Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
I seem to be the 'bike guy' at work. My workmates, who are generally athletic and earn a decent wage ask me for advice on bikes. None of these folks are racers. They are weekend pleasure riders and fair weather commuters.
The request for advice usually happens when they take their 10-year old road bike with a 9-speed drivetrain to their local shop for spring adjustments or a new chain.
They come back to me fussed because the shop told them that 9-speed parts are hard to find, are obsolete, and to upgrade their bikes to the new 11-speed standard would cost more than it is worth. The recommended solution is that the shop would give a small nominal credit for their bike as a trade-in, and that they should buy a new bike. From them.
Again, my workmates are not riding ancient beater bikes here, but 10-year old bikes with strong dual pivot brakes, integrated brake/shift levers, decent wheels and light alu framesets with carbon forks.
So what started out as a $75 chain replacement and tune-up turns into a $2,500 decision.
The steady 'progress' from 9 to 10 to 11 speed allows the shops and manufacturers to make this pitch.
So how is this hard sell not just marketing crap?
The obvious solution is to learn to self-wrench. Or you could do it for them/show them how in exchange for beer (or whatever your own vice of choice may be). 9-speed stuff isn't that hard to find at all. Chains certainly shouldn't be a problem.
It really sounds like their LBS is trying to take them for a ride. Maybe the biggest favour you could do these guys is direct them to a shop that won't try and pull that. Nobody at any of my 2-3 different locals has ever tried to upsell me on my late-90s 8spd Campy and that stuff is damn near gold dust.