I don't have any particular loyalty to local; the only reason I like local as such is convenience, when in fact that exists -- for example, remove my chain to clean it and find it stretched beyond acceptable limits, and I want a chain *now*. Apart from that, my criteria for bike store selection are, in order of importance, service (especially willingness to order and competence in dealing with orders); stock; and price. I will choose a good onliner over a bad LBS any day. OTOH, I will go out of my way to frequent a good (defined as above) local shop even if it is expensive and has to order what I want.
For online excellence, beside RBW (which is indeed excellent): Wallbike, Bicycle Fixations, Velo Orange, among many others, are top; while for local (ABQ, NM) shops, High Desert Bicycles is excellent even though they carry more Cervelos than Surleys. On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 12:58 PM, Rob Harrison <robha...@gmail.com> wrote: > That *is* sad. Not anywhere near my LBS (being as how I'm in Seattle...), but > I really enjoyed their approach, and spent a lot of time looking at photos on > their site. > > As Bob Freeman at Elliot Bay Bicycles said to me years ago, "If you buy from > catalogs (this was before there was an "online") instead of from your local > bike shop, don't be surprised when your local bike shop disappears." I > struggle with this, wanting to support a couple very worthy local shops *and* > Rivendell, and a few other small artisans outside of Seattle (mostly in > Portland, it appears.) > > Rob in Seattle > > On Dec 15, 2010, at 11:33 AM, doug peterson wrote: > >> Renaissance Bicycles is the latest victim of the Great Recession. On >> their blog, they announced they are closing shop. Special thanks for >> support went to Rivendell. >> >> dougP >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Patrick Moore Albuquerque, NM For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW at resumespecialt...@gmail.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
