And I'm kind of the opposite of Psimet on this one. I like to go into a mom-and-pop shop and talk a bit of riding, which when he has time Bill will do, or when he was there John (the tall guy) was willing to do.
The atmosphere I get now is that if you aren't a racer or in there for something VERY specific that you are not worthy of good conversation. I can understand that if the place is slammed on a weekend, but not when I go in on a weekday and there is no one else in there. That is unfortunate.
Psimet mentioned a new shop down in St. Charles, Bicycle Heaven. It's small and I can see they are race oriented, but when I dropped in on a Tuesday the owner of the place was really happy to chat up the local scene. He asked my name, how I learned of the place (remembering who Psimet was), etc., and even though I didn't spend a dime, he thanked me (by name) and hoped I'd stop in again.
There are relatively lots of choices of shops in the Fox River valley, so I don't feel so bad skipping the place where I bought my bike if they choose to roll up the welcome mat for a non-racer.
Freedom of choice, yeah.
Last edited by CyLowe97; 08-20-07 at 12:05 PM.