LBS anger

[Barb]

My LBS really ticked me off yesterday. Mostly it was one of the managers. The other manager has always been really great to work with.

I bought my first set of clipless pedals. I need comuter pedals (platform on one side). I get talked into Look Attacks. They set me up, took time with me etc. etc. Then I get the bike home and think "I wonder how these will feel without the bike shoes." It was not a good thing! I was very specific in telling them that I must be able to ride without my bike shoes becuase I grocery shop and run errands by bike and I want to do that in reg. shoes.

I take the bike back and this time the Mgr. helps me. He doesn't listen to the whole explanation, grabs a set of pedals and my shoes and whisks them to the back room. When he wheels the bike out, I notice that they are not the pedals I was asking for, so he wheels her back around and tells the mechanic to fix it again. Pretty grumpy the whole time. I didn't try them out in the shop. I get the bike home and look at the shoes. One of the cleats is on crooked! I mean enough that my knee would really feel it! I am getting tired of that LBS. They are more expensive than any other shop around and the service is becoming hit or miss. That manager has a holier than thou roadie attitude that I cannot stand. I am a roadie and would never treat another biker that way, regardless of equipment, talent or experience.

Thanks ladies, I just needed a good rant. I'm gonna go fix my cleats and try it out on the trainer.

[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.

[Roadrunner]

Isn't it great when you find a really good LBS. There's one near us in a small town called Leslie. They really are helpful. I took my road bike in to get the the fit checked as I was getting shoulder problems the guy spent ages checking me on the bike and fitted an adjustable headset and checked me outwith it. He was really helpful even though I didn't buy my bike there. Recently I took it in to have the gears checked out they adjusted them for me and wouldn't take a penny payment!! Now that's service.

[jobob]

A good LBS is worth its weight in gold!

[plug] My (not-so-L)BS is the Bicycle Outfitter in Los Altos; there are other shops much closer to me but the Outfitter can't be beat for helpfulness and service [/plug]

OK cruziegirl, I told you mine, now tell me yours?

- Jo.

So Margaret, how is the Claude Butler (or do you call him Jeeves?) working out for you?

[MomOnBike]

Yeah, I've had bad LBS experiences, too. Being female, fat and 40 marks me as "not serious" and really not worth the time of the super-fit 20-something males. (None of those problems here...) Well, I've got news for them. Actually, in my poke-along-and-smell-the-roses way, I'm really quite serious.

Not only that, but I have a bike budget (really larger than income would indicate) and I will spend it somewhere. Luckily, there is a pretty good choice of shops here, so I just go elsewhere. Simple, really.

Still, it's annoying.

[gilly]

We have exactly the same issues here

We did have a brilliant little LBS run by a really nice guy, always helpful, always time for a chat, but the owner decided to move the little shop into the big shop (around 10 miles away), although the nice guy moved with the shop, he lost all 'say' about how a customer was treated, and no longer repaired bikes, so although he was great IF you could get him, the others were out and out pr@tts. It was as though you were walking into someones private lounge and interrupting a conversation! Not only did the personal service suffer, I guess we could have coped with that, but they took on some young guy as a bike mechanic who was worse than useless and cost us quite a lot of money when we had to take the repaired bike to another mechanic!! We don't go there any more

Then we have a very Roadie oriented shop, they look at you as though you just walked in from another planet... no smile, no greeting. So Weird! (it has to be said, the place is always empty!)

We now have to travel 30 miles to a half decent LBS (not so local )

It's a strange world eh

[Melody]

I've been reading the forums for about a week, but hadn't posted before.

Anyway, I also really like Bicycle Outfitters. I haven't been biking in many many years, but my husband, about 6 or so months ago, got into it and picked up a Cervelo and has been riding. I've got a mtn bike, but since I was riding with him on the road, I wanted a road bike. (Besides, the mtn bike *really* needs to be cleaned).

So I budgeted for a new bike and I wanted something for under $1k, so probably $1200 all done (including tax and other things like new lights).

Well, 10 days ago, we took my truck in to find out what was going on with it. Turns out it's got severe compression issues, etc., so we don't want to drive it. Luckily, there's a shuttle from a local train station (about 2.5 miles away) to work. I decided that I'll bike in once I get the new bike.

I went to 5 different local shops. Out of all of them, Bicycle Outfitters didn't try to upsell me. Plus they really seemed to know what they were doing and just gave me the best "feel". Everyone was extremely helpful. They were also the busiest. Generally there were maybe 1-2 people in the other stores when we went there, but at BO, the store was packed.

So, I went back and got my Bianchi Imola there. I got a great deal on it since the bike is an '03. I've also put a bunch of miles on it, especially for being a biking semi-newbie who hasn't ridden in a long time. In fact, yesterday, my hubby and I decided we'd ride up to his work since he's now considering bike commuting. So we rode from Mtn View to his work in Redwood City. All in all, 26 miles, which is the longest and farthest I've ever ridden. The headwind on the way back really really really _sucked_. :P

Now, time to find a saddle that feels comfortable. :P

Mel

[cruziegirl]

Okay, so in Santa Cruz my absolute favorite shop is The Spokesman on Cathcart Street. The staff is informed, very helpful no matter what I'm looking for, and all of them are so friendly and easy to deal with it's a pleasure to go in there. I love those guys!

My other favorite shop is in Los Altos, The Chain Reaction. There's a woman there, Amy, who has spent all kinds of time with me on getting my bike fit just right. But all of the staff there seems to be helpful. As an example, I'm switching to Speedplay pedals so I called them to ask some questions. The guy who answered spent about 10 minutes on the phone happily answering all of my questions (and I'm just sure some of them were quite dense) and acted like he would have spent another 10 if I had needed it.

