Trying to get impartial advice from LBS employees is hilariously impossible.
 

So I bought a new bike on the weekend.

Visited 4 bike stores.

I was looking for a hybrid with disc brakes.

One store carried lesser-known brands, that LBS store employee tried to sell me on a "Brodie" Voltage, Brodie is a smaller Vancouver based brand "better value for money, Canadian company, good components" said the LBS employee

One store mainly sold Norco for a hydrid LBS, "way better value for money than the big brands (Trek, Specialized, Cannondale) said the LBS guy.

One store was Trek-centric, they swore up and down that the Trek 7.2 was the best hybrid for my price-range/specs I wanted

One store was mainly Specalized-centric, I had become a bit interested in a hybrid with front suspension since much of my city (Toronto) has crappy torn-up roads, the LBS employee insisted that I should definitely get a Specialized Crosstown Disc as it had the suspension and was by far a better option than standard rigid fork hybrids.

I know these guys all work on commission and its the culture of LBS to close deals ASAP if the customer is willing, just found it funny how each store insisted their brand and their bike was the BEST bike by far for my needs.

How many stores have you been in where the salesperson recommended that you go elsewhere for your purchase?

Each store recommended the best bike that they sell; you were surprised?

I was still somewhat surprised that none of them were willing to consisted products that they didn't carry.

I openly told them what I was looking for, what other bikes I had tried, and all of them were positive that the bike they sold in store was far superior to ANY bike, ANY brand that they didn't sell.

Just seems like LBS cannot give you any object/impartial advise, everything they talk about has to end with "buy _____ from me right now, _____ is the best _____ in the world."

This is actually for the most part true.

This is as well.

Every shop differs at least where I live. We have a shop here that sells Norco, and they are a better buy for the money vs. Specialized and the other big name brands. We also have a shop here that sells Trek, and they run 7.2's out the door all day every day. It is a very popular bike. They want to sell if you want to buy.

I had the opposite experience. My decision was between two road bikes. I straight up told the one shop the exact bike and store I was considering going with and they said "That's one hell of a bike for the price."

I've heard a lot of LBS horror stories but so far every single experience I've had in NC with them has been good, save for one. Went to a specialized shop, got fitted on an endurance bike, and we all realized I needed a larger frame. They had it in stock but not put together, so they offered to build it and call me tomorrow. They never called, I also never went back. Lost sale for them.

online reviews aren't always unbiased,either. Bike shops make a living off of the brands their distributors supply. I've had had bad shops try to sell crap just to get it off their floor. Ive had great shops try to be as honest as possible. really helps to do your own research & know the shop you are dealing with.

Not all shops are commission. I'm sure you could ask if you felt the need to. The shop I worked at was not commission and I would routinely send people to other shops in the area if I knew what they were looking for and I knew it just wasn't something we stocked.

And yeah, the Trek 7.2 is a hugely popular bike at a very popular price point. If he had the disc version on hand, I don't see why you wouldn't have heavily considered it. If you're worried about the price, you could ask 1) is this the lowest price (at my shop, it was), 2) do you offer free or discounted tune-ups for the bike and 3) do you offer any discounts on accessories (bottle cages, fenders, etc.) with the purchase of the bike?

Anyhow, good luck with it. I know there are at best about 3 or 4 really bad shops for every good one. Kind of like car dealerships.

Not much different than asking a bunch of people on BF you don't know and who don't know you. You'll get as many opinions as you want until you realize there is no right answer.

I rarely buy a new bike (like about once a generation). I avoid Specialized, CF and for the most part Shimano. But the local Trek/Shimano dealer, Portland's biggest store with 5 outlets has my loyalty. Why?

When I was fairly new to Portland, I walked in and asked who could make me a custom stem. They told me to come back in 4 days and ask their frame fitter who would be in for the evening. I did and the frame fitter told me of local builder. I now have three stems, two seatposts and 2 frames from that builder.

Later I asked them if they had any ideas on who could make custom kneewarmers. Again, they told me of a small outfit that has now made me several for which my CP knees will always thank me. (Postponing knee replacements for another 20 years, maybe more.) Also from them, the tip on marine trailer hub grease, again not bringing a cent into their coffers.

I don't buy a lot of big ticket items at that shop. But I do buy from there regularly when I could probably save a couple of bucks elsewhere. And I send others there.

That shop has had a very real part in making my cycling much better by suggesting other places to spend my money. That shop also provides support for Cycle Oregon; both the weekend ride and the week ride. And for those events, all labor is free. Probably 8 employees get paid salary for a week. Probably 6 vans make the trip and do ~1000 miles each. There are many late nights for the mechanics and some incredible stories of bike fixes done in the middle of nowhere to get someone riding the next day. (Some involving welding torches and machining.) Yes, they rent bikes and reap a lot of good will and bike sales all year because of this. Hard to begrudge that. One of those mechanics lent me a seatpost after I broke mine. That post stayed on my bike a year until I could get a custom built.

Not everyone likes this shop. But what they have done has helped everybody. This town has high standards when it comes to bike shops and customer service and the shop, one of Portland's older, has gone a long ways to setting that standard.

Ben

You have to remember, the average LBS salesperson probably isn't neurotic about following every different brand's lineup. ESPECIALLY if you are talking about hybrids which probably have them yawning. Of course they'll try to sell you what they have, hopefully in an honest way. If you think about the big brands of bikes having 70+ different models and trim levels, do you expect a guy making $10/hour and no commission to be actively researching every bike brand out there, or just know mostly what they carry?

