Metal flake in brake pad... - Page 2

01-12-2005, 05:50 PM

> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there.

I feel your pain, only more so. You have no idea what it's like, as a
bicycle retailer, to have customers saying that such-and-such shop gives
free "tune-ups" for life... and me knowing that the situation is similar to
what you describe. You really don't want to bad-mouth other retailers, but
how do you get the point across that, often, you get exactly what you pay
for? Without sounding bad?

In the real world, if you hire decent mechanics, and you allow them to spend
the time to make things right (and build it properly in the first place),
it's going to cost a shop a significant chunk of money. While the shop
offering "free" tune-ups, but not really doing anything, isn't facing those
costs. Eventually, customers figure things out, but that's often only after
they've bought the bicycle elsewhere.

Fortunately, most shops aren't like that, and work very hard to take care of
their customers.

I should also, as usual, point out that in no way are we perfect. We screw
up from time to time, with things that might not have been written properly
on a repair tag (and thus not done), or simply screwed up because somebody
was having a really bad day. It happens. The difference is that we go out of
our way to take care of our mistakes (a difference that I notice often when
I take in a car for service, and they say they took care of whatever it was,
but it turns out it was something else... and you end up paying twice, maybe
even three times for something because they didn't properly diagnose the
problem the first time.). As a retailer, I've eaten a fair amount of labor
and parts over the years. I have yet to see evidence of that at any auto
shop I've taken a car to. But, it doesn't bother me; in fact, it makes me
feel better about how we run our business when I see what happens elsewhere.
Still, I wish we could be better, and have even fewer opportunities to "do
the right thing" because everything was perfect the first time.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

"jj" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
>
> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>
> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
> closing time.
>
> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
> seconds.
>
> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street spent 10
> minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't want me
> to
> leave without a safe ride.
>
> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
> jj
>
>

01-12-2005, 05:50 PM

> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there.

I feel your pain, only more so. You have no idea what it's like, as a
bicycle retailer, to have customers saying that such-and-such shop gives
free "tune-ups" for life... and me knowing that the situation is similar to
what you describe. You really don't want to bad-mouth other retailers, but
how do you get the point across that, often, you get exactly what you pay
for? Without sounding bad?

In the real world, if you hire decent mechanics, and you allow them to spend
the time to make things right (and build it properly in the first place),
it's going to cost a shop a significant chunk of money. While the shop
offering "free" tune-ups, but not really doing anything, isn't facing those
costs. Eventually, customers figure things out, but that's often only after
they've bought the bicycle elsewhere.

Fortunately, most shops aren't like that, and work very hard to take care of
their customers.

I should also, as usual, point out that in no way are we perfect. We screw
up from time to time, with things that might not have been written properly
on a repair tag (and thus not done), or simply screwed up because somebody
was having a really bad day. It happens. The difference is that we go out of
our way to take care of our mistakes (a difference that I notice often when
I take in a car for service, and they say they took care of whatever it was,
but it turns out it was something else... and you end up paying twice, maybe
even three times for something because they didn't properly diagnose the
problem the first time.). As a retailer, I've eaten a fair amount of labor
and parts over the years. I have yet to see evidence of that at any auto
shop I've taken a car to. But, it doesn't bother me; in fact, it makes me
feel better about how we run our business when I see what happens elsewhere.
Still, I wish we could be better, and have even fewer opportunities to "do
the right thing" because everything was perfect the first time.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

"jj" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
>
> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>
> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
> closing time.
>
> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
> seconds.
>
> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street spent 10
> minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't want me
> to
> leave without a safe ride.
>
> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
> jj
>
>

01-12-2005, 05:50 PM

> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there.

I feel your pain, only more so. You have no idea what it's like, as a
bicycle retailer, to have customers saying that such-and-such shop gives
free "tune-ups" for life... and me knowing that the situation is similar to
what you describe. You really don't want to bad-mouth other retailers, but
how do you get the point across that, often, you get exactly what you pay
for? Without sounding bad?