A good LBS is worth its weight in gold!

[plug] My (not-so-L)BS is the Bicycle Outfitter in Los Altos; there are other shops much closer to me but the Outfitter can't be beat for helpfulness and service [/plug]

OK cruziegirl, I told you mine, now tell me yours?

- Jo.

So Margaret, how is the Claude Butler (or do you call him Jeeves?) working out for you?

[Jo-n-NY]

I grew up with the LBS that I continue to use. Sunrise Cyclery in Massapequa Park on Long Island, NY has been in business since 1954. It began with the father and now it is run by the son and law, son and the dad still continues to work a few days a week. Most customers are now third generations shopping at this store. They are known for the GREAT customer service as well as selling good quality bikes and other cycling products which is quite hard to find in this day and age. There is always a family member in the store which means that they all put in a great amount of hours having to keep up with the retail competition. I remember when stores where not open on Sundays and closed by 6:00.

The store is run with deep passion, heart and soul so I thought I would add this as they have more than earned their due respect in the industry.

[cyclingnewbie]

I'm with MomOnBike. Female, fat, forty and the guys at the LBS act like it's a bother to answer any questions and help with fit because what good could it possibly do?? They don't get snotty, but it's obvious that I am of very little interest to them. Just wait until I have cash to spend on a new bike! I bet I will be more interesting then!! They need to think about the fact that there are a lot more riders in our category than the century riders and we would all like to have a bike that works right and fits well too. Furthermore, our group probably isn't as into maintenance and adjustments and would be more likely to give them more repair business than the devoted, hard core roadies. They need to think about that!

Ok. I'm done ranting now.......

[pedalfaster]

Once again, just for the sake of argument, I'll present a bit of a view from the other side (bike shop employee).

Never go to a LBS for service on the weekend. I'm serious. Our little (understaffed) shop even has a policy of NO "while-you-wait" service on Saturday. Saturdays are the busiest day in the retail world and you are bound to receive slap-dash service on that day. Even if yours shop *does* service bikes on the weekend, trust me, your "baby" will get much much more TLC on a slow weekday.

Cleat placement: I'll go out on a limb here. When I set cleats, and don't have the customer on a trainer (to watch her pedal) I'll set them "loose" (just snug enough to test out) and warn her to tighten those puppies down as soon as she determines the setting is correct for her riding style. I'll play devil's advocate here and say that perhaps the mgr./mechanic just forgot to tell you to tighten the bolts. Perhaps he/she *likes* his/her cleats set at some funky angle and rides with them that way (BTW when I set cleats to "neutral" I line them up with the shoe-last, so the cleats would look "crooked" on a very curved last).

Attitude: There is no excuse for the cruddy attitude. My motto? If an establishment (bike shop, coffee shop, whatever...) acts like they don't want my money I don't give them my money. Vote with your pocketbook. If you are getting consistantly bad sevice, look for another shop.

And now for a Public Service Announcement (sort of related)from yours truly, CBSG(cranky bike shop girl) :

To those of you complaining about the snow/cold/dark/lack of riding time--

Go get those bikes and get them into the LBS pronto for your Spring tune-up.
The *best* way to get a sub-standard tune-up(or any other service) is to wait until the 1) first warm weekend 2) first big local charity ride 3) first race of the season. Take your bike in now while there is still frost on the ground and the mechanic will have all day to work on your steed. Wait until Spring and your bike is just another number in the que.



p.s. I'm a 40-year-old mom who takes any woman who wants to ride bikes seriously. In fact if you don't want me to set you up to win races you gotta speak up!

[jobob]

I've been reading the forums for about a week, but hadn't posted before.

Hi Mel, and welcome!

So, I went back and got my Bianchi Imola there. I got a great deal on it since the bike is an '03. I've also put a bunch of miles on it, especially for being a biking semi-newbie who hasn't ridden in a long time.

Congrats on the new bike ! May you have many long and happy miles together.

In fact, yesterday, my hubby and I decided we'd ride up to his work since he's now considering bike commuting. So we rode from Mtn View to his work in Redwood City. All in all, 26 miles, which is the longest and farthest I've ever ridden. The headwind on the way back really really really _sucked_. :P

LOL, headwinds Just remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Where in RWC does your husband work? I work in RWC off of Seaport Drive (which is Woodside Road until you cross under 101, on the bay side of 101 the name changes to Seaport). I've resolved to start commuting from my home in Union City across the Dumbarton, 15 miles each way, starting March 1. I'm aiming for 2x a week for starters. We'll see if I can manage that

Now, time to find a saddle that feels comfortable. :P

Oy, good luck - that's a road most of us have gone down !

- Jo.

[Melody]

Hi Mel, and welcome!

Congrats on the new bike ! May you have many long and happy miles together.

Thanks Jobob

LOL, headwinds Just remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Yeah. But I still don't have to like 'em

Where in RWC does your husband work? I work in RWC off of Seaport Drive (which is Woodside Road until you cross under 101, on the bay side of 101 the name changes to Seaport). I've resolved to start commuting from my home in Union City across the Dumbarton, 15 miles each way, starting March 1. I'm aiming for 2x a week for starters. We'll see if I can manage that

He works over at Pacific Shores over at the of Seaport Dr. in the big business center. He works for a company called e2open.

Goodluck on the commuting. My commute is pretty short, just to the Mtn View downtown Caltrain station. From there I can take a shuttle directly to my building. But, eventually I'll be riding directly to work. I'm just not up to that yet.

Oy, good luck - that's a road most of us have gone down !

Yeah. I've got a friend who's an ex-racer. She has a Terry butterfly(?) saddle that she's going to let me try out. It's an old one but it'll tell me if the geometry of the saddle is any good for me.

Mel