I am 45 years old, 6', 190 pounds. I don't know if that puts me in the "Clyde class" or not.
Anyway, my idealist view is that shops selling customers $500 and up worth of merchandise should have professional salespeople which take some pride in introducing potential customers to the world of bicycling.My visits were mid morning and weekday afternoons. Several salespeople in the stores but never more than one customer besides myself.
My Plan A, as recommended on internet forums, was to find an LBS which I liked. Since that did not work out, I went to Plan B and took a guess which bike would be a good fit for my physique and my riding needs.
Originally Posted by
StephenH
I have been in one of the largest bike stores in the area here a couple of times, and been pretty well ignored, and been in other times, and had 7 or 8 people ask if they could help me. I think that relates to how busy they are.
There have been posts in the Clydesdale forum relating to bike shop attitudes. Some shops see a fat person and say "Doesn't look like Cyclist material to me." Others say "That person should be riding a bike!" and have a sale that the first shop passed up.
The nearest bike shop, the people are always friendly, and they all ride. But some ride mountain bikes and stuff, so I don't know if they're all that up on fitting road bikes.
One or two of the local shops I've been in, there was just a single person working there, which doesn't leave them a chance to do much more than ring up sales.
Some of the shops seem to cater to more experienced cyclists, and just really don't seem interested in you if you're not already into their sport. That seems shortsighted to me. I think it's a similar reaction as if you walk into the Rolls Royce dealership wearing overalls.