2ndGen

You'd think that in this day and age where anybody can just go online
and save tons of money by ordering all their cycling needs on the web,
the LBS's would be falling all over themselves to provide customers
with great customer service and at the very least
would know what the "F" they are talking about.

There's nothing more frustrating than going into a place where you know more about what should be
general knowledge with regards to cycling at a shop where they brag about being the "pros" in the area.

I don't know how some of these places stay in business.

When we talk about "supporting the LBS", let's stick to the good ones.

Supporting the bad ones is more like "enabling" them
when they should be getting an LBS intervention!

rjones28 

Feel better now?

I've been in those shops before. Once I find a good shop, that's the only place I go.

ls0725

okay, took out the pitchfork, where is this LBS?

M-Ward

I used to drive an hour and a half to a "LBS" before it closed. There are seven different bike stores where I live in Waterloo. I now get everything online, I go back once a year to see if the places have changed, but sadly nothing yet. Sucks not being able to get stuff from a LBS but oh well

gus6464

Well I have tried every LBS in my area and the two which I think are the best could not be completely different from each other. One sells only high-end Italian bikes (cheapest bike they carry in store is $3000) and the other is a Performance Bike. The biggest local shop which has three locations in the city sells Specialized, Trek, Cervelo, Gary Fisher, Salsa, and a couple of other brands yet they are always pushing Treks and Bontrager stuff. The only reason I go there is because they have a good selection of shoes and have a very good return policy on saddles. The other big one sells a couple different brands but they might as well just be called "The Felt Shop" because that is all they carry in the store. Then there is also Mellow Johnny's which is the shop Lance owns but I always feel awkward when I go in the place.

Everyone knocks on Performance but my local store is never pushy and have good prices on stuff.

roccobike

+1, I found a good one about 4 years ago. I've purchased three bikes from them and still buy about 90% of my LBS type stuff from them.

RT

100% concur. In the era of layoffs, I have done some groundwork and will be hoping an LBS will hire me in the event the worst happens. I'm not the end-all be-all of bicycle knowledge, but I do what I'm doing at the very least as much as those who are currently employed at Bike Shop 'X'. Oddly enough, the guy I trust most in this mountain town runs the Performance Bike Shop. I would wager that many of us on this board could provide a public service to an LBS just by getting hired.

ptle

From what I've found, the LBS that I like the most usually only have a few staff and are small. They usually get to know you on a more personal level and have better customer service. They also don't always seem to be working just for commission.

With that being said, my favorite LBS is run by a married couple, and a mechanic.

2ndGen

Somewhat.

2ndGen

They are located at XXXX XXXXXX XXXX in XXX XXXX, XX XXXXX!

2ndGen

Of all the LBS I've come across, I can say that only two are GREAT.
One is an MTB specific shop and the other is a RB specific shop.
Both are completely different. One's small, the other huge.
But both offer the same thing: Great service.

I go out of my way to support them (literally...one hour away).

I bought my most recent bike from an LBS and here are some of the things I experienced:

Shop owner (while looking at me):
"You're 5'9"? Why are you riding a size 56cm? Do you have short legs?"

How they "fit" a tourist renting a bike (owner yells to one of the mechs in the back):
"John Doe, I need you to hold the bike so we can fit her to it."

Not to mention that I was told my bike would be ready and when I went to pick it up,
the owner told me that when he talked to me earlier that week, I told him I'd call him Friday.
Um...I called The Shop that Saturday morning. I hadn't spoken to the owner in 2 weeks.
Then, he tried the old Jedi Mind Trick. "Don't you remember? When we talked Monday?"

I swear, if my girlfriend wasn't right next to me, I would've completely humiliated
this mutt in front of all his customers and made the biggest scene, but...I digressed.

So, I told them to bring my bike "in the box" and I took it to the LBS down the street and PAID them to assemble it.
They had it together in 1 hour (even though they were very busy) and they did a GREAT job.

Guess who's getting my business from now on?

crhilton

Kinda surprising. We have 4 good ones (out of 5 shops). They all mess up every now and then, but they are indeed heavily involved in the cycling community, hire mostly cyclists, and know their stuff.

They're not terribly price competitive (they try, if they know you), but they make up for that by fixing my bike every now and then.

Maybe my standards are too low. It does seem like the new employees during the summer are often, um, more difficult to get help from. If you want to test the heart of a bike shop go in during the winter to get some winter gear. If they're cyclists they're still riding.

Obviously this only works if you have winter, and not an extended jacket season.

crhilton

Now that's a business that has its **** together.

mobike_moexcite

Took me a while to find an awesome bike shop, now i work in it!

2ndGen

Probaby "why" they were busy too!

NathanL

Well at least you have a local bike shop.

My nearest bike shop is about 2-1/2 hours away (one way). I went there about 2 weeks ago to look at road bikes as I'm starting to look and move from mountain bikes to road bikes. They are listed as a Trek and Fuji dealer so I thought it would be a good place to start.

