"Tom Sherman" <sunsetss0003@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:g05gbt$cog$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ryancycles aka Dick Ryan wrote:
>>> In the early days of re***bency there were several small manufacturers
>>> who
>>> built relatively cheap re***bents. They too never sold well which
>>> convinced
>>> me there was no market for such bikes. Your Ryan re***bents were for a
>>> niche
>>> market from the beginning and never had a chance in hell of ever
gaining
>>> a
>>> large market. There is nothing wrong with that but, please, do not
blame
>>> any
>>> of your woes on the lowly bike shop owners and employees.
>>>
>>> - Show quoted text -
>>
>> Comments about re***bents that I've heard in bike shops.
>> You'll never see one on the floor of this shop!
>> They don't go up hills.
>> They are too heavy.
>> They are too low to the ground.
>> They're slow.
>> Sorry, can't help you, don't know anything about them.
>> Real men ride REAL bicycles!
>> They suck.
>> A friend of mine works at Wheel and Sprocket, probably the most
>> successful shop in the country. They sell about 5000 bikes a year and
>> about 7-800 re***bents. Trek is located not far from them, they have
>> an annual dealer meeting. According to my friend every year a dozen or
>> so dealers from around the country will stop by to shoot the breeze.
>> Most are astounded by the fact W&S has 50 or 60 re***bents on the
>> floor and often ask WHY. The very fact that they ask "why" should be a
>> good indication of the lack of intelligence on their part. For a few
>> years we had about a dozen dealers around the country. We had a couple
>> of high end very successful shops selling the bikes. Unfortunately
>> they all shared the same problem, they had one employee who was the
>> "re***bent guy" the rest of the employees refused to even discuss the
>> bikes with potential customers. I know this is true because I visited
>> a couple of these shops and didn't identify myself and when I asked
>> about re***bents was told I'd have to wait until the "re***bent guy"
>> was available. When I discussed this problem with the shop owners they
>> all gave me the same answer. Well, I'm sorry, but I can't afford to
>> offend the employees because they are so hard to find. I had quite a
>> few calls from potential customers who had driven many miles to look
>> at our bike and had made the mistake of not checking on the
>> availability of the "re***bent" guy. Of course this reaction from the
>> shop people didn't go over very well with the potential customer and
>> they would call us and complain.[...]
>
> I have had almost exactly the experience Dick describes at several
LBS's.
>
No doubt from Blue State UCI elitist bike racing bigots with a room full
of
racing bikes they can't sell for reasons they can't fathom. You were in
the
wrong bike shop. Look down the street. Somebody has probably seen the
op****tunity to sell and service non UCI racing bikes.
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