Time wasters - who's the worst

Brendo Wrote:
I am in two minds with this one. Obviously bike shops need to
sell things to make money, be it physical items, or services.
However, when you have bike questions that need answering, it
would seem that there is few other as well equipped to answer as
an LBS employee. They know about bikes, know what size you would
likely be, what you can fit to a frame, what extra's you'll need,
good locations to ride, handy accessories to make thinks easier
etc etc. Often I find it is good to go and ask about something,
even ifyou don't particularly want to buy it, just so you can see
if you are going down the right path. And when you receive good
advice, you are more likely to go back and buy from that store.

I admit, though, that I did feel bad about one episode, where I
said I was just looking at what I could get for around $2k, and
the gentleman started ringing up suppliers to find frames and
shoes etc. I didn't know at the time, but later he came up and
said he could find a last year frame for a rediculous price, and
could have some shoes here in less than a week, plus had sums
done to show me how much I would be saving. I had to tell him,
no, I'm just LOOKING at what I could get for around $2k. When I
come to BUYING I will ask for some more help.

Got to admire his enthusiasm though!!

Brendo

I have to agree with this, especially since many cycling purchases are
fairly big - for example, a good pair of tyres is $200. Before you
spend that much, you want to have as informed an opinion as you can
before laying down the hard-earned. The amounts involved aren't
trivial!

For example, I had a chat with a very helpful attendant at an LBS
yesterday about the effects of different crank length, bike tyres, etc,
but (a) made it clear from the start that I was just looking that day,
and (b) when I noticed that there were folks who were wanting to buy
things, I stood back and waited until they'd been served and left the
shop before resuming the chat. I completely agree that if there are
folks who are holding up those who either simply want to make a
purchase, or want to have a brief chat for advice and then make a
purchase, then these folks really should have precedence. LBSs need to
make profits to survive.


--
RobM

On 2007-02-11, Brendo (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Bleve wrote:
On Feb 11, 9:03 am, ProfTournesol ProfTournesol.2lt...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com wrote:
another major similarity is that timewasters in each type of shop are
invariably male:-)

Incorrect. We have at least two that I know of, serial female
timewasters that come in every few months.

I am in two minds with this one. Obviously bike shops need to
sell things to make money, be it physical items, or services.
However, when you have bike questions that need answering, it
would seem that there is few other as well equipped to answer as
an LBS employee.

I'm not sure that's the kind of person being referred to here. I've
seen one of these time wasters in action. Goes in every week to
abbotsford, and asks "I'm looking for a bike. Can I buy one?". Hint:
Abbotsford don't sell bikes.

--
TimC
NOT A CHANCE! I know for a *fact* the kittens aren't frightened
by temporal anomalies. Clock watching simply ain't their bag.
John Schmidt in ARK

DaveB Wrote:

also drive me insane)? The LBS timewaster arms themselves with
absolutely zero knowledge, or any idea what they are looking for. The
PC
timewaster arms themselves with masses of knowledge, so that any
question they ask is purely to demonstrate how much they know.


I'd hate to see the combination of these traits in the one person.. eg.
someone wanting to purchase a PowerMeter because a mate said it'd make
them faster... but then drilling the LBS worker about its compatibility
with USB 2.0 under the 2.6.20 kernel...

oh wait... I think I just proved I'm the PC timewaster you speak of!


--
gplama

On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:06:46 +1100, TimC wrote:

I'm not sure that's the kind of person being referred to here. I've
seen one of these time wasters in action. Goes in every week to
abbotsford, and asks "I'm looking for a bike. Can I buy one?". Hint:
Abbotsford don't sell bikes.

Sounds a bit like Stella from Dubbo, who Gordon at the observatory may
know...

--
Dave Hughes |
"Verbogeny is one of the pleasurettes of a creatific thinkerizer."
- Peter da Silva

On 2007-02-11, gplama (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
I'd hate to see the combination of these traits in the one person.. eg.
someone wanting to purchase a PowerMeter because a mate said it'd make
them faster... but then drilling the LBS worker about its compatibility
with USB 2.0 under the 2.6.20 kernel...

oh wait... I think I just proved I'm the PC timewaster you speak of!

That, and you use Lunix, you commie hippy loony.

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?

--
TimC
hey Beavis, we're segfaulting, heh heh heh, I know, Butthead, so let's
SIGBUS from inside the handler, heh heh heh --Stephen J. Turnbull

On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:04:15 +1100, TimC
wrote:

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?

What a silly question to ask in AUStin Texas.

In aus.bicycle on Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:20:09 +1100
Aeek wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:04:15 +1100, TimC
wrote:

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?

What a silly question to ask in AUStin Texas.

Whoosh!

Zebee

On Feb 11, 12:28 pm, "Bleve" wrote:
On Feb 11, 9:03 am, ProfTournesol ProfTournesol.2lt...@no-

another major similarity is that timewasters in each type of shop are
invariably male:-)

Incorrect. We have at least two that I know of, serial female
timewasters that come in every few months.

Ah ... but are they cute?

On Feb 11, 8:34 pm, gplama gplama.2lu...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com wrote:
DaveB Wrote:



also drive me insane)? The LBS timewaster arms themselves with
absolutely zero knowledge, or any idea what they are looking for. The
PC
timewaster arms themselves with masses of knowledge, so that any
question they ask is purely to demonstrate how much they know.

I'd hate to see the combination of these traits in the one person.. eg.
someone wanting to purchase a PowerMeter because a mate said it'd make
them faster... but then drilling the LBS worker about its compatibility
with USB 2.0 under the 2.6.20 kernel...

It would work, the powertap's s/w is java ....
just FYI

On Feb 11, 12:45 pm, Brendo wrote:
Bleve wrote:

Incorrect. We have at least two that I know of, serial female
timewasters that come in every few months.

I am in two minds with this one. Obviously bike shops need to
sell things to make money, be it physical items, or services.
However, when you have bike questions that need answering, it
would seem that there is few other as well equipped to answer as
an LBS employee. They know about bikes, know what size you would
likely be, what you can fit to a frame, what extra's you'll need,
good locations to ride, handy accessories to make thinks easier
etc etc. Often I find it is good to go and ask about something,
even ifyou don't particularly want to buy it, just so you can see
if you are going down the right path. And when you receive good
advice, you are more likely to go back and buy from that store.

I'm not talking about people that come in for advice etc, they're not
timewasters (not in the sense I refer to anyway), it's people that
come back, over and over again, and tell us the same lies (you want to
hear some of the stories they tell .... this old bloke, who must be
65kg, who's so strong he breaks bikes every week with his hardcore
riding around phillip island! ... but when asked, can't remember what
brand his $3,000 dualie is, and he's riding up the 1:20 in elite rider
times on it etc). They're generally the local nutters, and in a
retail shop, they have a captive audience.