I guess technically they are a "bike shop". Oddest one I've ever seen. They had a selection of bikes, maybe 20 road bikes in stock - and that was it. No shoes, no tires, no clothes, no parts, just bikes - not even helmets. I asked what the deal was and he said "People would just buy it off the internet anyway"....

I figure he had a point but I also thought that if a person came in and bought a new bike, especially someone new to biking they might buy other stuff as well. Guess not.

TheHen

My all-time favorite LBS was run by a married couple and a mechanic. Sadly, they got divorced; she went to work for Specialized and he is now married to his fourth-cousin in Italy. I hear the shop is still pretty good, but I don't live there anymore. The only shop I really like in the city I live in now is run by the owner with two mechanics. One of the mechanics really knows his stuff and the other has to ask permission before he works on anything so the owner can make sure he remembers his lessons. I definitely like being able to talk to the owner and it is nice to see him out on rides, rain or shine, in a place where damned near nobody rides if there is any chance of rain falling.

I'm glad this thread popped up. It reminds me I still owe the mechanic a six-pack for some over-and-above service.

Markbanshee

I have been looking for a road bike and was shocked to find just how many LBS' are right near me (wash, dc). So in this thread I can contribute and say some are just so bad and it does drive me nuts when I, a complete newbie, know more about bikes then the guys in the shop do. Not just the specific bike I have spent hours staring at online, I know more about all of their bikes than they do. I would love to buy at my favorite LBS but they do not sell Specialized and I think I am going to go that direction. Its a shame...but leads to my question about LBS'...why are they so limited in what they carry? 4 or 5 of the shops near me only carry two brands and then they only have a couple of bikes which that brand has to offer. I just don't get why they can't carry more. Any thoughts?

Markbanshee

one more odd LBS thing....I am interested in a specialized secteur 2011...easy enough, right? Went to one LBS which has 2 locations, at one they had no clue of the specs of this bike and had never seen one....their sister store (about 10 miles away) not only knows the specs, they have the 2011 in their store, how does this happen? I like these guys and they have been very helpful, but I find this odd. Another LBS which carries specialized but never the secteur said they could order it for me if I "really wanted" it and they had no clue when it would come in and I would have to put a huge deposit down for them to order it...it was as if I was not worth their time, they were pushing me out the door...whats the deal?!

Menel

1 local shop tried to push a hybird bike on me hardcore when I was looking for a performance road.

The bike shop I finally got my bike from, Performance, built it poorly, had a bike mechanic friend get it in proper riding condition. Though it has come back well tuned in more recent trips into the shop.

Yet another recently, I've been doing shop rides with, I went to them first for trying to get a replacement stem to adjust bike fit. Their tech wasn't willing to help me in store. I reviewed their offerings on their website, saw they had what I wanted and a good price, so ordered it. Checked back two weeks later, had to call back 3 times because their "internet" guy kept not showing up for work. Finally, they told me they didn't have stock afterall (stock was still indicated on website *shrug*) but they'd research other brands to find stem dimensions I wanted... No call back, next day I ordered from ebay, received in 3 days. No tax, no shipping fees, fast and to my front door step.

Amazon, ebay shops consistently have cheaper prices the goods always come, and the very few times I've had issues with amazon customer service has been top notice *shrug* LBS's have got to find someway to compete in these 3 ways. Price, ability to deliver goods, customer service or why have them?

cmolway

Stopped in to a LBS last night that was no more than 50' from where our local club meets for rides a few days a week. I mentioned to the proprietor that I was surprised that I never see him out of his shop chatting up the club members--that there are 40+ cycling enthusiasts outside his shop, many of which have never stepped inside. He could stick a repair stand or simply a bike pump outside his door and make customers for life (I know of a bike store in the city with a parktool pump bolted to a cinderblock on the sidewalk outside their shop and I have spent $$ there because of it).

His response was that he couldn't be bothered; he was too busy. I was pretty shocked and a bit turned off by it.

rjones28 

I'm sure that his customers that are waiting on repairs are glad he stays in the shop.

brianbeech

Looks like I need to be more thankful for my great LBS. Run by a married couple and seem to have really knowledgeable mechanics. Never pushy. Carry Cannondale, Giant, Fuji, Cervelo, Scott, QuintanaRoo, and Kestrel.

I don't have to ask for a discount - having bought two bikes there - when I go to the register, they knock $ off which becomes quite competitive with online purchases.

They also participate in local rides and clubs - Great shop!

PhilNYC

I have an odd problem...in my area, there are 6 LBS's within 10 miles of my house. The shop where I like the people the best (friendliest, most passionate about the sport, remembers me every time I visit the store, etc) unfortunately has the worst mechanic of all the shops in the area. And on the other end of the spectrum, the two best mechanics work in shops that I'm not particularly fond of the rest of the people (one store is ok but high-volume and makes me feel like a number. The other is just flat-out obnoxious). I'd love to support the first shop, but I'm reaching the point where I just don't have much faith in the quality of the work being done...

What would you do?

socalslowguy

Perhaps he had bad experiences with the club riders in the past with them taking up all the parking spaces in front of the shop, coming in to use the bathroom and then leaving without spending some dollars or even saying thank you.