it's another $20 to have them cable it. i made that mistake oncet. still kind of have a bad taste in my mouth from that.binary visions said:Buying 5ft of shifter housing, 2 shifter cables, and 6 cable ferrules and having the total be $40.
.
(one of) The reason(s) why I DON'T/WON'T support my LBS
- Thread starter Pau11y
- Start date
Well, that's just bad business.binary visions said:Want to know a good reason not to support your LBS?
Buying 5ft of shifter housing, 2 shifter cables, and 6 cable ferrules and having the total be $40
Hadn't been into the shop before and the guy helped me out a few weeks ago with a bike box to ship a frame in. So I went in to buy some small parts today that I needed for an upcoming build.
Turns out they charge a buck apiece for cable ferrules (!!), and $4/foot for standard shifter housing. Looks like I won't be developing a good relationship with them - I just won't patronize a shop that supports that kind of price gouging. AND he treated me like a moron.
Too bad. I like supporting local bike shops, but this is my only local shop. I went out and bought some PVC pipe for a crown race setter and assembled my own star nut setter at lunch - those two things and a headset press are basically the only items I need to be completely self-sufficient. Guess I'm shopping entirely online now.
Anything more than $1.99/ft and $2.99/cable for standard bulk items is ridiculous! Teflon/XTR etc okay but not bulk/low end.
Hum.. isn't a set of Flack Jackets only like $50.00?
Holy crap man!binary visions said:Want to know a good reason not to support your LBS?
Buying 5ft of shifter housing, 2 shifter cables, and 6 cable ferrules and having the total be $40
Hadn't been into the shop before and the guy helped me out a few weeks ago with a bike box to ship a frame in. So I went in to buy some small parts today that I needed for an upcoming build.
Turns out they charge a buck apiece for cable ferrules (!!), and $4/foot for standard shifter housing. Looks like I won't be developing a good relationship with them - I just won't patronize a shop that supports that kind of price gouging. AND he treated me like a moron.
Too bad. I like supporting local bike shops, but this is my only local shop. I went out and bought some PVC pipe for a crown race setter and assembled my own star nut setter at lunch - those two things and a headset press are basically the only items I need to be completely self-sufficient. Guess I'm shopping entirely online now.
I just bought 6 feet of housing, a dozen ferrules, 4 derailleur cables, and a dozen cable endcaps for $17 at the place in NJ when I was home. Of course they didn't fricken participate in the Trek scratchoff game, but I still got my schwag anyway, and they just gave me back the tickets.
Ever try to borrow a tool from an online shop? 
Let's say you managed to mess up the tool somehow. (I know it's hard, but there are lots of tool manglers out there.) Well, you already told them you have no way to pay for it. Sure, they don't have to be jerks about it, but they don't know you. It's not enough that they offered to help you out on the spot?
And sorry but being out on the road with no tools and no cash might indicate to them that you don't really know what you're doing.
Let's say you managed to mess up the tool somehow. (I know it's hard, but there are lots of tool manglers out there.) Well, you already told them you have no way to pay for it. Sure, they don't have to be jerks about it, but they don't know you. It's not enough that they offered to help you out on the spot?
And sorry but being out on the road with no tools and no cash might indicate to them that you don't really know what you're doing.
I guess I'm lucky. The local shop only charges a dollar a foot.(the wife got 12ft for $3 one time.binary visions said:Want to know a good reason not to support your LBS?
Buying 5ft of shifter housing, 2 shifter cables, and 6 cable ferrules and having the total be $40
) and gave me a handful of ferrules for free.
My old shop was like that. Dollar a foot for housing, and ferrules were always free.
It's just too bad that I have to write off the only LBS.
It's just too bad that I have to write off the only LBS.
xtr brake and shifter full set is less than $40.Pau11y said:
Wow, that is some price gouging.
The shop I work at normally does full cable/housing installs for $30-$35 parts and labor included.
And to respond to the original post on this thread......
I only do favors for my customers if they come in and spend money occasionally. I even do favors for customers who i know only buy on the internet, but come in to hang out with us at the shop.
The shop I work at normally does full cable/housing installs for $30-$35 parts and labor included.
And to respond to the original post on this thread......
I only do favors for my customers if they come in and spend money occasionally. I even do favors for customers who i know only buy on the internet, but come in to hang out with us at the shop.
I'm not sure I understand...if you were just a few miles from home why not scoot home and grab some cash and pay the guy to do his job?Pau11y said:
How would you like it if people went into where you work and randomly started asking to use the tools you use to do your job?
Maybe lending it to you once wouldn't have been a big deal, but then you probably would have come back to borrow something the next time you needed it, and before long you're mooching off their shop.
On top of that, next time you're on the trail, and your buddy needs a tool "Oh, just drop by LBS they'll lend it to you". Then he goes into the store and they say no, and he says "But you lent one to my buddy"...you see how it gets out of hand.
They're trying to run a business that revolves around fixing people's bikes. If you use their tools to do it yourself you're hurting their business. Period. If you think their reaction was a little dismissive, it's probably because people likely go in there all the time, buy nothing and expect favours. I could see how that would be frustrating for them.
The only thing you should expect to have a bike shop let you use you is a pump... Nuf Said...
One LBS tried to charge me 50 dollars for a Shimano LX bottom bracket. It cost 19 dollars at Jenson, and even with overnight shipping it still would have been cheaper.binary visions said:Buying 5ft of shifter housing, 2 shifter cables, and 6 cable ferrules and having the total be $40
Another LBS charges 5 dollars for those little brass presta schraeder adaptors.
