um, bikes are complicated. That’s why I was bike mechanics to some level. The newer stuff even gets more complicated. cost of more tools, specialty tools on the newer stuff, technical training, all that. But there’s a lot of videos on that from the manufacturers themselves, like Saram has a great video series of how bleeding brakes as well as Shimano and so forth. They have their own little schools even uh for the newer stuff, but they’re not going back. Sure. Shimano is never going to teach you how to use S, you know, what is this? the FC uh you know freewheel as they call them instead of crank set 6500 this is 6503 but this is a triple they they don’t have any videos on how to work on this stuff or what they look for or if they had any issues or recalls or warranty that’s up to this old farts that are work on a bike still guys and gals both you bring those bring those videos to light I I encourage you implore you to do so to help everybody out and it also capsulizes as you I was looking at today a funny thing looking at today one of my shorts I was had a bowling short which was funny it’s dumb but it was funny uh nothing to do with bikes just me trying to bowl um but it made me run that rabbit hole is like what was my most viewed short video and I think it was like I have to look it up it’s like 600 400,000 views something insane like that and it was just a barrel adjuster on just just this little thing just this little thing in the back of your trailer. Um, and that confuses about 98% of the general public. this little barrel adjuster because it’s counterintuitive. And I hope I’m using that right because when you loosen this, you lengthen the housing which makes it tighter. So that little video of adjusting a root derailer to line it up with the teeth. That’s my that’s my short blow up. The other one for my regular videos is talking stuff about Special Eyes, but it’s my opinion piece. Oh. Oh, Pat Scott, thank you for joining in. Pleasure. Absolutely for joining in. Enjoyed plenty of nuts, bolts, clincher parts in my day. Uh, that’s the reason why you got a me Oh, yeah. I’m I’m your mechanic. Yep. you come in quite often. Of course, any, you know, anytime is a pleasure. Also, relating to working on bikes, having the right tool is the first thing that you need to think about in investing. It doesn’t have to be the high-end. It just need to be the right tool for the job. And if it gets tricky and if you’re doing a lot of different things on bikes and you if you justify the cost or the purchasing that your spouse will be okay with or at least you can ask for forgiveness for um Allen wrenches is probably the first thing you want to have multiple ones. Case in point, I have a Wworth ones we rer a. Um, I have a link on my Amazon store below. They’re little OC. This is not a good one. I need to get the big one. Um, this one has like some weird shaping to the end of it. It’s like concaved, so it gives it a little extra bite to the corner of the Allen bolt to kind of give you a little extra leverage to loosen them up. A light and polite though. I mean, you don’t want to like force it and strip it out. Therefore, you have your regular Allen set, which is my park tool set, which is these guys, or the Y wrench. And this doesn’t work out. You’re like, “Okay.” Then I go to this, and this doesn’t seem like it’s going to work. Um, then I have my hidden secret tool, secret weapon tool, and it stays in the box cuz it’s too damn expensive to leave free foaming around. It’s this guy um from Sila. And if you listen to Josh from Silka, he has a little video on this and he talks about like the extra little tolerances, a little bit tighter of a, you know, expansion of the actual Allen itself and also Torx on this set. Um, fits in there really snug. No, in other words, on a bolt that might be compromised and then you can add a little extra leverage to get it to break free. Um, I found the Torx ones I use a lot on disc brake systems because I need to have that right size number one. Second, I want to make sure it fits in there snug because last thing I want to do on a miserable job of bleeding brakes is messing up some bolts. So, um, first right tool for the job and second maybe a backup tool with a higher quality. How do you work with all that? Um, just want to double check making sure. Yeah, I’ve already expended my time. Um, I’m going to go on a little rant here about tools, but I just want to make sure nobody actually put any questions down yet. Okay, so it doesn’t look like it. So, when it comes to tools, novice or pro alike, pros have a little more of a system when they get their tools. Um, if you’re just starting off, just get like a kit, a basic kit, but it’s the right kit of tools that go to bikes that