Shop Hours WTF

What i love about OT is…… Bro, Ho or just your average Joe, everybody gets the same low pricing. None of this full retail crap inless you've boughten "x" amount of goods. Everything is marked at the price it sells at.Sure they have sales here and there, but for the most part, it's the price you see on the sticker.

Exactly why I go to OT! I can't stand the "Bro" attitude in some of the larger North Shore shops.

i didn't read the original post, so i don't know the context within which this statement was written, but i'm going to call bs. there are varying degrees of "stretched". i bought a road bike with a completely worn 9 spd ultegra drive train in 2007. the guy i bought it from was getting rid of it for a song as he'd been told by a bike shop employee that the dt was worn to $hit and needed to be replaced to the tune of over $350. in that employee's defence, the teeth were getting curvy and the chain had more than 1% of stretch. i inspected the bike and figured it had at least another year in it - swapped the dt onto my commuter (i log about 40 km/week) and have been riding it year-round for going on 3 years - not butter smooth by any means but still going strong. my point is you can ride a "stretched" drive train for years - it's up to you when the thing needs to be replaced: based on its performance, not what some shop monkey says. (again, didn't read the post, not calling anyone a monkey here)

I should have left his post as it was. I also should have said "measured your DRIVETRAIN" instead of "measured your chain."

Gtse was having skipping problems in the back, and all I was saying is that if the mech checked the drivetrain and it was worn (they have cassette checkers that work fairly well too), it's not unreasonable for him to suggest a new drivetrain first, and though that didn't fix the problem gtse went in with, it DID fix a problem he had.

Pretty hard to diagnose one kind of skipping when there's another kind of potential skipping going on there.

I am kind of surprised that you would say this because you are usually fairly knowledgeable. I have one of those fancy Park Tool chain stretch measures and I never use it. I think such measurements are only useful if want to replace the chain before the cassette wears. If you replace both together you can go way way way past what those stretch measurements would give you as rules of thumb. And you can go even further if you are using friction shifters.

My own rule of thumb is when it becomes slow to downshift and I can't dail it in even with new cables its time for a new cassette and chain.

Chain stretch is just one part of the equation for sure, but I've seen many a finished drivetrain that still shifted just fine. It's not usually the ramps that get worn down, it's the load bearing teeth. If I'm assessing for a customer, I'll check the chain with a checker, check the cassette with a checker (especially the higher gears), assess the cassette and the chainrings visually as well, and then take it for a spin and see if I can make it skip; pretty sure most mechanics do roughly the same thing, especially on more expensive drivetrains.

I ride drivetrains till they skip (I don't drink the "replace chains often" koolaid, though I might if I had a super high end cassette), but again, it wasn't unreasonable for Matt's shop to suggest a drivetrain.

Exactly why I go to OT! I can't stand the "Bro" attitude in some of the larger North Shore shops.

Fair enough. That being said, a case of beer is cheap, and will be repaid tenfold in bro-points in most any shop

Fair enough. That being said, a case of beer is cheap, and will be repaid tenfold in bro-points in most any shop

Bro points….

soo, no beer=no good service….makes it a little tuff for the Groms, no?

Anybody who has given me good service has always recieved beer, but damn if I will take beer to a shop prior to any service being done.Inless it has to do with warranty work…that would be just dumb.

oh and James prefers wine from the south…
I've never heard Lou complain about any beer i've taken in there.
Fanatik always get Canadian beer…the list goes on

At the end of the day though, instead of giving beer to a shop to get good service, what they will get from me is referrals to all the people i ride with….shit even if i just got my family to shop at one store would be a big boost in sales(little stretched but we do spend alot).

Shops should remember that one poor customer service could lead to the loss of 10 future referrals….and so on and so on.

Bro points….

soo, no beer=no good service….makes it a little tuff for the Groms, no?

Anybody who has given me good service has always recieved beer, but damn if I will take beer to a shop prior to any service being done.Inless it has to do with warranty work…that would be just dumb.

oh and James prefers wine from the south…
I've never heard Lou complain about any beer i've taken in there.
Fanatik always get Canadian beer…the list goes on

At the end of the day though, instead of giving beer to a shop to get good service, what they will get from me is referrals to all the people i ride with….shit even if i just got my family to shop at one store would be a big boost in sales(little stretched but we do spend alot).

Shops should remember that one poor customer service could lead to the loss of 10 future referrals….and so on and so on.

No no, I think in general no beer = just fine; just don't expect someone to stay 1 hour late rebuilding your rear wheel because you are off to Whistler the next day. Plus, honestly I think nobody resents groms trying to get things for cheap: everyone understands they have no money.

I guess I just feel for shop owners: it's not a high margin business (other than on high end bikes/forks, and nobody pays retail on that anyway), and I hate dealing with people who feel entitled to a bro deal on some $100 item because they spent $30 last year before buying their bike elsewhere.