Yea, they suck.
Just a few more points:Ridemonkey said:
1. I loan you a tool like a dropout hanger straightener. You thread it in and then give it a good tug, and you pull out the threads. You turn to me and say, hey man. You're ****ty tool just ripped out my threads. The threads on your tool must not be deep(tall) enough. You need to fix this for me. For free!"
1a. I loan you a chain tool and you brake off the driving pin. HAnding it back to me saying, "I need another one. This one was messed up before you gave it to me."
-----these HAVE happened to me in my 18yrs of worken in shops----
2. You start off by stating you do all your business from online 'shops' and do most of you're own work. Sooo...where is the shop going to get your business? They go out of their way this time...the next time you want to use the trueing stand...next a BB tool....and then you're buddy needs a bleed on his brakes and you stop by the shop to borrow the tools to do it for him. You can see why shops don't go out of their way to give away tool/service.
3. You also mentioned that one shop was just standing around with nothing to do, so why not jsut do it for free? Well, gee genious, I've got an employee standing around and some one comes through the door with a repair...but he wants it done for free. I'd rather go smack the employee around and tell him to go build a bike, or windex the windows before I just give away labor. you have to remember, overhead is BIG in the bike business.
I definetly have gone round and round with diff. bike shop owners in the past as i would do small adjustments for free. Like a 30sec. rear der. adjustment. That's technically a $10 fee, but if it's someone on a ride and they're stopping by to chit chat and asks if I could tweak his rear der. then no problem. This is not the same as what you were looking for. You were asking for a much more involved adjustment and I think most people would recognize that. It's got to go in the stand. Take the back wheel off. Take off the der. Install tool, ....etc.
And furthermore....you should have been able to adjust the der. well enough to complete your ride. And then head to the shop and ask them at that point to adjust the hanger. Ask the mech. what's his type of beer. Pay for your first adjustment. Stop by later to shoot the **** and drop off the beer. Then maybe the next time once someone recognizes you they will loan you a tool once they feel you have a certain level of respect for their business.
I'm off the soapbox now....
Internal14 said:Just a few more points:
1. I loan you a tool like a dropout hanger straightener. You thread it in and then give it a good tug, and you pull out the threads. You turn to me and say, hey man. You're ****ty tool just ripped out my threads. The threads on your tool must not be deep(tall) enough. You need to fix this for me. For free!"
1a. I loan you a chain tool and you brake off the driving pin. HAnding it back to me saying, "I need another one. This one was messed up before you gave it to me."
-----these HAVE happened to me in my 18yrs of worken in shops----
2. You start off by stating you do all your business from online 'shops' and do most of you're own work. Sooo...where is the shop going to get your business? They go out of their way this time...the next time you want to use the trueing stand...next a BB tool....and then you're buddy needs a bleed on his brakes and you stop by the shop to borrow the tools to do it for him. You can see why shops don't go out of their way to give away tool/service.
3. You also mentioned that one shop was just standing around with nothing to do, so why not jsut do it for free? Well, gee genious, I've got an employee standing around and some one comes through the door with a repair...but he wants it done for free. I'd rather go smack the employee around and tell him to go build a bike, or windex the windows before I just give away labor. you have to remember, overhead is BIG in the bike business.
I definetly have gone round and round with diff. bike shop owners in the past as i would do small adjustments for free. Like a 30sec. rear der. adjustment. That's technically a $10 fee, but if it's someone on a ride and they're stopping by to chit chat and asks if I could tweak his rear der. then no problem. This is not the same as what you were looking for. You were asking for a much more involved adjustment and I think most people would recognize that. It's got to go in the stand. Take the back wheel off. Take off the der. Install tool, ....etc.
And furthermore....you should have been able to adjust the der. well enough to complete your ride. And then head to the shop and ask them at that point to adjust the hanger. Ask the mech. what's his type of beer. Pay for your first adjustment. Stop by later to shoot the **** and drop off the beer. Then maybe the next time once someone recognizes you they will loan you a tool once they feel you have a certain level of respect for their business.
I'm off the soapbox now....
Very well said. :trophy_br
This reminds me... I have a 2 year old hide-a-bed that was in the trailer I recently bought. The receipt, warranty and the huge plastic bag it came in are are still there, the plastic cover on the mattress has never been removed. I had offered it for free to a few people but the catch was... I wasn't going to help move it. So I just got people who think I should pay them to move it or want to know when I can deliver it... meh, I'll let it rot.
So no matter what the deal is there is always going to be someone who is never satisfied.
So no matter what the deal is there is always going to be someone who is never satisfied.
I run into situations like this all the time and even search them out. I make Sinister frames and have a pretty complete machine shop. I don't loan tools but I do often fix things for free. One of the great "pay-offs" of doing a little free work is individuals see things are far more time consuming than one would think and it gives potential customers a glimps as to why our products are a value though more expensive. The other pay-off is beer and baked goods.. thats right, on small jobs I accept some bartering.. Organic chickens, awsome gourmet breads and cookies, home brew and other even more delectable treats are examples of gifts I have received.
LBS faces much of the same challenges of a cottage frame builder, no matter what we can't compete on price with imports so we focus on other ways to get noticed or earn customer loyalty like going to the races, fixing bikes we didn't make and hogging the podiums.
LBS faces much of the same challenges of a cottage frame builder, no matter what we can't compete on price with imports so we focus on other ways to get noticed or earn customer loyalty like going to the races, fixing bikes we didn't make and hogging the podiums.