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#1
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Price points: you've got to shop around
I bent my front Mavic Open Sport rim several years ago when I hit a
pothole. Was able to straighten it out, but one spoke was a lot tighter than the others. Finally the rim separated at that tight spoke, so I had to find a new Open Sport. My LBS wanted $70 for them. Performance (50 miles away) didn't even have any rims! (The clerk told me to try City Bicycle Works of Sacramento.) City Bicycle Works charged only $29.95 for one. Unfortunately, City Bicycle Works' cheapest riding shorts were $75.00, so I stopped by Performance while I was in town. Their cheapest were only $29.95. Maybe the shorts City Bike Works are selling are better than those I bought at Performance, but it certainly is weird how the prices for bicycling accessories can vary so greatly. I'm hoping Mike Jacoubowsky will give us his thoughts on this phenomenon. |
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#2
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Price points: you've got to shop around
"Bill" wrote in message ... I bent my front Mavic Open Sport rim several years ago when I hit a pothole. Was able to straighten it out, but one spoke was a lot tighter than the others. Finally the rim separated at that tight spoke, so I had to find a new Open Sport. My LBS wanted $70 for them. Performance (50 miles away) didn't even have any rims! (The clerk told me to try City Bicycle Works of Sacramento.) City Bicycle Works charged only $29.95 for one. Unfortunately, City Bicycle Works' cheapest riding shorts were $75.00, so I stopped by Performance while I was in town. Their cheapest were only $29.95. Maybe the shorts City Bike Works are selling are better than those I bought at Performance, but it certainly is weird how the prices for bicycling accessories can vary so greatly. I'm hoping Mike Jacoubowsky will give us his thoughts on this phenomenon. Don't know about the rim situation (where both shops selling exactly the same rim?) but if the $75 shorts were something like the Pearl Izumi Attack model, I doub the $29 shorts from Performance were nearly as nice. Pearl stuff holds up really well and you'll find that the difference between a really nice pair and one not-so-nice shows up more and more as the ride gets longer. I'm not a wine drinker, but it's probably an appropriate analogy that $2 gallo and a high-quality $40 bottle of wine are both bottles of wine, but the similarity likely stops there. Hopefully you were able to ride your bike to the various shops in Sacramento and not drive a car while you're looking for something cheaper. :-) --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReactionBicycles.com |
#3
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Price points: you've got to shop around
de-lurking...
Bill wrote: My LBS wanted $70 for them. Performance (50 miles away) didn't even have any rims! (The clerk told me to try City Bicycle Works of Sacramento.) City Bicycle Works charged only $29.95 for one. I gotta vouch for City Bicycle Works. A number of years ago, I was traveling in the area, and manged to destroy a rim when I got it caught in a plank bridge. (That's a unique way to ruin a ride.) I was in Sacramento, and they rebuilt my wheel with the same hub and a Mavic MA-2 rim, and if I remember correctly, they did it quickly and I don't think I paid more than about $40 for the whole thing. At the time, I didn't know anything about that particular shop, only that it was close to where I was, and easy enough to find. Smith |
#4
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Price points: you've got to shop around
On 5/24/2011 12:15 PM, Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
Don't know about the rim situation (where both shops selling exactly the same rim?) but if the $75 shorts were something like the Pearl Izumi Attack model, I doub the $29 shorts from Performance were nearly as nice. Pearl stuff holds up really well and you'll find that the difference between a really nice pair and one not-so-nice shows up more and more as the ride gets longer. For the prices, she should come with the clothing: http://www.assos.com/en/19/singleProduct.aspx?cat=7,19,22&prod=228, http://www.assos.com/en/19/singleProduct.aspx?prod=195. I'm not a wine drinker, but it's probably an appropriate analogy that $2 gallo and a high-quality $40 bottle of wine are both bottles of wine, but the similarity likely stops there.[...] Reviews of Gallo Thunderbird and Night Train Express he http://www.bumwine.com/. -- Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007 I am a vehicular cyclist. |
#5
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Price points: you've got to shop around
On Tue, 24 May 2011 20:19:36 -0500, Tºm Shermªn™ °_°
" wrote: On 5/24/2011 12:15 PM, Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: Don't know about the rim situation (where both shops selling exactly the same rim?) but if the $75 shorts were something like the Pearl Izumi Attack model, I doub the $29 shorts from Performance were nearly as nice. Pearl stuff holds up really well and you'll find that the difference between a really nice pair and one not-so-nice shows up more and more as the ride gets longer. For the prices, she should come with the clothing: http://www.assos.com/en/19/singleProduct.aspx?cat=7,19,22&prod=228, http://www.assos.com/en/19/singleProduct.aspx?prod=195. I'm not a wine drinker, but it's probably an appropriate analogy that $2 gallo and a high-quality $40 bottle of wine are both bottles of wine, but the similarity likely stops there.[...] Reviews of Gallo Thunderbird and Night Train Express he http://www.bumwine.com/. Favorite line: if you like to smell your hand after pumping gas, look no further than Thunderbird |
