youth of today

[magicmistertea]

not just the young !!

It's not just the yooff.

I went into an LBS before Christmas to see about having a 'new' Hope fatso hub laced into my 217 SUP to replace the cracked one built into it.

The guy's first question........."why don't you just buy a new wheel?"

When I pointed to the matching rear on the Orange, and said that a new wheel wouldn't 'go' with the bike, he looked at me like I'd spoken to him in a foreign language.

Not been back there since. :evil:

i have has similar experiences with two bike shops, one guy told me that my sm700 was out of date and ancient and i might as well throw it away as it had a 1" headset and i wouldnt be able to get any forks to fit it ! i embarressed him by pointing at the rc31s behind him and the chris king headset in the glass xcabinet in front of him, telling him that they still make both of those in 1" ( what a cretin !! ) - clive mitchell cycles truro, by the way he was about 35 !!! . another time when my crank came loose while on a ride - luckly i was near a bike shop run by rikkis cycles, the mechanic also about 35 looked at my cranks and said oh no not square tapers, these are crap you want an external bottom bracket with xt cranks !! when i pointed out the bb was pressed and all the parts on my bike were from period componentry, he looked as if he didnt recognise the rc35s , onza hos, use etc etc i can only assume these guys have only been mechanics for 5 mins !! RANT OVER !!
STUPID NO-KNOLEDEGE MECHANICS!!!

 

[jango]

I got a few strange looks on Sunday from the yoof at Chicksands pushing their jump bikes back up the 4X course as this lycra clad being on a skinny steel bike sans sus forks trundled past.........

The best bit though, as myself, MadCowKev and REKIborter where having a crack at falling of the lowest bit of Northshore we could find......one of the yoofs informed me I was going around it backwards........ther's a good reason for that I told him, the start was a good 3 foot off the ground :shock: I can handle falling 6"...I'm not sure about unclipping spd and leaping 3-6ft through the air...................with age comes wisdom

 

[icantthinkofausername]

Young bikers these days dont know the likes of Tomac,Tinker,Giove and JMC,like you said they look at the older bikes with horror and distaste,on one hand it is a shame that they dont know the colourful history of biking and where these weird and wonderful bikes came from,but on the other the less they know the better,then theyre not tempted to steal it,lol

Being a yoof myself ,I have only seen them on Youtube, but still I was impressed. I just find modern bikes a bit well... boring. All new hardtails look pretty much identical. Whereas a Slingshot or a Trimble doesn't have the normal 2 (or three triangle) frame. It has something crazy, different and beautiful about it. Modern paint is also pretty uninspired, Black, Charcoal, Dark Blue etc. Then just look at a Klein !

My friends think i am weird with my 'Grandma Bikes'. My 'Grandma Bikes' being my old Peugeot road bike (fixed). Or my Steel rigid Holdsworth with a Brooks saddle and thumbshifter (It's only 6 speed ). But I would still prefer my rigid Holdsworth to their full sus Halfrauds bike !

 

[jonnyboy666]

i've never understood the sort of "dump it mate, it's crap, it's not worth it etc" mentality of some shops. :x tends to be the shop numpties who say that, and they don't have to be young to say it either as magicmistertea says.

some shops don't understand the benefits of servicing older bikes, they generally need more doing to them, so the bill is bigger! this equals money towards my wages! how can you turn down that work?! simple, they're stupid!!!

if someone is willing to spend money in your shop you should make the effort, the bike trade is in a bit of a slump as far as the high street goes but when i hear some of the examples of what happens to customers i can genuinly understand why people are turning to mailorder , problem is some good shops get tarred with another shops brush if you know what i mean.

staff being tw@ts though, first and foremost it's bloody rude! i think the "yoof" shop guys don't get trained properly anymore, but it's not just them, i'd never say "your bike is out of date" etc to a customer, it's just out of order, you might say the parts to fit that are scarce or if it's a cheapy bike you might use the expression "entry level" but you can't be rude about someones stuff even if you think that, it's probably their pride and joy, if it's a kid with a cheap bike that i know is crap, if he enjoys it with a little encouragement he might get into it properly then become a good customer, why be rude?

i can't help but get a little pissed when i hear of people like this, gives us all a bad name!

sometimes i wonder aswel, am i the only shop that stocks 94 and 110 pcd rings, magura spares, has 1" headsets on the shelf, hope spares going back 6 or 7 years, will make the effort to find the right part as opposed to "something that will do the job", i think it's daft not to stock that stuff, people of an older disposition like us generally have more funds available and therefore good shops should try and focus on those customers, coz they'll keep us in business!

when it comes to the fix or replace i always ask, do you like the bike? because if they are happy with the bike, a revamp or restoration is a great option, frankly it's alot more work but we do a bit better out of it than selling a new bike so it's good allround to do the older stuff i think.

also as tintin said right at the start, the younger guys just don't appreciate the history, but then again i suppose they don't really need to, i don't really think about the wright brothers when i'm flying off on holiday! not really a good comparison i know but it'll do!

but unfortunately, i think i'm in the minority . . . except for you fine gents on this forum!

 

[magicmistertea]

bike shop in cornwall

hey jonnyboy666 come and open a shop in cornwall !! me and uncle al would use you !! a whole 2 customers its a start.

 

[jonnyboy666]

well i can't open a shop down there, the clash of accents just wouldn't work!!! we'd never understand eachother!!! hampshire hog versus corwall, it'd never work!! it would be like an american hill billy against a geordie!!! (apologies to both in advance!) can you imagine it though?!

"ayeboy, i warnt won ov them thar thingermewotssitss!"

" i'll fite ya for it! an the winner gets me best pig thrown in!"

sod it, can't write foriegn or accents!!

thanks for the vote of confidence though!!

 

[magicmistertea]

err jon

err jon woz on !!!
bledy ansome me lover !!!

yea i take your point though !
just for the record i am cornish and i dont speak like a farmer i actually pronounce my words !!

 

[jonnyboy666]

of course when i mentioned chucking in a pig i was talking bout my ex girlfriend!!!