So after many months of online research through this forum and other sites, I finally worked up the cojones to actually enter one of our friendly neighborhood LBS to talk with someone about my first bike. I realize that to most of you this isn’t a big deal, but for someone new to the sport, I found it very intimidating. After about 20 minutes of being talked down to and all but asked it I wanted training wheels with that, I left with the following decisions to make:
While this is the LBS that is recommended by our largest local tri club, do I have to put up with this shit or should I go somewhere else? I mean, at the end of the day I’m a customer and don’t deserve to be treated like a child by someone that if it weren’t for the grace of God and the ability to wrench on bikes, could very easily have been working at Fourbucks. (I’m specifically referring to the guy that “helped” me, not all bike shop employees.)
Based on my budget I can get one of the following setups:
An Ultegra equipped Trek 1500 with aerobars
or
A Tiagra equipped Trek 1200 with aerobars, pedals, and shoes.
Smartalec response → It’s pretty hard to ride a bike without pedals, no?
Real response. Tiagra is a perfectly good group if you’re on a budget.
Re: shop employees, I wasn’t there, so I don’t want to tell you what your next move should be, since there are too many 'maybe’s. If you aren’t comfortable dealing with that shop, go to another one.
Give the LBS another shot- we’ve all been through this before, at all kinds of businesses. Try again on a different day, with a different employee. If that’s no better, shake the dust off your sandals and go somehere else. My two cents on that.
As for the bike, do they only sell Trek, or is that the only bike you want, or the only bike that fits, or what? Just asking. If those are the choices, I’d go with the 1200 with pedals and shoes. I’m still riding with running shoes and toe clips, and as much as I normally hate expensive gadgetry, I really would like a set of Speedplays.
There are enough store looking for business there’s no reason for a customer to take any shit from anyone. There are three stores in Pasadena, but only one I think is worth it.
Furthermore, most LBSs are taking a pretty violent hit from eBay and the big online stores. My guess is that the little dweeb you dealt with would go home unemployed and with a sizzling ass if the store owner/manager knew about this.
Go back and ask the same questions again. If your experience is similar, make sure you get the kid’s name and the owner’s phone number.
And don’t assume he actually knows anything about bikes.
Trek isn’t the only bike they sell. It’s their “starter line”. The also sell Litespeed, Merlin, Cervelo and Soulcraft. I’d really like a Cervelo One, it’s just not in the budget.
Based on my budget I can get one of the following setups:
An Ultegra equipped Trek 1500 with aerobars
or
A Tiagra equipped Trek 1200 with aerobars, pedals, and shoes.
I’m no bike expert, but if it were me, I’d go with the 1500. You’ll be able to find a couple hundred bucks later on for shoes/pedals - it will cost a lot more than that to upgrade a frame or component group. Plus you may save a few seconds in T2 if you don’t have to change shoes.
Why didn’t you tell me? I have a set on ebay right now.
LBS? I think it pays to educate yourself and then try and find the one person who cares. Personally, I wish I lived in Dearborn, MI (except for the winter).
Go to the bike picker section on this web site. Look at the lower end bikes and get a good education.
If you really want to use the LBS, call them up and ask when is their absolute slowest time when the mgr or assitant mgr will be there. Go in at that time and ask for the mgr to help you.
IMHO the only difference between Ultegra and the lower components is that Ultegra will go longer without maintenace.
Whatever you do, go to the Park Tools web site and look for the maintenance pages. Learn to adjust your own shifting. The rest boils down to clean it and grease it frequently. You only need very few tools, and only buy them when you really need them.
I can offer three suggestions: Planetary Cycles, Bike Sport, or Champions Cyclery.
Planetary - this is a small shop and whille not a tri-specific store (sells Airborne, Giant, Raliegh, and other brands) it is owned by cycists who have been in the business for over 20 years, and also produce/import their own brand of recumbents (and occasionally road frames/bikes). The owner (and area rep for Airborne) is very knowledgeable about all aspects of cycling and will work hard to make sure you get what you want (talk to Adam)!
Bike Sport (yes, this is the store that wont sell Tom D. the website/domain name) - sells Trek, lightspeed (and other stuff) and some of the staff may come off as rather aluff but the people there do a lot of business with triathlets around town and for the most part, are very knowledgeable. Best part about this shop is they usually have stuff that simply can not be found anywhere else in town.
Champions Cyclery - Specialized and Trek and they will work hard to enure you are happy!
I shop mail order whenever I can, and have had the experience you have had. However, in the past year, I’m starting to come around, at least a little. The manager of my LBS is starting to recognize me from having been in quite a few times, and we chatted a bit when I got my last tune up. This week I was looking for new chainrings, and after going to one of this company’s stores on Sunday and being told they don’t have what I want(by the sixteen year olds who were working there and didn’t know what an Ultegra 52 tooth triple chainring was), I went to this other branch, The guy finds the rings(one of them was at the store I had been to already), agrees to price match pricepoint.com, and gets them the next day.
