Before we started dating, my wife was in the market for a new bike and, and at the urging of an (IMHO) unethical salesman ended up buying a too-small Orbea carbon fiber wonderbike, complete with brifters, skinny tires, and a 53/39 double crankset. She is not an experienced cyclist, much less an aspiring racer. Pretty much a useless bike for most of the riding we do.
Last summer we collaborated on a new bike for her, a Salsa Casseroll, set up with 700x32 tires, Albatross bars, fenders, racks, even shellaced cork grips - pretty much the full Rivendell treatment. She's much happier on that bike, and the Orbea just hangs in the garage. What I find interesting is that both bikes were purchased at the same store, so potentially they could have sold her the Salsa to begin with. It helps to be an informed consumer. It is also very revealing to check out the staff bikes at a store. When I do, I notice a lot of practical steel bikes with Brooks saddles and fenders. Jay Lonner Bellingham, WA On Saturday, May 18, 2013 4:24:48 PM UTC-7, PeterG wrote: > > My wife had to go out of town for the week. Bored, I decided that I would > spend the day riding my Hillborne and then visit a few local bike shops and > see what's selling out there these days. I haven't really been to many bike > shops in the last couple of years (Rivendell has been my "go-to" place for > most all my cycling needs lately). I ended up visiting three shops here in > Reno, NV. I felt like I was in a weird sort of parallel universe. All of > the stores had their racks filled with carbon race bikes with the > handlebars wayyyy below the seats. When I asked to see bikes where i could > get my handlebars at or above the seat I was told at each store that they > don't make them that way... unless I was interested in a beach cruiser type > bike (single speed). It was explained to me that people want to go fast on > road bikes, so they need to be hunched down to prevent wind drag. When I > asked about seeing steel frame bikes, all of the salesmen told me that > steel bikes haven't been made in years.. .....WOW! At the last stop I made, > a young kid that worked there (maybe 19 years old) whispered to me that > there was a local shop that did indeed sell two steel bikes, gunnars and > surly's....but he couldn't remember the name of the store. Not sure if that > is true or not, but I give the kid credit for at least trying (his boss > tried to sell me a cervelo race bike two sizes too small for $7900 for > weekend solo riding). Is Reno an anomaly or is this happening everywhere? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