are metric or cone wrenches and all that. You don’t have to spend a lot. I think they bike has one also. Founders on Jensen’s USA. They used to have a kit for around about a hundred bucks. Sometimes you get on special for like 89 or something like that. Get that kit. I actually have two of them. I didn’t buy them. It was acquisition when I bought bikes, but I have two sets and they actually work really well because I take them on my events when I do on the-fly events and I actually have an extra set of tools so I’m not robbing off the wall and trying to, you know, lose track of those. So, it’s kind of my disposable tools, if you will, but not really. That’s a good set that’ll get you about 80% there on just general stuff on adjusting your classic bike um to to the most uh most point. Well, if you find yourself working on tools more than one day a month, um, and you work on them more than more than often or not, and you notice like some tools you’re using quite a bit more often, and you want to invest, which I would say Allens is probably the first Allen sets and torque wrench, Torx, not torque wrenches, but torque wrench is always good to have, too. Um, but that’ll probably be the first more expensive lift. Not. Okay. So, when you go into those particular tools, I’m going to let let you know there’s a couple brands that I go to. Park Tools been around. It’s like Snap-On for tools for bike industry. Uh, they’re out of Minnesota. Uh, good company. They back up their tools. They do a lot of thought. They’re they’re known for tools. Um, and that’s where my investment, that’s why I have a blue wall tools because that’s, you know, that’s what I’ve worked with for the last 35 years is Park Tools. Um, those are a good tool set, but they’re not the only ones with really good tools. Some other companies have a little bit nicer tools depending what it is. Um, like I said, just featured the Silkco ones. They do Sila’s known for pumps, right? Basic pumps, that kind of thing. That’s a weird gesture, I know. Um, but this the Silka has been known for that. But now they have the chain wax, which is probably their leading known for thing. Um, here goes my post guy again. I better go find him. Um, so you got those two things, right? Uh, so inexpensive tools, wear them out, feel like you need something a little bit better quality, Park Tools, maybe Sila might be a brand. Uh, Pedro makes some good tools. They’re a European brand. Um, watch some of their dub videos. It’s kind of funny to watch, but you know, they have some pretty pretty cool concepts. Um, and then locally here in the States, Feedback Sports. Uh, they known for repair stands, but they have a decent tool kit, too. Not all their tools are great, but they do have a few that are actually pretty damn rock solid. This one here almost used on a daily basis. Um, I have the big industrial kit for events, too. Expensive as hell, but is an investment. Um, that kind because I use them. That justifies it. and it’s also a business expense write off. So, whatever fits in your budget, but start off with the right tool that does the job. And then watch a whole bunch of videos and get totally lost in the weeds. And if that all fails, come see a guy like me or a gal like me and a shop that does superb work and we’ve been around a little while. If not, we at least know how to look for the right solution with the right tools. Any case, thank you for hanging out with me in the garage. I appreciate all of you. Um, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. It makes you, it makes this channel. If you enjoy this content, please uh least thumbs up it. Then subscribe. If you haven’t subscribed, please share. I mean, if you’re part of mechanic groups or whatever, your club rides or whatever, just add me as a link. Um, you know, a lot of those people need a home, feel comfortable with somebody they can listen to that relates to most normal people, normal mechanics. Um, at least I think I am. You tell me. Um, and just trying to do an honest day’s work, you know, safe, honest day’s work. Uh, that kind of thing. So, I appreciate this opportunity you taking the time listening in, either listening from a shop or you’re listening from home or watching this or listening this on the replay. Hope you got something out of it that’s either intriguing, entertaining, or maybe some value. Um, and yeah, you know, get me out there. I I’m chasing the bike farmer, so he’s you got way ahead of me. So, any little bit of helps. Um, and our content is, I hope, different enough so it’s not more of the same. Um, I cut my hair so we don’t look the same anymore. So, if you saw the thumbnail, that’s me with long hair. Any case, going to give out shout outs now to all those who uh chimed in. And