My Local Bike Shop.

[stapfam]

Cycled down to the LBS this morning and it looks as though it is going to survive the Downturn in Bike shops in our area. 4 have closed this year and My LBS was in trouble. Not now. When I got there- there was a Queue. A queue of around 8 people. Only the Owner was serving as the mechanic was out the back with a father and son- Setting up the New bikes they had come to collect. Next in line also bought a bike and wanted to collect later in the day and One of the others asked me about the Glasses I was wearing. My new Rudy Projects. Gave him a good sales pitch and he bought a pair.And "While I am here" and he spent another £200 on bike parts. Next in line was upgrading his bike and "What Wheels to get?" A New set of Krysium Elites went out with him and a couple of tyres and 4 tubes and patch kit- Oh and I'd better get a new saddle wedge to go with it and a multitool and levers"

Now this is a small Shop that caters for the Club racers and enthusiasts but it does rely on the General public coming in to buy the profit making Lines. They are going to survive but I don't know if the pair of them are going to keep up with the workload they are getting.

So I only went down to pick up the 34t Sprocket for the Compact Crankset I have on the bike. I have set myself a target of Doing the Nasty hill in our area by the end of September. The hill is one I have been dreading as the gearing on the Boreas is a lot higher than the Giant fitted with a triple. So now I have no excuse- Tomorrow is The day. I will attempt this mile long 15% with a nasty 20% lip right at the end of it.

So tommorrow I will either be reporting from the Recovery room at the District Hospital- Or from Cloud 9. Or I will have failed and I'll go away and sulk for a week till I can try it again.

Addendum-Forgot to mention- The Father and son's bikes were a matching pair. The latest Giant C.F.Team frames that cost £2,000 just for the frame. The price I paid makes me realise that I got a really good deal on the Boreas. Seems that the way to get bikes- If you know what you want- Is to Custom build up on a stock frame- and the better the frame- The better the bike is going to be.

Edit- The giant bikes were nice- but the owners had cut a few corners on quality.Tiagra groupset- Aksium wheels- Non quality bars and stem And a crankset that the LBS did not offer to me as it is too heavy for a quality bike. The Giants weigh 3 lbs heavier than the Boreas and they start off with a frame and fork that is 8 ozs less than mine.

[europa]

I don't suppose you offered to do their bike fitting ... for a reasonable fee of course.

Being currently 'without a benevolent employer providing cycling funds', the idea of working in a bike shop appeals ... right up until I start thinking about some of the dills I'd have to deal with. Anyone got any thoughts on working in a bike shop (bearing in mind my only mechanical training is stuffing up my own bikes)?

Richard

[europa]

I've just noted the line under your username Stapfam - sadly, it supports your signature :D

Richard

[CrossChain]

104 degrees, coming in from a long ride at noon, went up our local climb. Half way up I thought I must be nuts...I could barely open my eyes for the salty sweat... other people play golf (apologies to jppe). I was a study in slow motion. By the time I got to the top, strangely, I loved cycling again-- though I could have used a third lung. May it be so for your Cloud 9 hill, Stapfam-- minus the lung.

Re: LBS......Don't know about Britain, but around here there are precious few little local "shoppes" or small retail businesses. Standardization and "Big Boxes" and chains have taken them away...including my favorite little bookstore.... and cycling has been so affected as well. Any LBS that can survive is worth supporting as much as possble. It took a little "mom and pop" LBS here in town to search around and find me an obscure old otherwise obsolete XT bottom bracket for my obscure old obsolete crankset; wouldn't have happened at the outlets.