LBS supporting fixed / SS
 

So I'm in my LBS today trying to find a decent set of 700x28's when I overhear a guy asking the shop guy about setting up his MTB for fixed / SS. The shop guy quickly goes into how much he will hate riding his bike if he switches over to fixed. "If you ride in the city, you'll get killed because you won't be able to stop...". The shop guy said he didn't have a fixed gear, but knew they were bad.

My question is this: What is your experience with your LBS? Are they anti fixed? Ambivalent? Supportive?
It would be nice to find one near me that doesn't treat anything with less than 27 gears as an anomaly.

my local shop has 2 guys i usually deal with are awesome.. they're the kind of guys i could walk up to and say 'hey i wanna make a tall bike how might i get it to work' and they'd tell me. but the other people that work there are intense roadies not fond of the current fix gear hype in my town.

Yeah,

I was a Noob going into this one LBS (a pretty hardcore road bike shop) and asking them questions thinking they were totally cool with helping me out.

N O P E! They treated me like I was invisible and had really short dry answers. They kinda scoffed (not obviously) at me when I showed them my old skool 80's road bike cranks and front chain ring.

I dunno, I really try not to give that place business as 4 different employees on 5 seperate occasions totally disregarded me.

There is an LBS that is closer that I always go to because they are a bit more "realistic" and not so "oh you don't ride a $3,000 cannondale so you suck" mentality. They even have a big sign that says "We support your Fixed and Single Speed needs". NOW THATS COOL.

I also go to performance Bike (aka the man) alot :gasp: just for the cheapo stuff that would cost me and arm and a leg at the LBS. But I have to say.. those guys in there are so damn friendly and helpful... even my favorite LBS isnt that good.

oh well...

My LBS is rad. I've been in there on a weekly basis trying to find a Sputnik. A few of the guys in there ride fixed too. Today, I went in, as they were closing, and one of the guys was trying to get me on a Bowery. I told him I'd come back and try it out. He knows I'm holding out for the Sputnik though.

My LBS absolutely LOVES fixed gear bikes. The owner/wrench is the former Soviet track champion who later became the Soviet track team's mechanic. He's all about hooking up riders with nice fixed bikes for cheap from his secret stash (he usually brings something special out of his closet) of NOS and vintage parts. For him it's all about bikes being ridden, and folks who ride get the special deals. I love my LBS.

My lbs has a team that races at the san jose velodrome.

I bought my steamroller complete a couple of weeks ago from my LBS. Went back three weeks later to replace the rear rim after an incident with a guardrail. The mechanic that built up my bike saw me get out of my car in the carpark, and walked down the front of the shop just to ask me how I was going with converting to fixed and see how I was enjoying the bike. There were three other employees in the front of the shop doing fark all and he still took the time to say hey. Was stoked.

http://www.66fixed.com/

my lbs is a fixed/single only shop.

My shop stocks single speed and fixed gear bikes and parts. They know what's up.

I went in to buy parts from my LBS of choice, yesterday and we actually took 2 hours to get everything done, because we just kept BSing about the stuff I was buying. Almost, everyone at my LBS rides fixed. But thanks to my job, I was able to buy things that they don't normally carry a lot of. They seem to be stoked to see my build when it is done. It was quite funny how many times I got asked about my group buy frame. Every time a new shop employee walked buy they had to stop and guess what frame it was. So I would say my LBS is into fixed and track. Actually, every time I go in they are playing track videos.

I was going to the LBS around my University for a while. They were kinda cool, none of them ride anything other than xc MTB or road but they know how to work on pretty much everything. Then one Sunday they werent open and I needed some tubes for my roadie. I drove 25 minutes to the next closest bike shop and I walk into the basement and the guy is tooling around the display floor on a Kona Unit and singing "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5. I will never go to another bike shop as long as I am up here.

:eek: Wow. My LBS is creepy, but not that bad.

Are you kidding? I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever seen in a business establishment.

Edit- Oh I just realized it sounds creepier as "he was singing" instead of "he was singing along with", as the latter was what was actually happening.

Oh okay, now it's funny. I was picturing the Unabomber tooling around a sales floor with the lights off (and his sunglasses on) just singing Jackson 5. . . .

Glad we cleared that up.

LBS #1 doesn't sell or stock SS/FG except for a SS 29'er. A couple of their wrenches build SS/Fixies on the side and they will of course order anything they can. Shop sells a lot of mtb., hybrids, roadies. Very friendly bunch that will listen to me shoot the breeze when I visit.

LBS #2 sold my the San Jose and also keeps a SS 29'er on the floor but strangely, no Pistas. They will order them. Sells a lot of high end roadies. Owner is extremely animated about his opinions but that doesn't bother me like it does others.

LBS #3 is a new store, only two years old but they've got a Soma Rush and a Masi Speciale on the floor, lots of parts and accessories for fixed gear bikes. Most of the people there and the owner ride fixed.

LBS #4 in the area has track bikes and is the only shop to sell used bikes.

LBS #5 I've not been to but is supposedly owned by some old guy that has million old bike parts and puts together old bikes cheap. Has a beach cruiser and a penny farthing in the window so I really need to check the place out. I thought it mainly catered to the skateboard crowd.

Damn, Jamey stole my answer.

I actually had/have a few other shops closer to my house, but I don't go to them.

1nce I went to my LBS with a banana in my pocket and everyone dropped to their knees around me and they all started to stroke it through my pants and then I told them it was only a banana so we split to go get ice cream.

One of my LBS is a frame builder. He's built fixed gear frames and ridden them. He carries cogs, lockrings and stuff like that, but he's been known to try and talk people out of building fixies. I dunno...

Another local shop has been ordering and carrying some fixed stuff.

That's all I know.

Mark

I rode mt fixed gear over to Performance to buy a GatorSkin. The lady working there said I was the coolest high schooler she knew cause I ride fixed. I would say yes.

guy who runs mine is kind of a loon but loves old campy stuff so I cant hate him

Shameless plug for the shop I work at but we LOVE Fixies
www.highgearbike.com

My SS/FG LBS is Campione. I've been going to them for most of my SS needs for a while. They recently changed hands, in that the original owner came back and gave the boot to the ******bag who was running the store. The tech they had was a pretty cool guy, but he seems to have gone as well. The original owner is an older guy named Giuseppe [?], and he is dedicated to all things road, track and CX. They appear to have dropped Surly in favour of more euro brands. They actually had a Bianchi Roger in there that was my size, and many Pistas. Giuseppe told me that they are going to dedicate about 1/3 of the shop to "one gear bicicletta", with lots of spare parts, freewheels, etc. His prices on Campy are pretty decent too...

When they see I have a track bike or my SS MTB, most shops I go to just shake their head and say "That's crazy." I shrug and say "It's fun". Then they help me with what I need.

Gainesville has LBSs for almost every type of biking. There is one for Trek (which also happens to be the biggest one), one for used/swaps, one for mtbs, one for SS/fixed/custom frames, one for racers/TT/tris, one that is just there (last time I was in there, they had 4 bikes for sale), and one that mostly serves college students/racers. There are also two others I've never been in.. man I love this place.

Oh and one that sells Schwinns.

And if is sounds like way too many for a lil' place like Gainesville, it is. The Schwinn place and the race/TT/Tri place recently moved further than 5 miles away from where I live.

All the shops I frequent are hip to the Single Perfect Gear: The Bicycle Business, City Bike Works, Bicycle Chef, and Rex Cycles.

Of course, these are real bike shops and not a chain like Performance, Mike's Bikes, et al.