Yeah, if I take 10 pounds of air out of the tires on one bike, I can give it a totally different feel. I don't do this because I show the customer how I set the bike up, including the air pressure, but if I wanted to I could sell you a more expensive bike because I know how to make it feel different if I know what you are looking for. It goes back to when there was only one style of bike so if we were racing on bad roads, different setup (ie. experience). Today I might go from an EVO to a Synapse, or a Madone to a Domane.

These bikes are like race cars. I can put you in a race car, you drive it around and you will have no clue on setup. I can change the way the bike is set up and make it feel different. So when I am spending all this time with the customer asking questions, I am trying to see what they are looking for and giving them a frame and setup that matches that. A half mile or so of tight turning, accelerating, stopping and the like will tell you all you need to know. Riding in straight lines for an afternoon at 18mph will not tell you much of anything. And when I am doing all this, I am attempting to educate and show them what I am doing and why.

It's funny though...for some, just the process of explaining what I am doing and why is simply frightening. But these are the same folks that will walk up to you and ask, "Can I ask you a question?" They ask it, you answer it and they say, "No, that's not right." Absolutely my favorite customer interaction. I love handling that one.