In the real world, if you hire decent mechanics, and you allow them to spend
the time to make things right (and build it properly in the first place),
it's going to cost a shop a significant chunk of money. While the shop
offering "free" tune-ups, but not really doing anything, isn't facing those
costs. Eventually, customers figure things out, but that's often only after
they've bought the bicycle elsewhere.

Fortunately, most shops aren't like that, and work very hard to take care of
their customers.

I should also, as usual, point out that in no way are we perfect. We screw
up from time to time, with things that might not have been written properly
on a repair tag (and thus not done), or simply screwed up because somebody
was having a really bad day. It happens. The difference is that we go out of
our way to take care of our mistakes (a difference that I notice often when
I take in a car for service, and they say they took care of whatever it was,
but it turns out it was something else... and you end up paying twice, maybe
even three times for something because they didn't properly diagnose the
problem the first time.). As a retailer, I've eaten a fair amount of labor
and parts over the years. I have yet to see evidence of that at any auto
shop I've taken a car to. But, it doesn't bother me; in fact, it makes me
feel better about how we run our business when I see what happens elsewhere.
Still, I wish we could be better, and have even fewer opportunities to "do
the right thing" because everything was perfect the first time.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

"jj" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
>
> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>
> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
> closing time.
>
> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
> seconds.
>
> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
> gave
> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
> adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street spent 10
> minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't want me
> to
> leave without a safe ride.
>
> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
> jj
>
>

01-12-2005, 06:20 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 15:22:53 -0800, Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca>
wrote:

>jet@jetstream.net wrote:
>
>>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down
>> to the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
>> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
>> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
>> closing time.
>>
>> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
>Very excessive, unless at the very least they were planning on swapping
>your brake pads for KoolStops, which don't pick up bits of metal.
>
>> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
>> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
>> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
>> seconds.
>
>Exactly.
>
>> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
>> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
>> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for
>> a more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
>> gave it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same
>> little adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street
>> spent 10 minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't
>> want me to leave without a safe ride.
>>
>> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
>Sounds like a wise choice, especially with a much better store right across
>the street!

I just hate having to leave the place where I bought the bike. Everyone
says they're snobs, even my wife volunteered that and she went there a year
ago by herself to get me a gift. <sigh>

Truth is, if their only perk 'the free tuneups for life' consist of hanging
the bike on a hook, then I've lost nothing. I'd like to buy a Trek, but I'm
now changing my mind. In fact I was going to look seriously at a Trek 1000
or 1200 while he worked on it - I've been putting it off for a month - I
have the money, but they just don't want to sell me a bike.

They have been 'nice' enough to me on rare occasions, but they're also
randomly pissy. This guy even apologized to me for the last time he was
pissy. Seems like he likes his job OK, but never calls me by name, though I
went the extra mile and learned his name. They're definitely the poster
children for how NOT to run a LBS. They made me leave the bike for several
hours to over night for minor, minor things - adjust brakes, true a spoke,
adjust deraileurs - and charged me for all those things 'shop time'.

The thing is should I tell the owner? Heck he's the worst of all...when he
assembled my bike, I asked him to show me how to adjust the hand brakes. He
just pointed at them and said turn that. I had to say 'turn what?' and he
points again, and I said 'can you come over here and demonstrate, I'm not
following you, there's lots of 'stuff' on the handlebars...and I've not
owned a bike for 20 years'. He still wouldn't do it. I kept holding on for
the 'free tune ups', but when I finally realized they don't actually -do-
anything...it's weird, because I kep having the feeling of insecurity and
doubt when I took the bike home, but couldn't put my finger on it. The
wrench said he rode it around the parking lot after fixing a problem, but I
just couldn't believe him. He's like too lazy to even walk to the front of
the store to show me a bike, or get it down from the upper rack for me the
one time I asked. "Oh, I don't have a step stool, I can't reach it".
<shaking head>

The owner stopped me in the middle of a question while I was writing my
check for the bike and walked up to the front of the store to look at a guy
who came in to look at the water bottles. I mean I understand going to
welcome the customers, but to cut me off in the middle of a sentence?

