caloso

Another satisfied Velofix customer.

Mulberry20

My doorman’s brother is a bike mechanic and makes house calls. He is great.

DDzBike

I'd go with this.

GlennR

Maybe he's a cheap rich man and doesn't tip the mechanics.

I find a 6 pack of their favorite beer moves you to the front of the line.

Sy Reene

Is the beer thing a real incentive, or just one of those things people think works? I guess I could install a rear rack to accommodate such, but seems excessive and questionable.

Rolla

If that’s the case, your bike shop lacks integrity.
Cant wait to watch this topic blow up (again)...

jaxgtr

Every Friday after Thanksgiving, I take my LBS crew a 5 lb can of butter cookies. One year I took them a large container of these super thin crispy ginger snaps from this place called World Market. They really liked those and they always anticipate my Friday visit for cookie day.

veganbikes

Ehhh we had to borrow a floor pump and a shock pump at a shop on a camping trip our company was on and I bought them beer, they were all quite happy even if it was just to borrow something mundane but why not brighten someones day especially now.
Most of the employees where I work are happy to get beer. I don't personally drink beer but cook with it and always appreciate a bottle or can to make something tasty. Just made some beer battered onion rings last week which were delicious and the beer was supplied by a customer.

TiHabanero

I work in a bike shop in a midsized very conservative Midwest city and have never heard a customer snark at another person's bike or expect to get to the front of the line. In fact I have experienced a few "rich guys" pay for another person's bike repair as that other person did not have the means to get it done right. I have had people ask to cut in line, but not expect it. Happy trails!

Darth Lefty 

Maybe he should have bought the FastPass

GlennR

Actually i don't care if it works. I've know the guys there for 10 years, bought over $15,000 worth of bikes and other than replacing the bottom bracket and truing wheels... I do all my own work.

The beer is more of a show of appreciation when for answering my questions.

Nah... no quid pro quo.

They are very honest. I've seen them send customers to other shops if the customer needs a part and they don't have it.

Rolla

GlennR

I was joking. Sorry, i forgot the (j/k)

I don't need to get on the line.. i do 99% of my own work.

hsuBM

I’ve silently been that guy, but I’m not good at having silent body language. My LBS folks, God bless ‘em, read me like grammar school homework and usually ask if I don’t mind to hang around for a bit (an hour or two) while they juggle doing the work on my bike and handling other customers.

I feel bad that somehow this dynamic has been put upon them to push off other service work for other customers, even if it maybe/probably is something which they do for all of their “this guy/girl has bought at least one bike from us and will buy at least one more” customers... but, man, even with the line-cutter guilt is it freaking sweet- especially since there’s both interesting used bikes and new exotics to browse, and a pretty great restaurant next door.

I have brought them some some sort of booze or other gifts, usually after they’ve been super accommodating or I’ve been a gigantic PITA. It’s definitely more about me “balancing my guilt checkbook” so I don’t break out in hives than trying to My Name Is Earl some good karma into my life. It’s rather heartwarming that a wicked sick Lester aluminum bmx mag rim I came upon somehow which I’d eventually gifted them made its way into the decor of their new, more upscale location that they’d grown into. The guy who builds my wheels keeps letting me try his completely sick spanking new bikes despite my reputation for breaking stuff- I don’t 0% think his propensity for that is due to me usually bringing in a bottle of Maker’s a week or so later.

Fancy burger or burrito, corn whisky, espresso, No.22 and Merckx bikes to drool at, and getting a headset & rear wheel bearing set swapped is a great way to cool down after a 70 mile ride with 7 miles to go to get back home. Totally beats dropping off either my No.1 or one of my n+1’s and waiting weeks and weeks and weeks.

I do try to compliment the folks there with the beaten to heck, currently worth $35-125 bikes when I can do so earnestly. Sometimes, despite the disconnected front brake, the gel pad covered nose-up slammed saddle, and the MIA grips it’s easy due to either pretty cool paint or “OMFG Dude, that’s an ‘84 Trek with full Shimano 600! I’ll bet it’s a lot comfier with the handlebars turned up like that.” ...sometimes I have no compliments to give.

Russ Roth

The worst are the really rich and the wanna be rich, both are cheap and demanding in general. The true middle to upper middle class tend to be generous. Rochester, NY was the worst for tips, commented to some coworkers one day on how awful Rochesterians were at tipping when people were so generous when I worked in Albany. Got a tip that same day that they started to rib me on till I pointed out they were bike tourists riding through from Albany.

Pizza at lunch time gets better results from my experience. We never had a problem working through our lunch break if there was a large cheese and a 2lt of coke. But, typically the only people who ever did that were regulars who we were on good terms with and who usually had a pressing need and even they knew you didn't get on the spot service every time. The beer thing is that some really good customers like to come in and shoot the breeze and they'll bring a beer at closing time. Bike shops aren't like a lot of retail, when it closes a lot of times the employees will sit around working on their own stuff and regulars with beers don't get kicked out and can hang around, at least most of the places I worked.

Koyote

I have to drive about 80 miles each way to my fave shop, and so sometimes call ahead to see if they can work on a bike while I do other errands in the city, so that I can pick it up later the same day and save another trip. And they usually do it, if the work isn't too involved. Oh, and they give great service, really beyond expectations. So, yeah, I tip them, bring beer, other food -- even if I know I will be leaving the bike with them. I also buy things from them (almost $10k over the past 18 months), never haggle over prices, never haul out my phone to ask if they'll match an internet price, etc.

It's not a quid pro quo, not a matter of their integrity. But if people treat each other well, with appreciation and respect, it goes a long way.

Mojo31

The latter. There is no place for people like that.

rsbob 

That is WAY too many 4 cylinder Bosch distributors. What’s up with those, besides rebuilding? (says the guy with a 71 914-6 conversion).

As far as the thread: In the immortal words of the patron saints of automotive repair, Click and Clack, That guy deserves a dope slap.

jaxgtr

My wife was a maternity nurse for 15 years, she always told me that the worst patient was the wife\girlfriend\baby mama of a doctor. She had a patient once that was the wife of a heart surgeon that practiced in the same hospital that she used to work with. She was being very demanding and threw out the "do to you who my husband is". My wife called the doctor-husband and he immediately came to the room and told her to keep her mouth shut and treat the nursing staff with respect and not talk down to them. He told her she was embarrassing him how she was acting and he would not stand for it. My wife said she never heard another peep out of her. He bought the the nursing staff lunch to apologize for her actions.

Rolla

Making an appointment and then tipping well afterwards is a whole different thing than buying your way to the front of the line.

raceboy

Pre Covid, my LBS might sneak my bike in and out real quick for a small repair or adjustment because I’ve taken my bikes there for years for repairs I can’t do at home. I never expected at asked them, they could sometimes do it as a courtesy. Now they are so much busier, so that isn’t happening.

Fwiw, my bikes are not expensive. $500 to $800 when new.

GlennR

That's not a lot.. this is. I have a home based business where I restore Bosch distributors for VW/Porsche/Mercedes/Alfa/Volvo/BMW/Borgward from post war (1946) to the mid 70s.

Koyote

Agreed. I guess that was my long-winded way of saying that if the guy was a regular customer who was considerate to the LBS employees, they may have fixed his bike more quickly. But instead, he sounds like Mr. Underhill from "Fletch."

fishboat

The part of all this that surprises me the most is that you have to ask..

..odd..

SpeedRanger

I asked because I haven't dealt with a LBS for repairs in 20 years, so I was curious if today's entitled consumer trend found its way into a bike shop.
If this trend surprises you, there are books available on the subject ....