I should just buy a bearing puller


It's not a cheap sport, but it's not as expensive as owning a boat. That said, if you want to have a bike that feels good, spend the money. A well-functioning bike is lovely. A poorly-functioning bike sucks.

In the past I have come out of a shop and said, "Man this shit is expensive."

However, I have never then gotten on my bike and said, "Damn this bike rides like new, I should have spent less so I can have a shitty ride today."

$500 maintenance on 27 park days is pretty low, all things considered. If you go get 27 lunches at Panera you're almost at that number.
 
It's not a cheap sport, but it's not as expensive as owning a boat. That said, if you want to have a bike that feels good, spend the money. A well-functioning bike is lovely. A poorly-functioning bike sucks.

In the past I have come out of a shop and said, "Man this shit is expensive."

However, I have never then gotten on my bike and said, "Damn this bike rides like new, I should have spent less so I can have a shitty ride today."

$500 maintenance on 27 park days is pretty low, all things considered. If you go get 27 lunches at Panera you're almost at that number.
27 lunches at Panera? I would never pay a restaurant to make food that i can make better myself for much less money. Why would anyone do that?
 
27 lunches at Panera? I would never pay a restaurant to make food that i can make better myself for much less money. Why would anyone do that?
You don't pay them for good inexpensive food. You pay them to make the mediocre food instead of you making it.

It's like Charlie Sheen on hookers: "I don't pay them for sex, I pay them to leave after."
 
Or buy this:

Ratchet set
Threaded rod with nuts and washers
Hammer
Flat blade screwdriver
Cement anchors (bearing puller if screwdriver and hammer can't be used)

$50? Guessing most people already have half that stuff.
 
I bought a new rear shock. Have I built FS bikes before? Yes. Have I installed rear shocks before? Yes. Have I had troubles with bushings and spacers before? Yes. Will I take it to someone knowledgeable to swap shocks for the 1st time on my Pivot? Yes.
Peanut butter cups, gummy bears, and cash be damned, it’ll be done right. I don’t want to F it up yo, nothing wrong with take it to someone you trust (at least the first time) and buck up.

It’s pretty possible to muck up the whole works even with a bearing puller.
 
Slide hammer and the above-mentioned bearing presses will give you everything you need to do a complete bearing service. I spent nearly a decade working in a bike shop and before that, my dad had his auto repair shop that I worked at from like 7 until I was 17. My wife says I can fix anything, as I spent the last 30 years designing and building industrial machinery.

That being said, I sweat every time I do this. Also, go buy a bunch of different penetrating sprays. Be prepared to spend the better part of the day doing it (for a full service, I do the BB too). When you do a task once or twice a year, you're not very proficient so it takes a bit longer. Of course, I've had a bearing fall apart during the frame extraction and I was lucky to have created the tiniest space to get some small hardened pry bars (I had these from setting microprocessors on military guidance systems) that allowed me to get the outer race free. What a PIA! Oh and that suspension retrofit on a Trek where the shock pivot is offset.... I just happen to have a machine shop to make the offset bushings.

Maybe the point here is, that experience and resources don't come cheap. Between my son and I, we have a small army of bikes so I do most work myself. If I had 2 or 3 I'd just drop them off and let someone else worry for me.
 
Slide hammer and the above-mentioned bearing presses will give you everything you need to do a complete bearing service. I spent nearly a decade working in a bike shop and before that, my dad had his auto repair shop that I worked at from like 7 until I was 17. My wife says I can fix anything, as I spent the last 30 years designing and building industrial machinery.

That being said, I sweat every time I do this. Also, go buy a bunch of different penetrating sprays. Be prepared to spend the better part of the day doing it (for a full service, I do the BB too). When you do a task once or twice a year, you're not very proficient so it takes a bit longer. Of course, I've had a bearing fall apart during the frame extraction and I was lucky to have created the tiniest space to get some small hardened pry bars (I had these from setting microprocessors on military guidance systems) that allowed me to get the outer race free. What a PIA! Oh and that suspension retrofit on a Trek where the shock pivot is offset.... I just happen to have a machine shop to make the offset bushings.

Maybe the point here is, that experience and resources don't come cheap. Between my son and I, we have a small army of bikes so I do most work myself. If I had 2 or 3 I'd just drop them off and let someone else worry for me.

I want to say by the time someone brings in a bike for a bearing service, you'll always have 1 or 2 bearings break apart while removing. I actually like it when people want to do this kinda shit on their own because I honestly have better things to do with my time 🤣
 
Its rewarding to lean how to maintain your bike and build up a little tool collection of bike specific tools. And personally I wouldn't want to go into the wilderness on equipment that I don't know how to fix myself. That being said, there is no shortage of people who have no desire to do that sort of thing and just want to ride and they will pay that bill with no questions asked. I don't fault the shop at all(except for the brake coating thing). I'm sure the majority of customers just blindly go for it.
 
I want to say by the time someone brings in a bike for a bearing service, you'll always have 1 or 2 bearings break apart while removing. I actually like it when people want to do this kinda shit on their own because I honestly have better things to do with my time 🤣
I feel like you are targeting me... except I'm worse and will ride things until the bike won't function and then you can't fix it because all the bolts are seized up. Your latest pb blaster fix to the vpp clunk on my blur is still holding up. Whatever you did made it go away :).
 
I feel like you are targeting me... except I'm worse and will ride things until the bike won't function and then you can't fix it because all the bolts are seized up. Your latest pb blaster fix to the vpp clunk on my blur is still holding up. Whatever you did made it go away :).

Your bike is actually a lot better than what most people bring me 😂
 
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