BeerTengoku
Maximum Pace
- Mar 14, 2021
- 291
- 454
This is not a paid promotion and has been approved by Thomas.
Some of you may have seen that I took my bike in for an overhaul - I bought my Trek Emonda SL 6 back in February 2020 and since then, it's not really seen much in the form of maintenance or care. I recently changed jobs and decided that I should treat this bike to its first maintenance. Trek themselves recommend a once a year deep clean and usually offer first time buyers a full warranty, with second owners a 3 year warranty. Thankfully the bike hasn't seen any serious damage, besides a few scuffs, so off I went to Star Bikes in Shonandai. They are an authorised Trek dealer and the owner, Uchida-san, also rides Trek bikes.
To say Uchida-san and staff are meticulous to detail is an understandstatement. Throughout the whole process, they were taking pictures of the steps that they were doing, and later these would go up on a blog post showing potential customers about what has to be done.
From a quick look over, the staff noted numerous issues that needed fixing - the main ones being the hoods + shifters, chain, and also disc rotors are out of whack. This would then later lead to other problems, with the biggest issue being the bottom bracket - it was loose. The bike has done about 7000 km since I've had it, though the staff thought it was a manufacturing defect, and they would be able to fix the issue.
Throughout the whole time, I was getting emails explaining about any problems that appeared, or decisions that needed to be made. Two of these decisions that I had to make was the glass coating and wheels. The costs were going up and I was getting worried about if it was worth actually repairing this bike, or just cutting my losses and buying a new one from the store. They do a trade-in for Trek bikes, but I wanted to keep this bike as it means a lot to me for personal reasons. The other was the wheels. Some of you may remember that I had a spoke explode on me a few months bike, and the store that repaired it didn't do a good job. The wheel had gone out of alignment and the axle had been damaged to it was going to cost some more. However, the bike deserved something new and I was also thinking about getting some tubeless compliant wheels in the future, so two birds with one stone.
Rather than just picking wheels for me, the staff emailed and gave me a few choices of wheels and their recommendation. It went for some DT SWISS P 1800 Spline - which was actually the middle priced wheel set and having ridden them once, and the smoothness of the ride, alongside how far the bike goes on a flat with minimal effort, I made the right choice.
Once the bike had been cleaned up and then the necessary changes decided, the parts were ordered and prepared. The disc rotors were in need of replacing, as well as the pads, and new cables were ordered too. It's been a long time since they were checked, so the cables were stretched and needed doing over. A new chain was ordered as the current one was too long, and also some new bar tape. It was a fair amount of ordering but Uchida-san kept me up to date with invoices and details over emails and let me know that there were some things that could be cut if needed.
Once thing that surprised me riding the bike home, was how comfortable the ride was in terms of on the hands - I didn't have any gloves on yet it felt super smooth and there was distinct lack of vibration. Apparently, the handlebars I had can use Trek's Isozone Pads. IsoZone pads help to displace vibration and a compact flare that increases wrist clearance and it was really noticeable. The next ride I put some gloves on and it was a delight to be able to use the tops for a climb up Shonandaira and not have strain or feeling heavy bumps along the way.
One month later I got my bike back - a bit longer than expected but due to the bottom bracket issue, it took longer to fix than usual. The Red Monster was looking shiny, new, and well refreshed. After a quick chat with Uchida-san about the changes made, and a quick ride around the block to make sure everything was ok, with a small change in the PSI of the tyres (went from 80 to 70), I rode her home and I'm delighted with the results. I have to go back at the end of September to make sure the cables are ok, but I would whole heartedly recommend the store if you live in the area.
Website: https://www.star-bikes.jp/
Edit: I have about 50 photos from Uchida-san, if you'd like to see them, let me know and I will write more about the shop below.
Some of you may have seen that I took my bike in for an overhaul - I bought my Trek Emonda SL 6 back in February 2020 and since then, it's not really seen much in the form of maintenance or care. I recently changed jobs and decided that I should treat this bike to its first maintenance. Trek themselves recommend a once a year deep clean and usually offer first time buyers a full warranty, with second owners a 3 year warranty. Thankfully the bike hasn't seen any serious damage, besides a few scuffs, so off I went to Star Bikes in Shonandai. They are an authorised Trek dealer and the owner, Uchida-san, also rides Trek bikes.
To say Uchida-san and staff are meticulous to detail is an understandstatement. Throughout the whole process, they were taking pictures of the steps that they were doing, and later these would go up on a blog post showing potential customers about what has to be done.
From a quick look over, the staff noted numerous issues that needed fixing - the main ones being the hoods + shifters, chain, and also disc rotors are out of whack. This would then later lead to other problems, with the biggest issue being the bottom bracket - it was loose. The bike has done about 7000 km since I've had it, though the staff thought it was a manufacturing defect, and they would be able to fix the issue.
Throughout the whole time, I was getting emails explaining about any problems that appeared, or decisions that needed to be made. Two of these decisions that I had to make was the glass coating and wheels. The costs were going up and I was getting worried about if it was worth actually repairing this bike, or just cutting my losses and buying a new one from the store. They do a trade-in for Trek bikes, but I wanted to keep this bike as it means a lot to me for personal reasons. The other was the wheels. Some of you may remember that I had a spoke explode on me a few months bike, and the store that repaired it didn't do a good job. The wheel had gone out of alignment and the axle had been damaged to it was going to cost some more. However, the bike deserved something new and I was also thinking about getting some tubeless compliant wheels in the future, so two birds with one stone.
Rather than just picking wheels for me, the staff emailed and gave me a few choices of wheels and their recommendation. It went for some DT SWISS P 1800 Spline - which was actually the middle priced wheel set and having ridden them once, and the smoothness of the ride, alongside how far the bike goes on a flat with minimal effort, I made the right choice.
Once the bike had been cleaned up and then the necessary changes decided, the parts were ordered and prepared. The disc rotors were in need of replacing, as well as the pads, and new cables were ordered too. It's been a long time since they were checked, so the cables were stretched and needed doing over. A new chain was ordered as the current one was too long, and also some new bar tape. It was a fair amount of ordering but Uchida-san kept me up to date with invoices and details over emails and let me know that there were some things that could be cut if needed.
Once thing that surprised me riding the bike home, was how comfortable the ride was in terms of on the hands - I didn't have any gloves on yet it felt super smooth and there was distinct lack of vibration. Apparently, the handlebars I had can use Trek's Isozone Pads. IsoZone pads help to displace vibration and a compact flare that increases wrist clearance and it was really noticeable. The next ride I put some gloves on and it was a delight to be able to use the tops for a climb up Shonandaira and not have strain or feeling heavy bumps along the way.
One month later I got my bike back - a bit longer than expected but due to the bottom bracket issue, it took longer to fix than usual. The Red Monster was looking shiny, new, and well refreshed. After a quick chat with Uchida-san about the changes made, and a quick ride around the block to make sure everything was ok, with a small change in the PSI of the tyres (went from 80 to 70), I rode her home and I'm delighted with the results. I have to go back at the end of September to make sure the cables are ok, but I would whole heartedly recommend the store if you live in the area.
Website: https://www.star-bikes.jp/
Edit: I have about 50 photos from Uchida-san, if you'd like to see them, let me know and I will write more about the shop below.
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