I should have walked out right then and would have if I had known what PiBs
they turned out to be.

jj

01-12-2005, 06:20 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 15:22:53 -0800, Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca>
wrote:

>jet@jetstream.net wrote:
>
>>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down
>> to the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
>> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
>> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
>> closing time.
>>
>> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
>Very excessive, unless at the very least they were planning on swapping
>your brake pads for KoolStops, which don't pick up bits of metal.
>
>> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
>> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
>> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
>> seconds.
>
>Exactly.
>
>> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
>> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
>> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for
>> a more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
>> gave it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same
>> little adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street
>> spent 10 minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't
>> want me to leave without a safe ride.
>>
>> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
>Sounds like a wise choice, especially with a much better store right across
>the street!

I just hate having to leave the place where I bought the bike. Everyone
says they're snobs, even my wife volunteered that and she went there a year
ago by herself to get me a gift. <sigh>

Truth is, if their only perk 'the free tuneups for life' consist of hanging
the bike on a hook, then I've lost nothing. I'd like to buy a Trek, but I'm
now changing my mind. In fact I was going to look seriously at a Trek 1000
or 1200 while he worked on it - I've been putting it off for a month - I
have the money, but they just don't want to sell me a bike.

They have been 'nice' enough to me on rare occasions, but they're also
randomly pissy. This guy even apologized to me for the last time he was
pissy. Seems like he likes his job OK, but never calls me by name, though I
went the extra mile and learned his name. They're definitely the poster
children for how NOT to run a LBS. They made me leave the bike for several
hours to over night for minor, minor things - adjust brakes, true a spoke,
adjust deraileurs - and charged me for all those things 'shop time'.

The thing is should I tell the owner? Heck he's the worst of all...when he
assembled my bike, I asked him to show me how to adjust the hand brakes. He
just pointed at them and said turn that. I had to say 'turn what?' and he
points again, and I said 'can you come over here and demonstrate, I'm not
following you, there's lots of 'stuff' on the handlebars...and I've not
owned a bike for 20 years'. He still wouldn't do it. I kept holding on for
the 'free tune ups', but when I finally realized they don't actually -do-
anything...it's weird, because I kep having the feeling of insecurity and
doubt when I took the bike home, but couldn't put my finger on it. The
wrench said he rode it around the parking lot after fixing a problem, but I
just couldn't believe him. He's like too lazy to even walk to the front of
the store to show me a bike, or get it down from the upper rack for me the
one time I asked. "Oh, I don't have a step stool, I can't reach it".
<shaking head>

The owner stopped me in the middle of a question while I was writing my
check for the bike and walked up to the front of the store to look at a guy
who came in to look at the water bottles. I mean I understand going to
welcome the customers, but to cut me off in the middle of a sentence?

I should have walked out right then and would have if I had known what PiBs
they turned out to be.

jj

01-12-2005, 06:20 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 15:22:53 -0800, Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca>
wrote:

>jet@jetstream.net wrote:
>
>>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down
>> to the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night. They
>> weren't busy - one of the Wrenches was out in the parking lot putting a
>> Yakima rack on the top of his car. And this was two to three hours before
>> closing time.
>>
>> Doesn't that seem excessive? I don't mind paying, but leave it overnight?
>
>Very excessive, unless at the very least they were planning on swapping
>your brake pads for KoolStops, which don't pick up bits of metal.
>
>> I took it across the street and they dug the flake out for free, and even
>> did a once over, checked the brakes, etc. Very nice considering I bought
>> the bike elsewhere. The guy said 'oh no big deal it will only take me 30
>> seconds.
>
>Exactly.
>
>> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
>> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
>> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for
>> a more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
>> gave it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same
>> little adjustment problems were still there. The LBS across the street
>> spent 10 minutes checking everything after digging the flake out - didn't
>> want me to leave without a safe ride.
>>
>> Guess I won't be going back there.
>
>Sounds like a wise choice, especially with a much better store right across
>the street!

I just hate having to leave the place where I bought the bike. Everyone
says they're snobs, even my wife volunteered that and she went there a year
ago by herself to get me a gift. <sigh>

Truth is, if their only perk 'the free tuneups for life' consist of hanging
the bike on a hook, then I've lost nothing. I'd like to buy a Trek, but I'm
now changing my mind. In fact I was going to look seriously at a Trek 1000
or 1200 while he worked on it - I've been putting it off for a month - I
have the money, but they just don't want to sell me a bike.

