Undercover mechanic: ‘I was Just Riding Along’ are not the words your bike shop wants to hear

Any mechanic that has worked in the industry for more than a couple years will have heard the immortal words “I was just riding along when…”. It’s such a well-used phrase that there are websites and YouTube channels named as such and, within the industry, it’s become known as a ‘JRA’.

JRA may be the acronym used, but what it’s really short for is any customer who is after free service work or warranty work on their bike, and isn’t being entirely honest about the cause of their ailment. 

Undercover Mechanic

Cycling Weekly's Undercover Mechanic will be publishing his thoughts on the state of the industry once a month. He's been working with bikes for over two decades, offering servicing on models from some of cycling's best (and worst) marques. You'll find him at all major trade shows and events, just don't expect him to make himself known.

In my early days, working in a local bike store, we used to clock a good JRA at least once a week. The most memorable one was when, two days after selling a young guy a mountain bike, he came back in with the rigid forks bent at almost 90°. The bike looked like a low rider. He even uttered the immortal words “I was just riding along” when this happened. Even back in the 80’s, forks could withstand more than rolling off a curb.

If you have a look around online, you’ll see all sorts of tales from riders crashing into parked cars, and then taking the bike back to the store to ask for a warranty, even though the incident had been covered in the local press. Or, there’s the classic story of a rider taking his broken bike into a store and threatening legal action, only to then admit - once asked - that he hadn’t bought the bike from that particular shop.

These are extreme cases. The most common precursor we hear from any client seeking free service work is the classic: “I haven’t ridden my bike since the last service, but…”. Given all of the metrics we can now very accurately measure on a bicycle, this doesn’t often work. We can tell if the rotors or pads are more worn, or the chain has more slack in it.

It’s not always simple though. Sometimes a bike genuinely hasn’t been ridden since the last service and there are some niggles. This is normally due to the very fact that it hasn’t been ridden since the last service. What we’re talking about here is when a summer or winter bike is retrieved from the garage, following six months of inactivity.

During that period, inevitably the brake pads will have hardened, grease in bearings will have stiffened or dried out and any corrosion from atmospheric moisture will have done its worst. In this scenario, the mechanic isn’t to blame.

If you are sidelining a bike for any length of time there needs to be some pre-emptive work done prior to putting it into storage, and then also when you return it to the road. We would advise flushing out any tubeless fluid from tires, ensuring the chain has a fresh coating of wax and all components have an anti-moisture fluid applied to them such as silicon. Taking a bike out of storage, we would refresh the tires, replace the brake blocks and clean down the brake rotors. Another thing to remember is, if you have electronic gears you need to maintain the battery, even while it’s in storage by popping it onto charge at least once a month.

I thought I would finish this month with my very favourite JRA story. 

We had just completed the handover of a brand-new, very expensive road bike. Five minutes after the customer had left, they came back in with the rear mech hanging from the chain. They insisted that the rear derailleur had just snapped off the bike whilst they were wheeling it to the car. So I played them back the CCTV footage we had of them in the car park, turning their bike upside down whilst they loaded their bags into their car, the wind blowing the bike over and smashing the rear mech. Swapping a new hanger out didn’t take long, but it’s something we would have done for free had they been honest. And I guess that’s the moral of this story. Please don’t try and con your local bike shop. They will see through it in an instant and be much less likely to help you out.