Cavedog

I have two LBS's within five miles of me and I don't think I will ever be back. The first is run by an old time cyclist, who feels that his experience allows/enables him to look down on everybody. I brought my bike in to see about getting a new stem, and he starts trying to sell me a new bike, saying the one I have doesn't fit me. He sold it to me last year! The other LBS pushes only one brand, and will argue with you about which is the better bike! The arrogance of these people is simply astounding. I have vowed never to set foot into a LBS again. If my bike breaks, I will learn to fix it. My bicycles are not as complex as the computers I build, the weather systems I maintained, nor the automobiles I have repaired. Thanks to the internet, I can tell those condescending buttmunches to bite me.

NoRacer

+1

I bought my bike at Performance Bike in Towson, MD. I've been very happy with it.

This LBS is in the ideal location for me--nearly right in the middle of my commute route. But, there is no excuse for having a 4 week backlog of repairs. No matter how trivial the work, they quoated 4 weeks... replace cabling - 4 weeks... true a wheel - 4 weeks... replace a cam plate in the rear hub (w/American Classic this is trivial) - 4 weeks...

Actually, I must thank my LBS. They have made me much more self-sufficient. All of the items above, I've learned to do myself. I'm completely comfortable with doing just about any repair to the bike, and I don't need my LBS for parts either.

So, as far as I'm concerned, they've lost a "walk-in" customer who has disposable income budgeted to the bike. That money will go to another bike shop, or better yet, on-line bike-related purchases from eBAY or Bike Tires Direct.

kxpedder7

I work at a LBS, and I have worked there for quite some time. We have a large concentration of bike shops in our area, and I have gone to many of them. Honestly, the majority I would never go back to if I was a customer. But there are those out there who are actually helpful.

Sometimes it just gets discoraging for bike shop employee's when you are trying to sell a $250 entry level hardtail, and the custromer goes "Well I can get that same bike at walmart for $100." And we are all human and I have seen more than my share of people take questions the wrong way, etc. and over react.

We have a while you wait policy for changing tubes and tires, and everything short of a overhaul(complete regrease) is garanteed same day back to you. This still blows some of our customers minds. A couple of the LBS this year actually made the statement " We will not be doing any repairs for the next two weeks until christmas" because they were concentrating on new bike sales. We got such a boost in repairs those two weeks because of it.

cs1

I haven't seen where you are from. I'm sure that there are some forumites in your area that may be able to steer you to a competent LBS. Good luck

Tim

Bikes-N-Drums

In my personal experience, the quality of the experience is inversely proportional to the size of the store. Humongous bicycle mega-centers like Performance, REI, Dick's feature indifferent "salespeople" who seem to avoid you until you have the audacity to ask them to ring you out at the register. Smaller ma&pa type operations will devote their time to you and tend not to sell you up on put you on a bike that will end up a dusty decoration in the corner of the garage.

Of course, I'm making sweeping generalizations now. I have had good experiences at big stores and poor ones at small stores. But the stereotype generally fits.

And when and if you find an honest LBS the relationship is invaluable.

M3ta7h3ad

When I go into an LBS I dont always go there for a specific reason. I like gadgets I like browsing

But the shop on my commute is a case of being stared at for a while by the people behind the counter as I browse around, before they come out and start with the sales pitches. Worst of all I saw someone buy a bike there for £300 a nice one (cant remember the make as I have no idea ) but then they got pressured into buying a helmet, saddle bag, rack, a crap lock, a full toolkit of stuff, spare tubes, tyres, fancy slime crap, and more ancillary crud.

Stuff they can buy elsewhere for all in less than £100 but there costs them close to £200. £45 FOR A CABLE LOCK (generic make certainly wasnt a kryptonite or similar) that would be less chunky than a shoelace pretty much, came with a beefy padlock though. bloody rubbish.

Admittedly this was ages and ages ago (several years) but the same guys still own that shop. I hate the place.

