Performance Bikes

catzz66 wrote:
:: There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway
:: from my office. Should I be happy?

Do you order a lot of things from them?

I would not mind having one near me.....I'm not certain they are better than
a LBS for buying/caring for a bike, though.

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

Is it replacing a strip club?

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

I throw out their catalogs without looking at them. Everything overpriced.

--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

My experience is positive. I have not found them to be a good source
of mechanical expertise.
However, they are great for commodity items. Last month I bought 50
tubes for $100 deals like this are not uncommon.

You could always get the deal on line but the store will match any of
thier on line prices and sometimes it is nice to just go in and pick
it up.

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway
from my office. Should I be happy?

The store near me doesn't have much in the way of mechanics--I've
heard them refer customers to another one of their stores in the
area for service--but it's a fine place to buy parts, etc.
--
Ben Pfaff
http://benpfaff.org

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

I've been pleasantly surprised to find my local Performance store (and
a new one at that, not an old one with years/decades old stock on
hand) stocking something that's not in their catalog or web site, but
was exactly what I needed for a bike project (specifically I wanted a
high rise, short reach, 1" quill stem). The usual response from most
of the other local bike shops is "we don't have it, but we can order
it for you!", which in many ways is the worst of both worlds (the wait
of mail order, without the delivery convenience, but at LBS marked up
prices). There have been a few exceptions though where I took the LBS
up on their offer and things worked out well at comparable cost to
mail order.

If you buy stuff from them whether mail order or in-store, having one
close by is obviously convenient for returning stuff as needed rather
than having to pack it up and mail it back. If you're afraid of them
putting your favorite LBS out of business, I haven't seen it happen in
my area, where the LBS's within walking distance of Performance are
doing just fine. Those LBS's happen to be good shops. I suppose they
might drive bad shops out of business, but that's not much of a loss.

Unfortunately, the store doesn't have a lot of their catalog/web stuff
in stock, and you can't order by phone/web and have it delivered free
to the store (like you can with REI), though you can use their in-
store "red phone" to order such things without delivery charge, but
that's kinda inconvenient.

gds wrote:
:: On Jun 27, 10:15 am, catzz66 <[email hidden]> wrote:
::: There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway
::: from my office. Should I be happy?
::
:: My experience is positive. I have not found them to be a good source
:: of mechanical expertise.
:: However, they are great for commodity items. Last month I bought 50
:: tubes for $100 deals like this are not uncommon.
::
:: You could always get the deal on line but the store will match any of
:: thier on line prices and sometimes it is nice to just go in and pick
:: it up.

Plus, they have a 100% guarantee, so if it doesn't work a few months out,
you can return it.

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

Maybe.

Performance can have pretty good deals every now and again, but I've found
it to be pretty variable in terms of service.

I bought my bike from Performance: I love it, but I pretty much sold it
to myself. (Research/introspection/the input of the awesome people here at
r.b.m.) They do free warrantee tuneups for life, which is nice if you can
get them. The only problem with me has been availability--the shop near
me is so slammed they actually turned me away when I rode in with a
warrantee tuneup job--no space.

Also, the knowledge of the shopdudes can be a bit spotty. I'll never
forget the reaction I got from them when I asked where they kept their
fenders. "Why would you want those?"

In general: Performance pitches to the "sport" and "daydream-sport" types
in its marketing.

Another bike shop has opened closer to me, and I'd rather deal with them
for service, since the owner and mechanic is more sympathetic to my
needs/goals.

-Luigi

--
Luigi de Guzman
http://ouij.livejournal.com

Roger Zoul said:

catzz66 wrote:
:: There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway
:: from my office. Should I be happy?

Do you order a lot of things from them?

Not lately. The best equipped LBS is 10 miles from me. REI is about 7
miles away. There's a great little shop about 3 miles from me where I
take repairs I can't do or don't have time to do myself. Went in there
last week looking for a couple of 700 X 23C presta tubes and they were
out. They are nice folks, so I came back again on the weekend and
picked them up. I probably won't change the way I do things very much.

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

It's a good place for accessories, tires, tubes, and clothing. In
general the prices are much lower than the LBS for these items. The big
plus is that they have long hours, and are open 7 days a week, so you
can get things after work when the LBS is usually closed. My
sister-in-law bought two bikes there and was happy with them. I tried to
get her to go to the nearby LBS, and she would have gone there, but it
was Sunday, the LBS was closed, and she wanted the bikes that day.

They do have some good deals on bikes from time to time, i.e. the recent
$400 commute bike.

Ron Hardin said:

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

I throw out their catalogs without looking at them. Everything overpriced.

