Originally Posted by Burton

Actually my 'alternate agenda' is pretty straight forward. People on these forums seem to like posting threads criticizing WallyStores, basicly accusing them of selling cheap bikes. There is currently a thread ongoing in the Mountain Bike forum that does nothing short of complaining about inexpensive Wally city bikes that can't stand up to the abuse of mountain biking. When does owner stupidity start to count?

And then there's the comments in THIS thread about the hiring and training policies of personel, even though those same hiring and training policies are used by many LBS. For some reason I'm convinced that even if It was arranged for Park Tool to train all their employees - it still wouldn't be enough for some people.

But a number of posters in other threads have no problem justifying on-line purchases of components and even complete bikes with the explaination that they can do their own mechanics and see no point in paying a cut to a LBS for something they can do themselves.

So my suggestion is that if you don't like the products, don't whine about them. Be constructive and post an alternative that actually works for YOU. If half of what is posted in these forums was true - most BBS would be out of business already. But the truth is that the service and prices at most LBS seem to be more of an issue for many people on these forums.

And I actually thought that Raleigh was a pretty nice bike myself. My thanks to all those posters that were open enough to see it for what it was and appreciate it.