#6
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Price points: you've got to shop around
"Hopefully you were able to ride your bike to the various shops in
Sacramento and not drive a car while you're looking for something cheaper. :-)" Nope, I drove, of all things, my Mopar muscle car that gets really terrible mileage. But since I saved a total of $130 by shopping around, the gas was paid for many times over. I like both my cars and my bikes. |
#7
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Price points: you've got to shop around
"Bill" wrote in message
... "Hopefully you were able to ride your bike to the various shops in Sacramento and not drive a car while you're looking for something cheaper. :-)" Nope, I drove, of all things, my Mopar muscle car that gets really terrible mileage. But since I saved a total of $130 by shopping around, the gas was paid for many times over. I like both my cars and my bikes. You saved something, but not $130 unless the shorts were of equivalent quality to what you purchased. Most shops have $40 shorts that are probably similar to the $30 pair you purchased at Performance. Regarding driving in general to save $$$, I'd still recommend either riding or using the phone or computer to shop for things. At 55 I'm beginning to become a bit more sensitive to what we're doing to the planet and the bicycle's role in mitigating some of it. I'm finding an increasing number of my commutes and errand trips that I assumed had to be done by car were bike-able. Even trying to avoid driving to places to ride... last Sunday my son and I rode to the train station and took CalTrain 25 miles to San Jose so we could climb Mount Hamilton, instead of driving there. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA |
#8
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Price points: you've got to shop around
"At 55 I'm beginning to become a bit more sensitive to what we're
doing to the planet and the bicycle's role in mitigating some of it." I think it is rather meaningless for cyclists to ride their bikes more in order to supposedly "help the planet" when 99.99% of the population is driving their cars everywhere. Moreover, people resent it when cyclists tell them they should stop driving their cars, and it makes them dislike cyclists because they don't want to hear it. When we run out of gas, then everyone will be riding bikes, and the good part will be that nobody will be blaming cyclists for it. In the meantime, we need to go with the flow in order not to engender resentment from motorists. That means I am going to keep driving my cars as long as everyone else does. I'm driving less these days, though, due to gas prices. But I'm sure as hell not going to pretend that I dislike cars. I really like them. They are fascinating machines. |
#9
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Price points: you've got to shop around
"Bill" wrote in message
... "At 55 I'm beginning to become a bit more sensitive to what we're doing to the planet and the bicycle's role in mitigating some of it." I think it is rather meaningless for cyclists to ride their bikes more in order to supposedly "help the planet" when 99.99% of the population is driving their cars everywhere. Moreover, people resent it when cyclists tell them they should stop driving their cars, and it makes them dislike cyclists because they don't want to hear it. People can resent me riding all they want, but if people like me and others don't get working on a more-cycling-friendly infrastructure... When we run out of gas, then everyone will be riding bikes, and the good part will be that nobody will be blaming cyclists for it. .... without that infrastructure it's really going to suck when people have no choice but to ride. And at that point those who can't drive anymore will be very thankful that we have multi-modal transportation systems in place to take care of them. I'm not out to get people to stop driving right now. I want them to have a choice, and down the road, I want a country that's not suffering paralysis because gas is too expensive. In the meantime, we need to go with the flow in order not to engender resentment from motorists. That means I am going to keep driving my cars as long as everyone else does. I'm driving less these days, though, due to gas prices. But I'm sure as hell not going to pretend that I dislike cars. I really like them. They are fascinating machines. Nothing wrong with liking cars! This isn't about cars vs bikes. It's about making sure cycling is regarded as a legit form of getting around, rather than something done by eco-freaks or economic necessity. By the way, 99.99% of the population isn't driving their cars everywhere. Even in California. There are many parts of the US where people have chosen, on their own, to see cars as something used for weekend trips and they spend their workweek commuting on busses or subways because they see value in living in a densely-populated urban area (New York City, for example) where a car is actually a less-convenient way of getting around. --Mike Jacoubowsky Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA |
#10
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Price points: you've got to shop around
People may be riding public transport in New York, but around here
everybody drives. I'm certainly not going to limit my driving so long as nobody else is doing so. That would really be shooting myself in the foot. Of course, I've reduced my driving due to gas prices, but not because it's politically correct to do so. |
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