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notes : SUMMER A man came in to pick up a repair. He had on a t-shirt, that said “When you absolutely, positively, have to have it destroyed overnight...Marines.” I said, “that’s funny. Destroyed overnight.” He looked at me for a long wide-eyed second, and volunteers, out of the blue, “I’m one hundred percent completely totally for this war, but I think that president Bush has politicized it and he’s using it for those purposes. It’s just like Vi-et-nam.” It seemed like he was feeling a little anti-administration, so I said, “I saw a great movie recently that you might be interested in, Fahrenheit 9/11.” “I think that movie’s the biggest load of crap, and just a bunch of bullshxx, why, Michael Moore is just a complete idiot and if he were here right now I’d kill him. I would kill him,” he said. “It’s all a bunch of lies and made-up shxx.” “Have you seen it?” I said. “Well, no.” I told him that it’s just a series of clips, and if anyone is lying or making stuff up it’s the people in the clips. Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Bush, Cheney, witnesses and experts, etc. “Well, I haven’t seen it and I’m not gonna see it, ‘cause I don’t want to give a dollar to Michael Moore.” “Michael Moore already has his dollar, and you should see the movie,” I told him. And then he brings some conservative apologists into the conversation, and he heard this or that on the radio, read something in the paper, etc. “See the movie,” I said. Luckily a customer came in and we were able to gracefully end the conversation, thank each other and go on with our days. But later I thought, some people are simply ruled by their emotions and no amount of reasoning or logic or even simple facts will change that. Here is a man who has quite severe and profound and actually hateful, violent opinions about something that he really doesn’t know anything about. He’s made up his mind based on (probably) heresay and (evidently) someone else’s (politically motivated) commentary. He considers himself an expert, knowledgeable and just in his opinion, and don’t bother him with the facts. There’s a word for that, it’s Ignorance. I have a newspaper clipping taped to my wall that I refer to occasionally, which is a quote from a political candidate in the last election: “Our country has serious problems and they are not the fault of the wealthy elitist, the career politician, the lifelong judge, or the Ivy League attorney. The problems in this country are the fault of the individual American, because we are too selfish, too ignorant, too petty, too apathetic, too righteous, and too afraid to be good Americans.” - Jerry Eller A
lesson for bike industry people: “They said that to you?” I asked. “Yeah they said that to me. Those guys are dishonest.” My thought was, dishonest may not
the word; try snobbish. Here’s an interesting example of factory quality control: Somebody at the old Schwinn factory decided that this joint didn’t look strong enough, and so they gobbed a little bit more steel onto it.
So, I go out, and say “hi.” “How much is this one?” she asks. I tell her. “Can I try it? I want to go on a bike ride tomorrow.” “Sure,” I say, “let me go in and get a helmet.” “Do I have to wear a helmet?” “Yes, I require that all test riders wear a helmet.” And I go inside to get a helmet and the key. When I return to unlock the bike, I notice that the tires are a little low, so I say “Let’s go inside so I can pump up the tires a bit.” “How long is this going to take?” “Just a minute or two, come on in and we can talk while I get the bike ready, and I’ll need to see your I.D.” “I don’t have time for this.” “It’ll just take a minute, then you can ride the bike.” “Oh, I just don’t have time for this.” And she gives me that perturbed look and gets back into her car and backs out of the parking. I can see her dialing on her cel phone even before she gets the car into drive.Good thing she didn’t waste any more of my time. A few years ago, working for another bike shop, I was showing a bike to a young guy, maybe 25 or 30 years old. A high-end mountain bike. Right before closing on the sale, he looks out into the parking lot, then back at the bike, then out into the parking lot, then back to the bike, and says, “do you think that bike will look cool on top of my Brand-New Range Rover?” “Yes.” I’m such a good salesman! The next day he calls me, mid-afternoon, in a terrific panic. “I took the bike up to Keystone, took the chair lift, and started riding it down the hill, and it broke!” “Oh, no! Are you all right? Tell me more!” I said. “Well, I got off the chairlift, and got on the bike, and was riding it downhill, and I hit a rock, and the fork broke.” “You ran into a rock, and the fork broke?” “Yeah, it was my first ride. That’s not supposed to happen, is it? I mean, aren’t you supposed to be able to run into rocks and the fork will take it?” “Bring it in, let’s see what we can
do about it.” Well, he brought it in, and sure enough, the Judy had broken off both stanchions right under the crown. And the gun was still smoking-the front rim had a huge dent in it, and the tire was pinch-flatted. I showed him the dent, and explained the concept of “header.” And he says, “like I said, the fork broke and then I ran into this rock, and that’s why the wheel is dented.” I gave him the estimate for repair, which was maybe $250, and he was completely flabbergasted, screaming insane, threats and attorneys, my fault, warranty, Shouldn’t Have Happened Like This! I spilled my ice cream and now I want a new one! I repeated the repair estimate, and asked him to please read his warranty. He left the bike and stormed out, and I heard from Rock Shox a few days later-they said, “we’re sending you a new fork, and you will install it and send the labor bill to us. You Will Not Speak With The Customer, just do the work and get him back on his bike.” Which I did. A week or two later I saw his car, minus the roof rack, and with some damage to the rain gutters. My guess is that he broke his fork again. Wonder who he cried to about that? More
interesting photos:
And another seat cluster. This one is big and beefy and probably investment-cast. Even the seat stays have a place to plug into. HOME
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