LBS anger

[jobob]

It really amazes me how some LBS's go out of their way to be such jerks. It's like, do they WANT to go out of buisness???

It took me a long time before I felt comfortable in a bike shop. I bet there are a lot of women (and perhaps even some men) who, if it weren't for the intimidation factor, would patronize LBSs more than they do.

[cruziegirl]

When I first got into cycling I was completely infuriated by bike shops and their snotty attitudes! Crabby shop owners with dense, teenage salesguys trying to sell me bikes that were either way too big or completely not what I was asking for. I'm all of 5'1" and one guy tried to tell me I could ride a 52 bike....yeah, right. When I asked one shop owner about road bikes for someone my size he didn't even look at me before saying none existed and I would have to have one custom-made. When I finally found my bike shop it was like a breath of fresh air. No attitudes, all of my questions get answered no matter how dense they may be, and I get the same attention when I spend $10 as when I spend $100. When I switched to clipless pedals the guys spend all kinds of time discussing what kind of riding I do, any knee problems, etc. before making a recommendation. What's the result? I refer people to this bike shop all of the time and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I am never going to understand why this is not the norm. Why any shop owner thinks people are going to put up with being jerked around is beyond me. Maybe this is why so many of them go out of business!

[Veronica]

So what's your shop's name?

V.