bicycle shops hate us !!!

I pay people because I can't true a wheel or adjust a derailler worth a crap. I can do the rest though.

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i'm freakin loony

My local bike shops have become used to me...

Here comes that nut job with the funny looking looking C-clamp.

They haven't caught me with my numerical monkey wrench yet.

Jim

finally permision to buy another motor and build a back up bike ,,, why haden't i thought of this before?
as for the spandex mob they are as thick as theives by me . first a little back story,my property backs up to the local bike trail, great in some ways a pain in the ass in others. so some weekends there will be hords of yuppie weekend warriors out behind the house. I usted to try and be nice ,lett them fill up on water or use the can but man most of them are asses. they seem to think that there some kind of ultra fit alpha males struting around in nutt crunching shorts. one guy and his wife told me that they felt that pedestrians should be banned from the trail for saftey "so they don't get hit"?another was *****in that a father was teaching his kid to ride with training wheels on the trail and weaving back and forth in the trail, real class
at least the mbers in town all seem to be cool ,one guy does ride the trail and will get caught but theres always one right.

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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

I hesitated to tell my local bike shop that I have a MB, but let it out and I got no reaction. 2 axle nuts for a buck, and on I went. Glad it went down that way, there are a lot of cyclers who don't like the arrival of MBs in Baltimore.

good on you Dave !!!
he should have at least said thank you, tho

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Bill
EZ Motorbike Dealer - Fountain Hills, AZ
www.ezmotorbike.com
azgrampa@gmail.com

i went to three local bike stores today, since it's going to rain here for a coupla days, i figure i'd work on my bike.

i ended up buying one brake cable, no housing.

the first bike store, i asked for white cable housings. no deal, they only have black. every bike in that store was cheap beach cruisers. it was like a target, but just bikes.

the next store's been there for 60 years. they have some more beach cruisers, and a few hi end bikes.

no white cable housing, no good chain breaker, and no phil wood grease in the little green tube.

the third bike store, had more spandex then a cindarella concert, a bunch of fixster hipsters standing around, and no brake cables, a tiawan chain breaker, no grease, and not much for bikes anyway.

there were plenty of sneers to go around, though.

if i could find a good bike store, willing to order the big parts i need, stock the little ones, and not be so hypocritical and condescending, i sure would be happy...

One of my "local" shops (next town over) is one of the rare "all-inclusive" bike shops, while it's true they don't sell motorized bikes - two of the techs have built them for themselves. Unfortunately for me they have little understanding of the ways of a 2smoker, they're primarily pedal fanatics, but still it's nice to know they played with them a bit.

One of the interesting things they did with their MBs was to solder their spokes wherever they cross, saying that it stiffens the wheel considerably. I haven't tried this and if it weren't for the fact they're bike techs I would have scoffed and walked away... I'm prolly still not going to do it - but it's interesting anyway.

The place itself one would think expensive and snobby just from lookin' at the top shelf bikes and the prices - but other than just one employee it's actually a great place that lets my McGyvering self paw through old bits and parts in the back room

There's occasionally a spandexer or two that gets all wall-eyed and offended by my bike's existence on this holy ground, but needless to say they're respected only for their wallets lol

... wherever they put them o.O

They've a pretty good eCatalog too if yer lookin fer stuff: Bikeman

the spokes are stronger than the solder. they'll flex, and break it (the solder.) that's why bikes use spokes, because they flex. they have to, otherwise, you're riding a shopping cart. spoked wheels are a form of suspension. they absorb and repel. if welding your spokes together worked, we'd all be riding centerline drag wheels. don't listen to "bike techs." they're the equivalent of a 7-11 clerk.

if they really knew the physical make-up of bicycle technology, they'd be applying it to some esoteric hybrid/solar/battery/perpetual motion machine.

hmmm... perpetual motion? that gives me an idea...

*shrug*

Prolly dead-on bairdco, my first instinct was to "pfft" lol, not to mention it'd make truing a righteous pain

These guys are nice and somewhat knowledgeable, but I know what yer gettin' at. It's a shame I don't have access to the bike shop near where I used to live in Vermont... Those guys, one of 'em in particular was a true bike guru, a fanatic extraordinaire - gawd if I only had this habit then lol

Finding a bicycle shop that has all the parts with the right prices is very difficult to find. I go to 3 bicycle shops regularly in my area. There are other 2 shops but they have very limited parts. The first shop I go to is the one that's most accessible, then the 2nd shop has these hard to find parts, but are not very friendly and accommodating, the 3rd shop is open on Sundays, but their prices is a litlle bit higher than the other shops. But for most of the parts, I buy online. I have only brought my MB once only to one bike shop when I had my headset replaced to install a suspension fork. The technician had no reaction at all, as if there was no engine, and just continued to work on the headset replacement. He did commented that I have some very good parts on my bike, that are not easy to find. I told him that I bought most of it online.

Ok, that's bicycle shops, what about motorcycle shops? I have gone to about 4 or 5 motorcycle shops and only one of them entertained me. All the others just ignored me as if I was an invisible entity as if as I was talking to the wind. But this 1 motorcycle shop that did entertain me, was pretty amazed on how the MB was built. He even tried to give me a brand new carburetor to try and install it. He said that if it fits, I can have it. Too bad I could'nt make it fit with the manifold. So that's 3 bicycle shops, about 3 to 4 online shops, and 1 motorcycle shop, and ofcourse there's ACE Hardware...

We should have a reputable Bike shop as a sponsor to this site, so that it can cater to all our needs.

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It's more than a hobby, it's my transport.

Caution: This hobby is habit forming.