| This is a warning for those of you in Reading, England.
A couple of weeks ago, the headset on my Kona broke and I took it to
Berksire Cycles on Wokingham Road to get it sorted out. I know nothing
about maintenance so I had no idea what kind of job it was.
I mentioned to the mechanic bloke that I had just bought a pair of
Marzocchi DH3 forks, and I wondered whether I should replace the
headset or switch to an A-head. He told me that I should just replace
the headset because that would work fine with the forks.
So anyway, I handed over 35 quid for a Kona control centre headset
(which came loose two days later). Yesterday I took my bike to my
regular store (mountain high in Pangbourne) and asked them to service
it and fit the forks. Lo and behold, the headset was no good and I've
had to shell out another 40 quid for an A-head. Doh!
This is not the first time they've stiffed me. A couple of years back I
switched to gripshift on an old GT Timberline. They (Berkshire Cycles)
cunningly fixed an 8 speed shifter to a 7 speed cassette and didn't
bother to test it so the first time I tried to shift I was greeted by a
hideous clunking noise and no actual gear changing. It would have been
okay, but there were people watching. 8-)
Plus, in fixing the gripshift the bloke in the shop snapped my light
bracket in half. Instead of telling me, he tried to glue it back
together and I only found out when it collapsed the first time I fixed
the light on. I kid ye not.
Now I know that this all reflects very poorly on my maintenance skills,
and I am trying to do something about that, but please, fellow bikers
of Reading, do not go into this shop. 8-)
Mike
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