You go in there for a browse and maybe a puncture repair kit, you come out with either an ear bashing about how great such and such is... or a shedload of random useless gear.

I paid for a gear service once, they wouldnt give me the bike back until I had repeated the word No about 15 times. They wanted to offer me a full service, or a brake service, or a wheel truing, or a clean up.

DonD

I have two bike shops that are within a 5-minute drive, and haven't been pleased with either store. Instead I drive 45 minutes to the shop I ultimately bought my bike at, and who has consistently given me stellar service, gives me as much time as I need when asking questions / seeking advice, and has also been competitively priced.

Travelinguyrt

An LBS is a business, its capitalism dude. They have bills to pay Sounds you want a combo shrinks couch and goodygoody bike shop, you want to be stroked each time you go in cause someday "I may spend A LOT OF MONEY for a bike treat me special

As on here each employee has diff ideas about the "best" bike and I seriously doubt if the owners have much product education for employees

As others have said DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE going in

bmclaughlin807

I've gotten my best service locally from, of all places, a Performance store.... I ride 6 miles each way to go to it. My ONLY real complaint about them is that they don't have a bike rack in front of the store... But, they don't say anything if I bring the bike in the store with me, so I haven't bothered to complain.

The LBS right by me (4 blocks away) had some kids working in the back that had NO clue... they also tried to sell me a freewheel tool for my bike for $15.99 that you can get just about anywhere else for about $7 (that's what I paid for it at Performance... exact same tool, from Park), sold me the wrong length spokes despite the fact that I had the wheel right there for them to compare with, AND tried to convince me that the rear wheel spokes were the same length on the drive and non-drive side.

The next closest store (about 4 miles I think) they just ignored me when I went in there... I looked around the store for 20 minutes, didn't get so much as a hello, much less an offer for assistance.

I went to one other store which was about the same distance as Performance, and they were friendly enough, and listened to what I had to say about what I was looking for, they just didn't have what I needed (a threaded stem for my Raleigh) and what they did have would have cost me about 3x more than what I was looking for. They tried to sell me an adapter and a threadless-type stem, for $22 and $27 each. I ended up buying a threaded stem from Performance for $15.

So... I'm still looking for a bike shop. I'll probably be moving closer to Performance, as well as the other LBS that was helpful, so we'll see what happens.

BikeLady

Finding a good LBS can be challenging, but a good shop will not try to sell you more bike than you need. Your job as a buyer is to come in with answers to basic questions like: Where will you be riding? How many miles a week do you think you want to ride? Are you replacing an old bike, and are there any features of it that you like/don't like? Do you have any physical issues that affect how you ride?

With those questions, I can at least get you to the appropriate style of bike. Which model you buy within that style is dependent on how much more I learn from talking to you, and what you learn from listening to me.

For example: If you come to buy a bike and say that you want to do 10 miles a day, three or four days a week and you will be doing them around your neighborhood with occasional forays onto the local rail trails, I'm not going to lead you over to the road bike rack. We're going to start discussing the differences between mountain bikes (and that would be recreational, NOT full-suspension!), hybrids, and comfort bikes. If you tell me that you have a 10 year-old mountain bike and you can't ride it comfortably because your neck hurts when you are bent over the bars, I'm going to narrow the field to hybrids and comfort bikes because of the adjustable stems, which allow for a very upright riding position. Now the only thing left to learn is, are you going to continue to log 30-40 miles a week, or are you going to fall in love with cycling once you finally have a well-fitted, comfortable bike and start doing a lot more? Will you ever consider commuting to work or doing a week-long tour. If the answer is the former, we'll be looking at comfort bikes; if the latter, it's on to the hybrids. And I would probably still have you test ride one of each just so you know what the difference in performance is.

The easiest way to tell if a shop is a good one? Who's doing the most talking: you, or the salesperson? If you can't get a word in edgewise, then the salesperson isn't really listening to what you are saying, and they have no way of learning what they need to know to sell you an appropriate bike. That's the time to say, "Thank you for your time," and go look for a better LBS.