nyc bikes killed me
 

i blew it n took a risk n bought one of their coaster brake 700c wheels. it was a total pos with spokes that were too long and it was out of round. my friend that i knew would lace me up a wheel set took a look at it and tried to get it to stay true but couldent. i cant really describe how bad the wheel is. i hope i get my money back

they killed you? did you know murder is illegal? you should press charges. either way, i'm glad to know there is access to the interweb hub from "beyond"....

oh yeah, that sucks about your wheel.

yeah maybe killed is not so good a word but i realy wanted this to be a painless easy bike build to have fun with. kinda dissapointed

you knew it was risky.

I've always heard that nyc bikes is terrible.
But a friend of mine ordered the same 700c coaster brake wheelset and it arrived it perfect condition. I warned him before hand about nycbikes after hearing all the horror stories on here, but his wheels came perfect.
But I guess it's all irrevelent now because that bike got stolen the other day.

sucks about the stolen bike.

so, you're in milwaukee. it has *lots* of bike shops that either have or can custom order you exactly what you want. the price may be slightly more, but you get to see it before you buy it, you can take it back if it's somehow faulty, and you're supporting a local business. plus you don't pay for shipping.

why do people mail order so much crap? it just doesn't make sense for the $5 savings.

i was just being lazy n didnt want to put my friend throught the hassle of building me the wheel cause it was going to be for a friend of mine not me. it was a total impulse buy.

I totally agree with you in supporting your local bike shop. But as an informed buyer when i can save say like $125 on a brand new fork, i will. LBS was gogin to charge me $350 for a new carbon fiber fork, i easy got the fork online for only $200. Thats insane.

I definately buy complete bikes from LBS, but never parts. Its riduclous on the over head they make on these parts.

I've found that to be the opposite in my case. I'm on good terms with a small repair-centric bike shop that is a short ways away (not exactly my LBS, but still). Hans - the proprieter of said shop - has hooked me up with the following deals in the past 2 months:

1. Wheel truing, tire and tube: $18
2. Seatpost (generic, but NIB, and a hard to find size): $12
3. 1 DA rear skewer, 1 generic rear skewer: $5

I like to tip him on these extra-good deals, but I still think I come out ahead over online shops. Plus he's cool to hang around with. Not that the operators at Supergo and Nashbar don't have sexy voices...

They have to make it somehow though.
No bike shop could survive selling only whole bikes (super low overhead). Something has to carry the markup to pay the rent and the highly qualified, talented (and did i mention attractive?) staff. That usually leaves just parts and labor, making both expensive for consumers.

Yeah, $125 is insane. But did you tell your LBS about the price you saw? I mean, if you're honest, you could make the case that them matching the price (or selling to you slightly above wholesale) means you coming back, alot. That means something. And LBS folks are reasonable folks.

Naww, I should have talked to them about the price i found online. Acutally, what is wierd is that i ordered this fork from Aebike.com That is actucally a LBS in OSHTEMO, MI. Just curious how they make their prices really low. This is one of my favorite places to look for parts. They bet almost everywhere i check.

they either buy in bulk, or have stuff drop-shipped from the manufacturer. i got a set of sugino 75s from them a few years back for $130, which is basically what QBP charges shops for them.

NYCBikes is a cheap-assed setup. I walked in there while I was visiting the city and the place was just disorganized and the service people were pretty bad and didn't really know much considering that it was a bike shop. Bad example of an LBS.

Hey, you're preaching to the choir here.
I don't know if you mistyped or just misread what I wrote because I didn't order the wheels from NYCbikes a guy I know did.
I always fully support my lbs without issue.
Although I have been waiting for my velocity rims for over 7 weeks, but that's not their fault.

it just seemed like there was ablolutly no effort put into the wheel. im used to getting beachcruiser wheels for 30 dollars through my lbs that are great n i didnt expect to get such a pos. im just over mail order. o well.