Re: Dear LBS

Think back a few decades. Every town had a bike shop. They carried a line of product and the consumer would go there to have a conversation about what they wanted to do and then (ideally) trust the shop to provide a functional product. The consumer got their information from the bicycle store that they trusted. The dealer could carry the parts they needed to support the bikes they sold. Now, if a rider wants more braking they have already discussed it on forums, surveyed the market, and come to a decision before they even go into the shop. It's a different world then when the model of the LBS was developed.

Bill Laine
Wallingford Bicycle Parts
New Orleans

On Feb 17, 2011, at 8:40 PM, Andy Goodell wrote:

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.
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