Originally Posted by
fidodido
I went to a LBS today to check out the Trek mountain bikes for a MTB multi day tour that I hope to do this year. I was surprised that I felt I knew more about the bikes just from looking at the Trek website before going to the shop than the staff that was showing me around. I asked the staff what drivetrain the bike come with and he wasn't really sure and had to look down and gave up trying to count the number of tooth on the biggest sprocket. One of the selling feature of the bike I was looking at was the Sram 12 speed drivetrain but he didn't mention it. There weren't that many bikes on the floor, and I would have thought if he works there everyday, he would know the bike specs off by heart. Because I felt he doesn't know his stuff, I stopped asking questions to save him the embarrasment.
Whatever the reasons why staff don't know their products, I felt it was a pretty poor retail experience. I may as well buy a bike online and if I need things fixed...I'm happy to pay full retail price from a shop that have knowledgable staff and can guide me to choosing the right bike. Is this really too much to ask?
I understand that you were pretty disappointed in your experience, and you had further questions that you wanted answered so you could pick the right bike for your yet-to-come experience. And you have your right to your opinion. But don't forget that, like others said, many LBS's are fighting to stay in the marketplace, which is why they can't afford to always hire the most experienced staff. You'll usually see a couple to a few (depends on size of the shop) core experienced staff and the rest will be less experienced. They do have a responsibility to us too, but give some grace. Find someone else in there that would know the component groups better. And no, he's not going to necessarily know it by heart. It's ok to just expect him to know how to resource the info needed. In the end, try to support your LBS if you can.