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?
You know, I see these stories a lot on BF. Whereas IRL I have never in my life encountered a bike shop, or even heard stories from people of a bike shop, where trying to sell people who come in tune-ups on upgrades is a thing that's done. And it's not as though I don't hear complaints about local bike shops. This just isn't one of them. Every bike shop I have ever seen keeps 9-speed cassettes and chains in stock, because there are a lot of bikes out there with 9-speed drivetrains.
It's a wide world. There's no doubt that this happens. But by and large, I'm calling this as BS. These stories
simply don't make sense from the business perspective of a bike shop. Getting people to accept the $75 for a tune-up is hard enough. Aggressively selling upgrades would be a disaster.
I don't believe you, Dave. I think you are, willfully or not, greatly inflating what you have heard to match up with your perception of reality. I don't believe you. Period.