LBS anger

[roughingit]

Just got back from pedaling up to Salem and checked out a couple shops in the surrounding towns there too. Only found a couple of nice shops out of the whole pack (and only one had something for me to test ride....but man I think I found my bike!). I even biked ten miles out of my way to visit one shop because they had an ad in the phone book that mentioned over 100 bikes in stock, touring mountain, road, etc.... I ride up there to discover a tiny store with some bmx bikes, hybrids and tandems.... False advertising anyone?

Had another guy who was very nice, but kept insisting that the Trek 520 was the cheapest touring bike I was going to find and that I was nuts for looking for something under $1000....even though the shops down the street both had touring bikes for the price range that I'm interested in....

I have the constant problem of shops not listening to what I am saying and instead rolling out $1,300 plus bikes with carbon forks.... Despite all the wonderful reviews I have found for Surlys, I've yet to see one in person and they thought I was nuts for inquiring.

I do think I found the bike I want, or at least, I finally got to actually test ride something, a Fuji Touring bike. Fit felt nice and I wouldn't have to change the gearing. The guy at that shop quoted me full price when I asked about accessories though, so rather than going all the way back up there, I think I'll have a local shop order one. Maybe I'm expecting too much? The bike shop I got mine from gave me a discount on the stuff I bought with the bike I have now though and so did my SO's shop when he bought his...

[drplasma64]

I'm in Corvallis, looking for a new hybrid bike. I'm of the 40ish, overweight, mom-ish variety of consumer, BUT, I've done a lot of reading about bikes and want to make sure I get a good fit, decent service, and a place for maintenance and repairs. And I ask a lot of questions and want to be taken seriously. Potentially, my hubby might buy a bike too, so even though we're not looking at very expensive bikes, we're looking at more than one, plus a trail-a-bike, kids bikes, etc. in the future. We are new to the area, and I haven't been really with any LBS I've been in so far. That's actually not true, there is one really nice shop, but I didn't find a bike there (in stock) that I'd want.

Any place between Eugene and Salem I'm willing to visit.

Thanks!