Odd coincidences while working at bicycle shop

Paranormal Activity at Bicycle Shop

Someone asked me to post this information. He/she works at a bicycle shop
which does repairs and sells bicycles and accessories. The following are
allegedly true coincidences which seem to happen often enough that he/she
decided to start keeping a log. The shop isn't a busy shop. Customers
come in only occasionally.

Generally, what happened below was two or more unrelated customers would
come into the shop with the same bike problem, or purchase the same
accessory. There was unusually close proximity in timing to similar
repairs and purchases. By analogy (if you're not familiar with bicycle
repairs), imagine working in a restaurant on a lonely road with a huge
menu. You wait for an hour between customers. Then, one customer pulls
off the road and orders fish and chips. Then, 10 minutes later another
customer comes in, looks at the menu, and orders fish and chips without
knowing anything about the first customer. Or, in a gas station context,
both customers have to replace the same cap and rotor. This is the
analogy.

Here is the recent log of the events. When I use the term "back-to-back"
repairs it generally means within about 10 minutes to 1 hour of each
other.

------------------

10/8/03 Two road bikes, same style thin tires needed replacement, within
an hour of each other.

10/9/03 Two unrelated customers, both bought new grips.

10/11/03 Two employees bump into each other at cash register. Unlikely
that either would have reason to have close proximity to the other.

10/13/03 Three customers back-to-back came to pick up their repairs at an
odd time of day.

10/13/03 Two back-to-back bicycle rentals, both for the same rental
period, unrelated customers.

10/14/03 Two back-to-back 14mm wrench jobs.

10/18/03 Two back-to-back 26" tire jobs

10/20/03 Three wheel-true jobs booked in back-to-back

10/28/03 Two different customers back-to-back purchased same headlight,
but different accessories, but same prices.

11/1/03 Two back-to-back customers asked same question - whether we had
compressed air for their tires

11/1/03 Two back-to-back pedal replacements - 1:15pm

11/3/03 Two back-to-back rear brake jobs - same old design - both bicycles
had flat tires which necessitated new front tires - each new tire didn't
match the rear tire because the shop didn't have the same ones.

11/1/03 and 11/3/03 Two bicycles came in for repair with similar axle
problems. They came in for repair two days apart, not on the same day,
but still very close.

11/4/03 Three bicycles came in with broken chains. Two with identical
problems within one hour (needed shortening by 2 links).

11/5/03 Three rear wheel replacements.

11/8/03 Two back-to-back wheel-true jobs booked in.

11/14/03 Two back-to-back crank arm replacements booked in.

Frog wrote:

Generally, what happened below was two or more unrelated customers would
come into the shop with the same bike problem, or purchase the same
accessory. There was unusually close proximity in timing to similar
repairs and purchases.

See Poisson distribution:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoissonDistribution.html

The likelihood of random events ocurring over time. It is often used as
a model for the number of events (such as the number of telephone calls
at a business or the number of accidents at an intersection) in a
specific time period - or the number of repairs at a bike shop.

-Dondo

--
What am I on?
I'm on my bike, o__
6 hours a day, busting my ass. ,/'_
What are you on? --Lance Armstrong (_)\(_)

In article
Frog wrote:

You may wish to review
http://www.cotse.net/users/bluejay/f...claration.html before using Frog
as a remailer again.

Captain Dondo wrote in message ...
Frog wrote:

Generally, what happened below was two or more unrelated customers would
come into the shop with the same bike problem, or purchase the same
accessory. There was unusually close proximity in timing to similar
repairs and purchases.

See Poisson distribution:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoissonDistribution.html

The likelihood of random events ocurring over time. It is often used as
a model for the number of events (such as the number of telephone calls
at a business or the number of accidents at an intersection) in a
specific time period - or the number of repairs at a bike shop.

-Dondo

Here's a good one:

I come back to my apartment in Providence, RI to find my trusty old
Raleigh Supercourse stolen. I sorrowfully write it off as a loss
after receiving no help from local authorities.

