Best bike shop is home. Second best is a professional shop that has people who actually know what they're doing (unlike me, who has to figure it out as I go), and who are friendly. I don't need to feel like I won an award, or anything -- just friendly. We have one really good shop in town -- it's run by people who make you want to feel welcome and who share a real zeal for just about anything having to do with bikes, one co-op type thing that's pretty good where the parts are cheap and the chief mechanic is really nice, and one not-so-nice shop.

At the not-so-nice shop, some guy was working there actually made fun of my first commuter, calling it a "toy." Okay, so it was a department store bike. Not much, but that's what I had. I was interested in budgeting for a better bike, but I hadn't felt comfortable then buying something used off craigslist. I wasn't mechanically inclined. I told him that. It was my first stop into his shop, because it's close, so I figured my first bike-shop bike would be from there. I guess he decided against that idea, so he treat me like I'm some kind of bum. He speaks for the company, I can only assume. I've gone in their twice since that first encounter in the last two years. I still can't shake that feeling, so I leave and buy my stuff elsewhere.

That experience taught me a valuable lesson about how I should treat my own clients. Nobody comes to me with their little problems. Everybody needs to be treated like they're important. Incidentally, I got rid of the department store bike, as I learned on my own what to look for in a bike that suits me. I do my own wrenching, and I buy my tools as the need arises. I'd suggest this route, even though I fell into it.