bicycle shops hate us !!!

This spring,I went to my #1 regular bike shop.In the last 12 years I spent enough money there on tools,parts,and accessories to buy at least 2o cheap bikes.I am my own mechanic.Anyway,I walk In with a 32 spoke hub and a 32 spoke rim asking for a set of spokes as I phoned them earlier to make sure.One of their mechanics made a scene and said that its a36 spoke hub and laughed at me.I said no its a32.he said he counted it.I said lets count together .He quickly changed subject and said dont spoke rim because its old.HE DID NOT COUNT IT.HE LIED TO ME.HE DID NOT WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THAT IT REALLY WAS 32. boy was i mad.When I got home I phoned the owner whom I know and went to junior high with.I said I dont go there becuase I know you.I go there because it's a good store.This week I spent 200.00 on parts alone and have another 60.00 on order.I told him that if I were owner I would fire that so&so on the spot.Bill told me to bring in hub so he can show mech.,but a week later I cooled down.I don't shop there anymore anyway.That mech does not like people or his job and he really shows it to the customers.He thinks he really has it tough.I told owner Bill"its not u or the store,it's him".Where I live there is lot s of bike shops,and I mean lots of them. There is even a bike wrecking yard like Pic ur part.

in and around chicago we seem to generaly be outcasts , the store we frequent, we have to deal with the husband as the wife dosen't want us in the store?
I no longer ride my mb to the local shops anyway (always down when i need something),but the spandex click around here is unreal. the weekend is there time ,you don't belong in there lane and they have told me so....
can't wait till jan of 2010 so the law will be (slightly)on our side. but in the long run your money is still green ,so if they don't want it deal with someone who does!

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we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
for he that shares the road with me shall be my brother. be he nare so vile this ride shall gentile his condition . and pedestrians now afoot will hold there manhood cheap when passed by a motor bike geek

Now fiirst of all, what is a spandex click?? secondly, when they say something,ask them if its their city or with that in mind, just say,"yea, okay,see yea" What I like to say is,:"yup yup sure okay alllllright" Who made them the head comies anyway?Are their any signs saying no bicycles??You dont be a tellin me anything unless your a cop .Where I live there are lots and lots of shops and they cannot afford to be ruuude to customers.If I had a shop with a mechanic that acted as if he had something stuck up his rear,I would fire him on the spot.Ive seen alot of people get fired, and boy do they ever get fired quick .I shop at REVOLUTION bike shop now and boy are they ever great-bought my mech stand there-thats 230.00 alone.They know that when I come walking in, I mean buisness and I"m there to drop cash.They know that I'm not there to screw them around.You should have at least two bikes so u can always use one to get parts with.and now its time for..........

There are a few bike shops around here where I live, but only one is actualy local (2 blocks from my new apartment). I recently picked up a vintage Schwinn Varsity 10 spd, it has the funky Schwinn size S5-S6 wheels/tires. It needs new tires/tubes to be complete, I went in to the nearest bike shop intent on getting some info on the funky sizes and see how much money I would need to spend to replace them. I got the RUDEST response from one of the mechanics that I will NEVER spend ANY of my money there. He told me that he had no idea what I was talking about when refering to the Schwinn S5-S6 tires, he offered no help and didn't even ask anybody else employed there for there input.

I was not there to do anything MB related, simply sourcing info. Now, it is my belief that if you work at a bike shop you should know the product you are dealing with. What a waste of time that place is!

Ben, Bothell, WA

Do the old original tires say on them that they are MADE by Schwin??? Schiwn makes bikes but they may not Make tires.

Dude, when I lived in Florida, I had 4 local shops, and they all acted the same way- like they are bicycling gods and we should grovel at their feet! I've worked on my own bikes all my life, since I was old enough to hold a wrench- yet every single time I went into one of those shops for parts, I had to spend 5 minutes convincing them that I knew this was the part I needed. First it was 'well what kind of bike is it?' then came 'oh thats the wrong bike for you' then 'are you shure this will fit? I should probably see the bike first' I mean heck- you don't go to McDonalds and get treated like that! You tell the person what ou want, they take your money and you walk away a happy customer. That's how retail is supposed to work, right?

You guys are lucky to have choices at all. Here there is one single shop. Last year I took one of my bikes to them to get the deraillers adjusted before I moved out of state. A week later I went back and they still hadn't touched it. I should mention it is the Spandex center of the county....

Now that I'm back in state, unemployed and broke...I REALLY can't afford to go there.... I wish the other place hadn't closed down.. That guy was cheap and friendly.

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i'm freakin loony

I used to live in a town with only one bicycle shop . The next closest shop was over 100 miles away . I do all of my own repairs to my vehicles . That was the problem . After the third time being treated like dirt when buying bicycle parts I said WTF is your problem . I was told that I was taking food out of his family's mouth by doing my own repairs . I never went back to that shop and had all of my parts mailed to me from the shop over 100 miles away . His shop is now a video rental place and there is no bicycle shop in town . Who was right is a matter of perspective . ..... D.J.

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If you don't have dreams , your dreams can't come true .

What the **** was he complaining about? You paid him for parts right? Giving him money at all was putting food IN his family's mouth. What a jackarse.

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i'm freakin loony

to be perfectly honest- why would you pay somebody to work on your bike anyway? They are by far the simplest machines on the planet. If you can turn a wrench, you can fix anything on it.