My folks arrived for a short stay……………nice day, no riding but going out soon for food and beer, so all is not lost 🙂

Thanks for posting the pics Futon. It’s a cracking looking bike.

Re the Endo – sounds good and will get me up and running. Is the handling with it up front really ‘interesting’? If you let me know how you want paid with postage, I’ll sort it out later as my folks have just arrived.My email is in profile

Cheers

The lady in the black dress and heels is nice though….

She wants to get off the track with those heels 🙄

He is called ‘the Briton’ 3 times and ‘the Scot’ twice in the report.

I’d rather he was English……surly git!

Billy’s are quoting 2-6 weeks @ £85. Might be worth ordering direct from USA as IIRC import duty doesn’t kick in until value is over £150 on sporting goods (could be talking rubbish there though).

Coastkid

Do you order the tyres direct from Ison/LBS or do you get them from The States?

Alternatively, don’t suppose you have an old/worn Endo or Larry you want to sell do you?

Chewkw

I take it you don’t work for the Samaritans?

Assuming the stays are the same width as the Inbred, a 24″ 3.0 Nokian Gazzaloddi fits as Brant had a pic with one in there. Also fits a Blue Pig apparently HERE. No idea re cheap forks, pity I sold my spare last week.

But is there room in the world for another SuBo with a couple more brain cells?

That’s nice and the pink tones well with the decals. How long before some white rims to finish it off ? 😉

What’s a spiritual issue?

The Coming of The Lord?

Coastkid – are you putting a Larry front and back?

I’ve been having a bit of a think and the Turner 5 Spot on MTBR looks great and has got me wondering whether my ML8 will fit the Nokian 3.0. No problem on the front with the DUC 32’s which I’ve just measured at 97mm minimum width.

Hmmmm

Yep – avoid Livigno as it also has a 5 hour tfr.

La Clusaz, Montgenevre, La Tania, are all great, Kaprun when it has snow on the local lifts without going all the way up to the glacier every day is also great fun as would Kirchdorf and lots of other Austrian resorts which are much better value than they used to be, with greatly improved/modernised lift systems.

Aiden got a bit of a slagging. Probably deserved it but the panel aren’t worried as they know he is far too pretty to be knocked out this week.

I think if I had listened to that rendition as a non-x factor performer in a small club I might have liked it in a ‘strangled genius’ sort of appreciation mode but as it was the x-factor it just came across as shite.

Awsome indeed, that’ll be getting on for 5kg with an Endomorph and tube 😯

I can understand the shop owners points of view who have posted on this thread, we all have to make a living but…….. given the circumstances and the OP’s customer profile would you really have charged him the tenner? Honestly!

Ooh, that makes my ‘budget’ attempt look a bit pathetic. I have a Pugsley 135 zero offset hybrid fork so the Paul is out i believe (which will be a relief for the bank manager).

Pic would be nice if you don’t mind, as that sounds like a really nice set-up.

What wheel/fork set-up did you go for ? Any pics?

Have had a thought that the Nokian was a 24″. Does anyone know if a 26″ fits? Brant ?

Epicyclo

Have you drilled that out yet to save some weight or is it not too bad?

I’ve just suffered a major setback – the Halo Combat wheel I’ve just picked up for the rear doesn’t fit with a Nokian 3.0 grrrrrr. I can’t decide whether to do some serious nob trimming or just stick the thing on the front and put something smaller on the back. That would give a 1/4 fat though which is sort of pointless as all it does is increase weight without enough increase in float. 🙁

Maybe I’ll look for an old Inbred frame (which definitely does fit) as an interim measure.

Cheers balfa. I’d had a look at the Tarty complete wheels but there are some rims there that will do the job and are fairly light. The V!s is only 584 gms at 47mm wide but not cheap. I’ll give them a call shortly to see what the options are with a 135mm hub.

This 1/2 fat project is becoming expensive 😥

Couldn’t wait that long for a frame. I’d have changed my mind at least 6 times before it arrived and the colour might be passé by then.

looks alright I suppose and I found a colour match

Only joking !

It’s a fine line this customer service/making a profit lark.

Having been on both sides (not bikes), I certainly don’t believe the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ – some customers are complete @rses and really aren’t worth the trouble. By anyones standards psychle must be a very good and profitable customer and the shop should be doing everything they can to keep him happy.