It's not so much overpriced as they just don't carry anything I want
usually. They're very oriented to the weekend cyclist. A lot of the
gear and bits and bobs I want, they just don't carry.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept
better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.
-- Woody Allen, "Side Effects"

SMS said:

My sister-in-law bought two bikes there and was happy with them. I
tried to get her to go to the nearby LBS, and she would have gone
there, but it was Sunday, the LBS was closed, and she wanted the bikes
that day.

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
USENET would be a better laboratory is there were more labor and less oratory.
-- Elizabeth Haley

Dane Buson said:

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

Most LBS's I know are closed on Sunday. It is a simple problem that
is common to all small business. the total volume doesn not allow them
to have enough staff to work 7 days a week.

Most shops here are open 10-6 on M-F and 10-5 on Saturdays. That is 47
hours. Usually the owner is around for all of that time. Many of the
owners are also avid cyclists. That starts to be a very long week.

Larger shops, like Performance have enough staffing to have shifts so
that a store could be open 60 hours per week but not have any staff
working more than 40 hours.

You really see how this hits the smaller retailers when you look at
shopping center leases. They often specify hours of operation and it
is a real struggle for a mom & pop shop to be open 10-9 M-F, 10-6 on
Sat and Sun which is what is often required. That is over 70 hours a
week and it is a real problme for smaller retailers.

Dane Buson said:

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

It does not bother me. Unless it was a real emergency, I would be out
on my bike instead of going to a store on Sunday, anyway. I always
assumed that was what the bike shop employees did, too.

Dane Buson said:

SMS said:

My sister-in-law bought two bikes there and was happy with them. I
tried to get her to go to the nearby LBS, and she would have gone
there, but it was Sunday, the LBS was closed, and she wanted the bikes
that day.

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

My LBS is closed Mondays; the rest of the week, they open around 2 in
the afternoon and close around 8. Not as bad as you might think: they
get the after-work/after-class crowd, which is pretty much right in this
town.

The owner wants to open earlier, but his main problem is that he's
short-handed. Seems to be a shortage of good bike mechanics in our area.

-Luigi

--
Luigi de Guzman
http://ouij.livejournal.com

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway from
my office. Should I be happy?

I have been buying stuff from them online, and have been satisfied. They
have a retail store on Halsted St in Chicago, which I have visited a couple
times. It is well out of my way. I don't know about their repairs.

They are opening a new store one mile from my house in Schaumburg. It is
nice to touch and feel some things before purchase. And things like jerseys
need to be tried on for size before purchase.

Performance Bike must be doing something right, because they are opening
quite a few new stores. They do have a great website.

The best bike shop in Chicago, by far, for repairs and mechanical advice, is
in Wicker Park http://www.rapidtransitcycles.com/ . I have been delighted
with their wheel builds and troubleshooting.

Bike Commuter Jay

gds said:

Dane Buson said:

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

Most LBS's I know are closed on Sunday. It is a simple problem that
is common to all small business. the total volume doesn not allow them
to have enough staff to work 7 days a week.

My favorite LBS has short hours (12-7 x 5 days a week) I believe. But
they're not closed on Sunday. They're closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Since I work a 9-5 M-F job, this is actually more convienent.

My point was that Sunday is often the busiest day of the week for bike
shops. Mainly because a lot of people are weekend riders, or take their
bike to the shop on the weekend. Sunday just seemed like the worst day
to be closed.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
A bore is a man who talks so much about himself that you can't talk about
yourself.

gds said:

Dane Buson said:

I've always wondered about bike shops that are closed on Sundays. I
knew of one with those hours. Of course they closed a couple years
ago...

Most LBS's I know are closed on Sunday. It is a simple problem that
is common to all small business. the total volume doesn not allow them
to have enough staff to work 7 days a week.

All the bike shops in my area are open on Sundays.

What I like about Performance is they have everything right there to
look at; chains for example - you can see the selection and the prices
and compare all ten versions and pick the one that makes the most sense
and take it to the cashier,,, instead of describing what you want to
somebody who then goes and picks one for you from a box in the back room.

I've heard them giving really stupid advice to customers though so I
won't trust them with anything important.

Ron Hardin said:

catzz66 said:

There is a new Performance store moving in right across the freeway
from my office. Should I be happy?

I throw out their catalogs without looking at them. Everything
overpriced.

Ridiculous on two counts: A) They have true "mail order" prices, with many
sale items; and B) OP asked about their brick and mortar stores, which price
match any item from any valid source.

I'm no huge PBS fan (just canceled my Team membership after 4-5 years), but
they do have lots of good deals on lots of products.