r/BikeMechanics

Title says it all. I usually try to tell people to bed in their new pads but I've been thinking about this. As long as the rotors are aren't worn I usually just throw on the new pads and don't worry about cleaning the rotors. What is your all's practice?

I’d like to get one, but they’re very expensive, so wholesale would be great if possible.

I have a Rockshox Judy that I would like to convert from air to spring. FS-JDYS-TK-A3

I asked SRAM and they said the kits are no longer being made aftermarket but wouldn’t give me a part number. Do any of you folks know what the part number is on a coil spring kit that would work?

29”, 100mm, 170lb rider.

Thanks in advance.

JBI seems to never have the item in stock. Every time I scan something to re-order, it is "not sellable or no longer availabe" or something. I've been filling in with Amazon, Aliexpress and Alibaba. What's even more disturbing is that I'm getting better prices than I ever did on JBI. On almost everything. The JBI rep in my area said that they are updating the individual items so the old ones don't scan but this is clearly BS. The guy also told me that JBI isnt going anywhere because they are actually a real estate company. Great, they own real estate. This does not help the bike shops that, up until now, have enjoyed JBI having the right prices and being integrated into Lightspeed. They have been dropping the ball so much lately that I fear that they are going to become totally useless. Any thoughts? - Frank, Palm City Bike Shop, Cape Cod

How does everyone’s shop store chains for sale? We keep ours behind the service counter in plastic bins on a shelf. But they’re prone to falling out and dumping their contents on the ground. We can’t use slatwall.

I’ve seen a ton of adds online for disc brake adapters for older rim brake frames that just sit on the axle, maybe clamp the frame, but are mostly a 5sec install.

I also see a lot of videos of folk welding additional supports to the frame and welding on a disc adapter. This seems better but obviously ain’t a $25 part.

is there such a thing as a good/safe disc adapter?

edit: I’m not talking about forks

I’m running the service department of a local shop that is heavily invested in service. The owner and I have been rebuilding the shop since he purchased it, and as part of that, I’m realizing bounce backs are an unavoidable reality. While nothing egregious has come back, we have a small number have come back for issues that were either our fault or of the customer.

I fielded a phone call from a displeased customer over the weekend, and it’s had me thinking about how it may cover us down the road to formalize our service warranty. My previous shop did not like warrantying service because the owner was frugal. I believe he refused to accept any refund requests after 2 weeks.

I want my customers to have confidence in our work because we are such a small shop. Since I arrived, multiple customers have reported back to us about hearing about my reputation as a skilled mechanic. I feel a little pressure from that. The only way I can think to do that is to have a robust service guarantee on our work. With that in mind, I’m wondering what other shops are doing for their service guarantees. Do y’all have something formal or do you take things on a case by case basis? What’s the warranty period you’re willing to honor?

TL;DR How do I route a DI2 cable through an integrated headset with the least chance of the cable snapping inside the head tube in case of an accident?

Hi folks,

I am currently building a new touring bike for my dad based on a Falkenjagd Hoplit T frame. Unfortunately, that bike we tested at their HQ and the frame I received are slightly different. For this year's 'facelift' they removed the down tube shifting cable routing together with the ZS headset for an internal cable routing combined with an IS headset. Had I known this before I probably would have gone for a different frameset. Man do I hate icr. Brakes are still partially integrated on the new version of the frame tho which is okay.

The problem I am now facing is the following: the bike will be built up using an XTR Di2 system for which the internal cable routing actually is kind of nice and not a big deal in terms of serviceability since there are no other cables running through the headset and the DI2 cable being easy to unplug at the interface. However, thanks to the lack of headset cups it's technically impossible to install a rotation limiter like the Acros Blocklock inside the head tube. I am now worrying that in case the bike should fall over or my dad had an accident the internally routed kind of flimsy feeling DI2 cable could be torn apart inside the head tube and fail. Maybe I am overthinking this and the most likely outcome would just be the cable unplugging from the handlebar interface but I am wondering how you would safely route a DI2 through a head tube. Should I wrap it loosely around the steerer tube a couple of times so it has room to expand and 'tension' up if the bars overturn or should I just cram some extra cable in the down tube and call it a day?

I also guess the right brake hose length will serve as some sort of rotation limiter as well but I am still really worried about that cable. Don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere with a defect drivetrain just because modern bike design sucks.