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ratrodatouille

ratrodatouille

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Dec 16, 2007
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I had to take a frame down to my LBS to get correct seat post, so the kid pulls out one with a bend in it and tries to shove it into the frame, obviously it does not fit, he says it will and i said ok but I dont wont the bend in it, he said he can cut it off, Ok I said I want you to install it too. So he cuts the bend off then again tries to bang it down the frame but it wont go , (Also this is a newly painted frame) so he walks in the back and comes out with a used post that slides right in no problem. I want that one I said, ok the kid says 10.00. No way! I said the new one that you cut was 12.00, ok 5.00 he said , I will take it I said and ran out the door. Has anyone had any problems with their LBS in lack of experience or knowledge ? This incident wont keep me from going back but it will just open my eyes alittle wider.
 
like a few others on here. i can walk into my LBS and grab anything i want. we are good friends the owner and i. find out who the owner or head guy and their hours they work. you'll be better off. you might not get the "bro" discount but at least you can try to make a friend.
 
No way am I looking for a "bro" discount, I am not going to pay new price for something someone pulled out of a pile of old parts.
 
man you guys can walk to your lbs?!??!?!
mine is like 1 minutes away
and of course i would ride there but where i live the average speed limit on my road has to be around 70ish.....
man...
the thoiught of being able to walk somewhewre... :wink:
 
i called a LBS, and asked if they carried Maxxis tires...
they had never heard of them... :roll: :mrgreen:
 
my lbs is a joke! if you dont have a road bike and arent looking for a new electra the guy who works there(the owners a great guy but hes not around anymore :x ) wont give you the time of day :x
thats why im quite happy to drive the hour to go to college(its not local for me but i would call it my lbs since there aboiut the only ones ill deal with)!
 
Dont get me wrong, I am not bad mouthing the LBS's it just seems like everywhere you go where you would need help or advise ie.... Home Improvement centers or any other specialty stores they dont have hardly anyone or no one that knows what they are talking about.
 
sensor said:
my lbs is a joke! if you dont have a road bike and arent looking for a new electra the guy who works there(the owners a great guy but hes not around anymore :x ) wont give you the time of day :x
thats why im quite happy to drive the hour to go to college(its not local for me but i would call it my lbs since there aboiut the only ones ill deal with)!
Click to expand...
Yeah the only one within about 100 miles of my place is the same, if you are not wearing spandex and have a cute little helmet on, they wont even talk to you. Last time I was in there, and stood waiting for a part for 10 minutes, while they ran to spandex boy after spandex boy. I finally said, oh my mistake, I like chicks, so I think I'm in the wrong place and left. I have never been back. Target and Wal*Mart has made some money from me. Not because they are such great places, but because I have no other choice.
 
Upper Class White Trash said:
like a few others on here. i can walk into my LBS and grab anything i want. we are good friends the owner and i. find out who the owner or head guy and their hours they work. you'll be better off. you might not get the "bro" discount but at least you can try to make a friend.
Click to expand...

i second that, of course i have a on-going tab but it's cool though the owner hooks me up if i need a part or something.
 
Give them a chance. You will find each LBS is good for particular items. Some are good for newer parts, some for old/odd parts. I go to the little guys in town as they are more convienent but they don't always stock a complete inventory, odd sized axle nuts and single speed chain ring most recently. That is when I go to the big and fancy LBS. If I am looking for something used or want to wheel and deal the smaller guys are better. Cash can be your friend for these guys on used parts. :mrgreen:
 
i DO try and support my lbs.....(when ever i can) but if its anything old i know im wasting my time.
bearings tubes and such... i will(just because the owner is a good guy) if its anything thats old i wont bother ill just make the drive
 
sorry to hear that what sort of frame is it by the way? we just got done setting up a stunning cruiser that a customer brought in as a freshly powdercoated frame. no post would fit it other than a schwinn which was way too small. so i took a 22.2 and used two shims intended to make a schwinn post fit a 22.2 and wadda u know slid right in like a glove. from a personal stand point i love what i do just because we live in a day and age where customer service is for the most part dead. i wont let that happen and feel that it is my responcibility in the area where i live to do what i can to keep the cruiser crowd happy and roll'in. all i can say there buddy is come on over i will take care of ya. and hey sensor the skip link chain should be in tomorrow or day after. and if you want to return that seat and try another brooks feel free.
 
