Gil: Our space cadets were quite mellow. When it was closing time should there be one dozing, we gently told them closing time and they moseyed off. It wasn't really a problem. Most of them were"remittance" men, given money by the families to stay away. They found a nice gentle laid back beach community and didn't make any waves. Only looked at them. There were a lot of women, too, but not too many came into bike shops. A lot of kids got lost, and are still out there. We couldn't do anything for them. Sad.
> Ted,
>
> Sounds like the same guys that came in my shop a month or so ago, Cross
> legged on our floor; not filthy as we sweep it once a month. The bike was
> a Gitane (used) for the same price. They were very worried the white cloth
> tape was a little dingy.
>
> We had to start shortening our hours and number of days otherwise we would
> never be able to lock up.
>
>
> Yours in Cycling,
>
> Gilbert Anderson
>
> North Road "Open every Tuesday thru Friday; noon till 6 PM." Bicycle
> Company
> 519 W North St
> Raleigh, NC 27603
> USA
> toll free: 800-321-5511
> local: 919-828-8999
>
> http://www.northroadbicycle.com ---->New Website Improved Daily
>
> e-mail: cyclestore@aol.com
> On Aug 9, 2005, at 2:56 PM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org wrote:
>
>> Different topic:
>>
>> One time these two "Star Trek-esque" balding guys came
>> in at about 11:00am with their back-packs, sandals,
>> etc. They mused around the stored for a while until
>> they found an old used Motobecane for sale. These
>> Bozos parked themselves on the filthy, non-carpeted
>> floor--one on each side of the Motobecane. They were
>> speaking to each other through the main triangle of
>> the frame. They started off by discussing the bike
>> itself. When noon rolled around, they pulled out
>> rice-cakes, bananas, and soy milk for "lunch on the
>> bike store floor."
>>
>> They finished eating and continued discussion of the
>> $80.- Motobecane. I clearly remember one remark
>> regarding "how many times" the little leaded cable
>> ends (on the derailleur and brake wire ends) had been
>> crimped. At one point (about 3:00pm by now) one of
>> the guys was laying on his back on the floor whilst
>> the other continued with the nit-picking of the
>> bicycle.
>>
>> We did ask them several times if they were interested
>> in the bike, if they wanted to test ride the bike,
>> etc. They kept saying, "No, we're fine."
>>
>> It's 5:30pm now and one guy is eating raisins and his
>> partner is nibbling on trail-mix. We told them the
>> shop would be closing in thirty minutes. They stayed
>> 'till the bitter end. These two guys sat on a filthy
>> shop floor discussing a Motobecane bicycle for 7 hours
>> straight.
>>
>> If memory serves me right, I was "sent home" early for
>> unruly behavior because I was hiding behind a wall and
>> rolling 1/4" ball bearings out to where those guys
>> were sitting. Some would actually lightly hit them
>> and they would pick up the bearings and start
>> discussing those!
>>
>> Ted E. Baer
>> Palo Alto, CA