If they are willing to work with me on price, I am happy to give them my business.
You shouldn’t be treated like crap, no matter how much you’re spending. Unfortunately, the attitude pervading retail these days is pretty bad. Try talking either to the manager or ask for the tri guy. They’re usually better dealing with people, and at the least will hand you off to someone who will help you(good managers know their employees). The thing that distinguishes great salespeople from clerks is the knowledge that if you just treat people well, they will fork over their cash and send all their friends to you. People working on commission live and breathe this philosophy.
As far as which setup to get, the old mantra is true. A badly tuned drivetrain won’t shift for crap no matter what. I got about 400 miles on my Ultegra system(new everything + tuneup) and it is already shifting poorly, and needs me to adjust it. If you think that you’ll have money for pedals and shoes soon, buy the better bike. If your budget is fixed, shoes and pedals will help you ride better.
I agree with you Sir, this is a disappointing experience. I feel bad for you and the LBS. I would being willing to bet you may have seen them at their worst. You sound like a reasonable man with intelligent questions and a clear cut idea of what you want. That should be pretty straightforward for them.
-Having said that, you catch me on a bad day here in my bike shop and there is no telling what your impression may be of me/our store, and it may very well not be too good.
I agree with the others in this thread who suggested giving them another try- however, I would tell them exactly what you told us. They should deliver a sincere apology for alienating you and then really pull out the stops to make you happy.
I am further troubled by their choice of selling you a road bike with aerobars. We sell some roadbikes with aerobars, such as some Felts with a 76 degree seat tube angle (road geometry in the size 50cm for most frames is 76 degrees). For the most part, selling you a road bike with aerobars is not a great solution- there are better and more creative alternatives.
I’m shopping for a bike too. I’ve hit six shops in my area. Some the vibe was so bad I only staid for about 3 minutes and would not buy anything but a tube from them and then only if I was desperate. Others have been extremely helpful and accommodating after some initial dancing around while they tried to find out if I was serious. I’ve had good and bad experiences but universally the first 30 seconds have been totally different than any other big purchase shopping experience I have ever had. The attitude is always “I’m not sure yet if I really want to help you but I guess I can take a minute or two from what I am currently doing to talk to you.”
The staff I’ve met are universally are not “salesman” in the good sense of the word (and there is one) and this makes the process way more difficult than it should be. One lbs near my office I buy stuff at regularly is a classic. I have been in there dozens of times to buy parts, tires, tubes etc. over the last 2 years. NOT ONCE has anyone said a word to me beyond the bare minimum to ring up the transaction or made any attempt to establish a relationship with me. Now that I am in the market, they are not at the top of my list even though I’m sure once I whipped out the credit card and announced I have finally decided to buy one of there cool bikes they’d be all over me.
By way of comparison, if I buy a pair of socks at the men’s clothing store I favor I’ll get a handwritten note from the salesman within 2 days thanking me and inviting me to the next trunk show. (Too bad for them I’m spending my clothing money on a bike ;-).
The only thing I can figure is that these shops are doing OK since they don’t seem too worried about making the next sale. If it happens it happens but if not its OK - that’s the attitude they exude.
On the good side, I have run into a couple of people who seem truly interested in working with me once we got over the preliminaries. It just took a lot more work than it should have.
I think you’re on to something with the “I’m not sure if you’re serious” vibe. It was a lot like when I first got into scuba diving. The employees in most of those shops seemed pretty indifferent at best, but maybe its because so many people that walk through their doors are just blowing smoke.
As Tom D. mentioned, maybe they’re a great shop and I was just there at a bad time. The problem is, the cliche “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is absolutely true. I hope you have a better experience than me.
Just realized that you are in Houston. Try Daniel Boone Cycles, I got a pair of Shimano Tri shoes there. They seemed OK, not great but I didn’t give them enough of a chance to really get a feel for them.
You’re going to have to give up on getting a local shop that is both friendly and knows anything about tri.
John Cobb is opening up a retail store in Tyler, about 3.5 hour drive. He was talking about being open around Easter. He may be able to sell you something today out of his Tyler area warehouse.
FWIW, I bought my first bike from Bike Barn at Rice Village. It was the previous year model Trek 1000 for $525. I ran it into the ground with Sora components, probably put 10k miles on it including 2 1/2 IM races.
How was your experience with Bike Barn in terms of service, knowledge, and fit? I live very close to the Copperfield location, but was concerned that they wouldn’t be able to address my needs.