For instance, I know Giant often puts out more for the money than Trek/SpecialEd. But I can't give you a point by point comparison. And I know both Trek/SpecialEd put out some really cool stuff that Giant does not. But for most people, an Escape will be a great purchase... We actively send people to our local Trek shop. But our local Specialized shop pretty much sucks, and we wouldn't recommend it. Though if people MUST get one, we'll tell them who carries it.

what did you get?

I have never worked at a shop that sold on commission; we were all bike junkies who just wanted to help people get the right bike.

We also went to the bike trade shows so we were very aware of what else was out there.

Bike models are very competitive so in truth there is not that much difference among various brands at any given price point...

It wouldn't occur to me to ask the Honda dealer's opinion on a Toyota. These days there are enough forums and consumer reviews easily available that I would get that from the internet (always taken with a grain of salt), get the specs of the bike from the stores, and do a couple of couple of test rides.

I would, however, possibly tell a sales guy what I've been quoted for a bike I like in hopes to get a price cut on what he has.

I'm a little confused as to why you are upset about this. You walked into a place that exists to sell bikes and are annoyed that they want to sell you a bike? Try and think about this from the other side. If someone comes into your store and wants to take up your time by asking about products that you don't even sell, you would just venture an opinion and be cool with them using your time and expertise for no return? That's just not a smart way to run a retail business. If you don't want to buy, that's fine, but it's perfectly reasonable for the salesperson to try and offer you an equivalent product.

I've never worked in or even heard of a bike shop that operated on commission. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but it's definitely not the standard. There's no margin on bike sales to support it.

+1. Asking about a price match = perfectly reasonable. Asking for opinions on a bike someone doesn't (and CAN'T) sell you and getting bent out of shape when they try to sell you theirs instead = kind of strange and unreasonable.

Selling you what they have in stock is completely acceptable to me. I think it would be a little like produce guy at store A telling you store B down the street has better apples for cheaper, so don't buy them here. Even without commission, he'll eventually be out of a job. What's NOT acceptable would be flat out lying that their bike is better than a specific bike if in fact it's not. If YOU ask them specifically to compare their bike to a competitor's, they ought to tell you where their bike is better (they'll probably poo-poo any differences not in their favor or not mention them). When you go buy a car, you ought to know which brands you're considering before you even visit the first dealer, because you're going to be on the hook for the comparisons across brands at different dealers -- this is no different. I made a spreadsheet and gathered geometry and component info for every bike I was considering and it was immensely helpful. The butt dyno is of course an intangible test, but other than that having objective data is so helpful, for example don't assume bike A shifts better than B when they have identical derailleur -- forces you to only evaluate true differences.

I think most bike store employees would be fired for suggesting a customer go elsewhere to get a bike. If you go to a Verizon store, do you think they are going to tell you to check out AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint?

To clarify my earlier statement: the shop I was at stocked most everything, but we got to a point where we made the decision to stock less triathlon gear and bikes and we stopped selling fixed gear bikes a little bit before Walmart started selling them. So I had a few shops in mind if I got A) a triathlete looking for specific bikes or gear we weren't going to have or B) someone looking specifically for fixed gear bikes.

But yeah, if you wanted something and I thought we had a product that was a good fit, I would definitely try to sell you on the bike we had/could get vs. what the other guy down the road had.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to type.

OP - do your research, ride them all and buy what you like. Then when somebody asks right here on Bike Forums what's the best hybrid with discs, you can tell them yours is :)

5 Points that will tell your head one answer.
1) your left hand
2) your right hand
3) your right foot
4) your left foot
5) your but t , with the wallet in it.

V

So the consensus is that either a) the employees don't know about competitor products, or b) the employees are always going to say that their bike is the best for any purpose?

Doesn't that boil down to a choice between ignorance and dishonesty?

If you don't have a product that fits my needs it would be a courtesy, and professional, to make a recommendation. You don't have to of course. If, on the other hand, a salesman tells me that his product is better than specific others for a specific purpose, and when that is a misrepresentation, then that speaks to a lack of integrity.

To the phone service analogy, if the Sprint guy is selling me a service, and I'm not in Sprint coverage area, yes he'd better send me to Verizon or AT&T! If he knowingly sells me his service he commits fraud. Even if he doesn't say the words, "Sprint will work", it crosses the line from caveat emptor because he does have an implied warranty for fitness of purpose.

The bike guy doesn't have that exact problem because any bike would technically work. He's ok if he says his brand is the best, because that's just puffery. But when he gets into specifics, like OP implied, then that's out the window and he needs to be factual.

They all come off a boat loaded in Taipei. why sweat brands ? , 'all things being Equal, they will Be'

IME, there is nothing even remotely objective about a viewpoint if there is money involved.

I went to the Ford dealer, and they tried to sell me a Ford... shocking! So I went to the Honda dealer and they tried to sell me a Honda... what is going on here? ;)

I think each of the shops gave you fair advice and opinions. Maybe you went in with the wrong attitude. I haven't found the bicycle buying experience to be anything like buying a car. I've never felt that the guys in the bike shop were there just to take my money and guide me to the most expensive bike I could afford. Nearly every one of the major bike brands have an entry at every category and every price point. You can get a hybrid with disc brakes for under $500 and you can get a hybrid with disc brakes for $1300... you'll most likely get exactly what you paid for - the bike shop guys aren't there to swindle you... they are really there to help you make your best decision.