Five months later, I'm standing at the counter of my LBS, when I spy a
young dude at the repair counter with MY BICYCLE! :^0 He had brought
it in on the exact same day and time that I decided to wander into
this shop for a spare tube. After he left, I asked the clerk to take
down the ser # off the BB shell. After a call to the shop where I had
bought the bike from, I returned home with my erstwhile bike, no doubt
a shock to the clown who brought it in for repair. Me and my Raleigh
were never separated after that.

nikkadeemis

In rec.bicycles.misc Frog wrote:

: Paranormal Activity at Bicycle Shop

This cannot be explained by sun spots. It is the result of
systemic effects from the quantum level.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

Bob Dymond wrote:
Captain Dondo wrote in message ...

Frog wrote:


Generally, what happened below was two or more unrelated customers would
come into the shop with the same bike problem, or purchase the same
accessory. There was unusually close proximity in timing to similar
repairs and purchases.

See Poisson distribution:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoissonDistribution.html

The likelihood of random events ocurring over time. It is often used as
a model for the number of events (such as the number of telephone calls
at a business or the number of accidents at an intersection) in a
specific time period - or the number of repairs at a bike shop.

-Dondo


Here's a good one:

I come back to my apartment in Providence, RI to find my trusty old
Raleigh Supercourse stolen. I sorrowfully write it off as a loss
after receiving no help from local authorities.

Five months later, I'm standing at the counter of my LBS, when I spy a
young dude at the repair counter with MY BICYCLE! :^0 He had brought
it in on the exact same day and time that I decided to wander into
this shop for a spare tube. After he left, I asked the clerk to take
down the ser # off the BB shell. After a call to the shop where I had
bought the bike from, I returned home with my erstwhile bike, no doubt
a shock to the clown who brought it in for repair. Me and my Raleigh
were never separated after that.

nikkadeemis

The moral of the story: Don't take stolen bikes into shops for repair,
just steal another bike.

Frog wrote:

Paranormal Activity at Bicycle Shop

[lots of coincidental stuff snipped]

Here I thought it was going to be a good old fashioned haunting of a
bike shop, like Fausto Coppi's or Tullio Campagnolo's ghost appear and
offer advice to customers or do work on bikes in the repair shop.

Weird coincidences happen, I've just gotten use to it. Like going to
New York City (from Midland, Michigan) for 1989 New Years and bumping
into a relative of the girl my brother is dating, and he's actually
heard of my brother. Only 7 million people that city... why haven't I
won the Lottery yet?

Could be too that bicycles are a bit of a magical thing, they keep you
upright on only 2 wheels, and I know there are some bikes that make you go
faster or farther without so much effort, beyond the amount of energy you
put into the pedals, they somehow take on a spirit of their own, maybe from
being like part of your body for locomotion or something...
I have found this from hundreds of riding hours on over 10 different
cycles...

"Richard Adams" wrote in message
...
Frog wrote:

Paranormal Activity at Bicycle Shop

[lots of coincidental stuff snipped]

Here I thought it was going to be a good old fashioned haunting of a
bike shop, like Fausto Coppi's or Tullio Campagnolo's ghost appear and
offer advice to customers or do work on bikes in the repair shop.

Weird coincidences happen, I've just gotten use to it. Like going to
New York City (from Midland, Michigan) for 1989 New Years and bumping
into a relative of the girl my brother is dating, and he's actually
heard of my brother. Only 7 million people that city... why haven't I
won the Lottery yet?

In article ,
Richard Adams wrote:

Frog wrote:

Paranormal Activity at Bicycle Shop

[lots of coincidental stuff snipped]

Here I thought it was going to be a good old fashioned haunting of a
bike shop, like Fausto Coppi's or Tullio Campagnolo's ghost appear and
offer advice to customers or do work on bikes in the repair shop.

Weird coincidences happen, I've just gotten use to it. Like going to
New York City (from Midland, Michigan) for 1989 New Years and bumping
into a relative of the girl my brother is dating, and he's actually
heard of my brother. Only 7 million people that city... why haven't I
won the Lottery yet?



Hey Richard, my dad (also named Richard) is from Saginaw.

doodoo doodoo, doodoo doodoo

Where is Rod Serling when you need him?

Dave in Minnesota

In rec.bicycles.misc Dave Jackson wrote:
: Dave in Minnesota

hey dave. i'm also dave from minnesota.

whoa.
--
david reuteler