Bike shop staff don't know their products
I went to a LBS today to check out the Trek mountain bikes for a MTB multi day tour that I hope to do this year. I was surprised that I felt I knew more about the bikes just from looking at the Trek website before going to the shop than the staff that was showing me around. I asked the staff what drivetrain the bike come with and he wasn't really sure and had to look down and gave up trying to count the number of tooth on the biggest sprocket. One of the selling feature of the bike I was looking at was the Sram 12 speed drivetrain but he didn't mention it. There weren't that many bikes on the floor, and I would have thought if he works there everyday, he would know the bike specs off by heart. Because I felt he doesn't know his stuff, I stopped asking questions to save him the embarrasment.
I bought a gravel bike two years ago and the experience was pretty similar in a number of stores, that most bike shop staff don't 'appear' to know their products. So I have a feeling that this is prevalent in the industry. You would think a bike shop attracts staff who are passionate about bikes, but maybe a passion in riding bikes doesn't necessarily translate to paying attention to bike specs. Another possibility I can think of is that most people who buy bikes aren't too concern about bike specs so the shop staff don't try to talk about these details so as not to confuse the customer.
Whatever the reasons why staff don't know their products, I felt it was a pretty poor retail experience. I may as well buy a bike online and if I need things fixed, take it to a shop that are more mechanically inclined (usually small shops that focused on servicing bikes rather than selling bikes). I'm happy to pay full retail price from a shop that have knowledgable staff and can guide me to choosing the right bike. Is this really too much to ask?