anyone ever encounter a mean bike shop? today i went in to a shop near my parent's home to ask a few questions regarding my frame and bottom bracket and tools i need, cause i'm currently trying to build my own fixie. Instead of helping me out, the guys there pretty much gave me attitude and were pretty pretentious. I got no help at all. and rather than showing me how to work on it, one guy did it himself as i waited outside the work area explaining to the other guy that yes, i really didn't want gears and i really did strip them off. I mean it's my bike and my project, I'm only getting started and i felt totally judged by these dudes. F*** man, I just want to learn about my bike!

lame

Time to learn how to do it yourself and stick it to the shop. K thx.

If you don't do this you fail.

Don't fail.

we've all been there--trying to gather intel from some ******bag shop
mechanic who wants to make themselves feel big by being obscure.
Don't sweat it--and when you know your **** a year, two years,
three years from now don't repeat the dynamic. Share your skills
and knowledge.

I got buddies at the shop, I've never encountered mean LBS guys.

^ that's great--unfortunately lotsa shops serve up a big-a$$ dish of attitude
with an ancillary helping of actually knowledge or help.

hey kaiju, what valley are you from? THE valley? That would be awesome

no way Kaiju you're an environmental planner! That's awesome, I may want to go in that direction. Sweet

From the other end of the spectrum, I work in a shop and hate it when someone picks my brain for twenty or thirty minutes and just peaces out without buying anything. I'm not saying that's you, but don't think of a bike shop as a free knowledge (or tool) library!

I would not ever ask for free tools, and why would anyone, especially a lbs, charge for knowledge? I work at an arts library, and I don't hate on people who come in and ask me for help for 5 mins or an hour, helping people is part of my job and I love it. What else is a lbs there for? I will think of a bike shop as free knowledge, forever!

Uhh...possibly to MAKE MONEY? Im pretty sure that money is what keeps them going but i could be wrong about that.

I hear you man--I try to shop at the same LBS where I get my advice--so that I can
comp them for free info by buying cogs, tubes, oil, and other necessaries at the shop.
I never chisel on the price of a job like pressing in a new headset.
I kicked down for a six pack for the mechanic there once.

The fixed gear boom has just hit this town and there are at least two customers a day that come in and want the same advice. I am not saying that this is bad, but they come in with a frame they bought online, parts they bought online, and all the other crap to go with it and then they ask you 4 million questions that they could figure out with some mechanical ability and 30 minutes online. Every once in a while someone will actually buy a tube or a chainring bolt but that's about it. Meanwhile you have a backlog of customer bikes and four people wandering around the store looking to buy bikes or accessories that actually keep the store in business. I would rather someone read how to put the bike together online, get a basic understanding of what is going on, and then come in and use the tools to do it themselves. There are 23,000 threads in this forum and half of those deal with how to build a fixed gear from scratch. The fixed gear is not rocket science. I'm all about sharing my knowledge and helping people out but I just ask that they maybe do a little research.

Thanks silent1, that puts things into perspective and I apologize. Most of my learning has come from taking my bike apart and trying to put it back. The shop was last resort and i got them at a bad time i suppose. Ultimately, I still appreciate them forever. Peace

time to learn how to talk the talk or take a walk... you probably sounded like a total idiot and a waste of time
you have to realize that bike shops deal with the free advise seeker for an average of 20hrs a week now think you aren't buying enough stuff to offset their time so no **** you get a little attitude go buy yourself the park repair manuals and read em... stop wasting the poor bastard at the bike shops' time

or you could always ask him what kind of beer he likes and hook him up with a sixer if your looking for a free education

Haha sounds like the bike shop I went to in Sydney. Gave me a biggest attitude cause I ride fixed gear on the street. Oh well revenge is once in a while pop in and ask alot of questions and dont buy anything.

i understand the fact that they might get bombarded with such inquiries all day, but couldn't they just try and be nice and possibly gain a customer that way?


people with attitude, in any situation, really ****ing suck.

well they did end up doing the work pro bono right?
I would say thats nice enough...

yeah, but why be a dick about it?


bikeshops need to realize, that this is something they're going to be dealing with. so, rather than be bitter, why not turn it into an opportunity to make a customer out of him. i'm not saying that everyone who walks in with a question should get a handjob, just treat them with respect. i'm sure those bikeshop guys aren't perfect at everything. wouldn't they be pissed if they walked into a specialty shop of sorts, asked a question, then got major uncalled for 'tude? probably


i'm sure all this **** has been argued time and time again, though. so whatever.

In my opinion, no one who is unwilling to help a fellow cyclist belongs in a bike shop. I don't know of anywhere that pays mechanics on comission, so I don't think that making a few extra dollars should be a concern. Of course, I don't really think that anyone who is unwilling to help a fellow human being really belongs anywhere, so I don't know that this specific opinion really helps... I worked as a mechanic for a long time, and unless I was super busy I never minded giving advice.

I work in a bike shop. We help everyone we can. The only thing we won't do is fit parts that they bought online for free, when we would if they bought it from us.

If they worked on your bike for free, only complain about the attitude.

If they didn't lend you the tools, it could be because there is always a case when borrowed tools get broken. And man, good tools cost. a lot. We have a box with old tools that are loaners. Any simple stuff requiring non-specialist tools we will usually do for free. If it has to be taken in to the workshop, it is using time that could otherwise be spent fixing a bike or building a bike, so we charge.

An LBS is a business. Don't expect charity. But attitudes on employees suck. We try to be nice.

pretty much says it all shogun The shops I frequent adopt the same approach and that's totally fair imo. They know they can make a good impression that way, and hey that's perfect advertising. They both have a great rep, and for a reason! I know I've pointed colleagues and friends their way when they wanted to buy bikes because I know and trust their way of doing business. I buy a lot of stuff online but throw whatever business I can their way too. A lot of the specialist stuff they've done for me was for free and they've given me massively good deals on equipment. Why? Probably because I drop by every so often and am in every sense a regular, just like in a bar It's all just a little give & take.

This applies to everyone, not just FG riders.

My shop is on an island which is a huge tourist destination -- that means we are fricking SWAMPED right now trying to take care of repairs (our turn-around time is only about 3-4 days, which is great IMO), sell bikes, sell accessories, do rentals, answer the phone 40+ times a day, and fix all the flats that come in and need it done right then.

Maybe you caught them on a bad day. Maybe they felt like you were just using them for free work. Or maybe they are jerks.

I don't want to make it sound like what they did was OK, but they may have had a reason (other than being *******s) for doing it.

bad hair day **** happens

a friend of mine once got charged 10 cents for air from the compressor when she had a flat... he was serious

there's a difference between being busy and having more important things to worry about (such as business concerns for a small company or shop). i've been into multiple shops that i WAS going to give business to, but after asking a few questions about repairs, left and gave them no business because of ****ty attitudes. guess what? if i come in and ask you some questions about something, simply trying to increase my own knowledge on the subject, and you are nice about it, chances are you will have my business for as long as i'm in the area. when i get an attitude about it, i never go back, and i tell all my friends not to go there. regardless of quality of work. i went to one bike shop in philly for about 6 years. at one point, one of the mechanics (who was actually in a band that my band has played with multiple times) gave me an attitude, put a part on my bike that i didn't ask for and that he didn't ask me about, and i've never gone back. none of my friends have either.

i went to another shop in another part of the city, had a nice, reasonable conversation with a person who was incredibly backed up and had a full shop, and i've never gone anywhere else since then.

being a dick gets you nowhere in life unless you're a ****ing lawyer. i'm just trying to ride my bike. save the bull**** for someone else.