This one's a quickie.
A couple of years ago, after my trusty BIKE bike gave up the ghost, I went into
my LBS. At the time I knew nothing much about the different types of bike. Just
knew I wanted something a bit lighter, a bit stronger, and with a better range
of gears.
"I'd like to buy a bike", quoth I.
Yes, we have those, he replied, pointing to some racks of what certainly
appeared to fit the specification I had given him.
He asked no questions about whether I needed any help, and being totaly
ignorant, I just picked the only flat handlbar bike that was in my price range
and appeared to have some suspension (which I wanted to protect the _bike_, not
for comfort - a mistaken purchase I later found out, although it's nice and
stiff and doesn't seem to detract from road use {as far as I caan tell, that
is}).
I wasn't offered a test ride, and the only fitting that was done was to raise
the saddle a an inch or so (it was still far too low, and the bike is much too
small for me - again something I didn't realise - I thought that saddle and
handlebar adjustments took care of things).
I paid the money ~£220 IIRC, and came back about 15 mins later after it had been
'prepared'.
Now, I know that I should have done some research first, but I simply never
realised that there were so many different kinds of bike. I just had no idea how
much I didn't know, and assumed that if you wanted a better bike, you simply
paid more and voila.
Now, who thinks that I got adequate service from that bike shop?
Knowing that was the experience I'd had, who would send a neophyte there to buy
a bike?
Or was it all my fault?