Some crappy bikes are crappy because they don't work like they are supposed to, or because they do work like they are supposed to but they are not made to work well (this actually happens: don't buy a bike from wal-mart). Some bikes are crappy because they have been modified by someone who has used parts in ways they were not intended to be used and has made the bike unsafe to ride. The first two types aren't fun to work on, because it seems that no matter how much work you put into the thing, it's not going to work well. This can be frustrating. The second type can be frustrating in a very different way.
This past week we dealt with a customer who had done some home modification to his bike, specifically intermixing some threaded and non-threaded headset and fork parts with a quill stem that was the wrong clamp size for the bar he was using. There were other problems with the bike too, and the specifics don't really matter to my point, but the bike was most certainly unsafe to ride even in the most generous judgment. The challenge, when confronted with a bike such as this in a shop, is how to deal with the bike and customer in a productive way.
There are usually three ways a confrontation (and they usually are confrontations) like this go. Either the tech refuses to even work on the bike (which leaves the customer angry and still riding an unsafe bike), or they quote a price to make the bike safe which is much higher than the customer wants to hear (which leaves the customer angry but hopefully riding a safe bike), or the tech does the work the customer asked for and the little extra to make it safe without consulting the customer (usually the case when the tech doesn't actually see the bike before it is taken in, and this tends to produce a large bill which surprises the customer and again we end up with a safe bike and angry customer). In our particular case, it was the last of these three, and our story ended with the customer refusing to pay for some of the work and parts that were done, despite the fact that the bike was unfit to ride without them.
So, what are we to do with bikes that are unsafe to ride and customers that are unwilling to pay to make them safe? The easy answer is to refuse to work on them. This may be the least time consuming and most painless way to do it, but it often means more of the same type of modification that made the thing so unsafe in the first place is about to take place.
The second two ways this can go, as mentioned above, usually go sideways because of cost. Chances are that the reason sketchy kludges exist in the first place is to save money, and cost is generally the sticking point on these types of repairs. I think that the clash comes when, in discussing the desired outcome and cost of the repair, both parties assume too much. The tech usually assumes that the customer is at best being willfully ignorant and at worst challenging their expertise. The customer, I would think, assumes the tech is trying to gouge him or her on work he or she deems unnecessary. Both of us are probably wrong.
As techs, we need to remember that some peoples' bikes inhabit places of far lesser importance than ours in their lives, and as such it can be surprising for them to learn the costs of maintaining something they regard so trivial. These customers often don't know about changing technology and prices, and the patronizing tone this often prompts in even the most sensitive techs worsens the issue. Customers need to realize, though, that bike shops do not make their profit on labour. I once read a forum post in which a rider expressed his suspicion that a shop was intentionally giving his tires slow leaks to force him to come back and spend 10 bucks every week. Obviously he should fix his own flats, as should everyone who rides more than a walking distance from home, but more importantly if he thinks shops make money from fixing flats, he is dreaming. At best we break even, usually not.
So, where are we then. Bikes need to leave the shop safe, and customers need to leave happy; but sometimes, the two are opposites. I guess communication and mutual respect might solve these problems. It seems obvious, I suppose, but it's easier said than done. Usually by the time we realize the way we should have handled a situation, the ship has sailed. Constant vigilance then, constant vigilance...
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