Friendly Italians

[Martin]

Arrived at Pescara airport. Assembled bike. Rode 14k, Rear mech bracket snapped off. Next morning
took to LBS. Old boy in shop spoke no English. Looked at bike, took lug off a brand new frame.
Fitted rear mech, adjusted gears, fitted new cable, mended another bike's spokes. Gave me a free
bottle. 20 euros! Top marks.

[rider]

Originally posted by Martin
Arrived at Pescara airport. Assembled bike. Rode 14k, Rear mech bracket snapped off. Next morning
took to LBS. Old boy in shop spoke no English. Looked at bike, took lug off a brand new frame.
Fitted rear mech, adjusted gears, fitted new cable, mended another bike's spokes. Gave me a free
bottle. 20 euros! Top marks.

...but hey that's a natural way of being outside the UK. So don't be surprised.
Unless of course you are criticising the way we re in the UK.

[Martin]

rider <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message news:<3f79a4de$1_2@news.chariot.net.au>...
> Martin wrote:
> > Arrived at Pescara airport. Assembled bike. Rode 14k, Rear mech bracket snapped off. Next
> > morning took to LBS. Old boy in shop spoke no English. Looked at bike, took lug off a brand
> > new frame. Fitted rear mech, adjusted gears, fitted new cable, mended another bike's spokes.
> > Gave me a free bottle. 20 euros! Top marks.
>
>
>
> ..but hey that's a natural way of being outside the UK. So don't be surprised. Unless of course
> you are criticising the way we re in the UK.

Not at all, just shows how passionate they are about cycling.

[Martin]

Martin.Malins@st-marys.nhs.uk (martin) wrote in message
news:<6398dc76.0310010923.794f854a@posting.google.com>...
> rider <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message news:<3f79a4de$1_2@news.chariot.net.au>...
> > Martin wrote:
> > > Arrived at Pescara airport. Assembled bike. Rode 14k, Rear mech bracket snapped off. Next
> > > morning took to LBS. Old boy in shop spoke no English. Looked at bike, took lug off a brand
> > > new frame. Fitted rear mech, adjusted gears, fitted new cable, mended another bike's spokes.
> > > Gave me a free bottle. 20 euros! Top marks.
> >
> >
> >
> > ..but hey that's a natural way of being outside the UK. So don't be surprised. Unless of course
> > you are criticising the way we re in the UK.
>
> Not at all, just shows how passionate they are about cycling.

but then again I can think of at least one UK shop that was not so accommadating; went in for a
spoke and they tried to sell me a pair of wheels.

[Martin]

Martin.Malins@st-marys.nhs.uk (martin) wrote in message
news:<6398dc76.0310011554.6bbafde7@posting.google.com>...
> Martin.Malins@st-marys.nhs.uk (martin) wrote in message
> news:<6398dc76.0310010923.794f854a@posting.google.com>...
> > rider <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
> > news:<3f79a4de$1_2@news.chariot.net.au>...
> > > Martin wrote:
> > > > Arrived at Pescara airport. Assembled bike. Rode 14k, Rear mech bracket snapped off. Next
> > > > morning took to LBS. Old boy in shop spoke no English. Looked at bike, took lug off a
> > > > brand new frame. Fitted rear mech, adjusted gears, fitted new cable, mended another bike's
> > > > spokes. Gave me a free bottle. 20 euros! Top marks.

Still friendly (sort of) but more odd was on arrival at Napoli airport having to queue up (15 of us)
and one at a time go into security room to have our bike bags searched and subjected to a Semtex
detector (like a cross between a hand held hoover and a tv remote control). When asked _what is in
the bag_ I replied _a bike_ rather than someting stoopid like _a tractor_ which would have got me
thrown off the flight and into custody probably if the tv programs are anything to go by. Is this
level of security normal with oversize luggage or was the xray broken?