As some of you may recall, about 6 months ago, a good friend, who lives about 300 miles away, called me and said he was thinking about entering a triathlon. He wanted to know what I thought of the GMC Denali. I convinced him that he would be much better off with my Centurion DS. I gave it to him on the condition that it was his, free and clear, if he put 1000 miles on it in a year. Well he has already met that goal.
He called me today, asking my advise about buying a new bike. Being a charter member of the N+1 club, I encouraged that. After talking to him for quite a while, it came out that the real reason he wanted a new bike was that the guy at the LBS told him that those old steel bikes can't handle the vibration of Texas chip seal roads, nearly as well as the new $1000 Raliegh he wanted to sell him.
I asked him to give me the name and number of the salesman, but knowing me well, he refused.

Salesman are amazing. X__X

I went into the bike shop to get a chain for a bike I was building; asked for a chain for an old 10-speed with a freewheel. He asked me what brand my bike was. I said it was a 60s Carlton with all Campagnolo, but why did that matter? He said because chains were all different sizes back then...

I hope my future LBS in the states is not like the ones being mentioned here. I guess I've been spoiled at my current LBS.

once about a year ago an LBS tried to sell me a derailleur cable for 4.50. He goes back and pulled it out of a pyramid 100 count box and rings it up. That'll be 4.76 duder... Those things cost like .25 each or less wholesale duder. I just went home and pulled a wire out of the piano instead.

Now, that's funny. Chip seal is pretty much all I have to ride on around here and have for years. I thought it was the tires that couldn't handle the chip seal as well - i.e. they wear out a lot faster. Maybe the salesman just had his bike nomenclature mixed up.

My LBS owner has resigned himself to the fact I like the older bikes and doesn't push new bikes. He also let's me get look through his boneyard for parts knowing that I'll keep coming back if he makes them available.

Correction:

Those new carbon-fiber bikes can't handle the vibration of Texas chip seal roads, nearly as well as the used $100 Centurion he already has.

-Kurt

For giving him the Ironman, you are eligible for President of the cult...
Regarding the LBS.....well, there may be a few Ironman bikes on the Wounded Warriors ride next month, and we all may want to chat up this guy...
I've stood in several LBS's recently while I listened to the spiel. I keep my yap shut, as I know they're trying to make a living. They've not discouraged anyone from C&V yet, other than the LBS guy who pointed at me and said, "he'll buy your old bike, I'm pretty sure." Bingo. He sold. I bought.

lol

I bet most bike salesmen assume about every customer, that your basic problem is that you haven't bought a new bike from him yet.

Resist, sounds like a load of cr*p.

There is an LBS 3 blocks from my house.

I never liked it much, but it is close, so I would sometimes go for a quick thing. One time I needed a 27" tire for a Schwinn Continental. I asked for it, and I got this conversation:

me I need a 27 inch tire for a Schwinn Continental.

BS Schwinns take special tires.

me this one just takes a normal 27, got one?

BS Schwinn tires are not like other tires.

me This is just a normal 630 tire. Do you have one?

BS But Schwinn ones are different

me Okay, do you have any Schwinn 27 tires?

BS They aren't like the other ones.

me I hear that you say that. Do you, perchance, have one?

BS But they are not the normal tire

me You are correct, they are not normal tires. They only fit Schwinn rims. Have one?

BS You can't put any old tire on there

me Do you, or do you not, have such a tire here? I have money. Cash money. Will you sell me one? They are not normal tires. They do not fit other bikes. They are different. I agree completely. Here are some money, will you trade such a tire for this money I have?

BS Schwinn tires are different.

I finally had to leave. And when I did he sighed and seemed to think I was being foolish. I think I have not spent a dime in there since then.

jim

Sounds like the skit "Who's on first."

Mutt

I over heard the guy who runs the oldest LBS around here tell a lady that he was trying to get out of used bikes because they are "like coathangers"... I didn't stick around to hear the rest.
Funny thing is he's famous for having over 200 Schwinns in his basement.

At the local "major" bike retailer (I hesitate to call a catalog house with retail locations a shop) Last summer I overheard a sales pitch that started with "you want to put your money into the components, the frame can always be upgraded". At which point I had to leave.
I guess it's all "disposable" now.

... more like Monty Python's "The Cheese Shoppe."

With 200 coats hanging off from them.

re: a Dura Ace cassette. Two different shops told me they weren't made to be taken apart. I asked one if they had two whips and proceeded to show them how it was done. That was before I got a second whip of my own.

Wow, I'm glad I live where I do, today I stopped by my local LBS where I brought two Trek 520 frames in that I rescued from the dump and had him build one up from parts I had, and some that he had to order. I had a buyer for it already so I stopped to see how it was coming along. He asked about the second frame and what I wanted to be done with that one. I told him he could have it for the help he gave me for getting the other one together(and only charging me his costs for the parts) he thought awhile and said tell you what I will build it up and we'll split the profit.

when my dad, who has no clue about bikes was trying to buy a new mountain bike we were in the store, right. Theyre showing us a mountain bike pull brake mtb and I say, "do you have any with disc brakes" she says "no, but they don't do anything, you dont need them. just extra weight- unnecessary weight." We walked out.

One lbs I visited here did not know what a saddlebag was. I explained it was a bag that attached under the seat. They had never heard of such a thing.

i went to a bike store for race packet pick up, no one knew that they had packet pickup, and called the manager, and called the other locations. disheartened, i went looking at the bikes, and walked into a guy at a plastic table. That was packet pickup. HOW OBLIVIOUS, the store is only 50' by 30'

Turns out the bike they were trying to sell my friend is a Raleigh Clubman. This apparently is some Marketers attempt to capitalize on the retro craze. It is made with Reynolds 520 steel and has a Brooks saddle. I can't figure out why they chose to use a sloping top tube. It ruins the whole effect.
I offered to modernize the Centurion for him if he would pay for the parts I don't have, which would be a hub, brifters and cassette, just to prove to him the salesman is full of "stuff". I am fairly certain I can build that bike into a bike that is lighter and handles better than the Clubman. I could probably get about 1/2 the cost back by selling the Suntour GPX components.

I'm sure there's a bunch of LBS's out there with mostly idiots and a few good people mixed in. All it takes is one good contact, if you can find one just deal with them exclusively. Its hard to find good help these days.. may not be fair to condemn a whole shop based on the words of one idiot who happens to work there.

In my case it was the owner who did the Monty Python routine with me. And the head mechanic was standing right there and did not say a word.

jim

Oh man, well there's no hope in that shop of course..

"You can't get Schwinn tires anymore, they don't make them! But we have this nice new bike over here.."

At least that's the only sense I could make of it.