Oh there is definitely a thin mist of elitism in my area. However, it has more to do with fixed gear riders. They receive criticism and hate and in turn they do the same to non-fixed gear riders. It's not a huge issue, but it's still silly and disturbing. I really can careless what people ride as long as they don't endanger me or other riders.

The entire area here has a giant elitism when it comes to cyclist who ride Wal-Mart or Target bikes. The local bike shops refuse to even work on them. The other day I saw this girl come into the bike shop while I was picking up some stuff. She said, "Do ya'll do bike repair here even if I purchased my bike elsewhere?" and the owner told her, "I don't care where a bike comes from. I'll work on anything... unless it comes from Wal-Mart," the girl said, "oh..." and left.

Actually, there is a good reason for that. Many Wally World and Targe' bikes are of such poor design/construction that it takes more effort and time to tune them right and/or fix them than the bike is worth, and the bike shops know that they won't be able to charge enough to get reimbursed for their time and effort.

That said, that policy does discourage new cyclists from getting into the sport.

To me, that seems like an excellent opportunity. If they explain up front to the customer that it will be more expensive due to the poor design and components Wal-Mart bikes possesses then the customer will be able to make an educated decision if it is worth the cost. If yes the bike will be fixed, the shop will make more money and the customer will realize that a 'cheap bike' may not be worth the continued hassle of constant expensive repairs.

In addition to that, the customer will remember the bike shop helped them and in the future they will have return clientele when they decide to buy a bike with good components.


I wish people would think more about the sport than their own damn agendas.

I'm not saying it is a good policy, I'm just giving a reason. Personally, I agree with you, it is a missed opportunity, but hey, I'm not in the LBS business.

I'm not a bike shop but a neighbor asked me to fix their kids wally bike, I told them parts alone would probably cost as much as the bike did, they said it did not matter that they would reimburse me. When they saw that the parts did indeed cost $60 (they paid less then $100 for the bike) they refused to pay that much to fix it. So even without labor charges most wally bike owners would probably be better off getting a new bike then trying to fix the one they got.

Anyway I too will refuse to fix any wally bike as you can't replace hardly anything without it seeming absorbingly high for a $100 bike.

Well, don't forget... not all Wal-Mart bikes are 100. A lot are $200-400.

Then there is this: $1,499.00 - $1,550.00
https://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5751048

Full carbon frame, 105/ultegra mix components.

I'd still prefer my Specialized Allez Elite which cost about the same except without the full carbon or ultegra components.

Heh.

This is one of those problems which is solved by bringing beer and making nice.

NOTE to Self /;;STAY on yer bumpy old woods road so you dont get afoul of this pile of nuts/Kenneth

Cyclist drink beer?

Apparently one bike-shop cashed in on this situation. They opened up down the road from the WalMart. I have no doubt other shops helped herd the Wally-drivers to this shop as it advertised - "We Work On WalMart Bikes." No doubt either that their rates reflected the actual costs of working on these lawn-ornaments.

I have just realized that prejudice against Wal-Mart bikes is a national issue while prejudice against triathletes is a local issue.

I find this fascinating.

I wanna know who the 'pure cyclists' are?

Why is it that the small is the most expensive?
I guess its like lingerie, the less there is the more it costs?

The cycling purest are those who only ride road bikes and don't permit other types of bikes into the group. They don't run, they don't swim, they simply ride/race road bikes.

The cycling purest have been down right rude to the triathletes who try to join in riding their triathlon bikes. I witnessed one incident where they got into an ugly yelling match.

The LBS I go to will work on them but gives an up-front estimate of the cost. I have seen owners of such bikes make the decision that the bike was not worth the repair cost.

As for the dislike and prejudice I have not witnessed such but am not a local club member. As far as I am concerned we are all riders together.

I do not think that it is prejudice against WalMart bikes but prejudice against junk that tries to masqureade as bicycles. Low end WalMart bikes may be the worst but Target and other mass merchandisers sell junk masquerading as bicycles too. IIRC Huffy and Murray bikes received similar treatment at bike shops long before WalMart, and their "bikes", became ubiquitous.

Many bike shops have always preferred to not get involved with mass merchandiser bikes due to their lack of quality and the inability of their bottom end components to stay in adjustment for any reasonable time. Working on them is like trying to polish a tu-d and has only gotten worse with dual suspension so called "Mountain Bikes" from these merchants.

Then why are they agitated about being banned from them?

I think a club can have pretty much any kind of rule, no matter how silly. They can ban all bikes except red, for example. Then it's up to the riders to decide if they want to be part of a club like that.

I think banning tri bikes per se is pretty dumb. But then some roady types (including triathletes) seem to enjoy playing some rather childish petty games with one another.

+1. When I was a poor student just getting into cycling and not knowing the difference between a Huffy and a Trek Madone, I bought a used department store bike from a friend for fifty bucks. When another friend, the one who eventually got me hooked on cycling, suggested that I should take it for a tune-up, I said it didn't make any sense to me to pay as much for the tune-up as I paid for the whole bike. I am sure many (probably most) owners of bike-shaped objects feel the same way.

As someone who's seen and did work on a fair number of bikes, I certainly know that in many cases cheap department store bikes are often simply unrepairable. I absolutely can understand bike shop mechanics who don't want to work on them. It would take more time and effort, the result often won't be that great no matter how hard you try, and the customer, who thinks bikes are toys and should be cheap, will not like the price tag.

This is why I don't club ride. Too much BS.

correct me if i'm wrong but aren't triathletes prohibited from drafting in competitions?

and the shifters on the aero/ brake on the wings and agressive aero posture have got to make true tri bikes a biatch to dance around in the paceline....

i think the triatheletes should police themselves, show some common sense restraint and leave the tri bikes at home on the group rides!

Could be, but at the heart of it, the snobs are not really prejudice against junk masquerading as bicycle. They are prejudice against poor people who can't afford an $800-$1500 decent bike. The people I know locally who ride Wal-Mart bikes tend to all below the poverty line or young children who are still growing.

My current bikes cost $1,700 and $3,200. As a child, my bikes were $60-$80 each. My family was poor AND I was still growing.

They aren't. *I* am. I like these people and I want to see them. They are basically being banned for no reason. They haven't caused any wrecks. The one person who they claim is the reason for this ban recently had a wreck ON A ROAD BIKE.

I'm pissed off because the people I like got treated like crap. Four of them just walked away without any word. Two of them put up a fuss then decided it wasn't worth being where they weren't wanted.... (but *I* wanted them there!)

People who play silly childish games should be shot.

You are correct.

That is why the they never rode in aerobars while in the paceline.

A lot of them don't have road bikes anymore. I do agree with policing themselves though. Out of the people on tri bikes, ONE is very unstable. He should not be riding a tri bike in a paceline until his skills have improved.

Since the banning of tri bikes I like only a small handful of people in that club. Everyone else tends to make it so miserable I am probably going to stop going on group rides.