They have been 'nice' enough to me on rare occasions, but they're also
randomly pissy. This guy even apologized to me for the last time he was
pissy. Seems like he likes his job OK, but never calls me by name, though I
went the extra mile and learned his name. They're definitely the poster
children for how NOT to run a LBS. They made me leave the bike for several
hours to over night for minor, minor things - adjust brakes, true a spoke,
adjust deraileurs - and charged me for all those things 'shop time'.

The thing is should I tell the owner? Heck he's the worst of all...when he
assembled my bike, I asked him to show me how to adjust the hand brakes. He
just pointed at them and said turn that. I had to say 'turn what?' and he
points again, and I said 'can you come over here and demonstrate, I'm not
following you, there's lots of 'stuff' on the handlebars...and I've not
owned a bike for 20 years'. He still wouldn't do it. I kept holding on for
the 'free tune ups', but when I finally realized they don't actually -do-
anything...it's weird, because I kep having the feeling of insecurity and
doubt when I took the bike home, but couldn't put my finger on it. The
wrench said he rode it around the parking lot after fixing a problem, but I
just couldn't believe him. He's like too lazy to even walk to the front of
the store to show me a bike, or get it down from the upper rack for me the
one time I asked. "Oh, I don't have a step stool, I can't reach it".
<shaking head>

The owner stopped me in the middle of a question while I was writing my
check for the bike and walked up to the front of the store to look at a guy
who came in to look at the water bottles. I mean I understand going to
welcome the customers, but to cut me off in the middle of a sentence?

I should have walked out right then and would have if I had known what PiBs
they turned out to be.

jj

01-12-2005, 06:23 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 23:46:58 GMT, maxo <maxo@NOSPAMhome.se> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:17:30 -0500, jj wrote:
>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
>> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night
>
>Well, from what you've said, that shop has clearly stated that they don't
>want your business, so take it across the street.
>
>As the other poster mentioned about Kool-stops: it's really true, they
>don't pick up crap off the road like glass and metal (I'm sure there have
>been documented cases :P). I finally switched back to a set after riding
>with some very spendy Bontrager pieces of crap--embedded glass or rock
>every mile or so! Granted there's a lot of construction in my 'hood right
>now, but I've ridden the Kool-Stops scrape-free for about a month now.

I've asked for them several times. Once I specified 'salmon' kool pads and
they put normal black Kool pads on. They won't even order them for me -
they tell me they're 'hard to get'.

I don't know how they stay in business. I'm not a demanding customer, and
keep giving them second chances. No more.

The only question is, should I go tell them why. Prob. won't have any
effect except to make me personna non gratis.

jj

01-12-2005, 06:23 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 23:46:58 GMT, maxo <maxo@NOSPAMhome.se> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:17:30 -0500, jj wrote:
>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
>> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night
>
>Well, from what you've said, that shop has clearly stated that they don't
>want your business, so take it across the street.
>
>As the other poster mentioned about Kool-stops: it's really true, they
>don't pick up crap off the road like glass and metal (I'm sure there have
>been documented cases :P). I finally switched back to a set after riding
>with some very spendy Bontrager pieces of crap--embedded glass or rock
>every mile or so! Granted there's a lot of construction in my 'hood right
>now, but I've ridden the Kool-Stops scrape-free for about a month now.

I've asked for them several times. Once I specified 'salmon' kool pads and
they put normal black Kool pads on. They won't even order them for me -
they tell me they're 'hard to get'.

I don't know how they stay in business. I'm not a demanding customer, and
keep giving them second chances. No more.

