Newcomer need help

Hi, all:
I am new to bike NGs. I just got a new TREK 4300 Mtn. bike. I need
to order some parts (tools, cleaner,lube, cable luber, brushes etc.) for
maintenance. Would you please recommend some good mail order stores
offering good services and the lowest price. I much appreciate your input.

Ronald

"Ronald Shu" wrote:
I am new to bike NGs. I just got a new TREK 4300 Mtn. bike. I need to
order some parts (tools, cleaner,lube, cable luber, brushes etc.) for
maintenance. Would you please recommend some good mail order stores
offering good services and the lowest price.

www.nashbar.com

Art Harris

Hi, all:
I am new to bike NGs. I just got a new TREK 4300 Mtn. bike. I need
to order some parts (tools, cleaner,lube, cable luber, brushes etc.) for
maintenance. Would you please recommend some good mail order stores
offering good services and the lowest price. I much appreciate your input.

Ronald

Ronald, your best way to deal with this would be to go to your local Bike
store and buy from them. When you buy little stuff like cleaner and lube
from mail order, many times the shipping and handling costs wipe out any
savings you may think you are getting. By buying through a good local bike
shop, you will be cultivating a relationship that may prove to be more
valuable than you could estimate. And, think of this: if your local bike
shop goes out of business, how is that going to help you when you really
need them?

Pat in TX

Ronald, your best way to deal with this would be to go to your local Bike
store and buy from them. When you buy little stuff like cleaner and lube
from mail order, many times the shipping and handling costs wipe out any
savings you may think you are getting. By buying through a good local bike
shop, you will be cultivating a relationship that may prove to be more
valuable than you could estimate. And, think of this: if your local bike
shop goes out of business, how is that going to help you when you really
need them?

Pat in TX









Bad advice.
Why go out of your way to pay too much for something, in a busy bike shop when
you can buy discount and have it sitting on your front door.

www.performancebike.com
www.nashbar.com
www.coloradocyclist.com

They all carry tools and supplies. Be sure to use the discount codes for
nashbar which are posted on www.bikeforums.net, or join team performance and
get "points" faster shipping. The LBS is not necessarily your best choice, it's
more of the "koolaid" kneejerk responses that are crammed down our throats. If
your LBS is a good one, that's fine, but don't tell strangers whom you don't
know where they live just to drop all their cash off locally, there are many
bad and expensive bike shops, which may be a long drive for some people and
busy. Your foremost responsibilty is to get the best parts for the best price,
in the most convenient way.

Bad advice.
Why go out of your way to pay too much for something, in a busy bike shop
when
you can buy discount and have it sitting on your front door.


I don't know where you live, but here in Texas, it pays to have a good
relationship with a good bike shop. It has certainly saved me a ton of money
in the form of advice alone, not to mention the little things the guys do
without charging anything. I'm sorry you don't know about that. One of
these days you are going to need their help and want it quickly, and they
are going to say "Who ARE you anyway? Wait your turn at the back of the
line--and pay for every little thing."

Pat in TX

Subject: Newcomer need help
From: "Pat"
Date: 9/28/2004 6:43 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:


Bad advice.
Why go out of your way to pay too much for something, in a busy bike shop
when
you can buy discount and have it sitting on your front door.


I don't know where you live, but here in Texas, it pays to have a good
relationship with a good bike shop. It has certainly saved me a ton of money
in the form of advice alone, not to mention the little things the guys do
without charging anything. I'm sorry you don't know about that. One of
these days you are going to need their help and want it quickly, and they
are going to say "Who ARE you anyway? Wait your turn at the back of the
line--and pay for every little thing."

Pat in TX


Why the hell would you be sorry for me, and why would you assume I pay to have
anything done? I have three bikes that I work on, and only I work on.

I don't know where you live, but here in Texas, it pays to have a good
relationship with a good bike shop. It has certainly saved me a ton of
money
in the form of advice alone, not to mention the little things the guys do
without charging anything. I'm sorry you don't know about that. One of
these days you are going to need their help and want it quickly, and they
are going to say "Who ARE you anyway? Wait your turn at the back of the
line--and pay for every little thing."

Pat in TX


Why the hell would you be sorry for me, and why would you assume I pay to
have
anything done? I have three bikes that I work on, and only I work on.

I see. You're from New York City. Explains a lot.

Pat in TX

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 18:43:41 -0500, "Pat" wrote:

I'm sorry you don't know about that. One of
these days you are going to need their help and want it quickly, and they
are going to say "Who ARE you anyway? Wait your turn at the back of the
line--and pay for every little thing."

I've been buying bikes from a certain pair of related bike shops for
25 years - probably $ 15,000 worth. Don't have much go in for repairs
- I do my own. OTOH, if I were to take a bike in, I wouldn't expect to
go to the head of the line or have anyone bumped. What you describe,
if done for the reasons given, is unprofessional in any business.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

I'm sorry you don't know about that. One of
these days you are going to need their help and want it quickly, and they
are going to say "Who ARE you anyway? Wait your turn at the back of the
line--and pay for every little thing."

I've been buying bikes from a certain pair of related bike shops for
25 years - probably $ 15,000 worth. Don't have much go in for repairs
- I do my own. OTOH, if I were to take a bike in, I wouldn't expect to
go to the head of the line or have anyone bumped. What you describe,
if done for the reasons given, is unprofessional in any business.

Curtis L. Russell

If a long term customer has something happen and needs it fixed before
Saturday because of an important event, then, the LBS will take that repair
out of turn. It isn't unprofessional at all. Do you not think that people
are taken in an emergency at a doctor's office? If you go to the ER at a
hospital with an acid burn to your eye, do you think they are going to say
"wait your turn"? Do you not think that if you break a tooth your dentist
will insist that you "wait your turn" behind all the people who need minor
things like cleanings? If so, you are awful naive about how the world
works.

What you and the other poster seem to forget is that the original poster
said he was a newcomer! He doesn't or can't do his own bicycle work. He
wanted to know how to ignore the LBS guys (by buying all of his stuff
online) and I said it was not a good idea because he needs to cultivate a
relationship with the bike shop guys.

Pat in TX

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:47:26 -0500, "Pat" wrote:

If a long term customer has something happen and needs it fixed before
Saturday because of an important event, then, the LBS will take that repair
out of turn. It isn't unprofessional at all. Do you not think that people
are taken in an emergency at a doctor's office? If you go to the ER at a
hospital with an acid burn to your eye, do you think they are going to say
"wait your turn"? Do you not think that if you break a tooth your dentist
will insist that you "wait your turn" behind all the people who need minor
things like cleanings? If so, you are awful naive about how the world
works

OK, now I understand - you are logic deprived. Taking a seriously
injured person before a minor sprain is not the same as taking a long
term customer before others in line before them. Taking a broken tooth
before a cleaning (meaningless in most dentist offices, as I haven't
seen a dentist in my life that does the cleanings) is not the same as
taking a long term customer before someone else already in line. To
compare the two is simply absurd.

Lets make it more along what you actually said (and by all means, go
back and check if your memory has failed you as badly as your logic
circuits). You're waiting in a dentist office to have a tooth
repaired. Its your first visit there and you've been waiting in pain
for two hours. A regular customer shows up without an appointment and
is immediately ushered to the chair for a dental xray while you wait
another 15 minutes.

You've been waiting for a colonoscopy for the last three hours and are
a bit irritable because you haven't eaten going on 15hours. A regular
customer shows up without an appointment and is sent back for the
procedure while you wait another hour.

Both of the last are unprofessional and simply aren't done in the vast
majority of places. Your examples are simply irrelevant.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...