I am Ranting!

I just got back from pumping iron at the YMCA. I am just about finished up with my Max Strength phase. I have about 1.5 weeks left. After that, it's on to 2nd to last phase. Since not much exciting happened at the "Y", I figured I would rant about something I have experienced over the past few weeks at the shop. Here it goes...

A young gal comes into the shop, about it her mid 20's. She is a runner, who has blown out her knee more times than she cares to count. She has never owned a road bike but wants to start. So, she comes in and gives me all the details. She tells me what she is looking for, how much she is going to ride the bike, and where she is going to ride. Based on all her details she is looking into a performance road bike. She explained how she was going to ride fast and aggressive. Nothing fancy, but rather something with Shimano 105 components or higher would fit her needs.

Since she has never owned a road bike I started from square one showing her everything there is to know about the road bike she should purchase and why. I kept it simple as not to flood her mind with mumbo-jumbo. After spending an hour with her, and seeing how much she was willing to spend, I told her that she should look for a traditional road bike with Shimano 105 through-out, carbon seat post, carbon fork, double crankset, and a non-traditional wheelset. Bike within this description range in price from $800-$1200. Since she was not buying today, and was going to shop around, I put all this in writing for her and sent her on her way with my business card.

Last night she returns, with some info on a LeMond and a Specialized bike she received from a shop within the state of Iowa. She asked me what I thought and how it compared to what I showed her. The LeMond was spec'd out with Shimano Tiagra road groupo. This shop stated to tell her that Tiagra was a better groupo than Shimano 105. NOT TRUE! Same goes for the Specialized. The Specialized was a $700 bike spec'd out with Shimano Sora. Sora is Shimano's entry level component set up. But this shop continued to tell her that this was a top level bike.

So here is my rant: Why the hell do certain shop employees feed the consumer bull s***t when it comes to buying a bike? Why lie? Is it to sell a bike? If you sell this customer a bike you says rides a certain way...and it doesn't, you have lost a customer. Not only did that shop loose a customer, but also the industry. The industry suffers enough already in the USA. We can't afford to lose more potential consumers

My thoughts: Keep it real. Tell the hard facts the way they are. There is NO reason to "yank" the customer around. Integrity, reliability, and the ability to be trusted sells itself.

Rant off.