airpressure

I myself find Pheards thread quite helpful considering I will be starting a build soon.

cryptid01

You have a keen perception of the obvious, my friend.

Do you know WHY this phenomenon exists?

Defiance

When you see a post like this:

you know (or the few conceptual readers here know) that the person tried to make everything capitalized and it got caught by the filter.

Now, sunvs post doesn't even warrant all caps, let alone all caps are useless in forums.

Welcome sunv, but learn how to post by reading others. Please.

Siu, you may have your vindiction but in all honestly, Jasons post was more useful then sunvs.

And what have you learned? That things are cheaper online? Anyone who has properly shopped online knows that, and it's practically common knowledge in the computer users realm.

Siu Blue Wind

Defiance, my post and his second post came up with capitals. Or do you mean that he had it on cap lock? Anyway, it shouldn't matter if he had it on capitals..........

Jason saying "nice caps" (or however) was helpful? Gee for a second there I thought there was some fancy valve caps posted that I didn't see!

And as for airpressure, He has to learn sometime, just like we all have. Everybody starts somewhere and we should help them not put them down for learning. We should all help each other. I learned a lot here from others and I think we should pass the knowledge on without being mean. There may be something that we have heard over and over again but it might be a first time for someone else.

Defiance

I'm Testing This To See If This Works. If This Comes Out As In Partial Caps, My Point Is Proven.

EDIT: See? Try posting with caps lock on. That is what happens. That is what the guy tried to do, and it was fairly idiotic.

Jasons post may not have contributed to the thread, but neither does this. However, it proves a point that some people need to think before they post whether they are new or not.

Siu Blue Wind

Hee hee Defiance! That was cute I THOUGHT is was because of cap locks...

Anyway. I never shop online. I like to support brick and mortar shops. My nephew owns one (LBS) and if it wasn't for his regular customers, his business wouldn't exist.

Pheard

Yessir I do, it was just a complaint which I suppose alot have.

I assume because when ordering online we're eliminating the middle man. I don't know, maybe you could explain it to me.

I'll go out and get a threadless headset and start the build so people can see.

mtnbiker66

Is it just me or................. nevermind.......

mx_599

i don't believe in supporting my local shop. sorry, business is business. will they support me when i am panhandling on the street?

Jason222

+1 to everything Defiance just said

dminor 

It's really a good observation, Pheard. I have purchased a lot of parts online and many from LBSs too. With many of the parts I bought online, at the time I did not cry too much over taking the business from the LBs, as they were deals that could not be duplicated anywhere. I voted my wallet. Also, LBS I was dealing with was a local "chain" of 3 or 4 stores that at various times had very helpful, personable managers, but the owners were another story.

This of course changed when I connected with Tim at Bicycle Butler and not just because he agreed to sponsor me. He is truly a super guy and (I think) atypical of most LBS owners in our area.

I would say that a shop owner, like ANY merchant, has to EARN your respect and business - - that the mantra of "support your LBS" just because they are local rings hollow if they do not reciprocate and treat you with respect and as a valued customer.

I guess in my long-winded way, Pheard, is that I can relate because I've been in your shoes. Bike stuff is expensive and when every dollar counts, sometimes you have to follow the $.

Jason222

I only support 1 or 2 of my local bike shops. There are a few around here with really really rude employees. Mike's Bike Shop is my favourite. I don't think I'd buy anything there that I could get cheaper online though. I'd probably only buy Bontrager stuff, or whole bikes there. Everything else I buy comes from ebay.

trevor

My Friend recently bought all of the parts to a bike he was building up from our LBS and later we went to pricepoint and figured out how much it would have costed him there... he would have saved over 700 bukcs just by using pricepoint.com. ah well

Jason222

You guys think Mountain bike parts are expensive...try getting trials parts. An entry level trials bike would cost around $1500 Canadian to put together.

EJ123

Dang, I had no idea they're so expensive.

MattP.

There's an advantage of buying from you lbs though. At my shop, we know who the big spenders are, the people that come to us for their parts, and our regular customers. If they come in and need sometihng adjusted, we'll take care of it on the spot no charge, saving the customer like $20. We'll also occasionally give the regulars a discount on parts and what not.

Siu Blue Wind

good point, Matt

FrankJohns

What's your standard? I'm assuming you would agree with me that people posting pictures of their bikes is ignorant. No questions there. Nothing learned. Big deal, you have a bike. We all do. Oh great...you have this or that component or these tires. Wonderful, I saw all those at the bike shop. Who cares? Am I supposed to be envious that you have a high credit limit on your credit card so you can buy these things?

Jason222

1. You used the word ignorant incorrectly.
2. Not all of us get to see bikes on a regular basis. By us seeing what people have, we can learn about new components and advance our knowledge of biking on the whole.
3. I'm not pitting against components or bikes. I'm just saying the thread was rather pointless.

Are you going against me or with me? From this post it's hard for me to tell.

FreeRidin'

gezzz drama, drama, drama!!!

If you think a thread is pointless, DON'T READ IT!!!!!!

FrankJohns

I did not use "ignorant" incorrectly.

The question is if you are with me? If your justification for "here's my bike, so drool everyone" threads is that you don't see bikes on a regular basis, then you agree that his thread was useful because not everyone can see cool components or go to the bike store enough to keep track of the latest sales.

Jason222

He didn't post anything useful or informative. Frank you're really beginning to confuse the hell out of me.

FrankJohns

I really hate to be an antagonist, but I think people here romanticize the LBS. Your shop sounds alright, but you cannot generalize. Local bike shops can be dicks, because the are people. On the other side, the chain stores have done repairs for me for free before. Even if your LBS will save you money on repairs, my experiences is that they will compensate with parts. My LBS, who I go to often, was going to charge me $80 plus for a XT front derailleur, but I bought it for $35 from Performance.

Whether you support your LBS or not is strictly a moral a decision. To support LBSs in general on instrumental terms is to mystify reality. If there is any instrumental rationale, it is a case by case basis; you can't make a generalization that LBSs are a better deal.

FrankJohns

In 5 to 10 points, what is your criteria for a worthwhile post?

Jason222

It's on the first page.