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.

"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

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

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.

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

"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.

"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

"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.

"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

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.