Miele Man

I can do all the maintenance and repairs that any of my bikes need. That's because when I first became somewhat serious about bicycling and had a just got a decent old bike (back in the early 1980s) a somewhat local bicycle shop spent a lot of time with me in person at the shop and even on the telephone guiding me through the steps needed to fix that bike and to maintain it. I bought parts I needed from them. When I could afford a new bike I bought from them.

Just this year in another city I live in now I had a puncture at the end of an organized ride. I didn't realize it was a puncture and asked the fellow from the local bike shop at the booth they had just finished packing up if they could pump up my tire. they tried to do that but we could hear the air coming out. they offered to drive me and my bike home.

There was one shop here in town that was the sloe source for Campagnolo components. He'd tell me when he was putting in an order and when it would arrive. Far too many times I'd go in to pick up my order only to find out that it had not even been ordered yet because his order didn't meet the minimum required. He also did not like people to come in and browse or chit chat. he actually told one customer that he wished people would come in, buy what they wanted and get out. I found out years later that he didn't want to work in that shop but that his dad owned it. Not surprisingly, that shop is long gone.

The thing is with LBSs is that there are some good ones as well as some bad ones. Also, sometimes you might hit a good shop when they are just having a bad day.

Cheers