Botched repairs

The large shop near me where my dad bought my mountain bike from uses untrained kids as cheap mechanics, they get everything wrong. I had a Marin mtb frame warrantied there so they just switched everything over from my old frame to the replacement, even though the frames were different and the new one needed a completely dfferent headset and a wider bottom bracket. I didn't find out about the bb until the crankset kept coming loose and I had great difficulty getting it off. The only part from the old frame they didn't use was the brake hose clips, they used cable ties instead. I don't go there anymore..

Not technically a repair by a shop but they one was certainly involved. A few years ago and with far less experience of bike repair, I decided that I would replace my rear brake caliper myself after it had started to seize. I went in to a "well known high street retailer" (probably the same one...), explained what I needed and walked away with what I thought was the correct part. 2 hours later and with the air around me turning a darker shade of blue, I just couldn't get the caliper attached to the bike tight enough. Although I didn't want to admit defeat, I wasn't getting any closer to resolving the issue so, tail between my legs, I wandered back to the shop with the bike and brake caliper. Almost as soon as I walked in, one of the sales assistants (a different one to the one that initially served me) looked at me and explained that I was never going to be able to attach a front brake caliper to the rear of the bike. Fuming doesn't even begin to cover it!

An old Vespa trick for fitting grips is to spray 'rattle can paint' on the iside of the grip, acts as lube and acts as glue when it dries.

I use GT85 too..... not too liberal though...... when I'm swapping out shifters on customer bikes... what I do is "tease" up an edge of the grip and spray GT85( through tube piece)between grip and bars....then use a bradawl....Bike Mechanics friend.... to go down the inside of the grip.....work the bradawl to "break" the seal and slide off..... usually if just reusing I just clean up the excess and slide the grips back on......on new grips..... a drop of washing up liquid....a drop..... massage up the bars then slide the new ones on....will be tight but not too tight to go on but tight enough not to slip......   oh no.... too many tips from within the workshop

GT85 also makes the grips stick on the bars too. Yes, I know it sounds wrong but it does work, I was doubtful when I was told but after trying it I can say it does work.

Spray a tiny amount of GT85 the grip, then slide it on the bars and into position and leave to dry. Try it and see for yourselves.

Ive always used gt85 to remove grips

Then give the bars and grips a good clean in washing up liquid and dry everything

Finally  a little spit down the grips/on the bars and twist them back on, leave for a few hours or overnight and they are good to go

Or just buy lock on grips

At a shop I used to work at, if the grips were tight to get off, the mechanic would spray GT85 inside the grips to lossen them off. This may be what they have done, and not cleaned the bars before putting the grips back on.

Are you sure it wasn't hair spray? Hair spray's a bit whiffy but it's actually pretty good for fitting grips because it effectively glues them on as it dries out.