Re: Is there bike snobbery?

Paul Murphy wrote:
Well he shouldn't be in business if he's not willing to take at least a
small amount of risk and going with a different brand altogether (one which
they already sell non-power assisted models of) could be argued to be a very
safe bet, especially if they're got in to order and backed by the
(established) manufacturers warranty. He also shouldn't be in business if he
cant see the reason to be interested is called potential profit!

Oh, don't be silly. You're asking him to special-order a one-off
product he's not familiar with and has no way of knowing whether it's
any good. And when it goes wrong or needs after-sales service or
support he's going to have to learn all about it. If he doesn't
anticipate selling very many of them, that's a lot of work and will
easily wipe out his profit margin.

I don't expect car dealers to sell motorbikes - even motorbikes from the
same brand. If I wanted a motorbike I'd go to a motorbike dealer not a
car dealer.

No but if you go into a bike shop asking for a form of bike (which an
electric assist bicycle is, or do you seriously dispute this) of the brand
that the dealer already sells and they refuse to supply it, then they are
dictating what I can and cant buy (at least from that dealer).

If I go into Halfords asking for a cargo bike, or Evans asking for a
unicycle, or Cycle Attack asking for a carbon-framed track fixie, or
Condor asking for a £60 gaspipe special for leaving at the railway
station, I'm pretty sure that "try a different shop" is the best and
most useful advice I could be given in each of those cases. It's
completely reasonable in my mind that bike shops specialise in certain
areas of cycling, and they're not "dictating" anything by their refusal
to have the same interests as me.


-dan

--
http://www.coruskate.net/
.

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