Originally Posted by
Loose Chain
I find it harder and harder to do business with LBS. Not so much the price but the lack of selection. They simply do not have what I need. I am tired of Trek, Specialized and C'dale, Bontrager etc. From bar tape to tubes, they just have no selection. Everything is the same Chicom box factory crap. I tried really hard recently to purchase a SS 18T Shimano freewheel at the three LBS, no joy there. They are willing to order but I can do that myself, I want to walk in and put my hands on the stuff. One of the LBS has most such things down in a basement and I have to explain to them what I want and they invariably give me these dumb looks like I do not know what I am talking about, quite contrary, it is they who are not knowledgeable. Then they go down into the basement and rummage around for 30 minutes before reappearing with something Bontrager or other that in no way is even close to what I wanted or described.
You have to recognize that this request may be outside the sweetspot of brick and mortar retail shops.
A lot of what I want is outside the sweetspot of the shops around me. Its no fun, but its reality. I dont begrudge them for not carrying what they wont sell for a long time though.
I am 6'5 and finding long enough pants in stores around me is brutal. Its because my needs exceed the wheelhouse of what retail clothing stores know they can sell- so i just go online and often buy from the store's internet site since they can 'carry' less popular products there without the holding costs.
Its my own doing if I am upset a shop doesnt have something like a looseball bottom bracket or a clamp on cable stop in stock. They shouldnt be expected to carry something that is asked about 3x per year or is sought out by 1 in every 2000 customers.