Hey, I live in SE PA also! However I don't think buying a new bike will involve walking into any local bike shop, unless perhaps it's Tom Kellog's frame shop. To get what I want, even an appropriate inner tube, I usually have to go mailorder. It's sad that the LBS won't really even give me the chance to support them. As for 95% percent of shops being unable to help us, when was this not the case? Most shops really don't want to sell the good stuff. There's very little money in it.
> On Thu, 8 Feb 2001 RALEIGH531@aol.com wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > I don't know about shops were you are, but in SE
\r?\n> Pennsylvania I don't think
\r?\n> > you can just run in and expect to come out with a
\r?\n> suitable replacement for a
\r?\n> > nice road bike that's over 5 years old.
\r?\n> > If you're ok with tig'd or titanium you may come
\r?\n> close.
\r?\n> > If you want lugged steel, then 95% of the shops
\r?\n> will not be able to help you.
\r?\n> > It's gotten a lot worse in just the past few
\r?\n> years.
\r?\n> > I suspect I may never buy a new bike again, I
\r?\n> really don't see anything I'd
\r?\n> > want.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I feel sort of the same way. It's as if I'm an
\r?\n> alien from another planet
\r?\n> when I go into 95% of the bike shops. I'd say that,
\r?\n> over the last year,
\r?\n> I've done more business with Rivendell, Wallbike,
\r?\n> SJS, Harris Cyclery,
\r?\n> and of course Mercian, than my local shops.
\r?\n> Thankfully, there are some
\r?\n> sensible shops close to where I've moved (kudos to
\r?\n> Vecchio's in Boulder),
\r?\n> but it's pretty damn hard to walk into a shop now
\r?\n> and find a lugged steel
\r?\n> frame on the showroom floor.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I almost wonder if we should be targeting
\r?\n> manufacturers AND dealers
\r?\n> in our quest for what we want. Afterall, a shop
\r?\n> can't sell what's not
\r?\n> produced, and if companies start getting queries
\r?\n> about traditional styled
\r?\n> bikes/frames, maybe there's a slim chance they'll
\r?\n> listen.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> As much as I try to support my local shops, it's
\r?\n> hard when I want a
\r?\n> simple 700x32c clincher, and the widest tire they
\r?\n> stocked was a
\r?\n> multi-colored 700x25c jobbie.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> --mc, cold & snowy Superior, CO
\r?\n>
\r?\n> --
\r?\n> cyclist [at] dimensional [dot] com
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://dimensional.com/~cyclist/