I know it sounds petty, hell it probably is.

I just meant that for people who dislike the bro system because they're not, it's an easy fix. Besides, you sound like the kind of customer who appreciates good service and work accordingly.

I just smile and say "thank you". No beer or brides. And I get the sis treatment, which I think is better than the bro.

No no, I think in general no beer = just fine; just don't expect someone to stay 1 hour late rebuilding your rear wheel because you are off to Whistler the next day. Plus, honestly I think nobody resents groms trying to get things for cheap: everyone understands they have no money.

I guess I just feel for shop owners: it's not a high margin business (other than on high end bikes/forks, and nobody pays retail on that anyway), and I hate dealing with people who feel entitled to a bro deal on some $100 item because they spent $30 last year before buying their bike elsewhere.

I know it sounds petty, hell it probably is.

I just meant that for people who dislike the bro system because they're not, it's an easy fix. Besides, you sound like the kind of customer who appreciates good service and work accordingly.

totally took the first post the wrong way and agree with the above….with a but.

I can remember walking into a shop and the wife and i bought a pair of socks and a video. The Wife kindly asked if they had a good guy pricing and the guy said they reserve deals for their good customers…..fair enough.. A better reply might have been.."i'd love to give you a deal but the mark up on videos and socks is so little i really can't help you out, but on future purchases i may be able to help you….we have never bought anything from there again after that first purchase.

Second scenario, I walk into a shop and ask for the same thing and they give me a good deal. Since then the wife and i have spent 10k in goods…if not more. I have referred at a minimum, atleast 30k, if not more of business.

I wonder how much shop "A" lost in sales because they needed to stay at MRSP to make money.

It's a tuff business and not one i would try making a living at, but when shops treat people a certain way, they have consider how much future business they will lose.

Here's another example of how small discounts to a customer can pay dividends in the future…

I received several (arguably unwarranted) discounts on small items from a local shop. When the time came to buy a bike, although I could get it for $100 or so cheaper from a Whistler shop (season ending blowout type deal) I wanted to give my business to the local shop because they had been so good to me.

It's a hard business, two things will differentiate one shop from another:
1) price
2) service

With low margins on most stuff… and online sales etc. well, I'll pay retail to support my LBS now and then, because when I need something fixed on a short notice I want it fixed and you got to pay for that kind of treatment.

But I certainly don't think that every joe walking in should be getting employee pricing.

who the hell wants beer? i want cash. i can buy beer with cash plus other stuff like condoms. and twizzlers.

i can buy beer with cash plus other stuff like condoms. and twizzlers.

Sig!

When I had the misfortune of working in a bike shop, I would give random deals to those who didn't walk in with a sense of entitlement and attitude and treated us with respect. Those guys were "bros" from the first visit. You know the guys… the ones who are humble who don't expect you to drop what you're doing and appreciate the effort you put in to help them out. Its hard to want to keep around a douche bag as a repeat customer even if he spends a bunch of cash.

totally took the first post the wrong way and agree with the above….with a but.

I can remember walking into a shop and the wife and i bought a pair of socks and a video. The Wife kindly asked if they had a good guy pricing and the guy said they reserve deals for their good customers…..fair enough.. A better reply might have been.."i'd love to give you a deal but the mark up on videos and socks is so little i really can't help you out, but on future purchases i may be able to help you….we have never bought anything from there again after that first purchase.QUOTE]

Why would you ask for a discount on $45 dollars worth of goods from a bike shop in the first place?? I don't think that the first shop's response was a bad one. I think it's pretty chintzy to ask for a "good guy price" for something that cheap when the staff don't know you from a hole in the ground. Esp. if you can easily afford to buy them at the regular price.

I can remember walking into a shop and the wife and i bought a pair of socks and a video. The Wife kindly asked if they had a good guy pricing and the guy said they reserve deals for their good customers…..fair enough.

You actually asked for a price hook up on socks and a video? Do you haggle for you milk at the grocery store? Asking for bro pricing is lame.

I can remember walking into a shop and the wife and i bought a pair of socks and a video. The Wife kindly asked if they had a good guy pricing and the guy said they reserve deals for their good customers…..fair enough.. A better reply might have been.."i'd love to give you a deal but the mark up on videos and socks is so little i really can't help you out, but on future purchases i may be able to help you….we have never bought anything from there again after that first purchase.

Second scenario, I walk into a shop and ask for the same thing and they give me a good deal. Since then the wife and i have spent 10k in goods…if not more. I have referred at a minimum, atleast 30k, if not more of business.

I'm not sure if you're suggesting that shops should give everyone good guy deals because of the possibility of future purchases. If you are, I think you'd be shocked at the sheer number of cheapasses out there.

As for the shop guy's response to your wife: the answer he gave was far more honest than your suggested answer. Margins on videos and socks are just fine, and they take no selling/assembly time at all. Personally I appreciate the honesty.