On Tue, 17 Jan 2017 09:52:53 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

On 1/16/2017 7:30 PM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:23:53 -0800, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-01-16 13:39, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 2:39:18 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 11:03:05 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-01-16 10:43, David Scheidt wrote:
Joerg wrote:

:Yup. Standard bicycle tubes are usually junk. Would you accept
it if you :had to pump up the tires of your car every two
weeks? Yet most cyclists :think this is "normal".

Automotive tires have a much lower ratio of surface area to
volume than bike tires. They're also run a lower pressure, for
the most part.


Truck tires are often operated around 50psi or higher. Like my
MTB tires are.

A truck tire weights as a much as TWO UCI minimum race bikes -- or
one DH bike. Now throw in the rim. You have peculiar expectations
for bicycles. You're theoretically perfect bike would weigh about
250lbs.

-- Jay Beattie.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. What Joerg's wants in a
bicycle are would be met by a 250cc dirt-motorcycle converted to
pedal power and the engine removed.

I find it astounding that so many others who ride in very harsh
conditions do NOT have the breakages or other problems that Joerg
does.


According to several bicycle shop owners they do. Many said that two
factors allowed them to survive as a business:

1. Mountain bikers breaking stuff all the time.

2. Department store bike buyers who needed help and found that the store
that sold their bikes was less than helpful.

Strange. My LBS is a chain of two large shops in Bangkok, and a large
number of agents scattered all over the country, and is the largest
bicycle business in Thailand. They sell predominantly road bikes and
the sales manager tells me that a very large portion of the bikes that
they sell are Carbon. In fact she said that it was much easier to sell
a carbon bike than an aluminum bike.

Do you live in some poor, improvised, area where people can't afford
decent equipment :-?

I wonder whether Andrew's business depends on broken mountain bikes
and cheap walmart stuff?


We don't depend on it. But we've outlived a great number of
other shops in part because we are not snobs and are as
helpful as patience permits with the usual crap. The owners
of the usual crap are just as human as anyone else and
respond well to a kind word.


You have discovered the secret of success :-) Be a nice guy.

Years ago I patronized a tiny little hardware shop because the old guy
(been there for years) that ran it seemed to want to help the
customer. I needed a 3 foot section of "heat tape" once to reach all
the way to the end of my new water pipe and he ordered it from Boston.
A $3.00 item.

Eventually the old fellow either died or retired and his son took over
and he was not only a surly brute but the "bottom line" became the
critical factor. Sure he'd order something from Boston... if it was a
$50 order.

The shop closed in about a year.


I'm thinking here of a particular customer. He bought a
stereo system which included a 'free' bike. Two other shops
gave him an earful and threw him out. Our employee adjusted
the seat and bars, made the brakes functional and improved
it from a death trap to a lousy bicycle in a few minutes'
time. He became a regular customer for many years with new
very nice bikes eventually.

Quick frame repair during a party while wearing a hula skirt:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfr...t/hulaweld.jpg

Owner needed it ASAP to go to work.
--
Cheers,

John B.