That moment you realize a customer's "adjustment" was actually a 2mm Allen key jammed in the derailleur

I run a small shop out of my garage in Portland, and last Tuesday a guy rolls up with his bike making this awful grinding noise. He says he tried to adjust the shifting himself after watching some YouTube video. I flip the bike over and there's a 2mm Allen key stuck between the rear derailleur cage and the pulley. He must have dropped it in there while messing with the limit screws and just left it. Took me about 20 seconds to pull it out with a pair of needle-nose pliers. The whole time he's standing there looking embarrassed. I charged him $10 just for the lesson. Has anyone else pulled something weird out of a customer's bike that they accidentally left in there?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlesj464d ago

Hold on, that's a 2.5mm Allen key that fits most derailleur limit screws, not 2mm. Those little ones are super easy to drop in there, though, I've done it myself and had to fish one out. Charging him ten bucks for that lesson was honestly pretty generous, lol.

olivere304d ago

Jammed a 2.5mm Allen key into a disc brake bleed port once by accident... thought I was being slick and saved two minutes. Took me an hour to get it out with a magnet and a lot of bad words. Really makes you appreciate the little rubber plugs they put in there, you know? I'd pay ten bucks just to not have that memory pop up in my head again.