Do bike shops have any idea about retrobikes?

[Cristian-T]

Good heavens. !

Well, what can I say .. umm, I own a bikeshop (with my good wife, she does the boring stuff) AND I F******************** LOVE retrobikes. ANYTHING retro, bring it in, ill pour over it with lemon-flavored love & full appreciation.

Right, Ill calm down now, that was just my reaction to reading this thread!. Now for some facts, I have worked/run shops since 1991, (was also a Hotlines/Lapierre rep for a few years) and we have had our shop for the past two years. First & foremost, I'm not here to plug my business in any way, we are doing ok thanks (I work my ass off) But the truth is I spend all day, 6days a week, running the shop (I also do all the repair work) with my mate, Nathan, bikes bikes bikes, all day, then I get home, and bang, straight onto retrobike (great site) and bloody ebay. (like a lot of DH so some of that as well) (& road, just built a retro-ish Cinelli, ten speed, single ring, with a Dura Ace bar-end shifter)

I run the workshop on about 5-6 repairs a day, we do struggle at times with getting parts on time, but things run pretty well. (we sell bikes as well!) However, whenever we get a Retrobike in, we are all over it, and I do my best to help out. We have had some good ones this past year, and we often put them up on our page, (run by Nath) on facebook, look it up, its called racebikes past and present (& also look up the peeps who like it ! a few names you should know, quite a few have posted some great pics & stories)

One of our regulars, who rides with us on our DH team, bought the ProFlex 752 on ebay recently, that, in the flesh is nice. We are looking at doing a retro ride from the shop sometime, follow the old 80s Newbury mountian bike club route I did when I was 13.

Anyway, I just wanted to dispel and completely destroy the rumor that most LBS's don't much about old bikes. This one DOES. Any of you lot fancy popping in for a chat, your welcome. Maybe even a Tea. But you might have to wash the cup first !

 

[Silvergoat]

^+2. Most folk don't have a clue about setting up any cable brake properly, much less cantis. It think they're brilliant - you can play with the arm range and straddle cable length and have a huge range of efficiency to play with, so you can have mega mechanical advantage and stunning stoppers, or loads of feel and modulation the other end of the spectrum. My secret weapons are a 3rd hand tool and a paperclip to act as a shim for setting toe in.

I'm with you, wookie and bm0p700f:
With the cost and level of paraphernalia involved with disc brakes, I'd rather stick with my 22yr old dia compe 986/ss7 brakes – they stop you on a six pence, especially when a London cabbie does a u-turn without warning or a single fixie beardy hipster tries to T-bone you. Cantis are real simple and effective – granted they may need 3 hands spare sometimes. But there's nothing much to go wrong with them. I shake my head at the number of people who tell me to go get discs fitted – the old frame and forks weren't designed for these over 20 yrs ago, btw.

 

[NeilM]

My LBS has been open long enough to have sold me most of the bits fitted to my 94 Zaskar LE when I was building it up in 94. Dave, the owner and I were reminiscing the other day about the first bike I bought from him, when my daughter was 8 or 9, that was 20 years ago. I do occasionally need their assistance with a particularly recalcitrant bottom bracket cup, but for the most part I buy cables, brake blocks, tubes, lights, lube and a whole host of other consumable gubbins.

Our town has always supported two bike shops, three at one time, but two these days. The other shop, which is part of a small local chain, is the favoured haunt of the local fast road riders, I think mainly because they have a much bigger selection of more expensive road bikes on display. In all the years it's been there I have only been in twice, once on a Monday (when the other shop is shut) as I needed a 10 speed powerlink and some bar tape and the second time as my wife was picking up a jacket that Altura had sent her FOC under warranty.

The first shop is the traditional busy little place and the second a modern 'bike store'. I much prefer the first, not just because they get the whole 'retro' thing.

We also have a Halfords, and they are useful for parts and cheap bits that no one else seems to stock, bar end plugs for instance, or big screw in hooks to hang a bike on.

I travel a lot with my work and I have dropped into lots of shops both big and small, and it does not seem to matter how generic or intimate the setting, some shops just remind me of the Hi-Fi sketch that Not The Nine O'clock News did years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoPXQ9fotZM


Second Rule of Selling: Customers make pay days possible.

Xeo: Where's your shop? I'll drop in some time. Coffee please, white with one sugar.

 

[Kona lover]

I left promptly before the wookiee mist descended!! :evil:

Let the Wookie win

 

[Rich34]

I'm not usually one for name-dropping but...

The guy who runs my LBS here in France is Patrick Bonnet. Third from the left on the second row in this photo. No idea why he was staring at his feet but it might have something to do with being an all-round nice, modest bloke.



Anyway, my point is that he's not that familiar with retro mountain bike kit, and neither are Shimano France on the occasions when he's rang them to ask about something! But he's always happy to help and if he doesn't know the answer to something he'll say so. Standards in all bike shops would be higher if staff just listened to the punter standing there with the problem... and the money, and tried to help. If one of Hinaults domestiques can do it then a spotty teenager should be able to make the effort too.

 

[Silvergoat]

NeilM:
You're spot on with that classic 'Not The Nine O'clock News' sketch

There's also 'Harry & Paul's I saw you coming' sketches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i4rgxOi73c

And you're right about the "Second Rule of Selling". Some places forget they need customers and just give out a wall of disdain, impatience, indifference and arrogance. In which case, one can vote with your feet and take the wallet elsewhere.

 

[Silvergoat]

I'm not usually one for name-dropping but...

The guy who runs my LBS here in France is Patrick Bonnet. Third from the left on the second row in this photo. No idea why he was staring at his feet but it might have something to do with being an all-round nice, modest bloke.



Anyway, my point is that he's not that familiar with retro mountain bike kit, and neither are Shimano France on the occasions when he's rang them to ask about something! But he's always happy to help and if he doesn't know the answer to something he'll say so. Standards in all bike shops would be higher if staff just listened to the punter standing there with the problem... and the money, and tried to help. If one of Hinaults domestiques can do it then a spotty teenager should be able to make the effort too.

Quite right.

 

[NeilM]

There's also 'Harry & Paul's I saw you coming' sketches:

Replace Thicko with MAMIL and you're there.

 

[Silvergoat]

There's also 'Harry & Paul's I saw you coming' sketches:

Replace Thicko with MAMIL and you're there.

Indeed!
But... could be much worse – a Hoxton Hipster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmmYMwFj1I

 

[Cristian-T]

Neilm ;

Newbury. Supernovacycles. Come see us if your ever around, and thanks for the acknowledgement