PSA: The guy who brought a Walmart bike into my shop and said 'just tighten everything'

He got mad when I told him the bottom bracket was completely seized and the frame was bent, insisting I could fix it for the $20 he had in his pocket, which happened last Tuesday in Omaha.

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.margaret1mo ago

The frame was bent" is the part that gets me. I saw a video once where a bike mechanic explained that a bent frame is basically a death sentence for the bike. It's not just a simple fix, it throws the whole geometry off and makes it unsafe to ride. Dude thought twenty bucks was a magic wand. Some people just have no idea what actually goes into repair work.

william_harris1mo ago

Man I gotta admit, I used to be one of those guys who thought you could just bang a bent frame back into shape and call it good. I remember I had an old Schwinn back in high school and I hit a curb and bent the top tube a little. I just grabbed a hammer and thought I was being smart. Then I took it to a shop years later and the mechanic there basically told me the same thing you're saying. He showed me how the wheel was off center by almost an inch and the bike would never ride straight again. That video you saw is dead on. Once that metal is bent and stressed, it's never the same. Twenty bucks is a joke for that kind of damage.

paige3311mo agoMost Upvoted

Bent frames are a total write-off.