Finally some real work

Sitting at a desk answering e-mails is the suckiest thing I do with my day! Yet here I am writing a blog entry. What the...?

I'm not sure "suckiest" is even a word. My spellcheck says it isn't. Could that be so?

FINALLY, I have some work to do that involves working with my hands in the shop. Since I have so many folks I never knew were looking at this blog (wow 7 comments from the last blog entry), I thought I'd share some sentiments about what makes a quality professional bike assembly. Douglas Jay Berner Professional Bike Assembly (DJBPBA). I put a good deal of care into my builds that you won't find from a regular factory assembly. I deal with athletes that make their living using the bike and the best part of my job is to make sure the bike functions the best it can and I believe that can start right from the initial bike build. I can usually tell by a rider's reaction who got one of my builds compared to most shop or factory builds.


For example, I remove the screws that attach the rear derailleur hanger and the front derailleur braze on mount to the frame. Those bolts can sometimes vibrate loose. Since most athletes don't check them regularly enough, adding some blue loctite can eliminate that possibility of then loosening during a race.


I also like to cut the fork crown races so they are slotted. Why not absolutely necessary, it makes them tool free to install. If I have to replace one at a race it is easily removed with out having to carry the crown race removal or installation tools with me. Thanks to CD for this little pro trick.


Even Tristan had some busy work to do sorting the clothing. I remember a few years ago when we got rid of red/white/black color scheme to go to orange and was told we would be orange from now on. Look what color we are now. I wonder if the West Hill Shop in Putney Vermont still has the same jersey. If they do, then they win the award for keeping the same color scheme FOREVER!

Cheers,
DJB