Hugh, Im in Colorado so there is certainly no shortage of bike shops here. There ARE a couple shops around town that do embrace a more universal usage point of view as opposed to the "racing" ends of the spectrum. They have basically evolved out of the fixie messenger scene and transitioned into the utility/cross/townie/gravel/fat bike market. Which sort of nails my point on the head...if you want the fringe product, you generally have to go to the fringe shops. That's not a complaint mind you, quite the contrary. Our shops business is middle of the road, mom and pop sales with some high end club rider and aggressive mtb sales thrown in. We strive to be the best in serving that broad market but would fail trying to also be superlative in every niche. Sure, MY thinking is that the majority of our customers who just ride for fun would be better suited on a Rivendell, or even the Surly offerings, but when your customer has 500-700 to work with the reality is a much different picture. And in defense of the big brands we sell, they have some fantastic bikes. The Cannondale Quick line up is is awesome. Flat bar 700c with fat tires and an upright position. They are super functional and surprisingly affordable. I have no issues with what we sell. I havent worked the floor for over 6 years and primarily work behind the scenes in an admin position. But when I was in sales, my approach was to always discuss what they wanted to do with the bike and where/how they wanted to ride. Luckily my service manager and I were very agreeable to going outside the box and had no issues building or altering bikes. You want slick tires and a drop bar on a mountain bike...hell yes we can. Campy derailleurs and Suntour shifters...lets try it. But then we were building frankenmonster bikes out of the take off piles for grins. I think my story is a carbon copy of many who are in the industry for more than a summer job.
As for my co-workers, I dont get any negative feedback in seriousness, but more a general razzing. Pretty standard "How old is that?" and "OMG that's heavy". They do all appreciate the Rivendell and IndyFab, but become incredulous as to why I would forgo my pro-deal pricing on brands we sell to get a Riv at retail. It's a valid argument too. I can get a REALLY "nice" complete bike for less than an Atlantis frame. But then "nice" is in the saddle of the rider so to speak and the value extends past the money. My priorities changed drastically after manufacturing titanium and steel frames for 2 years. From then on I have made a point to support small manufacturers preferably in the US. Luckily once we all get out for a shop ride, no one really cares what bikes we're on and just enjoy the roll. Any good natured ribbing becomes appreciation when I jet off the paved trail to hit some single track shortcut and come back on the trail with a bigger smile. On Sunday, May 19, 2013 7:35:55 AM UTC-6, hsmitham wrote: > > Brad, > > Just curious what part of the country are you located? And as the "Black > Sheep" of your company what if any feedback do you receive from > your colleagues egarding your steel-centric viewpoint? > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
