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#21
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How long should pedals last?
On 2018-03-20 12:33, sms wrote:
On 3/20/2018 10:12 AM, jbeattie wrote: snip 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! Tires have such huge mark-ups. I know someone at a club whose race team gets about 60% off retail for tires, which is less than shops can buy them for. Yet obviously the manufacturer is still not selling at a loss. It's nice of the manufacturers to support race teams with these discounts, but I expect that the shops are not thrilled about losing these high-margin sales. I prefer Thai tires, they are low cost and IME of good durability. 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. We recently lost Chain Reaction's Los Altos store which was a big loss. I think that the space is still not leased. But it made sense for them, their customers will still likely buy high-end bikes from their other store, but not go that far for other items. But there are places in the Bay Area with low lease rates. But the owners of the buildings are always looking to redevelop so you are constantly moving. That is a show-stopper for most businesses. They absolutely abhor moving. So do I. ... My wife's office has moved three times already. The last time they moved the building was knocked down the next day. And the place they moved to will also be torn down in a few years. Have they ever asked themselves what their productivity loss due to those events was in Dollars? 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. Fry's is doing that now too. But when you go to pick up your order it's either incomplete or they can't find it at all and they have to send someone out to pick it again. Or you get somebody else's returned merchandise ... 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. I think that you need to buy an Amazon Echo Silver to deal with the stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk. 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. When my daughter was in college on the on-campus bike co-op ordered stuff from QBP and sold it to students, or anyone, for just a few percent over wholesale. No wonder it's so hard for a regular bicycle shop to make any money selling parts and accessories and clothing. Between Nashbar, Aliexpress, Amazon, and almost everyone knowing someone that can get them a deal from QBP or direct from a manufacturer, it's hopeless for these shops. It is not hopeless. There is a substantial convenience factor for people being able to pick up a part instead of not being able to ride for a few days until the package arrives or having to bow out of a weekend event. However. Charging $17 for a pair of measly resin brake pads when I can get good ceramic-based ones in Asia for $2 is not cool. That sort of mark-up is not warranted and yes, that will cost them customers. These days a surprising number of cyclists is not able to perform even basic repairs such as swapping out a pretzeled derailer or mount a new freehub. They will bring their bike to the shop and then pay whatever the spare parts are rung up at. They are captive and will thus have to buy at the company store. The owner of a newly opened bike shop here in town was smart. He opened it right next to the singletrack that goes through town. Meaning almost every MTB rider will see it and MTB riders break stuff all the time. He is planning to offer bike lockers so people do not need the big truck to go for a ride (most will absolutly not cycle on roads). He said the fee would likely include a regular tune-up. That undoubtedly will also bring in lots of maintenance and repair business, mainly because of the convenience. "Hey, Chris, can you take a look at the BB on my MTB in locker #22? It made a screech last night. Install a new one if it's shot". Sports Basement is a pretty good store and they periodically offer 20% off everything in the store which is not a big deal for clothing, but it's a pretty big deal for complete bicycles. Very nice people there, without the attitude of some other stores. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
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#22
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How long should pedals last?
sms wrote:
Yesterday one of the pedals on my road bike started making noise. By the end of the ride there was a large amount of play on the pedal axle. I was waiting for the whole thing to disintegrate but I made it home. I ordered some new MKS pedals this morning, but I'm wondering what kind of mileage I should get out of a set of pedals. These are the original pedals that came with my Specialized Sirrus. They are plaform pedals, since I prefer toe-clips to SPD. Also breaking yesterday was my Nashbar floor pump, after fixing a flat on my wife's bicycle (and the glue in my REMA patch kit was dried up) the check valve was flaky and the handle also kept coming out of the tube section. Pumped up the tires with my old Zefal HPX. Ordered a new pump along with the pedals. Ate lunch in Shallow Alto where Apple was having some Apple Pay promotion at a bunch of stores and restaurants, but of course couldn't get the lunch deal with my Android phone. This was iDiscrimination. Came home and there had been a power failure and my Internet was down because the UPS had blown. Flat pedals if the bearings can be replaced indefinitely one assumes the oldest pedals I have are some DMR V8 which I use on the old commute/town MTB they have lost there paint and is some play in the bearing, at 8k miles. The CX/MTB they do much less miles but in far worse conditions this said (DMR V12) I haven’t killed one recently I did have a axel bend on one of the earlier V12’s but so far the recent ones have been good, again they tend to loose there paint maybe a few pins. Roger Merriman. |
#23
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How long should pedals last?
On 2018-03-20 15:14, Roger Merriman wrote:
sms wrote: Yesterday one of the pedals on my road bike started making noise. By the end of the ride there was a large amount of play on the pedal axle. I was waiting for the whole thing to disintegrate but I made it home. I ordered some new MKS pedals this morning, but I'm wondering what kind of mileage I should get out of a set of pedals. These are the original pedals that came with my Specialized Sirrus. They are plaform pedals, since I prefer toe-clips to SPD. Also breaking yesterday was my Nashbar floor pump, after fixing a flat on my wife's bicycle (and the glue in my REMA patch kit was dried up) the check valve was flaky and the handle also kept coming out of the tube section. Pumped up the tires with my old Zefal HPX. Ordered a new pump along with the pedals. Ate lunch in Shallow Alto where Apple was having some Apple Pay promotion at a bunch of stores and restaurants, but of course couldn't get the lunch deal with my Android phone. This was iDiscrimination. Came home and there had been a power failure and my Internet was down because the UPS had blown. Flat pedals if the bearings can be replaced indefinitely one assumes the oldest pedals I have are some DMR V8 which I use on the old commute/town MTB they have lost there paint and is some play in the bearing, at 8k miles. The CX/MTB they do much less miles but in far worse conditions this said (DMR V12) What kills such stuff out here in summer is the continuous dust cloud from he front wheel. It is often so bad that we have to leave 100ft of space to the rider up front. I haven’t killed one recently I did have a axel bend on one of the earlier V12’s but so far the recent ones have been good, again they tend to loose there paint maybe a few pins. Regarding spindle bending I noticed that they bend slightly within the first 1000mi but then no further. It can be felt and measured with a level when turning the cranks. Doesn't bother me much, it was just surrising when I noticed it the first time. So far none of them has broken off. A friend broke a Campagnolo crank arm and that was nasty. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
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