Originally Posted by silent1
The fixed gear boom has just hit this town and there are at least two customers a day that come in and want the same advice. I am not saying that this is bad, but they come in with a frame they bought online, parts they bought online, and all the other crap to go with it and then they ask you 4 million questions that they could figure out with some mechanical ability and 30 minutes online. Every once in a while someone will actually buy a tube or a chainring bolt but that's about it. Meanwhile you have a backlog of customer bikes and four people wandering around the store looking to buy bikes or accessories that actually keep the store in business. I would rather someone read how to put the bike together online, get a basic understanding of what is going on, and then come in and use the tools to do it themselves. There are 23,000 threads in this forum and half of those deal with how to build a fixed gear from scratch. The fixed gear is not rocket science. I'm all about sharing my knowledge and helping people out but I just ask that they maybe do a little research.
This applies to everyone, not just FG riders.
My shop is on an island which is a huge tourist destination -- that means we are fricking SWAMPED right now trying to take care of repairs (our turn-around time is only about 3-4 days, which is great IMO), sell bikes, sell accessories, do rentals, answer the phone 40+ times a day, and fix all the flats that come in and need it done right then.
Maybe you caught them on a bad day. Maybe they felt like you were just using them for free work. Or maybe they are jerks.
I don't want to make it sound like what they did was OK, but they may have had a reason (other than being *******s) for doing it.