monogodo

This thread on Bike Forums reminded me of a story:

13+ years ago, when I was a bicycle mechanic, I had a regular customer who had just bought his first high-end bike. It was a classic Guerciotti frame with Campagnolo Record components. Campy is extremely proud of their products, and they put either their name or a 'C' on everything. One day, I was repacking the bearings in one of the parts (head set, bottom bracket, hubs, I can't remember which), and he was back in the shop watching. He was one of the few customers I didn't mind back there, because he knew to stay out of the way, and actually had intelligent questions about what I was doing. I didn't mind showing him how to work on the bike himself, because I figured it'd make my job easier.

So as I'm working on cleaning up the parts, I had some ball bearings laying on a soft cloth on the work bench. I pointed them out to him that they were Campy bearings.

He picked one up and was looking at it, and asked what made it different.

I told him that Campy bearings are different because they have the Campy 'C' laser etched onto the surface of each bearing. The other mechanic heard me and was trying to keep from laughing.

The guy was rolling the ball around the palm of his hand, looking really close, and just as I'm about to let him off the hook, he shouts out, "I see it!"