thank you all for chiming in. Um, Miss Josh from Precision Ebike, he didn’t show up today or if he is, he’s just really busy. I get it. We all are. And I’m having a hard time making sure I I enjoy doing this. So, I make this a priority for sure, regardless of where I am or how am I feeling. So, Scott, thank you. Appreciate your kind words and all of your all of your business. Um, and have me entrusted it’s a pleasure and a privilege to be entrusted to work on your stuff. For sure. Heavy metal Cycles, thank you for chiming in for down in Texas. It is a treat to hear from another bike mechanic in the field doing their thing as well as Isaac. Um, yeah, pretty quiet on the chat today. But any case, you guys are busy. We’re trying to get our trying to get through the last push. A lot of us a lot of us are on the last leg of our season and a lot of us have lost our minds by now. So be kind to your bike mechanics this time of year or towards the end of the season because it’s it’s most likely been a hellacious ride for them and they’re probably doing as much as they can just to get out of bed and do what they like to do. Um because at this particular point of the year, you do suffer suffer. Luckily for me, I’m not in that scenario anymore. But high volume shots that do a lot of high volume repairs are in a situation right now, this time of year, where they’re struggling with a lot of mental health issues because any issues they’ve had is now coming out. I guarantee you it’s um not it’s uh you got tools flying, got some anger issues, it’s all going to come out. Um if your mechanics are in the in the back end of this and trying to survive, just take a breath, take a break, go for a ride, ask for that help that you need. Uh either working on the bikes on on the moment or the time that you need to recover because it takes it takes a toll on your body. Uh, believe me, I am 54 and standing on concrete has beat the hell out of me over all these years and I’ it’s it’s I’m in short segments. So, you want to make sure you protect yourself over the long term. Um, and also make sure you’re in a a good place in mind because you need to have a healthy, happy, uh, stress, less stress mechanic working on your bike to make sure it’s safe and double checked and all the good things. The only positive is going to happen from it. So, take the time to do so. If you’re directing those team, make sure they have the brakes that they need. If you are part of the team, make sure you’re communicating that you’re needing those breaks to make sure you’re efficient and safe. And um try to keep uh try to keep your smile sunny side up, rubber side down. Thanks for hanging out with me in the garage. And if it’s Tuesday, shop talk Tuesday. Again, like and subscribe if you like this stuff. And uh please comment below if you’re re-watching this at another time. I’ll see you next Tuesday. Have a wonderful day. Enjoy the rest of your week. Until next time from the garage working this way. Yuck. Nasty PBS. Questions, answers. Yeah, boy. If one way I haven’t signed off already, I usually have on a live stream or not live stream, but the replay uh little 12 second popups. That’s a It’s a YouTube thing, you know. Got to do all the tricks, all the things. Watch the McN brothers. They have a live for YouTubers for uh learning how to do YouTube. It’s 10 or it’s 7 o’clock my time on nine or on Sundays. No, not Saturdays. Saturdays at at 7. Saturdays at 7. They do about three hours of Q&A on how to do YouTube. So, if you’re thinking about doing YouTube, that’s um somebody listening to. They’re they’re honest guys. They’re not trying to clickbait you into doing dumb things. And it’s work. It’s all work. Okay. All right. Oh, maybe I should Oh, do I have a video of that? Let me see. That should be my ed exit video. See if I find it. Thought I saved it. Oh yeah, those are still hanging on. My balls. Rub your balls. Yeah, rub your balls. Good. All right. All right. We got this. Yep. We call this the low hanging fruit. Oh, no. All right. This time we got we got the low hanging fruit. [Music] We got this. Up. Up. [Music] [Laughter] Leave on that note.
6 Comments
Hey Buddy, Nice show. Been busy over here. Feels like the wave may have crested, and hopefully it can be a little more steady now. Just bringing Gazelle E bikes in now, 2026 units.
Great content Brother. Cheers from Nova Scotia , Canada !
I think I have your same shorts. They’re actually a bathing suit.
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Howdy, I ordered 2 Jackaroo jersies in 2016. I am still using them, they have been washed a gazillion times and they still look new. Good quality!!
Love the jakroo idea! Wish I knew about this last year when I was looking at a small batch.