Originally Posted by itsajustme

Well there are certainly plenty of them around the forum complaining about how internet sales are killing their businesses and imploring people to "support your LBS".

Also, there are probably less than a handful of bike shops in the entire country really interested in folding bikes, so the likelihood of finding an LBS per your method isn't too promising.



I'm not looking for a subservient retail experience. I just want my **** fixed without having to worry about moody bike shop clerks whose delicate sensibilities are offended by my unspoken thoughts. My auto mechanic fixes my car and gives it back without giving me any **** about the make or model or anything else and I respect him for it. If the LBS can't do that then why should I go there? Maybe you are willing to pay big bucks for a sense of cycling fraternity, but I'm perfectly happy with the fraternity I get from the friends I met for free and when I go to a bike shop I'm just looking to save time over doing it myself. Would be nice if I could get it from the low price chain stores, but they're not knowledgeable enough. Unfortunately the vast majority of bike shops aren't knowledgeable enough either and, yet, they want to be paid more for their ignorance just because they happen to have a personal interest in bikes.

Does the word "professionalism" mean anything to you? You can be rude to customers, not answer their calls, profile them based on their alacrity to purchase useless knick knacks, and show them out the door, all under the guise that "this is how a bike shop operates", but in the end it all boils down to professionalism and based on your description it sounds like the "good" bike shops don't have any (which begs the question, what exactly is so "good" about a bunch of unprofessional hacks posing as a business under the name "bike shop"?).

Here's a thought, maybe your "good" bike shop employees wouldn't be driven so mad by people making endless queries and not buying anything if they didn't present themselves as a respectable generic bicycle business. Perhaps there would be a lot less misunderstanding if they simply called themselves a club.



Unfortunately most of that criteria is a posteriori. So the members of the public are bound to waste hundreds if not thousands of dollars at bad shops before finding the good ones for themselves. I'm sure those members of the public in the Los Angeles area will appreciate your list. Thanks.