On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 9:17:18 AM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 3/19/2018 8:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:

snip

IIRC, the last pair of those I bought were on sale $59 USD. They're often on sale at Western Bikeworks for some reason.

Getting really tired of you rubbing in the fact that Portland has both
Universal Cycles AND Western Bikeworks. We have no such stores in the
entire San Francisco Bay Area, and I suspect that the same is true for
most parts of the country.

We have to buy online for most parts and accessories, no one is going to
spend the day driving around looking for a specific part.

I think that these Portland companies should open a store in Cupertino.
We have many tour buses coming into town every day and after they visit
the Apple Visitor Center they could stop at one of these bike shops.

Bike Tires Direct is here, too: https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...ce-course-tire Incredible deal on a great fast tire!

Dirt is too expensive down there for these guys to open a bricks-and-mortar store. They can get the revenue via the interweb and skip the lease. You need some business with a higher margin to justify the rents and labor costs in the Bay Area.

At Universal and Western, I monkey punch my order into the website, get an e-mail that its ready to pick up and then walk or ride over there. It's sort of a hybrid process -- but both shops are making their real money on the internet.

What I like about Western is their head mechanic who is a hoot and makes steel frames and forks on the side. His father was a bicycle fanatic, so he knows all the old lore -- and he is indulgent with my story telling about the good old days. You have to humor the old guys -- who are the ones spending the money. That's what drives shop loyalty in the age of the interweb.

BTW, the real deals up here are from the local manufacturers/distributors like Rapha, Castelli USA and Showers Pass who have some incredible warehouse sales, but you have to go over there and elbow people in confined spaces. The annual Rapha sale is crazy, and I always go with my best bicycling buddy, but I never buy anything because even at half off, its too expensive. I do like standing shoulder to shoulder with people, trying on jackets though. It's like cramming frat brothers into a telephone booth.

My son now works he https://stagescycling.com/us/, also in PDX of course, and he just orders pro deal or from QBP, and I worry that his consumerism will get the better of him. Do you really need that? But its so cheap! Practically all my best bicycling companions are in the industry, so everyone gets pro deals -- except me, unless I get some buddy deal, and its not worth the effort. You only need so much stuff.

-- Jay Beattie.