I went here because I needed the crank pulled on my bike. I was respraying it and thought it would be cheaper to get it pulled than to buy a crank puller I'd never use. OK, the bike frame was old, I look like a heap of the proverbial and I know nothing about bikes but I'd phoned to say I was coming and they'd agreed to do it.
The young man who served me made it clear by his manner he was being pulled away from more important work. I said couldn't remove the cables completely until the crank was out and that I'd left them attached because I wanted to reuse them. At this he rolled his eyes and said 'you can't possibly reuse cables'.
I asked him if it would be possible to remove a stuck seat post too. He tried and then said I'd need a metalworker. It would cost £20 to get it free and they had a metal worker they normally used. However, he wasn't prepared to send it over for me as it was such a small job. As it was, I sourced the metal worker myself and he did it for £10.
This may have been just one employee but he dripped contempt from every pore, leading me to conclude that he was psychologically damaged in some way.
Anyway, he charged £5 to pull the crank. Most bike shops I've ever encountered do this sort of thing for free, for the goodwill. As I had no goodwill, when it came time to rebuild the bike, I took it to Evans Cycles in the centre of Brighton. A marked contrast in attitude. They reused most of my old parts, including the cables, which were fine. They actually seemed enthusiastic about rebuilding a 25-year old bike, as opposed to the bloke at South Coast, who clearly regarded it as beneath him. The bike is now working very well and ready to face another 25 years. read more