TIL a customer's 'tuned up' bike had the front brake cable routed on the wrong side of the head tube.

It was a basic hybrid, and they'd paid a shop $75 for a full service, but the cable was rubbing the frame paint raw. I see this maybe once a month from DIY jobs or other shops. Is routing brake cables just not taught anymore, or do people genuinely think it doesn't matter where they go as long as they're connected?

2 comments

2 Comments

mary_schmidt761mo ago

See this everywhere now, not just bikes. People skip the basics. Watch a guy at the hardware store put a lock on his shed door upside down so it doesn't latch. My neighbor installed his own doorbell and the button just clicks loosely in the hole. It's like the simple, obvious step of checking how something should actually work gets lost in the rush to just get it done.

sarahc531mo ago

Ugh, totally feel this. I once spent a whole afternoon putting together a bookshelf and was so proud until I realized I put the back panel on the inside. All my books just pushed right through. Why is the final "does this actually function" check so hard to remember? I get so focused on following the steps I forget the point of the thing.