I stopped riding a bike 15 years ago (I had a Fuji road bike in grad school). Now, with a young son, I am planning on starting again. After doing some reading, I'm planning on buying a single-speed, set up for freewheeling. Since this is just for once-a-week fun rides with the kid, I don't want to spend a ton of $.

I try to buy local when I can. I live in a smaller city, with two bike shops. Both places have ample stocks of the big "bike-store" brands, including models on the floor running up to $6-7K. Shop #1 is a bit more mountain-bike focused, while Shop #2 is more general. Neither one is a chain (Performance Bike or the like).

When I went into Bike Shop #1, I encountered three guys, huddled around a workbench in the back, fixing (tinkering with?) a bike. Even after trying to get their attention a few times, none of them seemed interested in talking to me, much less selling me anything.

At Bike Shop #2, I was greeted by an eager young man. He was nice enough, but -- honestly -- didn't know what he was doing (Example: He explained to me that the larger gears on the back wheel of the bike made it easier to pedal, "but it's the opposite on the front. There, the bigger the gear is, the easier it is to pedal." He persisted in saying this even after I asked him if he had that backwards. I am nobody's bike expert, but that... didn't seem right.) When I asked about a single speed bike, his response was "Why would you want one of those?" and he indicated that they had none in the shop, they'd have to order one, and that it would take 2-3 weeks (!) to get.

So, I'm now combing BD, etc. and making a decision. I'll almost certainly go back to one shop or the other for assembly and adjustment, and for part/mods. But, honestly, neither place gave me a lot of reason to want to return.

This is my first post here, and from doing some searches and reading the posts it seems like a great forum, with lots of helpful people and relatively little attitude. I hate to start off on a negative note, but I wanted to point out that "support your local bike shop" is a great principle, but only works when you have one (or two, or three, etc.) that are actually worth supporting.