He brought them back on Monday... and wow! They looked like they were brand new! Being a machinist in his past life, he's pretty good with attention to detail. So with everything now operating within their designed specifications, the bikes are a pleasure to ride. They were even before this, but now they are like new!
He replaced some parts, and even installed new hand grips. This type of service at the shop where he works would normally cost about $200 CAD ($150 USD) per bike, but he did the work at home so all we had to do was pay for parts ($67 CAD, $50 USD)... and make him a nice steak dinner which we will enjoy with him and his girlfriend Brenda this evening!
Thanks Colin... great job!
So we wasted no time and went for a nice bike ride yesterday morning down to the Morris Island Conservation Area.
We did 19 kms (12 miles) down to Morris Island and back.
The Ottawa River.
A beautiful day.
That's a lot of turtles!
I count 14 of them!
Turtles on top of turtles!
This one is funny.
The other side of the river is the province of Quebec.
Pond.
Duck.
Snakes. One is still in the shade of the rock.
Beautiful area.
One of these days we will take the kayak down there and paddle around.
After that, we rode back to the house and had a bite to eat before heading down to Ottawa to visit Ruth's father.
While she was doing that, I took the little red car into a tire shop to have the valve stem replaced. I am so out of touch with prices up here in Canada... I couldn't believe that it cost $43 CAD ($33 USD) to replace a valve stem on a tire that I had already removed and brought into their shop. $30 labor for a kid to take a half an hour to do the job, then $8 for the new valve stem, then $5 tax. Unreal. Fortunately, I'm not paying for it... the rental company had already agreed to reimburse me.
We've decided that we will be bringing Sherman over to his new owners tomorrow (Friday) not today. We had removed everything from the lower compartments and some of it needs to go back in so we need to sort through everything to do that.
Another beautiful sunny day... forecast high of 30C (86F).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solar Hand Crank Emergency Weather AM/FM Radio with Light and Phone Charger. Super Cheap! Already on sale, plus take another 60% off at checkout using coupon code XUZVIHFZ
And in Canada...
We love that conservation area. We were there in the spring, time to make a summer visit.
ReplyDeleteRepairs are insane! Our car needs a new muffler but we're trying to postpone it as long as we can. My partner is a small engine mechanic. He is getting a lot of business this summer as the big boys have put their prices up significantly while M. has held his at last years rate.
We really enjoy going there too. I have been going there since I was a child. I have many good memories of walking the trails with my mother before it was even officially the Morris Island Conservation Area.
DeleteYep, prices have sure been going up steadily in the past few years.
I think your partner has the right idea, keep your prices down below your competitors and do quality work and you will never have to worry about not having work. :-)
I needed a tire patched the other day. Went to Peerless and was quoted $20 and 45 minute wait. So I drove over to a little llanteria i had noticed down the street; $8 and 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAmazing what the difference in price was! We were thinking that we would have paid about $100 pesos or less for that same job in Mexico. We miss Mexico! :-(
DeleteThe worse part of that mechanic issue is that the "kid" (my son does this every day so I used quotes as he's not really a kid..) only gets paid $16 an hour so the labour markup is really horrible.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working in a shop at 20 years old I think I made $2.50 an hour. Because that's what the "kid" made in those days. Maybe he should open his own shop so that he can make the big money!
DeleteWhoa! Must have been a warm day to entice the turtles and snakes to do some sunning?! Never seen that many turtles sharing one spot at the same time. Nice.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a warm day and that was still in the morning around 10:30am or so. This conservation area always has lots of turtles and snakes around.
DeleteLove the turtle photos! Glad you got the bikes tuned up. The great price you got for that helps make up for the valve stem repair (and you're getting reimbursed for that anyway).
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily!
DeleteIt is definitely nice to know somebody in the business of tuning up bicycles and we actually have two family members that do it. We were more than happy to make a delicious steak dinner in return.