I apologize (mostly to myself, I suppose) for violating my self-imposed one-for-one posting rule of contributing something worthwhile to the list, and only then slipping in a shill for my ebay auctions. A major problem for me is that a) I get the digest version of CR & b) they arrive in somewhat random order sometimes and c) by the time I catch up, all the good issues that I could speak too are, well, hashed. But try I must, so here goes:
Bike Shops damaging frames/bikes: I'm sure some of you will enjoy/shudder at this tale, I will endeavour to tell it quickly and without hand gestures. It's 1971, I'm working at a Reno Schwinn dealer who also employs a longtime worker, who suffers the misfortune of being deaf and mute and a racial minority. Okay,pre-P.C. then, we called him Chester, the deaf-mute Indian. A customer arrived holding a spanking new, but raw, Ron Cooper road frame desiring HS & BB install. I was absent that morning, so the job fell to Chester, who could work on Varsities all day, but high-end stuff, maybe no. Customer was told to come back in an hour. Chester proceeded to clamp the frame. Yes, you know what. He then proceeded to try to install the BB without "chasing & facing" and worse, he was not hip to LH threads on the RH fixed cup. Yes, again. He spun and he spun and pushed and yea, he did come to bring mighty blows to the tool with a hammer, in order to get the threads to start. He succeeded in stripping the BB shell. Yes. Chester had, well, not communicated he was having difficulty. Finally he gestured for the shop owner to come look. When the customer returned, imagine his face when handed his frame, mangled decals and stripped BB shell, and was told graciously by the cigar-smoking shopowner: "there's no-charge" since "there appeared to be a problem". The customer, shaken to his core, simply left. Our woeful tale does not end there, however. Our victim proceeded to another shop in town, showed them the result of the first shop. The mechanic there smugly implied he should have come to his shop first, but, no worries, he could fix it. Customer leaves frame to be fixed. Did the 2nd mechanic a) send the frame to a framebuilder for repair and repaint? b) re-thread the BB shell to Italian threading ( which can, if one is lucky, work since 36mm is more than 34.8mm. but not recommended) or c) EPOXY the RH cup into the shell, and proceed with installing the BB. Well, "c" might have worked, if mechanic #2 had taken the time to clean out all traces of grease and oil and whatnot. Alas, he did not. So he charged the customer for the repair and customer proceeded to build up the bike with hopeful expectation, however numb from the experience. He goes for his first real ride. Something goes awry after a few miles. More so as he continues. Yes, the RH cup is oozing from the shell and comes completely out. After several long deep breaths, the frame ended up at Della Santa's house and the best Rollie could come up with on short notice was to drill and tap the shell for some set screws. Somewhere out there, there is a large Ron Cooper, with mysterious allen screws protruding from the the shell. I keep hoping to see it on E-bay. Watch for it.
And speaking of clamping frames and ruining decals, here's a fun thing to make. As was previously told, having something to clamp into the stand so you can hang a bike "by its' (saddle) nose" for quick on & off jobs is a great idea. Here's my groovy tip. It just so happens that most 3/4" PVC plastic plumbing pipe has the same inside diameter of a handlebar, and with but two short 3-4" lengths and a 90 elbow and pvc glue, you make something with a vertical and horizontal aspect to clamp into your stand and hang the bike by the saddle nose. Why is PVC pipe important? Because you can slip a chrome plated (I used Cinelli, natch) bar tape plug in the open ends, after you paint the assemblage whatever color ( I went with gloss black) you like to disguise its PVC-ness, and with the chrome plugs, it looks so cool to the customer. Every stand owner should have one. The framebuilders and wannabee out there: File those "lug" edges down nice and purty, wontcha?
Lastly: Campy Crank breakage. I'm not litigious in the least, but it amazes
me no one ever attempted a class-action suit against Cramp-an-go-slo for the
crank issue. As a dealer, for years I just shrugged it off, as Campy did not
respond to customer service stuff like that, and life went on. But I join
the Greek (Italian?) chorus in enjoining the continued use of those infamous
cranks. I have read all the postings with care. Some interesting, creative
ideas out there, but I don't give a hoot about
stress -risers, -cycles, -fractures, when it is/was clear the cranks were
underdesigned for their intended purpose and yet we all just kept on buying
them...That to me is the real issue. How come no one held Campy accountable?
Blind loyalty? Why are we so quick to blame the victim here? Skip ahead to
three years ago and I am riding my old Cinelli with 1980's vintage NR cranks
in a local club race. The pack jumps at the bottom of a hill and a few pedal
strokes later, I find myself testing the punching shear strength of 4"
highway asphalt with the pedal attached to my right leg. The rh pedal hole
cracked open & let go of the pedal. (In an amazing co-incidence, within a
few feet of where 20 years earlier in the same club race and course, I
"unwound" a old (pre-Nuovo) record BB spindle ON THE SAME BIKE. Literally
put a spiral fracture into the outboard LH side. But this time, multo
differenso.) I fell hard to my right side, cracked my helmet apart and
ground off half of a perfectly good NR rear derailleur. I mean, the pack was
moving pretty fast. I also ended up in the hospital with an MRI, and could
not even sit on my saddle for almost 6 months. My L4/L5/S1 vertebrae were
all screwed up. Life is tough when you crash at age 50. Thumbing back
through a contemporary catalog, I read about a lifetime guarantee, not the
three years they give us now. In retrospect to be fair, there were creaking
noises I could never stop and I thought I checked everything. The crack
eluded my sloppy eyes. And the squeak went away when I dosed various parts
with (I know, I know) WD-40 to see if I could figure it out. Looking at the
now 2-piece crank, it is easy to see the "old" creaking crack, and then the
new bright metal "new" area causing the final failure. So word up, folks. I
love my classic Cinelli every bit as much as you do what is your stable, but
do yourself a favor. Take them cranks off, clean them thoroughly and look
for suspicious stuff. Pay attention to creaks and squeaks. And do like
Lance: sit and spin more, like you are supposed to. Don't be a victim like
me.
Buon Fortuna e Notte.
Ricardo Bulissimo, Verdi, Nevada
-back to lurking I promise.