noteon 

Yeah, you're right. Your negotiation skills are way better than the general population's.

deco101

haha so funny

now can you go away

Arrowtalon

I've often wondered about this. How do some local businesses make it? when you go into a bike shop and you start adding up all the costs...then you figure really how few bikes they sell to support all those workers and bills...it's eye opening.

I think the general complaint in this thread is the same as with car mechanics/auto shops. Some are just bad and dishonest, and are really out for profit, even if the profit is small. Many, however, are good shops with prices constrained by retail bike brands.

I am a big fan of Peak Sports in Corvallis, OR. Talking with one of their staff, he told me that they sell their bikes at the lowest price their brands will allow (Trek, Specialized, LeMond). I believe him. Their prices are good, but their prices and strategies only market to young men late-20's and older with a lot of disposable income.

Several of my friends love cycling, but as soon as they look at prices, they bail. For the general, enthusiastic population that wants a "good" bike at a "good" price, the brand names have simply missed out. My feeling is that Trek, Specialized, and the others would be well-informed to sell 2200 level Aluminum framed, Cro-Mo forked road bikes for around $300 dollars.

Right now, the options are to drop ~ $750 on an "entry" level bike, or to spend around $200 on a department store bike that will most not likely satisfy their expectations after a few months. For young people on a tight budget that want a good product, that just doesn't cut it.

What's worse is when people like us start calling $750 bikes "entry level". To the fresh, beginner rider looking at prices for the first time, that sounds incredibly off-putting and uppety, much like golfers nonchalantly discussing country club fees.

If we want prices to be more reasonable, companies have got to do better at sounding accessible, and we've all got to stop repeating marketing baloney offered by the retail brands.

noteon 

Nah. You're not very bright, you're not very perceptive, you think you're causing agitation when you're not, and you're loud.

You're free entertainment.

deco101

so are you. except that you fail at the "entertaining" part

cizzlak

hey deco101 - ream my headtube.

noteon 

You know, I hadn't considered this, but I agree. It's as though Ford only sold Jaguars.

I wonder if there's anything to be learned from software companies that offer different versions of software at different price points. Logic, Apple's digital sequencing software is (or, at least, was) available at something like $149, $359, and $599 price points, each with more professional features--and there was an upgrade path available, so you didn't have to spend the whole $349 if you outgrew the $149 version.

I realize software and hardware aren't the same, but maybe a line of pre-approved, pre-fitted, color-coordinated component upgrades, for people who want something better but don't have the time or inclination to pore over specs and catalogues.

BikeWise1

You asked, so.....

I love bikes. I love what bikes can do for people and the communities in which they live. I've seen suicidal obese diabetic alcoholics turn into happy, active sober people because of a bike I sold them. It can open doors and free people. My kids get to see a father who isn't obsessed about making piles of cash. They know what their dad does and love to come to the shop and "help out". I could go on for quite some time about all the reasons I do what I do and why I love it, even though it requires that I take a second job elsewhere during the winter in order to retain a good staff.

I will say that you appear to have absolutely no clue as to the amount of overhead a small business has to contend with. While I don't have proof that you do not own your own business, and will therefore not call you a liar outright, I have strong doubts as to your claims. Your viewpoints are not consistent with those of a business owner.

No. They are simply more informed than you.

BTW, I anxiously await the details concerning your nursing home. Where is it? Website? Street address?

It's time to put up, or....well you know the drill....

noteon 

And you're not very good with the insults.

Read some more books and come back.

deco101

100 bucks

deco101

I gotta pay for electricity and what not. Plus one day I'll have children and what not. Some will have to go towards their college fund

urban_assault

I think the LBS quoted him that price to keep the OP out of the shop. He seems to be a customer that would be a real PITA.

The customer is not always right and shops do not have to work on every customer's bike. To the OP, please continue to work on your own bike or find another shop.

BikeWise1

<whispering>Pssst! Hey everybody! See how he keeps ducking the nursing home questions?! He's got nut'n!</whispering>

FlashUNC

Two things:
1) Is this $180 for the entire parts swap, or an hourly labor fee. If its for a parts swap (pulling everything from one bike and transferring it to another frame), seems fair with the prices I've been checking around some of Atlanta's in-city shops. And I'll likely go back to the shop I've been going to for two years now, simply because they're nice guys who don't have the cheapest prices, but do great work and back it up till the cows come home. If its an hourly labor fee, that does seem high.

2) When are we starting a pool on how long it takes for some significant part to fall off or fail in this personal parts swap? Agreed with many of the previous posters. If it happened in under 60 minutes, you might be The Chosen One for bike mechanics.

Ih8lucky13

Nope, as if you could find a woman.
We have the technology to put a man on the moon but yet we don't have anything to put a woman on you.
Baby steps, first you will need how to read and write at least at a fifth grade level.

cizzlak

i meant ream my headtube in that other sense...

deco101

not a chance. I'd love to show it to you but picking up a phone and calling washington state fraud hotline or elderly abuse is not all that hard. Id hate to see that call originate because of a thread posted on the internet. Johny law takes nursing homes a bit more seriously than bike shops. If theres some other way, Id love to do it. For example I can show you our broshures, with names and addresses scratched out.

deco101

it's written on a big blackboard. but nice try.

Ih8lucky13

Just because you have a job wiping elderly buttocks at a nursing home, that doesn't quite make you an owner.

ilvwhtgrls

BikeWise1

Whatever you post MUST associate you with your business.

And believe me, there is no way in heaven or hell that I would court a libel charge just to inconvenience you. Besides, all claims of fraud at the state and/or federal level must be substantiated. You can't just call and say "I heard Deco's Nursing Home was rippin' people off". But then again again, you would know that if you owned it, which at this point, I am unlikely to be convinced of....

Thanks for playing. I wish you a happy and properous life. Just don't get caught.

deco101

Im a commercial real estate broker. That I can prove cause little pissants like you can't hurt me. Where as you can hurt my family business very easily just because your a bitter little prick whos got a hemroid of a brain in his fat head.

deco101

actually they arent even gonna ask your name. That is their job and they thrive on anonymous complaints.

deco101

they just wanna take a peek in your house, trust me they will always find something wrong.

urban_assault

Thanks, but you do still seem like you'd be a real PITA customer.

So are you going to do your own work or vote with your money and find another shop?