Take B@rney ^^ for instance (very different scenario to psychle BTW) – did he just turn up with a bearing (bought elsewhere?) expecting it to be pressed in for nothing? I wouldn’t expect that to be free and I seriously doubt fitting time of 30 seconds for a bearing of any type??? But………. he is a good customer who brings business into the shop – is that worth £10? I would think keeping his business is worth considerably more than that.

The very busy garage next door to where I work is a good example of how it works. They serviced my car a few months ago and I’ve been back with a couple of minor problems since, which they have rectified FOC. Probably took a mechanic 10-20 minutes each time and I was fully expecting a bill and didn’t get one so I’m happy and know of at least two people who have had work done there on my recommendation. The owner also knows that he will get my car next time it needs something and he will get that money/mechanic time back. He knows this, I know this and he knows that I know, and as long as he doesn’t take the piss we’ll all be happy and his business will continue to expand.

Edit: Wot Lactic just said is a better and shorter example than mine 😳

Nobody who comes into our shop complains about that…..

Do you have a high staff turnover ?

LOL – I advertised (on here – in Classifieds) for a boyfriend and got no takers

Maybe they were worried about 3-in-a-bed 😉

I begrudgingly paid but never went back

How much business do LBS’s lose like that? Depending on their size they will spend hundreds, if not thousands a year on advertising but for the sake of a tenner in the boss’s pocket on the day they have lost a customer for good. And that customer will tell their mates…………………………..

Some LBS’s understand the meaning and value of customer service, the ones who don’t won’t be around for much longer.

As above – dull intro but good quality and shot angles once you got going. Looking forward to seeing more.

Excellent work fella

I usually have at least one bike in the living room but none in the bedroom as the two labradors might hurt themselves on it in the dark 😉

Who in their right mind pays full RRP for anything nowadays? Isn’t it just a starting point for negotiations?

I’m with you on this psychle. 5 minute job which effectively cost the shop nothing but has left you with a bad taste and presumably less keen to shop there in the future.

Not a clever way to treat a customer who has just committed to spending a couple of grand.

My old ‘stage 1’ tuned MGB which is definitely coming out of hibernation for next summer after a year ‘resting’. Now departed GS650 Suzuki in the background. Sorely tempted to flog it for something along the lines of what Zedsdead has, which is bloody lovely.

Vaguely interesting report and no doubt stimulating and informative for the OP……..

Reminds me of the old chestnut –

Her ….What’s taking you so long?
Him…..I can’t think of anyone

Could apply to either gender I suppose !

Quite ridiculous moves. That bike to bike somersault transfer is an ankle fracture waiting to happen.

Mega impressive though 😯

I’m from the rather unimaginatively but appropriately named Granite City.

I feel really guilty now that I laughed.

It was a bad thing to do…….naughty, naughty boys – probably downhillers

Edit: 5 minutes later I’m still giggling

17p for a pint of Tennents lager at grand old age of 14 😆

Very nice indeed. Black shiny cranks would make it near perfect 😉

Funnily enough I had a ‘look-see’ on one of them last week and have had about 40 ‘contact requests’ and I haven’t even paid any money yet!

Bloody scary – but not half as scared as they’ll be if I get round to posting a pic of myself 😯

But the LBS is, or more correctly should be, far more than just another retail outlet. They provide a means indulge your pastime/obsession, expert advice (hopefully) and the opportunity to physically see and sometimes try what you may buy. They should be, as the good ones are, a hub for the local cycle community, whether that be supporting a local race scene or simply as the starting point for a weekly ride.

When I lived in London I used to love going down to Recycle for a nose around and a chat. As often as not I ended up buying something as a result of those chats and it wouldn’t have occurred to me to price check. The same was true when I moved up here, until I was (IMO) roundly shafted by being overcharged on a simple job. That particular incident, which was only £30 has cost that shop owner £1000’s over the past 8 years as I have bought elsewhere.

There is a place for the LBS and the sooner some owners and customers learn to appreciate and cater for each other the better.

Highclimber

I agree with much of what you say there (especially the part about picking their brains and then buying on-line, that is out of order) but there is surely an amicable middle ground where the LBS, although not be able to directly match the on-line price, can still make a decent profit by offering a competitive price to include fitting.

Surely that is one way in which a good shop/customer relationship is built. It is a two way thing.