Perhaps the problem is that your local LBS are of lower quality than what I expect over here.

This is but one example that I would expect out of a standard German LBS:

Actually, my argument is that BD doesn't provide any service to the community. Furthermore, it removes money from the community. Maybe that's not a big deal for you guys if you place more emphasis on something being "inexpensive."

A small Local Bike-shop usually is not a hobby owned by a rich person, they run off Bank loans..

If they dont have a tool in stock they will get it for you, from their distributors
in the Busy fair weather season
[that has to support the overhead of the rest of the year] that will be weekly , so ..

if clairvoyance of having read the minds of what people want
a week ahead of them thinking about it , was not having it handed to you
before you asked for it.

say what you need when you call on the phone . then walk in, and get it the next week.

Maybe Downtown D-FW has a Huge Bike Shop to have the business traffic to have a more diverse stock list..

I do understand and respect your argument. All I am saying is that the local bike shops do not cater to the type of customer base that could easily increase their business…average families.

Most of the employees at local shops in the area will not give you the time of day unless you roll in on a $2,000+ bike. They are arrogant towards you if your bike is more than about 2 years old. I know that bike technology changes; however, a two year old bike is far from the end of it's life.

While I am “removing money from my community” (actually just not inputting), I won’t support a shop with terrible customer service. I am always willing to support local businesses ; but, they must support me as well. (For the record, I bought my wheelset at a LBS for much more than I could get them online...the LBS provides follow up truing = good customer service) The added local cost to whatever gadget I am buying must come in customer service. If that’s not provided, why should I have any loyalty to my LBS?

Bikesdirect may not provide a service but what the do provide is the information needed to make an educated choice to purchase a bicycle without being judged for not buying the most expensive bike in the store.

The problem is that I can call the store, get them to order the tool/part then go over in a week pay $25 and get it. Or I can click on a button on Amazon, pay $20 and have it delivered in 2 days. Unless I have to have the tool/part today and the LBS happens to stock it there is absolutely no incentive to shop there. None. Local retail is an absolutely tough business to be in nowadays. And if the LBS goes away it's no skin off my back, they were providing me with no service to begin with. And I won't subsidize/socialize it. They have to be more service oriented rather than product oriented. My LBS ddoesn't even stock 700x28 tires.
BD removes money from my community but brings money to Houston, TX and Florida communities. My company beingsmoney to my ccommunity. I don't see how it's relevant. You lived in Europe way too long and turned into a socialist.

FWIW I just spent $180 at my LBS on some pants and jerseys from the clearance rack. I hope everyone can sleep better now ....

Lol.

I learned that I really like wrenching on my bikes after my LBS bike developed a few issues after 1k miles. I got good advice, and relatively high priced service and parts from the LBS. made a good acquaintance with a mechanic at the LBS.


THEN......performance bike opened a shop in town. Popped in there on grand opening day and guess who was the on duty mechanic that day? Haven't set foot in the LBS since. Do all my parts shopping online or at the shop. They are going to push a couple of the LBS out here, but I get more VALUE from my time and $ shopping at Performance. Same goes for BD.

Agreed. Performance Bike and JRA Bikes (in Seattle..got give a plug) are the only two shops I do business with. They work with the bikes you have, have fair prices, and a staff that treats you as a valuable customer instead of a 3rd class, recreational cyclist.

1. Please get out the sun, your brain is melting.
2. Please turn off Fox "News."
3. Watch this two-part video as it will educate you about socialism (and it's quite hilarious as well.)

part1:
https://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-21-2009/the-stockholm-syndrome-pt--1 My advice is for you to keep on buying stuff made in Asia, put in a shipping containing and sold over the internet. That way as little money as possible remains in Texas, which will further continue its slide into political and economic irrelevance.

you sound really threatened ... not so good for the machismo of a tough-guy-Texan. don't worry, i leave you alone, because i'm off soon to enjoy some of my 10 weeks of socialist vacation per year in a few days

also of interest, is that there was no second hand market in Stockholm or Frankfurt (or a really small market for a metro area of their size). bikes are kept until they are consumed for the most part.

^^
This.


Going into the average bike store is an abject lesson in frustration.
Ive lived in just about every state on the East Coast, and only in Vermont
and Kentucky have I found shops that dont have their main requirement
for employment to be 20, pedant and condescending.
Thats not a lot of peoples version of 'community.'

