LBS "integrity" issue - please advise

[Anunziat1215]

I live in a small, southern town of about 10,000. I've decided to take up biking and am looking to
buy a Trek 7200 or Raleigh C40 or something along those lines. There's a LBS that sells Trek, but
when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers, my LBS's name didn't come up, and the
closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than an hour away.

Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc? Will
buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop up on
Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?

Any help you can give me would be great. Obviously, I would prefer a truly local shop, but would be
willing to drive an hour away if necessary to get something that won't collapse on me and that I
can trust.

Many thanks!

 

[Bob]

Maybe they just started carrying Treks and haven't been listed on Treks website yet. The Trek
website has an email address where you can ask questions. They've been very responsive to me, two
days tops for a return email. Why not drop them a note and see what they say. "ANunziat1215"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I live in a small, southern town of about 10,000. I've decided to take up biking and am looking to
> buy a Trek 7200 or Raleigh C40 or something along those lines. There's a LBS that sells Trek, but
> when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers, my LBS's name didn't come up, and the
> closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than an hour away.
>
> Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
> cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc? Will
> buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop up on
> Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?
>
> Any help you can give me would be great. Obviously, I would prefer a truly local shop, but would
> be willing to drive an hour away if necessary to get something that won't collapse on me and that
> I can trust.
>
> Many thanks!

 

[Matt O'Toole]

> "ANunziat1215" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

>> I live in a small, southern town of about 10,000. I've decided to take up biking and am looking
>> to buy a Trek 7200 or Raleigh C40 or something along those lines. There's a LBS that sells Trek,
>> but when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers, my LBS's name didn't come up, and
>> the closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than an hour away.
>>
>> Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
>> cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc?
>> Will buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop
>> up on Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?
>>
>> Any help you can give me would be great. Obviously, I would prefer a truly local shop, but would
>> be willing to drive an hour away if necessary to get something that won't collapse on me and that
>> I can trust.

Bob wrote:

> Maybe they just started carrying Treks and haven't been listed on Treks website yet. The Trek
> website has an email address where you can ask questions. They've been very responsive to me, two
> days tops for a return email. Why not drop them a note and see what they say.

In my experience (as a writer, web developer and consultant), most companies are still way behind in
keeping websites up to date, responding to email, etc. The internet is the greatest business tool
since the telephone. The trouble is getting people to use it, and integrate it into their workflow.
It's sick, but true -- most companies will spend months and small fortunes putting out new brochures
and print ads, before they'll change a few lines of text on their website. And don't even get me
started on sloppy email habits...

The short answer is that if you have any questions, just give 'em a call.

Matt O.

 

[David L. Johnso]

On Sun, 23 Feb 2003 16:32:48 -0500, ANunziat1215 wrote:

> Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
> cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc? Will
> buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop up on
> Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?

What's important are the answers to these later questions independently of Trek. Trek will warrantee
the frame, but most of the rest will be on the shoulders of the shop, since they p[ut it together.
If they are good, no problem whether or not they are on Trek's list. If they are not, and manage to
screw up the buils, stripping the threads or something like that, then you'd have a problem no
matter what brank bike you buy.

Small town like that, you'd have to know somone who bought a good bike there. Ask.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | And what if you track down these men and kill them, what if you _`\(,_ | killed all of us?
From every corner of Europe, hundreds, (_)/ (_) | thousands would rise up to take our places.
Even Nazis can't kill that fast. -- Paul Henreid (Casablanca).

 

[Jim Edgar]

ANunziat1215 at [email protected] wrote on 2/23/03 1:32 PM:

> I live in a small, southern town of about 10,000. I've decided to take up biking and am looking to
> buy a Trek 7200 or Raleigh C40 or something along those lines. There's a LBS that sells Trek, but
> when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers, my LBS's name didn't come up, and the
> closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than an hour away.
>
I think an appropriate question to the LBS would be, "Are you an authorized Trek dealer?"

It would probably be more likely that the webguy didn't get 'em in correctly, or the database is
skewed, or a dozen other reasons. That would not be unheard of. It would be pretty hard for a shop
to have a rack full of Treks and not be an authorized dealer. Not impossible. But, very, very
difficult.

Give Trek a call. Tell the shop they aren't coming up on the list.

> Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
> cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc? Will
> buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop up on
> Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?
>
> Any help you can give me would be great. Obviously, I would prefer a truly local shop, but would
> be willing to drive an hour away if necessary to get something that won't collapse on me and that
> I can trust.

 

[Mike S.]

