"Old crap": Wow, that's brazen. You're a good person for not throwing 'em out!
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 1:46 PM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery < thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > My shop deals in steel bikes almost exclusively. At any given time we > have on display a selection of Rivendells, Surlies, ANTs, various > fancy customs, and even a few truly "vintage" machines (going back to > the 1950s and 60s). We like any number of modern bicycle technologies, > and don't consider ourselves to be "retro-grouches", but when somebody > walks in, they will see, among other things, steel frames (some with > lugs), leather saddles, cloth tape, cloth/leather bags, etc, not to > mention fenders and racks and metal water bottles, and nothing on the > sales floor made of carbon fiber. > > So a couple years ago, this stereotypical group of "roadies" walked in > (casual roadies, not the team kit types). One of them had a broken > seatpost clamp. I inspected the broken clamp, which was stamped with a > size, and measured the diameter at the top of the seat tube, where the > clamp should fit snugly. The clamp was a size bigger than required, > and to compensate for the loosey-goosey mismatch and keep the seatpost > from slipping, the bolt had been overtightened to the point of causing > the entire clamp to snap. > > While I was searching my seatpost clamp bin, the group walked around > the small shop pawing every item within reach, and making a number of > disdainful comments, without regard to the shop's owner (me) being in > the same room in easy earshot. The comment that sticks in my mind: > "look at all the old crap they have in here!" I was tempted to channel > the Soup Nazi (no soup for you!) but decided to take the rude behavior > in stride and get some money out of them. Despite our small size, we > have a deeper and broader parts inventory than most shops, and it > turns out that I had the right size clamp. They went gaga over the > Salsa brand name, which they apparently recognized as being of > sufficient quality (i.e. they'd heard of it). I fixed the bike and > away they went. I had some notion that maybe I earned some new > customers, but I'm afraid that the (then) $1500 Atlantis and > Rambouillet frames on the wall were just "old crap" to their untrained > eyes. It's possible that they would have registered some vague > recognition at a mention of the name "Rivendell", or that a > prominently displayed price tag would have impressed them, but the > frames/bikes themselves, beautiful as I think they are, didn't seem to > interest them in the slightest. They were into brand name recognition, > and none of the Rivendell models are likely to be on their Bicycling > Magazine-calibrated radar. > > > > On Jan 18, 2:27 pm, Brad Gantt <brdg...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I have a story similar to Grant's that always makes me smile. Prior to > > getting my first Riv., most of my road riding was done on a Ritchey > > Road Logic w/Roll-y Poll-ys, Brooks, Nitto bar & H2O cages, Grip Kings > > and a Baggins Banana Bag. Not a Riv but very Rivved-out. Anyway, I was > > riding with a friend on his lovely steel I.F. in the hills above > > Malibu. The penultimate climb on this day was up Stunt Road. No matter > > my level of fitness, it is always a tough climb. My friend and I were > > about 3/4 of the way up when we were passed by a group/team all in > > matching kits on carbon bikes, etc. They were not going much faster > > than we were and in fact, once they passed we easily stayed right off > > the last riders wheel. > > > > Once we crested the climb and took a breather, a couple of the guys > > were having a look at our "antique" bikes (their words). They > > wistfully recalled when they used to ride steel but left it behind > > when they got "serious". Apparently it was lost on them that we rode > > the same hill at the same pace as they did on our antiques. Now, I'm > > not out to set any land speed records but the perception that I am > > being held back by my choice to ride a more versatile bicycle is > > simply based on ignorance and the belief of media hype. > > > > Yesterday, during my second ride on my fancy new Riv custom, nearly > > the exact thing happened. I was passed by a team on a climb and easily > > hung with them 'til the top. There was one notable exception. Despite > > being on a much fancier bicycle, nobody said a word. It was as though > > I was invisible. > > > > Ride it and enjoy it! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, scientist guy--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