I dont know the make of the frame I got it off CL for $10, I assuming its a schwinn due to the size of seat post needed.
 
well then just get a schwinn post they sell for like 8 bucks new. i also can get the large top posts that will fit modern seats. hopefully the top of the frame is not pinched.
 
I live in the Denver area, so we have LBS's EVERYWHERE. The usually cater to the spandex wearing yuppies, but there are a couple that do cruisers. The cool shops with cruiser stuff are downtown, so they are a little hard to get to. The have a big cruiser/alcoholic club in Downtown Denver that uses cruizin as a reason to go bar hoppin'. Nothing wrong with that really, but I am no longer 25, skinny, and good looking. Okay, I might still be good looking, but I'm not skinny and young anymore :roll: Since I'm in the suburbs, there isn't a big market for cruisers. We have a couple of big super-bicycle-warehouse-mondo-supercenter places that have put a few locals out of business. I have bought a couple of parts and junk that were on clearance off of them but I prefer the smaller shops.

I work at Target and send lots of people to a newer, smaller LBS that is just starting out where I have gotten some parts and stuff from. He gives me a bro discount once in a while because he's gotten some good business from me sending them his way. I always carry a couple of cards in my wallet, just in case. . He carries a few cruisers, but his bread and butter is families, so I try to hook him up with folks. With the exception of the new shop, most of the other shops just roll their eyes at me when I ask about cruiser stuff. I've showed him this site and he's gotten a hankerin' to build a rat. And since it is the slow time of the year, he's a little bored so we'll see what happens.

I also started a cruiser club with a friend of mine who lives in an area where they are building a New Urban development. There's lots of families and young, hip, professionals and we are trying to go for the family oriented folks that still like being different and having fun.
 
There's a wide range of LBS shops here, the spandex type high-end stores of course you don't even try. if it isn't made out of titanium and/or carbon, they can barely even identify it.

But the there are a good number of family bike type LBS shops that carry BMX, MTB, Road, and Cruisers bikes so you can find what you need at a decent price. Then there are some mega-cruiser oriented places down in Pacific Beach where you can get anything(except Felt tires), but the prices can be significantly higher although they have alot of take-offs available at sometimes bargain prices.
 
at first glance, my LBS would appear to be just for the spandex and skinny tires crowd...

but when I asked the guy if he had some random old junker part I needed (forget what it was now) he let me in the back room, where he has a big ol' junkyard. He let me poke around and pick some stuff out. I got an old blue Schwinn S middleweight seat, a black banana seat, a set of 20" rims with usable narrow white-stripe tires (rear tractor type front Westwind type) and probably some other junk for something like 20 dollars. Another trip he dug out a Stingray-type skinny little seatpost out of a bin of used ones and let me have it for 6 or 7 bucks. Once I even found most of a Ross Apollo back there, he gave it to me for 20 bucks... I slapped wheels on it and rode it around the neighborhood. He once offered me a complete, decent SLik Chik or Lil Chik for like $40, but at the time I wasn't interested (kicking myself now). Last visit I noticed what looked like a 24" or 26" springer fork on a shelf.

From talking to the guy, he sounds like he's getting tired of it... the collectible Schwinn market is like a rollercoaster ride, the big box stores make his life difficult, like that. I wonder how much longer he'll be in it, and that's a shame, since he's the only one in town... I feel like I ought to go buy some new stuff from him...

--rick
 
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Like my sign says cycling for the entire family, thats what I do , I carry all the different styles of bikes, road,atb,hybird,comfort,bmx,and cruisers. I enjoy dealing with all the different people that are into all the different types of cycling. Theres no way that you can stock everything that everyone needs but most of us small lbs will be more than happy to special order whatever you want or need.
 
I can't complain about the shops here in Calgary. There's everything from specialized boutique type shops all the way up to the BIG shops. I guess I've been lucky in that I've had only one annoying LBS encounter when looking for old bike stuff.

An added bonus: Chaingang isn't too far from where I work. Makes getting stuff from Curtis mucho easy.

-Mp
 

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