What is your process for building up preassembled bicycles? What check list do you go through, beginning with opening the box to setting it out for sale? Please be as precise at possible. References are great! -FTU
Building preassembled Bicycles.
- Thread starter FasterthanU
- Start date
FasterthanU said:
Got a good, reputable shop around? Perhaps talk to one of the ranking wrenches and see if you can watch and ask questions as he builds a bike outta a box. Hopefully a shop that actually puts some time and effort in a new bike build, not just pieceworkslaptogether type builds.
I'm working at my LBS. I need outside opinions. I'm looking to improve our level of service. Please. -FTU
What brands of bikes are you working on?FasterthanU said:
YOU should keep a log/notebook of what you do for the various bike brands & models (in particular) so you can anticipate which ones need limited tweaking and which ones might as well be stripped down & rebuilt from scratch (if any) to meet whatever standard you want to achieve.
LUBE the cables ... that's something that most bikes can probably benefit from.
FasterthanU said:
Doubt the bike shop will want to do this but disassemble each bike, hubs, headset, BB, and reinstall properly with grease and good adjustment. True/round/dish/tension and stress relieve the wheels with the tires off.
Basically do an overhaul on each new bike.
The question does not seem to have been what should the ideal bike shop do...
It was "What is your process for building up preassembled bicycles?"
We could all sit and dream about how a shop should polish each bearing and then carefully coat it with the best grease available in the finest clean room before gently placing it into the polished race... Then tightening each bolt with a torque wrench that is calibrated each morning...
But I think bringing this down to what will actually happen might actually answer the question.
It was "What is your process for building up preassembled bicycles?"
We could all sit and dream about how a shop should polish each bearing and then carefully coat it with the best grease available in the finest clean room before gently placing it into the polished race... Then tightening each bolt with a torque wrench that is calibrated each morning...
But I think bringing this down to what will actually happen might actually answer the question.
dgregory57 said:The question does not seem to have been what should the ideal bike shop do...
It was "What is your process for building up preassembled bicycles?"
We could all sit and dream about how a shop should polish each bearing and then carefully coat it with the best grease available in the finest clean room before gently placing it into the polished race... Then tightening each bolt with a torque wrench that is calibrated each morning...
But I think bringing this down to what will actually happen might actually answer the question.
When I ran service in a bike shop that sold bikes outta boxes, that's exactly what we did. Not the clean room stuff, but we took the new bikes apart(regardless of price of each), OVH everything ball bearing, trued/rounded/dished/tensioned and stress relieved all the wheels. It was a response to really crappy assembly by the factory and a recognition that time/money spent up front saved money in the long run.
What actually happens, by normally the guy that is the lowest in food chain, is that new bikes are assembled poorly, the customer sees that it works poorly, and after a few trips to the bike shop with no relief, they hang it up and go play tennis.
Any others? Thanks for the responses so far. I'm still looking to find out more about the typical process that shops go through for bikes in the 200 to 400 dollar range. What is the typical shape of the bikes that come into the shop. What do you do to them? The shop I work at sells Diamondback Edgewoods, Wildwoods, Response Sports, and the like. We adjust everything and true the wheels, but that's basically it. In the two months that I have been working, warrantee tuneups have not revealed any huge fallbacks to how we set them up. However, I feel when it comes to optimum performance, we really fall short. Thanks for your time. -FTU
bicycle mechanic schools have a checklist and order of operations... adds justify-ability to the assembly process if you always follow one of those 'industry standards'...
if mounting in stand with seatpost inspect seat tube/seatpost fit, install & lube seat & post, mount in stand, inspect paint & equipment for deficiencies
install front wheel, check the fork for gross alignment issues
check the chainline and rear triangle for gross alignment issues
(usually no reason to continue if the frame and fork arent alright)
drop the wheels, check the dropouts of frame and fork, if they need extensive adjustment put wheels back in and recheck, drop wheels, adjust the hubs, peel off the rubber, true round dish wheels, remount rubber and inflate, recheck true & round, esp. tire seating...
check fixing bolt for brakes, lube cantilever brake bosses, lube fixing hardware for brake pads, lube cable fixing hardware
remove crank, check bottom bracket installation paying attention to fixed cup
check headset for proper install add lube if nec.
reinstall cranks with proper lube or thread lock or clean & dry as nec., lube front der. fixing hardware, adjust position, lube & install pedals as nec.
setup/inspect check fixing bolts for handlebars/stem/shifters/levers, lube & trim cables as nec. adjust brakes, lube shifter cables as nec. lube cable fixing bolt on rear der., adjust front and rear deraileurs
drop the bike from the stand and adjust headset
test ride the bike, check handling, braking, shifting, check headset adjustment with bike on the floor, return to stand and recheck hubs, bb, wheels for needed adjustment, 2nd testride is sometimes required after adjustments
please feel free to post any steps i have missed, its been years since i worked in the shop...
all's'miles
curby
if mounting in stand with seatpost inspect seat tube/seatpost fit, install & lube seat & post, mount in stand, inspect paint & equipment for deficiencies
install front wheel, check the fork for gross alignment issues
check the chainline and rear triangle for gross alignment issues
(usually no reason to continue if the frame and fork arent alright)
drop the wheels, check the dropouts of frame and fork, if they need extensive adjustment put wheels back in and recheck, drop wheels, adjust the hubs, peel off the rubber, true round dish wheels, remount rubber and inflate, recheck true & round, esp. tire seating...
check fixing bolt for brakes, lube cantilever brake bosses, lube fixing hardware for brake pads, lube cable fixing hardware
remove crank, check bottom bracket installation paying attention to fixed cup
check headset for proper install add lube if nec.
reinstall cranks with proper lube or thread lock or clean & dry as nec., lube front der. fixing hardware, adjust position, lube & install pedals as nec.
setup/inspect check fixing bolts for handlebars/stem/shifters/levers, lube & trim cables as nec. adjust brakes, lube shifter cables as nec. lube cable fixing bolt on rear der., adjust front and rear deraileurs
drop the bike from the stand and adjust headset
test ride the bike, check handling, braking, shifting, check headset adjustment with bike on the floor, return to stand and recheck hubs, bb, wheels for needed adjustment, 2nd testride is sometimes required after adjustments
please feel free to post any steps i have missed, its been years since i worked in the shop...
all's'miles
curby
curby said:
The most ignored aspect of new bike builds, IMO, are attention to the wheels. Most are machine built and undertensioned. Components aren't the problem, the build is. I would add take the tires off, true, round, dish, tension and stress relieve the wheels. Also talc the tube before putting the tire back on.
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