Hey, I live in SE PA also! However I don't think buying a new bike will involve walking into any local bike shop, unless perhaps it's Tom Kellog's frame shop. To get what I want, even an appropriate inner tube, I usually have to go mailorder. It's sad that the LBS won't really even give me the chance to support them. As for 95% percent of shops being unable to help us, when was this not the case? Most shops really don't want to sell the good stuff. There's very little money in it.
> On Thu, 8 Feb 2001 RALEIGH531@aol.com wrote:
>
> > I don't know about shops were you are, but in SE
> Pennsylvania I don't think
> > you can just run in and expect to come out with a
> suitable replacement for a
> > nice road bike that's over 5 years old.
> > If you're ok with tig'd or titanium you may come
> close.
> > If you want lugged steel, then 95% of the shops
> will not be able to help you.
> > It's gotten a lot worse in just the past few
> years.
> > I suspect I may never buy a new bike again, I
> really don't see anything I'd
> > want.
>
> I feel sort of the same way. It's as if I'm an
> alien from another planet
> when I go into 95% of the bike shops. I'd say that,
> over the last year,
> I've done more business with Rivendell, Wallbike,
> SJS, Harris Cyclery,
> and of course Mercian, than my local shops.
> Thankfully, there are some
> sensible shops close to where I've moved (kudos to
> Vecchio's in Boulder),
> but it's pretty damn hard to walk into a shop now
> and find a lugged steel
> frame on the showroom floor.
>
> I almost wonder if we should be targeting
> manufacturers AND dealers
> in our quest for what we want. Afterall, a shop
> can't sell what's not
> produced, and if companies start getting queries
> about traditional styled
> bikes/frames, maybe there's a slim chance they'll
> listen.
>
> As much as I try to support my local shops, it's
> hard when I want a
> simple 700x32c clincher, and the widest tire they
> stocked was a
> multi-colored 700x25c jobbie.
>
> --mc, cold & snowy Superior, CO
>
> --
> cyclist [at] dimensional [dot] com
>
> http://dimensional.com/
>
>
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