Well, not much more to say about this one. By now you might have read all over numerous blogs that Busy Bee Bike Chop Shop on e6th street between Ave A and 1st in downtown Manhattan, got shut down recently because they got caught selling stolen bikes. I'm talking like ridiculously junky bikes for stupendous prices. How do I know all this? I'm a bike fan. I enter and study every bike shop I come across. And I lived on that block for almost 3 years and passed by that place repeatedly and overheard the stories told to potential customers about what they need/want/should get and for how much.
Apparently an undercover cop sold a bike to one of the employees for dirt cheap, and then some other employee got caught on a stolen bike.
I never had experience buying any stolen used piles of shit from that shop, frankly because I wouldn't trust riding on a rusty broken down wobbly janky overpriced collection of parts bolted together they call a bike they had at this shop. I value my face and limbs, so if I crash on a bike, it will be my own fault, not because my bike fell apart. But back to the shop in question. I bought some free air and a couple of tubes there a few times - so I thank them for that.
Living on the block, one day when I was building up my brand new Tonic Fallguy frame, I needed my Chris King headset pressed into the frame. This was before NYC Velo opened up 2 blocks away. My favorite bikeshop at the time was in Canarsie, Brooklyn, the good old Racers Edge, and I didn't have airfare money to buy a flight there that morning, nor did I want to go to Sid's and pay 87$ for a 1 minute job, so I decided to give Busy Bee a shot. Its a simple procedure. Headset press on, twist twist twist. Done!
Wrong.
As one of the Busy Bee bike experts tightly clamped my sexy new frame into a dirty old bike stand, I was a bit uneasy about the metal on metal tight grip. After all, it was a brand new $700 frame with a sexy battleship grey paintjob and a old unprotected metal bike stand. It was like Jaws of Life for real. But, it being a street/dirtjumper bike, I decided a lil scratch on the ol' toptube is ok by me. Fine.
Next, came out a piece of plywood. Ok. Maybe they don't have a headset press and will use a long bolt and 2 pieces of plywood to do the job. Fine.
Then... came out a hammer. I was confused.
Then... the hammer came down, and again, and again. That's when I literally leaped over the counter and grabbed the dudes hand like "WTF are you doing, SON?" He was shocked. Confused. What did he do wrong?
That is when I knew Busy Bee was not a real bike shop.
I learned my lesson that day, don't be cheap. If you deal with $800 worth of parts, treat them right. Take them to the right place with right tools if you can't do it yourself.
Busy Bee bike shop was no good, and I can't say I'm sad to see it go.
6 comments:
when ya need a fence, ya need a fence....
"WTF are you doing, SON?"
I lol'd
i miss racers edge too.
I once enjoyed watching a young mechanic handling my brake rotors with greasy hands. I also felt the pain of spending an hour fixing a rear hub issue only to find out after I left he shop that the hub body itself was cracked and loose....no wonder SS wasn't working. I don't think I ever took my bike back to a shop for repair/maintenance after these two events.
yep.
precisely the reason why nowday i have every possible tool i could need to work on my bike at home, and only go to a TRUSTED bikeshop with AWESOME mechanics if its a problem i just can't wrap my mind around.
another reason is that if you work on your bike you know how it works :) AND its fun.
off the top of my head, Dah Shop is the only place that comes to mind that fits the above requirements.
My house, or wherever Gerald is working if I'm in too deep.
That's it.
so, how did they manage to be back open for business so quickly? oh, the owner is an ex-cop, no wonder he's such a good criminal
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