nagging experience with lbs owner
 

something that an lbs owner said/did a month or so ago keeps bothering me.

i want a steel-framed bike that can handle up to 32-35mm tires (for my back-up, gravel road wheelset). i'll use 23's most of the time. naturally, touring and cx frames were some of the first i looked at.

i talked about this with the owner of a new lbs several times. he had a used, aluminum eddy merckx cx bike with dura ace. i tried it but i just can't do aluminum. he said he knows someone with a steel ritchey cx bike who's looking to trade it in. he really tried to "sell" the bike. "this is ritchey steel. the best ever made." etc. "i'll call my buddy and let you know when he brings it in."

i try the bike. it's pretty beat up. it's a mid-90's frame with d/a components (octalink bb/crank) and mavic helium rims and mavic hubs.

the bike was well worn. i took it for a ride. bb was squeaky. rear wheel was out of true. bike was a bit small but i DID like the ride of steel. the frame was tange prestige steel. i told him, soma makes a tange prestige road and cx frame. they are $300 at bikemania.biz. he then keeps telling me this is ritchey steel. the best ever made. he also keeps selling the d/a components and helium rims.

i ask him how much he wants for it..........$1900. but i have to decide today. he's got a tech and another person who are eye-balling the bike and it won't be around long. a friend/customer of his was there and was selling the bike to me as well. he was saying, "the components are worth that alone. it'd be a good bike to buy for parts and build up the frame from scratch."

i pass and ask him to spec out a bianchi volpe. he's all pissy. ignores my request and never calls me back (i wrote everything down with my phone #).



i told the owner of the lbs where i bought my current bike. he laughed.

i'm curious....just how "ridiculous" was this great deal the owner was offering me?

should i have done/said more than simply, "i'll pass?"

No matter how much of a "deal" he was offering, he would have lost my business merely by the way he treated a customer.

He's pissed because he didn't make money off of you, plain and simple. he's probably making more on THAT bike than the Bianchi. If it doesn't "hit" you, don't go spending two grand on it. His pals were trying to sell you the bike because they are HIS PALS.

Imagine the service you'd get after. Forget him. You'll find your bike somehow. You will. ;)

It comes down to you not really wanting the bike. I'm sorry, but Steel CX frames can be had from at least a few manufacturers. You saw it, you didn't want it, and 2Gs is not exactly cheap for a 10 year old bike.

That's waaaay over priced.

To give you an idea I paid around $50 for a very nice lugged retired pro cyclocross frame with a Campy Record headset at my LBS. It was handmade in a small shop in Belgium.

Don't buy it, but don't worry about it going away today. I think for that kind of money, you're going to have lots of time to decide.

My Novara Randonee is steel. If you check it out at REI, you can save a lot by waiting for their March sale. I like it well enough, but for less money, my Giant Cypress SX came with much better components.

That owner sounds like a real piece of work. Take your time, don't let anyone pressure you, and feel comfortable about your decision when you buy.

There are plenty of bikes out there. Take your time.
If someone tries to pressure sell me I am out of there. The same thing with car purchasing. I do not respond well to that tactic. Yes, the owner does sound like a piece of work.

The frame is too small? Forget it. Go get a Soma frame.

oh i wasn't feeling pressured. no way was i going to buy it.

what nags me is, i just said "pass." part of me wishes i'd have "called him out" more directly and, perhaps, harshly.






funny thing; he's a nice guy. fun to talk to. he treats everyone like they are long lost friends. he used to be part owner of a shop in another 'burb of chicago. we were talking about the shop and i told him i really wasn't impressed because the other owner was a real used-car salesman. funny, this guy didn't really act like that was a problem. he asked, "besides that, what why don't you like the shop?"

You should have offerred him $600.00 dollars for the bike taking the money out of your pocket. Start counting in front of him and that bike would have been yours!

Man. Then you wonder why the local bike shop makes so little money.

Why would he be pissed if he had two other buyers? He didn't, but was using the "you better grab it now because others are waiting" ploy. When I hear this, I respond with; "Let them buy it". This is hardball salesmanship designed to take away your 'think time'. You should take your business somewhere else. Almost 2K for a well worn bike? No way. bk

Call him up, tell him you thought about it, and offer him 200 bucks for his friends' bike. that's a fair price for a beat up, 10 year old cross bike.

Not really. Unless they plan on selling each part separately at the "new part price".
http://www.coloradocyclist.com/product/display/15110/

Tell him you'll pay $2,200. Extra money because you're "sorry that you made him wait".

Then disappear for a week.

Repeat the following week at $2400.

Exactly. Some morons believe that parts never wear out. Like that LBS owner.

A squeaky DA crank is worth less to me than a brand new 105. Much less.

So you think he was jerking you around and you regret not being a jerk back?
The clincher should have been that the bike did not fit. Even if the bike had been $100 it would have been no deal because it did not fit you. Reminds me of the guy that rolled in with the sweet ti bike off Craigslist. He got a real "deal". The bike was about a 48 with 650s and he was 5'10".

i suppose i should clarify a couple of things..

no, i didn't want to be a jerk back. however, i regret that i didn't let him know i thought this was a terrible deal and that i don't appreciate his selling techniques, etc. by harsh, i didn't necessarily mean cussing....although, in this case, it probably wouldn't take much to bring me to that point.

this is exactly how i feel and what i wish i would have said.

as far as fit, it had a 130mm quill stem. with the quill stem, the cockpit was "snug" but technically i guess you could say if fit. however, i hate how a longer stem handles. there really wasn't a chance of going with a shorter stem and having the rest of the dimensions fit.




but, yeah, the bike didn't fit how i wanted it to.

QFT.