The only question is, should I go tell them why. Prob. won't have any
effect except to make me personna non gratis.

jj

01-12-2005, 06:23 PM

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 23:46:58 GMT, maxo <maxo@NOSPAMhome.se> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:17:30 -0500, jj wrote:
>
>> I took my bike into the LBS where I purchased it to have them look at a
>> brake pad that was scraping, metal on metal. I thought it was worn down to
>> the metal. Turned out to be a little metal flake in the pad.
>>
>> Guy wanted to write up a ticket and have me leave it over night
>
>Well, from what you've said, that shop has clearly stated that they don't
>want your business, so take it across the street.
>
>As the other poster mentioned about Kool-stops: it's really true, they
>don't pick up crap off the road like glass and metal (I'm sure there have
>been documented cases :P). I finally switched back to a set after riding
>with some very spendy Bontrager pieces of crap--embedded glass or rock
>every mile or so! Granted there's a lot of construction in my 'hood right
>now, but I've ridden the Kool-Stops scrape-free for about a month now.

I've asked for them several times. Once I specified 'salmon' kool pads and
they put normal black Kool pads on. They won't even order them for me -
they tell me they're 'hard to get'.

I don't know how they stay in business. I'm not a demanding customer, and
keep giving them second chances. No more.

The only question is, should I go tell them why. Prob. won't have any
effect except to make me personna non gratis.

jj

01-12-2005, 07:05 PM

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 02:50:23 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction
Bicycles" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>> Also come to find out why my LBS where I got my Trek offers 'free life of
>> the bike tuneups'. They didn't even -do- the tune up on mine last time (I
>> told them to be thorough, I was riding out of town, and I'd even pay for a
>> more thorought check up). The guy apparently just hung the bike up and
>> gave
>> it back to me the next day touching nothing on it. All the same little
>> adjustment problems were still there.
>
>I feel your pain, only more so. You have no idea what it's like, as a
>bicycle retailer, to have customers saying that such-and-such shop gives
>free "tune-ups" for life... and me knowing that the situation is similar to
>what you describe. You really don't want to bad-mouth other retailers, but
>how do you get the point across that, often, you get exactly what you pay
>for? Without sounding bad?

The guys in the shop across the street were very reluctant to say anything,
and it was only after I started recounting things and then,
uncharacteristicaly became nearly apoplectic, when I realized -while-
telling the story (talking softly at first) that their 'tune ups' were just
hanging the bike on the hook, that one of them says 'yeah, I hear a
customer say they're going to go get a Trek, and I can't say anything, then
they come back here all disappointed in the 'attitude', and come back here
and recount these stories, then I feel bad, he said.

I mean, 'cmon, the original LBS shop knows I'm passionate about my bike and
my riding and I tell them I ride sometimes 200 miles a week - I don't think
they believe me...They act agog when I mention I rode in the rain. After
that they often smirk and say 'oh yeah you're the guy that rides in the
rain'. I told them, all perky, oh, yeah, its great - I ride everyday it's
not lightning, or a foot deep in snow, or if there's a hurricane (aug
2003). They seem angry 'man you ride this bike a -lot-!'. I don't know why
that makes them angry...as though my coming in and buying brake pads every
three weeks, or coming in to have the bar ends moved, or angry when they
have to true a spoke, saying I must have run over something (not true).

I pay for it, why be angry at me? It's as if they don't welcome me unless
I'm buying a bike every month and seem to forget they failed to get one
bike down for me to just look at more closely recently - I'm treated lke
I'm a homeless person just coming in to get some free heat, lol. But I'm
stubborn...I kept wanting to buy a Trek - love that name...and trying to
get along (I even tip the wrenches $5 when they do a same day job).

Then I started losing my love affair with Trek when I realized they put
racing wheels on lower level bikes...that sure gets laughs from the other
riders.

So now, I'm going to Fuji, and (horrors) Performance Bike shop across the
street. I guess it matters less that they're kind of the ugly step child of
the cycling retail world, with their rep of selling 'gray market' parts (or
so I've head), but this shop has the best, most caring wrenches and the
nicest manager one could ask for. I have to buy my gear there because my
original LBS doesn't carry much gear (no tights, no shoe covers, extremely
small amount of jerseys, and only in the small and medium sizes...I've felt
bad about that, too. Oh well, too bad I took so long to learn. Maybe this
post will help others to wake up and change or the ones with good shops to
appreciate it all the more. I know Mike's shop is great, but to tell the
truth, this kind of behavior can cause folks to wonder if all Trek shops
are like this - elitist, and condescending.

jj