I'm not paying someone $500+ to adjust a cleat. I also don't expect a fitter to create more range in the pedal adjustment so my foot doesn't hit the crank arm.

 

500? Maybe if you need to replace the stem/seat/bars for the fitment. I didn't spend a dime over $125.

 

Fittings start at $500 here and no one is selling much of anything other than Enve components. My LBS offered $400 to help size me for my current bicycle, that was $900 OTD.

 

What are you guys using for bike tools? I've never had much of anything in the way of specialized bike tools - just screwdrivers, wrenches and Allen keys - because I used to regularly take advantage of all the pro goodies available to me when I worked in a bike shop. The other day I adjusted my rear hub with a ratchet, a pair of pliers and some scissors. I'm tempted by the Park Tool AK-38 set, but it's not cheap. I always appreciated their quality of tools, but for occasional home use, maybe there's something cheaper that would do the job.


Park Tool AK-38

 

I think you'd be better off getting just the tools you need. I have the park sprocket holder and shimano freewheel tool and I forget what brand chain tool. Besides that my normal tool box handles everything else.

 

^ This.

I have two Park Tools cone wrenches, one Shimano-style freewheel socket, an Avenir universal spoke wrench, and a cheap chain-tool from REI. Add in a few household and automotive-style tools (vise-grips, needle-nose pliers, metric wrench set, hammer, allen driver set, etc), and it's been enough to keep several bikes of varying levels of quality (one moderately-priced Giant Revel 1, and a few very cheap BSOs) on the road in daily, all-weather commuter duty for roughly three years.

 

In '98-99 I was head mechanic at GT Bicycles for the mountain bike team. Free tools from whomever I asked, including Park. Full pro bike shop in my garage. Thems were the days. Anyway, when I retired from racing, I sold all my bike tools and equipment. A few years ago I got back into cycling and bought a Spin Doctor Team 33 kit from Performance. Served me well. I have only needed to pick up a few other specialized wheel building tools since then. On sale for $109 today as it turns out.

Nothing dumber than paying your LBS $10 to remove a freewheel that you could do with a $12 tool, forever

 

So I exchanged saddles today and one dude tried to sell me on a $500 video-fit to adjust my saddle, lol. It took all the professional courtesy I had to not laugh in his face. "If you have discomfort you can't just move the saddle without a full analysis blah blah blah". Cycling, lol.

I just realized why bicycle shops treat me like an idiot. After a year on the bicycle observing at least one adult man unable to change a flat tire/swap a tube ready to call for help and several adults essentially panic because they can't use a barrel adjuster and then drop the bicycle to pay someone to turn a barrel adjuster, it's starting to make sense now.

 

So what you are saying is that people riding expensive *** bikes generally pay other people to do their maintenance on them. Same as people who generally own high end cars.

 

That would not be true in my case. I own a high end bike and do my own maintenance. In fact, on my previous bike, I assembled it the first time as well.

What has kind of surprised me is the large number of guys on MT who ride. I was not expecting to find others that had the dual hobbies of Miata-turbo and Road Riding. However, due to time constraints, when I get my turbo build complete, I plan to return to the single hobby of riding.

 

Not just the expensive ones. I know this sounds obvious, but it's more extreme than that. Even incredibly simple things aren't done by the rider. I had a conversation last night where the guy said he felt like he was sliding forward on the saddle of his bicycle for weeks, then paid a fitter $500 to tell him to lean it back a little. This is painfully obvious to me.

I didn't realize that so many cyclists couldn't figure that out themselves.

 

same thing with all cyclists- most people can't even pump up their tires or lube the chain. they just ride around with flat tires and a squeaky chain and wonder why their bike feels so slow and shitty.


i need to get into the fitting busine$$...

 

Think about how many people maintain their own cars beyond oil changes. I bet most people can figure out how to muddle their way through a tube change with a couple of kitchen spoons and a free afternoon, but derailleur adjustments are outside the grasp of your average person. We are viewing the maintenance aspect of cycling after coming from building race cars which is more than unfair.

 

Chain tool? I replaced the original 18 year old chain and 18 year old tires on my wife's Specialized last month with a dremel cut-off wheel, a drift, a punch, a pair of needle nose pliers and a couple of open end wrenches. I think I used more tools out of my AR15 armors tool kit than I did my Craftsman roll-away.

I'm enjoying reading and learning but beyond that, I'm pretty sure I have no real business in this thread

 

I've been trying to get the green car running for six months, lol. It must be something else.

 

Yeah how long did it take you and how many curse words did you use? chain tool makes it a simple 5 minute job without wanting to giveup and hangyourslef with the chain.

 

chain and spoke tools are the only real bike tools that I would suggest having to get started and then buy what tools you need as you need them.

There are so many proprietary tools because there is no standard that you can spend a fortune buying a mechanics kit and only end up using 1/3 of it as has been said above.

Some tools I would suggest getting something good, like a hex set, spoke tool and screwdrivers. Others just get the cheapest thing you can find on ebay, like a chain whip.

something I have noticed is that not all screwdrivers -even high quality ones- fit well into bike limiter screws. This is something I would still suggest looking into over what you might have. I personally have a rounded limit screw on my front and rear derailleur because of my craftsman screw drivers. They simply do not fit well into the screw.

 

I just posted this on another forum, it should make Emilio really happy:

As a road cyclist, it is my duty to be smug, and unrepentantly pursue the "pro" state of being, and exceed that to a degree at the hobbyist level which rewrites the book on casual road cycling. With a dedicated spirit and lust for the goal, coupled with contempt in my heart, I can attain a state of being so pro that it exceeds pro peloton levels; oh to be more "pro" than an actual professional. Then just maybe, if the cosmos aligns, I can be out there, gasping for air on a cat-5 climb, gasping for air at sub-1000', a pro might drive by in a car and think, I wonder if I know that guy, he looks pro." Then, although I'll be ignorant to the ebb-and flow of energy, the whims of the great magnet, I will have obtained a degree of fitness that exceeds the potentials of fitness and strength, I will "look pro".

You too can be "pro". It doesn't take a $10k bicycles, Campagnolo (it sure helps), nor does it require Rapha (but seriously, lol @ troglodytes riding on SRAM). It takes is an unrelenting respect for the rules and the commitment that holds you to standards which exceed them.

So I hope I've enlightened you and eased the burden of course attitudes you have toward cycling and that you've now realized that anyone with a smug attitude and a saddle bag or mismatched components should be immediately disarmed by the rules. I also hope that you have learned that although speed and endurance are paramount, the strongest cyclist in the pack is no greater than the depraved chi of his bicycle affixed with a saddle bag.

 

Hipster-esque glory is coming, cycling bros. Prepare yourselves.

 

Prepare yourself for poverty SRAM.