The BS is bad, but those lazy SOBs are dangerous- one put a tire with a defective casing on my first MT bike, I guess he didn't beleive that I actually rode on the dirt. He said "it looks a little strange but It'll straighten out as you ride it." I was new to the sport and had no clue that somebody would do a thing like that to me. It was on the front wheel and managed to jam me up and over into a total headplant. I had whiplash from my skull to my butt and a really nasty concussion. The tire was an Onza, and naturally they went out of business that week. The piddling proceeds from the lawsuit against the shop (Bayou Bicycles) were hardly worth the two weeks in bed. I should OWN that stinkin' shop. The mechanics name is Mark Manson, and I'm still looking for his sorry butt on the trail.
Be careful. I've seen some totally unscrupulous stuff done to people by shops, my experience being the worst but I'm surprised more people aren't injured on badly set up bikes, on clipless pedals for beginning riders, on all sorts of scary stuff I see about town. I feel blessed to have a shop who doesn't jerk anybody around.

missliz

Yeah, I'd be dead if I wasn't wearing a helmet. Why don't those same lousy shops explain about helmets? Or traffic laws? My first good shop gave a handout with the bike on traffic code and how not to get killed.