Dear LBS

I needed new brakes. My old cantilever brakes just weren't cutting it
anymore, and my commute and rides in general too often see large hills
ending in high traffic areas, so I couldn't put this off any longer. I
looked around online to see what I might want to buy, and thought I should
check a few local shops first. If they've got the parts at a reasonable
cost, I'd just buy them locally instead of waiting for shipping.

Unfortunately of the many brakes out there, wide cantilevers was just
something not in stock around here. Ithaca is pretty big on cyclocross, and
I even saw one of the bikes on the stand with exactly the type of brakes I
wanted to buy. But when I asked for them, there were none to be bought.
Neither store I went to stocked what I was looking for. Now, I know not
every store can stock everything, but you'd think that not stocking an
decent variety of brakes would be a good idea. I ended up going home and
buying them online.

It made me think that this is really a chicken and egg problem. If they
generally had the parts I needed, I wouldn't rely on buying parts online as
much. But since I've been let down nearly every time I went to buy locally,
it's become normal to just buy the parts online for cheaper.