An Open Letter To Bicycle Parts Professionals

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:00:41 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
AustinMN wrote:
wrote:
Would you mind actually posting that here rather than posting a link?

The link isn't working for me.

Better still would be for him to not post his spam at all.

It shouldn't be posted, not because of spam but because this kind of stuff
belongs on paper pages on peoples' desks, not widely available on the net.

Why? Should the investment casting business be and remain an impenetrable
forest where knowing the secret handshake is all that matters in getting
your stuff made right?

Jasper

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:00:41 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
AustinMN wrote:
wrote:
Would you mind actually posting that here rather than posting a
link?

The link isn't working for me.

Better still would be for him to not post his spam at all.

It shouldn't be posted, not because of spam but because this kind of
stuff belongs on paper pages on peoples' desks, not widely available
on the net.

Why? Should the investment casting business be and remain an
impenetrable forest where knowing the secret handshake is all that
matters in getting your stuff made right?

Jasper

Mainly my concern is prices. There doesn't seem to be any mention of
anything like that so I stand corrected.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:37:15 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:00:41 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:

Why? Should the investment casting business be and remain an
impenetrable forest where knowing the secret handshake is all that
matters in getting your stuff made right?

Mainly my concern is prices. There doesn't seem to be any mention of
anything like that so I stand corrected.

No, he very scrupulously doesn't mention prices -- you can get a quote
from him when you ask for it, and that's it.

I still don't see why prices shouldn't be made public, though. Just to
avoid end-customers looking up the prices of parts and being able to say
"holy crap, my framebuilder is making a 500% profit on the parts even
*before* he charges me for the labour of putting them together"?


Jasper

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:57:25 GMT, Eric wrote:
catzz66 wrote:
The OP has contributed to both rbt and rbm, but these are probably not
the best forums to find bicycle parts professionals.

That may as well be, but his post is pure spam.

Nope. At a single post to two newsgroups, it doesn't meet the criteria for
spam, which is why no cancelbot has gotten it. It's not even off-topic for
rbt. It's clearly self-promotion, and not really the nice thing to do,
especially as an opening post as opposed to a reply, but there are bicycle
shop owners in rbt that regularly tell people what they need to fix
something and that their shop can supply it -- which isn't *that* far off
this post.

As long as Mr Klein does this *once*, I wouldn't call it a problem.


Jasper

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:57:25 GMT, Eric wrote:

catzz66 wrote:

The OP has contributed to both rbt and rbm, but these are probably not
the best forums to find bicycle parts professionals.

That may as well be, but his post is pure spam.


Nope. At a single post to two newsgroups, it doesn't meet the criteria for
spam, which is why no cancelbot has gotten it. It's not even off-topic for
rbt. It's clearly self-promotion, and not really the nice thing to do,
especially as an opening post as opposed to a reply, but there are bicycle
shop owners in rbt that regularly tell people what they need to fix
something and that their shop can supply it -- which isn't *that* far off
this post.

I'll concede the crossposting for spam vs. Blatant Self-Promotion.

As long as Mr Klein does this *once*, I wouldn't call it a problem.

I agree.

I don't see how Mr. Klein could list prices. He's not offering a
product for sale per se. He's offering more of a communication, QC, and
expedition service. He did mention something about stocking parts, but
that didn't sound like the major thrust of his services.
Having spent far more thousands of hours than I care to remember in
Asian owned & staffed plants here in the US in a QA, QC capacity, I
understand the need for what he is offering. I once walked out of one
such shop and off the job of an inspection agency after 4 years of
employment due to utter, complete, total, and indescribable
frustration.
I can see Mr. Klein's service as a benefit to anyone at rbt who rides
or builds lugged frame bikes.

Just my 2C, John

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:37:15 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:00:41 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:

Why? Should the investment casting business be and remain an
impenetrable forest where knowing the secret handshake is all that
matters in getting your stuff made right?

Mainly my concern is prices. There doesn't seem to be any mention of
anything like that so I stand corrected.

No, he very scrupulously doesn't mention prices -- you can get a quote
from him when you ask for it, and that's it.

I still don't see why prices shouldn't be made public, though. Just to
avoid end-customers looking up the prices of parts and being able to
say "holy crap, my framebuilder is making a 500% profit on the parts
even *before* he charges me for the labour of putting them together"?

Yes. The decline of the LBS has been going on for some time now with the
proliferation of the internet in the bicycle community. There's a reason
there are bike Wal-Marts out on the net. It may be good for the economy as
a whole, but it's not good for the typical small business owner.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:49:17 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:

I still don't see why prices shouldn't be made public, though. Just to
avoid end-customers looking up the prices of parts and being able to
say "holy crap, my framebuilder is making a 500% profit on the parts
even *before* he charges me for the labour of putting them together"?

Yes. The decline of the LBS has been going on for some time now with the
proliferation of the internet in the bicycle community. There's a reason
there are bike Wal-Marts out on the net. It may be good for the economy as
a whole, but it's not good for the typical small business owner.

So? You *are* a Small Business Owner, so I know why you care, but why
should I? Quite a lot of those little stores that everybody whines about
being replaced by Barnes and Noble turn out to be ********s full of
asbestos where everything costs twice the regular price and you get the
pleasure of being ignored by and condescended to by the regular staff.

Those which are not like that, coincidentally, seem to be doing just fine
despite competition from the 'net and big chains.


Jasper

Hi Phil
I must be missing something, or a little more dense than usual. I don't
see the relevance of your last comment and Mr. Klein's business.
John

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:49:17 -0400, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:

I still don't see why prices shouldn't be made public, though. Just
to avoid end-customers looking up the prices of parts and being
able to say "holy crap, my framebuilder is making a 500% profit on
the parts even *before* he charges me for the labour of putting
them together"?

Yes. The decline of the LBS has been going on for some time now
with the proliferation of the internet in the bicycle community.
There's a reason there are bike Wal-Marts out on the net. It may be
good for the economy as a whole, but it's not good for the typical
small business owner.

So? You *are* a Small Business Owner,

Whoa, not quite! I work at a shop, but don't have any managerial stake in
the operations.

so I know why you care, but why
should I? Quite a lot of those little stores that everybody whines
about being replaced by Barnes and Noble turn out to be ********s
full of asbestos where everything costs twice the regular price and
you get the pleasure of being ignored by and condescended to by the
regular staff.

Those which are not like that, coincidentally, seem to be doing just
fine despite competition from the 'net and big chains.

We fall into the latter category. When people buy from an LBS , they're
paying for expertise, advice, proper fit, maintenance advice, etc. etc. that
they can't always easily get from the net if you don't know where to look.
Plus there's air-conditioning which is pretty important here in Florida.

I guess it's kinda like open-source versus closed-source in a way.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training