Peter Clinch said:Compare like with like.
Well, no one was saying it was apples and oranges until just recently.
Quoted message said:For example, many cycle shops in the UK
you can expect to haggle a fair bit off, at least in terms of free
accessories, on a high end bike. My recumbent dealer won't do this
and says so up front. Is that unreasonable? According to
"industry standards" perhaps, but he's playing a very different
game to almost all ther bike shops in the UK, and he's got a lot of
happy customers queueing up to do repeat business.
So there you are then. Only you might've said that in the first place.
Quoted message said:So is he being
reasonable? According to industry convention no, according to
happy customers, yes.
No, I'm sure those happy customers would be even happier to have a
decent chance at lower prices (haggling).
Quoted message said:You appear to think you must before you're happy to ask him about
anything.
I want to know. How's that "I think I must know before x, y, and z"?
Quoted message said:Well, if that's all you want then fine, just don't expect it to be
of any actual /use/.
Utility is a separate though related issue, but one which you raise.
Quoted message said:You've got $4K of deserving being treated
with due consideration like a reasonable adult by your dealer, why
not take advantage of that fact? He's on your side if he's worth
dealing with at all.
He bikes one of them Velomobile thinggys, so he sounds cool. The local
postman is a fan; he trikes and had stopped by to pick up a part,
parting with a hearty pat and recommendation. I just don't want to be
asking something like asking him to sacrifice his firstborn, is all. I
don't care about annoying y'all here on usenet; but he's got my bike
right now, and I'd rather keep him on my side if all it means is I do
some recon first.
Quoted message said:I had two choices of where to buy it in the UK, one of which was 80
miles away and the other 450. So there wasn't much shopping around
to do, but I was impressed by the service and apparent integrity of
Ben, I liked the bike, so I was happy to buy it there. I've been
back and bought other bikes since.
Very good. I'm glad there are folks who are nice to you.
Quoted message said:Well think about it for a couple of minutes... if you jack the
front of the bike up far higher than it's designed that will pretty
obviously affect things like the rake and thus quite possibly the
handling. If you have rim brakes it will really help if the pads
go somewhere near the rims of the wheels. Not rocket science.
Not mechanically-minded. I'm still trying to digest clipless pedals
and such. But I thought Ed Dolan the Grate was group moderator.
Quoted message said:What's wrong with 16" wheels? The Spirit is arguably a much better
urban bike than the SMGT, which is right as that's what it's
designed for, and not what the SMGT is designed for. Why is that
"crummy"?
16" don't sound like a lot of travel, though I can imagine why they
went with that for the front wheel. But I don't understand why the
rear suspension seems compromised, compared to the SM line.
Quoted message said:Not where your personal intellectual interest lies, where actually
getting the business done is concerned. My impression, perhaps
false, is you were interested in actually progressing the
transaction and learning exactly what you'd get, rather than what
you might get in other places. It remains the case that the best
person to tell you what you can expect from your dealer is your
dealer, no matter /how/ much you argue or research otherwise.
And with that, I abandon you to your tautologies.
Quoted message said:Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