Obviously there are many good shops, but I maintain the opinion that they are the minority.

My work career as an artist in the printing industry has been marked by a
few profoundly negative changes through the decades. First, the advent of the
Macintosh computer, then XEROX, now internet. Im sure zillions of people have
suffered the same stuff. But, to eat, you have to adapt. Bike shops need to find
unique ways to resurrect their 'careers'

@acidfast,

Threatened? Not really. I guess you just don't get sarcasm...But I really did buy the pants and jerseys and I even bought the wrench as I was impatient and wanted to fix the BB over the weekend. I'll just torque it right on Monday once the socket gets here. I'm glad you can make deductions about my political standing and beliefs just based on where I live. I probably lived in Europe longer than you and I definitely lived in Europe longer than I lived in Texas. You definitely rub me the wrong way with your socialist drivel and pushing of German bikes on a forum visited mainly from North America. You kind of remind me of this weird German guy named Nils on the Runner's World sub3 hour marathon training group. You two might be one and the same. Nobody likes him but he adds color and a weird perspective to the discussion. Oh and if I see that tube dispenser photo one more time I I'll vomit....

If our LBS are inferior to your European bike shops (mine's better than yours) then it can't be our fault for thinking bikesdirect isn't an evil monster sent to suck money from the local schools and hospitals by offering a lower price on bikes because we just haven't been exposed to inner tube vending machines like you.

Acidfast, I probably agree with you on more things than you realize, but I also play devil's advocate and actually can usually see both sides of most arguments You have to be the most consistently condescending person I have seen on the internet. One half of your posts are dedicated to telling Americans how you have it better in Germany and how [insert institution or position here] is poorly thought out in the US and is much better in all of Europe.

In their defense, DB does sell a pretty complete tool kit for about $100. It is still cheaper than buying the bike elsewhere and when it is done you still have the tools.

I have that kit and the tools are of ok quality. They are not park tool; but, there are about the same as you get in a no-name tool kit. About similar to the bike Nashbar kits. My only real criticism was the tool box that comes with the kit. It definitely is not a quality tool box. But, other than the kit, about the only thing you need is some lube, some antisieze, and a tube of locktight (your a ham, you probably have this stuff lying around anyways, KD6EVH here).

An LBS that has been in the business for a considerable length of time, or wishes to stay in business, has or will learn to avoid those judgmental practices. My last visit to my favorite LBS, I observed a father bringing in his toddler son's bike wheels for repair, cyclists with cruiser bikes, young boys with BMX bikes, commuters, and a roadie, definitely not an atmosphere indicative of a haughty LBS attitude.

Maybe you're American military, that would make the most sense.

You again. Go ride your bike maybe the endorphins will put you in a better mood.

I know it does me, especially the thought of my personally putting one of my BD bike frames in the scrap yard's metal bin, and wondering if the bike frame reincarnated as a flush handle or button at some new public restroom.

Why just Asia? If Shimano and SunTour are evil for taking money out of America, then Campagnolo, Rohloff and Schwalbe are equally evil. Guess we should only be using the few Bell and SRAM parts and accessories still made here.

I'd love to have a quality, reasonably priced made-in-the-USA bike, but just like anything else, "Made in the USA" virtually always means "99% made somewhere else with final assembly done in the USA to save on freight costs." If I put a pile of cheap foreign components together myself, it's just as "made in the USA" as so many of the things I could pay a premium price for.

My hunch is our fellow forum member enjoys trolling a bit here. What say mr. 7?

I am sorry to see this thread going the way of almost every Bike Directs thread.

In the words of the philosopher Roddney King, "Can't we all just get along?"

Or, as the The Simpsons (episode "Trilogy of Error", 2001) pointed out "This is why we can't have nice things.

Just a little

Don't fret. If I return to the US, I'll tout how much better everything is, how socialism is evil and how great it is to pay almost no tax.

edit: also, that's what makes the internet interesting. i could really just be a double amputee sitting behind a computer in Wyoming. maybe, i'm not even in Germany

"I just spent money on items with no margin at the bike shop, buying stuff at cost, contributing basically nothing toward keeping that shop open."

Do you at least pay too much for a tube from that shop every now and then...?