LBS in the age of online shopping

On Mar 9, 10:51*am, landotter wrote:
On Mar 9, 11:39 am, (Michael Baldwin) wrote:

Landotter writes;

I got no problem paying markup for brick and mortar--but
if I can get something in five or fewer business
days via UPS--I expect the same or better from an
LBS.

I'm curious, what's your town/cities population?

I'm in Nashville, a city of a million and a major shipping hub. I
usually get 'net shipments surface from Nash/perf/aebike/REI in 3-4
business days. Bikeman takes five.

Landotter,
I'm here in Tennesse and use various LBS in Nashville. I'm courious to
know which shop you used?
Rick in Tennessee

On Mar 9, 7:36 pm, wrote:
On Mar 9, 10:51 am, landotter wrote:

On Mar 9, 11:39 am, (Michael Baldwin) wrote:

Landotter writes;

I got no problem paying markup for brick and mortar--but
if I can get something in five or fewer business
days via UPS--I expect the same or better from an
LBS.

I'm curious, what's your town/cities population?

I'm in Nashville, a city of a million and a major shipping hub. I
usually get 'net shipments surface from Nash/perf/aebike/REI in 3-4
business days. Bikeman takes five.

Landotter,
I'm here in Tennesse and use various LBS in Nashville. I'm courious to
know which shop you used?
Rick in Tennessee

Nah, I'm not going to put a permanent record up on the web for a new
shop. They do have great and mature mechanics, good prices, attitudes,
etc--they're just new at retail. I consider them friends, but probably
won't order parts from them again if they don't have them in stock.

On Mar 9, 7:52*pm, "Jay" wrote:
"landotter" wrote in message

...

shuts confessional

Father forgive me, but I doubt the powers of my LBS to order the most
basic of parts. Yes, it's a lot more fun to run down three blocks,
order something, then get a phone call a week later, pick it up, go
down and have a hang at the shop. If that could happen.

My faith began to wane this past summer when they were unable to order
anything from the great saintly Wald. Blasphemy! It has become
seriously endangered as of late as I've waited three weeks for a pair
of rims. First they ordered the wrong size from QBP, had me come down,
and it was I who had to show them they were 26" not 700c. Now it's
been 2 weeks since that occurred, and no rims. I think I'm going to
just fix the slight bulge in the current set with some channel-locks
and tell them to let the rims hang on the wall when they come.
Blurrrg. I offered to pay up front--but they said tut-tut, I guess
that was foreboding.

I got no problem paying markup for brick and mortar--but if I can get
something in five or fewer business days via UPS--I expect the same or
better from an LBS.

[/rant]

You speak the truth, LO:

The Internet has indeed changed everything. When I left my previous employer
10 years ago, I told them in my exit interview, their business was doomed.
They are now out of business. Too slow to adapt to a changing environment.
What is left of their business is being done in India.

Many RBT regulars have enough bike experience, so they do not need a LBS for
any repairs. For the rest of us, the LBS plays an important role.

There are some specialist jobs even dedicated DIYers won't want to buy
pricey tools for. I hate the idea of where this is heading, towards
the disposable bike: Once the integrated headset has worn a ring in
the head tube, you just throw the bike away, do you? And if, god
forbid, the bottom bracket should require refacing, who will do it?
Straight into the skip. There was a time when a bike was *expected* to
last longer than a car.

At this point, I am down to two LBS. One near work (Rapid Transit
Cycleshop). The other near home (Performance Bike retail store).

J.

Wholesalers are also to blame. One twice sent my LBS the wrong pads
for a common Shimano disc brake. I was in his office when he called
through the number of the brake and the Shimano number of the desired
part. And they wouldn't take back the wrong parts they insisted on
sending. Clearly the LBS is not to blame; the wholesaler is to blame.
I gave up, called a guy twenty miles away who deals with BBB, didn't
even tell him it was a brake pad, just gave him the BBB number for the
right part, and told him the normal once-a-week delivery would do, and
to post it on to me and I'd drop in to pay the next time I passed. Any
delivery out of the ordinary from BBB adds eleven euro to the price.
I'm waiting a couple of months already for a silver Hebie Chainglider
to be supplied by one of their dealers in London: Hebie won't take
single unit orders, so he's waiting until he has more stuff to order.
I don't blame him, I blame Hebie for this nonsense.

Andre Jute
Conservative

gemutelicha...

our friends

http://sports.webshots.com/album/558952028IvzxcL