Had to explain to a customer why their new fancy groupset didn't fix their squeaky bottom bracket

Guy comes in all proud with a full Ultegra group he bought online, wants me to install it. Says his old bike is noisy. I'm thinking chain, derailleur, normal stuff. After he leaves, I put it on the stand and the squeak is still there. Bottom bracket was the issue all along. Took me 5 minutes with a park tool to confirm. He spent like $800 on a groupset when a $30 bearing swap would've done it. Kinda felt bad but also he didn't ask. Anyone else have customers throw money at the wrong problem?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethp2612h agoTop Commenter

Buddy of mine had a similar thing happen. He bought a used road bike, thought the creaking was from the pedals so he dropped $150 on some fancy SPD-SLs. Took it to a shop later and it was just a loose crank arm bolt. Tightened it in like ten seconds. Felt like a total idiot. He tells that story every time someone mentions bike repairs now.

charles_kim1h ago

Wait seriously? I always thought it was the pedals too, you just changed my whole view on this.