"ANunziat1215" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I live in a small, southern town of about 10,000. I've decided to take up biking and am looking to
> buy a Trek 7200 or Raleigh C40 or something along those lines. There's a LBS that sells Trek, but
> when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers, my LBS's name didn't come up, and the
> closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than an hour away.
>
> Does this have any significance? eg, does this mean that my LBS is not an authorized dealer, or
> cannot be trusted to put the bike together, fit me to it, repair it if problems come up, etc? Will
> buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart? Or is this common for an LBS to not pop up on
> Trek's Website, particularly for such a small town?
>
> Any help you can give me would be great. Obviously, I would prefer a truly local shop, but would
> be willing to drive an hour away if necessary to get something that won't collapse on me and that
> I can trust.
>
> Many thanks!

Quick question: what does carrying one brand of bike or another have to do with the shop being good
or bad? If they bought out the remaining stock from another dealer would it make a difference? Its
the personnel, not the bikes that make a shop.

Is the floor clean? Orderly? Are the wrenches/help/owner helpful? Are they willing to take the time
to fit you on your new bike? Those are the important questions. They could have "gold-plated" bikes
for pennies, but if the people working there are clueless, you're hosed.

Bikes are 90% built from the factory. It'd take a real ham-fist to really screw them up.

Which brings me back to the point. Check out the place. Hang out for a while on a Sat and see how
they deal with other customers. Are these people you want to do business with? What's the owner's
reputation in town? Can he be trusted? I'm sure that you know someone that knows the guy.

If the guy "checks out" and you feel comfortable with the shop, by all means buy the bike.

 

[Karen M.]

Mike wrote:
> Bikes are 90% built from the factory. It'd take a real ham-fist to really screw them up.

That's what Wally World hires to do final assembly, ham-fists.

OP wrote:
> Will buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart?

Absolutely not. W-M doesn't sell Trek. Suggest you pick up a bicycle buyer's guide and review it.
No doubt it will contain a list of reasons why you should go with a bicycle shop, instead of a
*.Mart with bicycle-shaped junk. HTH --Karen M.

 

[Mike Kruger]

"ANunziat1215" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> .... There's a LBS that sells Trek, but when I went to Trek's Website to do a search for dealers,
> my LBS's name didn't come up, and the closest bike shopt it listed was way out of town, more than
> an hour away.
>
> Does this have any significance?

Maybe, maybe not. Contact Trek directly as another poster suggested.

I had a similar problem in 2000 when looking for a Raleigh dealer. It turned out that he WAS on the
Raleigh list, but you could only find him if you typed in HIS EXACT zip code; he didn't show up when
I asked for a radius around my zip code, even though he was only 3 miles away.

Still a few bugs in the system.

 

[Timothy J. Lee]

In article <[email protected]>, Matt O'Toole
<[email protected]> wrote:
>It's sick, but true -- most companies will spend months and small fortunes putting out new
>brochures and print ads, before they'll change a few lines of text on their website.

Given that a lot of companies hire consultants to design their web sites, it is not surprising that
even simple (for a web designer) updates don't get done -- the company has to call the consultant,
wait for the consultant to do the change, review the work, and pay the consultant, which is
considerable overhead for each and every change.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome. No warranty of any kind is
provided with this message.

 

[R.White]

[email protected] (Karen M.) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Mike wrote:
> > Bikes are 90% built from the factory. It'd take a real ham-fist to really screw them up.
>
> That's what Wally World hires to do final assembly, ham-fists.
>
> OP wrote:
> > Will buying from them be the same as buying from Walmart?
>
> Absolutely not. W-M doesn't sell Trek. Suggest you pick up a bicycle buyer's guide and review
> it. No doubt it will contain a list of reasons why you should go with a bicycle shop, instead
> of a *.Mart with bicycle-shaped junk.

Or read Kelly J's post "Biking Journals & Photos" for her experiance with Stuff-Mart bikes.

 

[Matt O'Toole]

"Timothy J. Lee" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> In article
<[email protected]>,
> Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> wrote:
> >It's sick, but true -- most companies will spend months
and small fortunes
> >putting out new brochures and print ads, before they'll
change a few lines
> >of text on their website.
>
> Given that a lot of companies hire consultants to design
their web
> sites, it is not surprising that even simple (for a web
designer)
> updates don't get done -- the company has to call the
consultant,
> wait for the consultant to do the change, review the work,
and pay
> the consultant, which is considerable overhead for each
and every
> change.

That's true. IMO, any "consultant" who doesn't integrate site maintenance with the client's workflow
is a charlatan. And any "consultant" trying to make work for himself this way is a bottom-feeder.

That said, any company without a single person capable of changing a few lines of text on a website
is a dinosaur that deserves to become extinct.

Matt O.