Originally Posted by
LiteraryChic
My point/question is that, although, this guy was great, I still got the feeling that he was trying to get me to purchase another bicycle to replace mine. Although, he was very polite/understanding in the end, I still felt kind of weirded out by it (for lack of better terminology at this time of the night).
Yes, he was. That's his job. Good that he was polite and not pushy, but you gotta expect that from a store that sells new bikes.
It is my dream to one day open up a bicycle shop that offers all kinds of different bicycles/accessories/parts/services etc. to the public with only helpful and heartfelt advice/sales etc.
That's called a "bike co-op". Or perhaps a used/vintage bike/repair shop. My favorite place in the world is Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe on University Avenue in San Diego. They sell used bikes, they have buckets and boxes full of virtually free used parts, they do good repairs at great prices, and they never, ever, look down their nose at anybody's bike. They may do something like, "OK, so this is what's wrong with your bike, it's pretty bad, it will cost X to fix it, which is a lot compared to the worth of the bike. You might also consider these used bikes Y and Z over here, you would spend only a little more, and you'd get a whole bike that is better in these specific ways..."
If you put a more specific location in your profile, other BF members familiar with the area might be able to recommend a co-op or used LBS near you that you could fall in love with like I did with mine.