Had a pleasant instance today that I figured was worth retelling - took a short lunch break from work and headed to the local Performance Bike shop. Now, I don't know much about this outfit, but it struck me from the day it opened as a typical franchise big-box store. If anything, in Richmond, the layout and inventory virtually screamed the usual complete indifference and ignorance to CR-era bikes more so than the three other outfits that had shops in the area - which is pretty bad. However, they do carry Vittoria and Clement tubulars on the shelf, which no other shop in Richmond would even bother doing.
And the last time I was in there, one of the mechanics had picked up an early 80's Raleigh which he was going to set up for long haul riding. We spent that entire lunch break talking, as he had the enthusiasm, but absolutely no practical knowledge of bikes 25 years ago.
He listened a lot that day, and I planned to ride the Raleigh down to work that Saturday to show him how I did it, but the accident intervened. So I dropped by today to see how he was doing.
He was off, but I got to talk to some of the other staff, and what a staff it is - the mechanic who's riding a fixie Lambert, the female sales staffer who's spending her lunch break sanding down an early 80's Raleigh frame for repaint and rebuild into a single speed, another mechanic who's riding a mid-80's lugged frame mountain bike - and rapidly discovered that's it's a rare employee in that place who is riding a TIG welded, carbon fibered anything.
I've found a new outlet for some of the old war stories - and I've got a feeling I'm going to be building a fixie this winter.
George R."Syke" Paczolt Montpelier, VA USA
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