Originally Posted by r-dub
You made the situation far too difficult for yourself. By volunteering unnecessary information (the entire description of your bike), you introduced confusion to shop folks who probably never see or work with fixies. This would have worked better:
You: I need a 1/8" BMX chain.
Them: Okay, here it is.
Yes, but you normally can't get away with not giving any information. First of all, as a fixed gear fan, if I get a chance to introduce the fixed gear concept to a bike shop person, I definately will. At any rate, if I ask for a part, they usually ask what its for because they want to be sure you are buying the right part. Generally, I think thats a good thing...to make sure customers are not buying incompatable parts and tools. Everytime I go in there for a tool, part, or whatever I always get something like, "What sort of bike is this for?". Then let the confusion and misinformation begin. I know what I want so its not a real problem for me...it just always results in a stupid nonsensical conversation. But I would say that the degree of confusion and misinformation that I got today was extreme. I mean, I had a lbs guy tell me that a chain would not work because my cog was 15 teeth, and the chain was for 16 tooth cogs. Thats just ********. How can you work at a bike shop and say something so stupid. That goes beyond not understanding fixed gears..these guys sell tons of BMX and they should have a basic understanding of singlespeeds.